Re: Lyric line's vertical position is shifting from one staff system to the next.

[dfro]

On 6/7/18 5:19 PM, Thomas Morley wrote:
> 2018-06-07 20:15 GMT+02:00 dfro <address@hidden>:
>
> > It seems like Verses2, 3, and 4 are looking down when using the padding
> > variable. How can I get them to look up to the verses and staff above? The
> > command - \override VerticalAxisGroup.staff-affinity = #UP - does not change
> > the looking down behavior for the padding variable.
> As a general rule: all vertical spacing is done looking down.
>
> For  something like
>
> staff1
> lyrics1
> lyrics2
> lyrics3
> lyics4
> staff2
>
> looking down for spacing is sufficient, isn't it?
>
> There is one exception (more for conveniance, I believe):
> Under certain conditions `nonstaff-relatedstaff-spacing' looks up.
> Read NR about it.
>
> I know you did already, but spacing is very complicated, I still read
> it my self again and again.
> Sometimes I think we made it too complex.
> Ok, withdraw "sometimes"...
>
> Anyway, in the following example I do have full control about any
> spacing, I believe.
>
> lst =
> #'((basic-distance . 0)
>     (minimum-distance . 0)
>     (padding . 10)
>     (stretchability . 0))
>
> \new ChoirStaff <<
>      \new Staff
>        { c''1 }
>      \new Lyrics
>        \with {
>          \override VerticalAxisGroup.nonstaff-relatedstaff-spacing = \lst
>          \override VerticalAxisGroup.nonstaff-nonstaff-spacing = \lst
>        }
>        \lyricmode { "lyr1" }
>      \new Lyrics
>        \with {
>          \override VerticalAxisGroup.nonstaff-nonstaff-spacing = \lst
>        }
>        \lyricmode { "lyr2" }
>      \new Lyrics
>        \with {
>          \override VerticalAxisGroup.nonstaff-nonstaff-spacing = \lst
>        }
>        \lyricmode { "lyr3" }
>      \new Lyrics
>        \with {
>          \override VerticalAxisGroup.nonstaff-unrelatedstaff-spacing = \lst
>        }
>        \lyricmode { "lyr4" }
>
>      \new Staff { c''1 }
>
> Cheers,
>    Harm


Harm,
Eureka! I get it! Thank you for your generous and kind assistance.

In my humble opinion, I think the direction that nonstaff elements are 
looking is a very important foundational concept that should be included 
in the Notation Reference documentation, the Internal Reference, and 
perhaps even the Learning Manual, and some snippets could be added to 
the Snippets Library (like the beautiful one you wrote in this email). I 
would also like to suggest that the ability to choose which direction 
nonstaff items are looking could be added to future versions of 
LilyPond. Perhaps, there could be an UP/BOTH/DOWN setting that modifies 
the behavior of which way the VerticalAxisGroup properties are looking, 
i.e.:

\override VerticalAxisGroup.nonstaff-nonstaff-spacing-direction = #UP

If the concepts are explained clearly in the (wonderful!) documentation, 
then I think this added complexity and functionality would actually 
reduce confusion. Of course, take or leave. However, I think confused 
nobodies, like me, can be a good resource for finding ways to make this 
software more elegant. I have had some of my greatest musical insights 
trying to explain music to beginners.

Peace,
David