Adding ossia (or any image) to a workspace

• Feb 17, 2021 - 20:12

Hi. I followed the instructions here: https://musescore.org/en/node/46226

No problem at all creating/placing the ossia image above the score.

However, the last step that says you can press control-shift and drag that ossia image to any user workspace (in the palettes) just doesn't work for me. (Using the Mac version 3.6.2)

Can someone explain how to do this? Thanks. I've attached the simple score with ossia.

David

Attachment Size
Ossia_test.mscz 167.28 KB

Comments

• Feb 17, 2021 - 20:39

Hi, Marc. Thanks for your fast reply. No, I've tried control, option, command, shift, and every combination of those.

When I press any of those keys (or none of them) and drag the ossia image over the palette, it simply drags it "under" the palette (out of view). You can see from the attached screenshot what is happening as I drag it.

Ideas?

Attachment Size
Ossia image not going into workspace.png 50.89 KB

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• Feb 17, 2021 - 21:12

If you do it right, the first sign of success should be the cursor changing to a plus, and the original element staying where it is. This is the sign that you've actually made a copy of the element and are now dragging that.

I know plenty of Mac users manage to customize their palettes, so it's got to be possible. Be sure to press and hold Cmd+Shift before you click to start the drag, that much isn't Mac-specific.

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• Feb 17, 2021 - 21:26

Marc, I found the issue. Perhaps this can be addressed in an update?...

On a Mac, you need to hold down command + shift, then click & drag the ossia image onto the workspace.

A large green "+" symbol appears in the workspace, but no image can be seen (that is, the workspace area onto which you hover over will not show the image).

When you release the mouse, you still cannot see the ossia image, but it's there! Please see the screenshot.

The "blank" space in the lower left of this workspace appears to be empty. However it actually contains the entire ossia image (that is above the staff). If I click on any note and then double-click on that "blank" square, the image appears above the note, proving it's there.

If I go into the Palette Properties, and scale it down to very tiny (0.20), then you can see a very tiny rendition of the image (of course, all the other symbols are so small that they are now unreadable). Please see the other attached screenshot.

Can this be fixed?

Thanks!

Attachment Size
palette appears empty, but it's not.png 5.98 KB
reduced scale to 0.20 to see.png 15.12 KB

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• Feb 18, 2021 - 17:30

Hi, Marc. Yes, and no – but you've found the problem...

When you create the snapshot (camera) of your passage to use for the ossia, then you drag it from your Desktop (or whatever folder) onto a note or measure, MuseScore automatically adds an offset to it in the Inspector.

Then if you move the ossia around to be exactly where you want it above a note, of course it's offset in the Inspector changes.

Now when you drag that image onto the workspace, it's offset "goes with it," and of course makes it disappear from the palette.

So, the workaround is this:

  1. Create the snapshot first & save to your computer
  2. Drag the snapshot approximately where you want it on your score
  3. Set the offset in the Inspector to 0
  4. Drag the snapshot onto your palette
  5. Now drag the snapshot to the exact location you want in your music

Shouldn't it be possible to have MuseScore automatically set the offset to 0 when you drag the snapshot onto the palette?

In other words, yes – the offset is the problem,
but no – I didn't change it manually; MuseScore did, and it retained that offset when dragging it to the palette.

Thanks for looking in to this. I think this is a behavior of this (wonderful) function that should be changed to make this an easier process.

David

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• Feb 18, 2021 - 17:33

P.S. And, until (or if) this behavior can be changed in MuseScore, the manual page for this should be updated to explain the workaround as I described above so that others don't run into this "disappearing" snapshot due to MuseScore retaining the offset when dragging to the palette. Thanks.

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• Feb 18, 2021 - 19:31

Drag & drop drops at the location where you drop it, there would only be an offset if you released in some area that was close enough to the target element to detect where you are dropping, but far enough to involve a significant offset. I think the reason you are seeing this is you are dropping onto a measure rather than onto a specific note or rest as one normally would when using drag & drop. In the usual case or a note or rest, you don't get an offset. But for ossia, it is better indeed to use the measure.

