[linux-audio-user] Magnifying LilyPond output by using landscape mode? - Linux-audio-user

Janina Sajka

22 Mar 22 Mar

1:26 p.m.

It's not exactly what you're asking about, but maybe related. I'm recalling my experience when I was still low-vision with printed scores. I was never able to get satisfactory magnification results. The problem at the time was a matter of scaling, imho. The note heads (and other elems, like the two bars indicating 16ths) were heavy and large relative to fairly thin stave lines and note stems. So, if I magnified enough to see the staves, the notes were heads were preposterously large. On the other hand, if I made the noteheads comfortable to see, I could not find the staff nor the note stems. So, my guess that magnification of score would require a rescaling where small elems receive more magnification than large, heavy ones. Not sure if this helps at all. Mario Lang writes:

...

Hi. To make a long story short, I recently gained the ability to make normal print into a tactile thing very easily. Now, I'd really like to have a short piece of music for getting an idea how this stuff normally looks... Of course not for playing or anything serious, its more a thing of interest. However, if I print out a straight A4 PostScript file generated by LilyPond, the resulting information density is soo high that I basically can not feel much difference between the individual notes, let along figure out their exact position vertically. What I'd like to do is to flip LilyPond output by 90 degree, and magnify it as much as possible, so that one system goes all the way along the long axis of an A4 paper. I've choosen Musette from www.MutopiaProject.org as my example piece since it normally fits on one A4 page, so I guess after my magnification it should probably take up 3 or 4 pages? Also, I know that tune in and out, so its surely a good way to getting a grasp of the system... I've tried all sorts of things like editing the LilyPond .latex files directly, switching to landscape mode and all that, but the result never really worked as I expected. Digging through all the PostScript postprocessor tools didn't help either. psresize can not flip, and psnup can not magnify and so on and so on. PLEASE, if anyone got an idea how I could accomplish this and still keep a fairly high resolution, please please let me know. P.S.: In case you're confused after reading this, I am blind, and tactile print is the only way for me to access graphical content right now. -- CYa, Mario

-- Janina Sajka Phone: +1.202.494.7040 Partner, Capital Accessibility LLC http://www.CapitalAccessibility.Com Chair, Accessibility Workgroup Free Standards Group (FSG) janina(a)freestandards.org http://a11y.org If Linux can't solve your computing problem, you need a different problem.

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Janina Sajka

4:06 p.m.

Hi, Mario: Now that I understand better what you're after, I would encourage you to consider my comments anew. I believe the same scaling problem pertains for a tactual representation of scored music. If you can scale the thinner elemements more than the larger and thicker ones, you will stand a better chance of success, imho. The eye, in other words, is capable of much finer detail, as well as greater contrast, than the hand. PS: I agree with you about getting a better understanding of the media representations used by most musicians. My memories of that definitely help my understanding of things musical. Mario Lang writes:

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Hi Janina. No, that doesnt help :-). Since I am not trying to actually read the result, I just want one tactile example for getting a feel about how visual music works. Again, I am not trying to read this with my eyes, just trying to get a representation I can touch. It sounds strange maybe, but experience taught me that it is very useful to have a grip on how the sighted world actually works with things. Janina Sajka <janina(a)rednote.net> writes:

It's not exactly what you're asking about, but maybe related. I'm recalling my experience when I was still low-vision with printed scores. I was never able to get satisfactory magnification results. The problem at the time was a matter of scaling, imho. The note heads (and other elems, like the two bars indicating 16ths) were heavy and large relative to fairly thin stave lines and note stems. So, if I magnified enough to see the staves, the notes were heads were preposterously large. On the other hand, if I made the noteheads comfortable to see, I could not find the staff nor the note stems. So, my guess that magnification of score would require a rescaling where small elems receive more magnification than large, heavy ones. Not sure if this helps at all. Mario Lang writes:

Hi. To make a long story short, I recently gained the ability to make normal print into a tactile thing very easily. Now, I'd really like to have a short piece of music for getting an idea how this stuff normally looks... Of course not for playing or anything serious, its more a thing of interest. However, if I print out a straight A4 PostScript file generated by LilyPond, the resulting information density is soo high that I basically can not feel much difference between the individual notes, let along figure out their exact position vertically. What I'd like to do is to flip LilyPond output by 90 degree, and magnify it as much as possible, so that one system goes all the way along the long axis of an A4 paper. I've choosen Musette from www.MutopiaProject.org as my example piece since it normally fits on one A4 page, so I guess after my magnification it should probably take up 3 or 4 pages? Also, I know that tune in and out, so its surely a good way to getting a grasp of the system... I've tried all sorts of things like editing the LilyPond .latex files directly, switching to landscape mode and all that, but the result never really worked as I expected. Digging through all the PostScript postprocessor tools didn't help either. psresize can not flip, and psnup can not magnify and so on and so on. PLEASE, if anyone got an idea how I could accomplish this and still keep a fairly high resolution, please please let me know. P.S.: In case you're confused after reading this, I am blind, and tactile print is the only way for me to access graphical content right now. -- CYa, Mario

