10-23-2015, 12:19 AM (This post was last modified: 10-23-2015, 12:21 AM by Harper.)
After the update, I'm getting some strange lines showing up on some (but not all) of my tunes. It doesn't show up on every page of a tune, it's usually on the left side of the page, but occasionally I see it on the right side.
The screenshots I've attached for some reason don't capture the blue tinge these lines have. Not as dark or thick as crop lines. Also where there is a darkened area from poor scanning (bottom left of the second attachment), that area now has that blue tinge on it.
On the positive side, my tunes are no longer upside down!
Same here - if they are indeed the same lines..?
For some of my scores (but not all), a thin line (black, in my case) appears around the entire page. As far as I can see, or guess, the line marks the border for a theoretical auto-crop, as it follows the edge of the printed music quite closely. The line is not visible in other pdf readers.
This is probably separate issue, but I am seeing a sort of a dash (and maybe an extra space between songs) in song lists (and, I think set lists and collections).
Harper, do you have the sharpening feature turned on? Another user reported a problem with that that I'm looking into. If not, can you send one of the problematic PDFs to mike@zubersoft.com so I can investigate? I may have to report an issue to the company that makes the PDF library if it's out of my control. They usually fix issues like that in a day, which is great.
Jeff, the "-" that you are seeing under the titles is based upon the caption format that is currently used. If you go to Settings->Library Settings->Song Title Formatting, you will see that the caption format is "%ARTISTS% - %ALBUMS%". If you don't have either of those defined, then only the dash is displayed. If you don't like this, you can uncheck "Show Caption" or you can choose a different caption format. The old behavior tried to detect when fields were missing and automatically displayed nothing in that case. If you want to go back to that behavior, you have to change the caption format to something a little more complex, namely:
%ARTISTS:${VALUE}${ALBUMS: - ${VALUE}}|${ALBUMS}%
This states, "If the song has something for artists, then display that value followed by a dash if albums is defined, otherwise nothing. If no artists are defined, but albums are, just display those". The reason this change was made is that previously, there were situations where it was difficult to tell what value was present. If a song has only one value below it, you don't know if that's an artist or an album. If you look at pages 20 and 21 of the manual, you can see more information on creating complex format strings.
Mike, I never use sharpening so I don't thing that's the issue, altho I do admit, several of my tunes don't look nearly as sharp as they use to . They tend to be the ones that weren't the best scans but there is still a noticeable difference. Almost like the font doesn't look as "thick" or as strong ....if that makes any sense
I've tried emailing a copy of the pdf to me from MSP via share. This is not a feature I generally use so I sent it to myself first before I send it on to you. I get the email but there is no pdf attached even tho I know it was attached it before I sent it. Am I doing something wrong?
10-23-2015, 10:59 AM (This post was last modified: 10-23-2015, 11:00 AM by Zubersoft.)
There is a bug with the share feature that another user brought to my attention. I have a fix in place, but I'm gathering additional bug fixes before I push out a release.
As far as things not looking at sharp, it sounds like it's just a font issue. Do the PDFs use an embedded font, or do they rely on the OS having the font? It's possible the new PDF library is having to use a different font than what the PDF is asking for.
These are just scans that have printed as pdfs. No fonts are defined. I guess I could try re-importing them to see if that's any better
Meanwhile, how would you like me to get you the pdf you requested. Since I can't share it, I could only pull the original file from the MSP file directory, not the one seen onscreen in MSP. I know theoretically they should be the same but I'm not sure that's what you want.
If you pull the file from the MSP file directory, that's fine. You can also select the song and do a Share->Export Files and then send me the exported file from the output directory you select.
As for the image quality, it's possible that the old PDF renderer created a higher resolution image. The new renderer is definitely faster though.
(10-23-2015, 02:11 PM)Zuberman Wrote: As for the image quality, it's possible that the old PDF renderer created a higher resolution image. The new renderer is definitely faster though.
Mike
How fast does the rendering have to be? I don't have any problems with the one in the old version and I would hate to trade quality for a speed increase I don't need. Many of my PDF's (made by other people) are not of the highest quality to start with and any further degradation could be a problem.
I have yet to upgrade to the new version, I have a heavy playing schedule at the moment and I would not like to be experiencing any of the bugs I have seen reported. The inability to roll back to an earlier version is a definite worry for me.
Graeme
1: Samsung 12.2" SM-P900: Android 5.0.2
2: eSTAR GRAND HD Quad-Core 4G 10.2": Android 5.1
Going back to the old renderer is not an option I'm afraid. I have not seen any degradation in quality myself and I have been using the new renderer for many months. I have a beta installer if you want to try it out just to be sure.
To me, it looks a bit like these lines are from the original scan. Something on the back of the music showing through. I wonder if the new PDF renderer is displaying at a higher contrast making these more visible.
I find when doing the scan if I put a sheet of black card on top of the page I'm scanning it can stop this kind of "bleed through" of images from the back of the sheet. It might be worth trying this for one or two of the worst pages.
(10-23-2015, 04:17 PM)Zuberman Wrote: I have a beta installer if you want to try it out just to be sure.
I'd be only too happy to try out a new version, as long as there was no chance of any interaction with the version I'm currently runnning. MSP has become an invaluable tool for me and I don't want to take any risk of corrupting it .
Unfortunately, I don't even have my backup tablet at the moment, as I've lent to someone so they could see what a great prgram MSP is.
Graeme
1: Samsung 12.2" SM-P900: Android 5.0.2
2: eSTAR GRAND HD Quad-Core 4G 10.2": Android 5.1
(10-23-2015, 07:50 PM)AndyL Wrote: To me, it looks a bit like these lines are from the original scan. Something on the back of the music showing through. I wonder if the new PDF renderer is displaying at a higher contrast making these more visible.
Andy, yes, I'd bet it has something to do with the bleed through too but the lines cover more real estate than just the bleed thru area. The lines are actually displaying as blue on the screen when the bleed thrus are shades of gray.
Unfortunately I don't always have the ability to re-scan the original since I don't have it.
10-23-2015, 11:26 PM (This post was last modified: 10-23-2015, 11:30 PM by Harper.)
(10-23-2015, 03:06 PM)GraemeJ Wrote: I have yet to upgrade to the new version, I have a heavy playing schedule at the moment and I would not like to be experiencing any of the bugs I have seen reported. The inability to roll back to an earlier version is a definite worry for me.
Graeme,
I am concerned about how my less than wonderful scans will show up in the future. If a lighter rendering will be the norm, in the future, I will have to adjust my scanning techniques to make the fonts darker to compensate. I've had an especially difficult time with a couple tunes I have since the update. They are not great scans to begin with but they were readable. Now there are a lot of areas where the staves or the notes are now very light and extremely hard to read...especially if you were performing. Don't know how they'd look in a white on black mode which I know you use.
Unfortunately some of the pdf are given to me so I don't have the ability to re-scan at a darker setting.
You might want to take Mike up on his offer to try out the beta installer before you upgrade actually upgrade.
.