But I'm unclear also why you are saving to your computer, or using drag & drop. The normal way to use image capture would be to simply Ctrl+C to copy, Ctrl+V to paste. No save, no drag, and it's added directly to the selected note/rest with no offset. but, if you do for some reason need to resort to saveing and then dragging & dropping, you can use Ctrl+R to reset the offset more easily than using the Inspector.

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• Feb 18, 2021 - 20:48

Hi, Marc. Thanks for the help.

I don't understand what you mean by drag/drop in this case – I'm following the instructions exactly (on the ossia page I linked above). How would you use command-C (Mac) to copy?

Steps 3–6 (in the manual page above) are:

  1. Toggle image capture mode (the camera icon);
  2. Draw a selection rectangle around the ornament explanation:
  3. Right-click on the selection and, from the menu, chose "Save As (screenshot mode)"; For best results and same resolution as the normal score, use 360 DPI.
  4. From where the file is saved, drag and drop to just above the relevant measure

Step 5 asks for a place on your disk to store the screenshot.

Instead of choosing "Save As (screenshot mode)" per the directions, I choose Copy (from the camera menu), then click off the camera icon, then click on the note where I want the ossia to appear, then paste it, the ossia image is placed below the note, not above it. At this point, true, the offsets are both 0. (screenshot attached)

If I press command-shift at this time and drag it to the palette, it is visible.

However, if I first move the ossia snapshot above the staff where it should belong, of course the offset changes. If I then press command-shift to move it to the palette, it is once again invisible.

So (at least from the dozens of experiments I've made over two days), whether you use this copy/paste method, or the save-to-disk method that is described in the MuseScore manual, unless the X/Y offsets are at 0, then the image will be invisible in the palette.

Can you replicate these steps on a PC? I'm on a Mac, and that's certainly how it works (or doesn't work!) here.

This is why I suggested that it would be useful to update the online manual for that section because, as worded, the image will be invisible. And the manual doesn't mention this copy/paste method using the camera.

Thanks again for all your time and effort on this amazing program, and for helping so many people!

David

Attachment Size
Ossia placement with copy:paste on a note.png 35.5 KB

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• Feb 18, 2021 - 22:42

I'm not sure which page you are looking at, but I gather you mean the "how to" article you referenced before?
That seems quite old, was probably written before before the image capture supported the clipboard. But the actual official Handbook page explaining how to use the image capture function definitely explains how copy works: click the tool, select the region, right-click and copy to copy to clipboard (but Cmd+C works too). Then leave the tool, click your destination, and Cmd+V to paste it - simple as that. At no time should you need to resort to saving files or drag & drop just to paste the image within a score. That would be needed only to save images from MsueScore use in other programs, or conversely to import images created in other programs.

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• Feb 18, 2021 - 22:45

But yes, as I said, if you plan to try to add the ossia to a palette, best to do so while it has a zero offset, for the reason I explained. They don't have to be zero, but they need to be small enough that it's still within the palette cell.

Again, I'm not sure which Handbook page you would want to update - the one for palette customization maybe? But also it certainly makes sense to update the "how to" article. Those aren't official documentation, just user-provided articles, but you should be able to edit either yourself.

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• Feb 18, 2021 - 23:45

After your explanation and lots of experimentation, I understand that the offsets need to be zero (or very nearly!) prior to dragging an ossia onto the palette.

I'm referring to the Handbook page: https://musescore.org/en/node/46226 (not to the "How To's").

If one follows those instructions (as users will), Step 6 says to drag the image to above the staff, right? But by doing so, the x,y offset will of course change – enough that if you then (following the same instructions) drag the image to the palette, you won't see it.

So, my suggestion is that these instructions should be modified to say that prior to dragging the image to the palette, set the offsets to 0, then drag into the palette, then go back and put the ossia above the measure. This works every time.

So, is this a page I can update myself? Thanks.

David

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• Feb 18, 2021 - 23:50

The page in your link is a "how to", see the header at the top of the page?

Either way, as I said, if you feel a Handbook or How to page could benefit from an update, go for it - it's all open source! Click the "..." menu to get started.

I will observe that probably for most people. ossia are a one-tim thing, not something they'd ever add to a palette. I mean, each ossia is different usually, or it's not something you'd need an ossia for. So I'm happy to see that detail at the end where it won't derail the process for the majority of users - it won't be relevant to most.

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