-- Janina Sajka Phone: +1.202.494.7040 Partner, Capital Accessibility LLC http://www.CapitalAccessibility.Com Chair, Accessibility Workgroup Free Standards Group (FSG) janina(a)freestandards.org http://a11y.org If Linux can't solve your computing problem, you need a different problem.

-- CYa, Mario

-- Janina Sajka Phone: +1.202.494.7040 Partner, Capital Accessibility LLC http://www.CapitalAccessibility.Com Chair, Accessibility Workgroup Free Standards Group (FSG) janina(a)freestandards.org http://a11y.org If Linux can't solve your computing problem, you need a different problem.

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Mario Lang

2:45 p.m.

New subject: [linux-audio-user] Magnifying LilyPond output by using landscape mode?

Arnold Krille <arnold(a)roederberg.dyndns.org> writes:

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Without a solution for your problem: On Tuesday 22 March 2005 17:58, Mario Lang wrote:

P.S.: In case you're confused after reading this, I am blind, and tactile print is the only way for me to access graphical content right now.

How are you doing this? With a matrix printer? Is the cardridge still inside and filled, or are your printouts invisible for non-tactile persons? (Basic encryption ;-) )

No, I use a Picture In A Flash by Quantech: http://www.quantech.com.au/products/quantum_products/tactile/piaf.htm You use a special type of paper, print on it with a normal laser printer (or write on it with a pencil and some special ink) and put it through the PIAF later. Its really a hyper-cool thing! -- CYa, Mario

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Mario Lang

6:40 p.m.

New subject: [linux-audio-user] Magnifying LilyPond output by using landscape mode?

Arnold Krille <arnold(a)roederberg.dyndns.org> writes:

...

On Tuesday 22 March 2005 19:45, Mario Lang wrote:

Arnold Krille <arnold(a)roederberg.dyndns.org> writes:

Without a solution for your problem: On Tuesday 22 March 2005 17:58, Mario Lang wrote:

P.S.: In case you're confused after reading this, I am blind, and tactile print is the only way for me to access graphical content right now.

How are you doing this? With a matrix printer? Is the cardridge still inside and filled, or are your printouts invisible for non-tactile persons? (Basic encryption ;-) )

No, I use a Picture In A Flash by Quantech: http://www.quantech.com.au/products/quantum_products/tactile/piaf.htm You use a special type of paper, print on it with a normal laser printer (or write on it with a pencil and some special ink) and put it through the PIAF later. Its really a hyper-cool thing!

Crazy. Just to give perhaps others a way of reproducing your results/tests without such possibly expensive machines: Would it work with a matrix printer?

No. You can buy a PIAF for about $1000 or so. -- CYa, Mario

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Michal Seta

29 Mar 29 Mar

11:06 a.m.

Hi Mario, Sorry for this late reply, I don't know if you managed to find a solution to your problem. Many, many aspects of the score layout and appearance can be controlled directly via the lilypond syntax and/or the scheme scripting API. I am not a lilypond guru but since no one seems to have tackled this problem, here's my stub at it (I have not checked whether you asked on lilypond mailing list). I attach the musette file, slightly edited. Note that I run a 2.4.2 version of lilpond. I had to run convert-ly on the original. Here is a list of changes I did to the file in order to make it output larger staff on a landscape a4: 1. global staff size. It could be anything, I set it to 26 but you could probably go much higher (I did try 48 and had about 2 measures per page); this is the Feta font size so everything will be adjusted proportianlly. This is probably the place where you can play with the size at will. #(set-global-staff-size 26) 2. I set manual page breaks (\pageBreak markup) but I just added them where \break (as for line-break) markup was. You can use it at will and you don't need the \break. \pageBreak implies a line-break. 3. I changed linewidth to 24cm \layout{ linewidth = 24.0 \cm } 4. And lastly, added \paper block \paper { #(set-paper-size "a4" 'landscape) } Many of the score elements can be controlled independently, though. noteheads, line spacing, stem thinkness, whatver you can think of, can be controlled it's just a matter of getting used to the system. Hope this helps. ./MiS

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