Vertical Collision Remover Plug-in

How to get there

Choose Plug-ins > Scoring and Arranging > Vertical Collision Remover. This plug-in will process the entire document unless a region is selected with the Selection tool, in which case changes will be applied to all systems in the selected region (including partially selected systems).

What it does

This plug-in allows you to automatically reformat the vertical positioning of staves, systems, and instrument groups to avoid collision of notes, articulations, Smart Shapes and other items. This plug-in can also be used to manually adjust the vertical spacing of systems, instrument groups, and staves both in conjunction with the automatic collision remover options, or independently. This plug-in is particularly useful after switching to Page View after creating a document in Scroll or Studio View - where it is difficult to predict where these vertical collisions will occur.

Noteman says: For files with only one system per page, this plug-in will not expand the system beyond the bottom page margin. If the desired collision removal and spacing between staves cannot be achieved, you may need to change your system scaling or increase your page size.

The speed of this plug-in depends on the size and complexity of the score as many calculations are processed to account for the position of every score element.

  • Process Entire Document• Process Systems __ Through __. Choose Process Entire Document to apply changes to all pages in the document. Choose Process Systems _ Through _, and in the text boxes, enter the first and last system number for the region you would like to change. (Hint: To display system numbers to the left of each system, choose the Page layout Tool).
  • Remove Vertical Collisions. Check this box to find collisions of notes, articulations, Smart Shapes, Expressions, lyrics, chords, fretboards, and repeat brackets between staves, and adjust the vertical staff and system formatting so that the items no longer collide. (This command can be used in conjunction with the Balance White Space command so that the white space created by this function is more evenly distributed on the page.)
  • Minimum Space Between Closest Items on Adjacent Staves __ • [Tighter/Looser slider]. Use these controls to specify the minimum amount of space to introduce between colliding items. In the text box, you can provide the specific amount of vertical space required between elements. Or, click and drag the slider to specify this value. The units are whatever you’ve specified under Finale > Measurement Units.
  • Balance White Space; Overall Space Between Systems __ • Instrument Groups __ • Other Staves __ • [Tighter/Looser sliders] • Do Not Change. Check this box to specify the (minimum) amount of space between systems, groups and/or other staves. Systems/groups/staves will be spaced to the values specified here unless extra space is required due to the value specified for Minimum Space Between Closest Items on Adjacent Staves above. “Balance” here refers to the use of these commands in conjunction with the Remove Vertical Collisions command, which can yield inconsistent spacing if, for example, there are severe collisions between some systems on a page and not others. Use these controls to regulate inconsistent spacing by choosing a value closer to the greatest amount of space required by the Minimum Space Between Closest Items on Adjacent Staves setting.

    In the text boxes, provide the specific amount of vertical space required between systems, instrument groups, or staves. Or, click and drag the slider to specify these values. The units are whatever you’ve specified under Finale > Measurement Units. Check Do Not Change to maintain existing spacing for systems, instrument groups, or other staves (controls for that item will be grayed out). If the active document contains only one staff per system, only the Systems controls will be available. If the active document contains two or more staves per system, but no instrument groups, the Instrument Groups controls will not be available.

  • Total System Height; Minimize • Try To Keep Existing • Change As Needed. Use these controls to specify the degree to which you want this plug-in to adjust the total system height (from the top staff in the system to the bottom staff). Select Minimize to move adjacent staves in a system so that the two closest items are set to the minimum distance specified in the Remove Vertical Collisions field, even if there are no collisions between staves. Select Try to Keep Existing to move some staves in a system farther apart to remove collisions - it will compensate by moving other staves closer together to maintain the same overall system height. Select Change to move staves as required to meet the specifications in Remove Vertical Collisions and Balance White Space. This is the default setting.
  • Can Be Decreased • Can Be Increased. Uncheck one of these boxes to prevent the plug-in from increasing or decreasing system height, even if that is required to meet the spacing specified in Remove Vertical Collisions and Balance White Space.
  • Keep Number of Systems on Each Page. If the new spacing changes the layout such that fewer systems can fit on a page, this plug-in will move systems to the next page as needed. Similarly, if the new spacing allows more systems to fit on a page, it will move systems to the previous page. If “Keep Number of Systems On Each Page” is checked, it will not move systems, even if this means allowing collisions to remain. If space does not allow removing collisions with keeping the same number of systems on the page, you may need to change your system scaling or increase your page size.