I have sent this to Dustin via email, but I thought it might be interesting to see if anyone has found solutions to some of these things, or if you agree that some of them are issues that you would like to see resolved.
I think Dustin and team do a great job of getting most of our practical suggestions into the program...it is nice to feel that we have an actual say in the way the program functions. Sigh...it would be nice if Finale did the same. They just keep getting worse and worse with customer service and upgrades.
Anyhow, here are mine:
Suggestions, Bugs, Etc.
Pace Tool
When using the double-time feature, the "double time" seems to occur one half beat before the downbeat for which it is designated. Also?it might be nice to have a ?triple time? option for those pieces where I sometimes have people traveling in a slow one while others travel at a fast three.
Adjuster Editing Tool
This is a fantastic tool, and one that I use often to approximate my drill moves, pull people away from forms in the manner I desire, etc. There needs to be a shortcut key for it, as there are for the other tools. Currently there isn't even an option for a shortcut in the shortcuts editor (unless it is being called something else). In Finale, hitting the ESC key brings up a selector tool that allows you to select everything?.very handy. Maybe the ESC could do the same in Pyware by calling up the Adjuster tool?
Prop Tool
A few preset shapes in the prop tool would be very helpful. Some very basic suggestions: A square, a rectangle (long ways and short ways), triangles, and circles. It would be best if these props were three-dimenstional and resizeable, but at this point, any preset props would be helpful. It is difficult to create shapes in other programs that will be 100% compatible with Pyware.
Labels and Figurines.
The ability to change labels for a few counts is great...this allows me to change -for example- a rifle into a flag for several sets. Now...it would be even better if I could change the figurines for those counts as well. Perhaps...and this is a reach, admittedly...would it be possible to incorporate the Figurine editor into the label editor? I mean, think about it...when I go to set up my labels and symbols, I use the Label Tool...here is where I number my players. If I could also assign them a figurine at the same time, that would save a lot of time. You could still have the cast editor feature (since I assume some people actually enter their player's names for the purposes of dot books), but it would also be nice to have this option at the Label tool. Also...and now I am shooting for the moon...the ability to decide which direction the players are facing (and maybe even incorporate turns!) would be icing on the cake. For example...I write for some groups where the band has a very different look when they are facing backfield (because of the back of their jacket). If this could be duplicated in the animation, it would be perfection.
Page Tabs
Double clicking on the page tabs currently pulls up some options for the page tab?it would be great if I could also enter the Page Tab information while I am here. That way, I could do everything in one fell swoop, muahahaha?er, yeah.
Arrow Tool
Can the arrow head be filled in, perhaps? A solid black arrowhead would print it out nicely. Also I sometimes find myself wishing there were more editing handles so I could make the arrow curve around more (for example, in follow-the-leader drills). Also, if the actual line were a bit thicker, the arrow would not get ?lost? in the yardlines, as sometimes happens.
Text Box Tool
I still would like some control over which fonts I use in the text boxes. For example?Lucida Grande is used for the label numbers?.I think it would look fantastic in a text box, and would much rather have that for text boxes.
Also?as of Version 4.2, the Edit Template/Add to Templates feature is not working.
Curve Tool
Actually, this could be used in any tool that allows you to select the "Delete Overlaps" option. It would be nice if the software "automatically compensated" for the deletions. For example, if I have a curve of 15 players that I want to "attach" to two existing endpoints, I have to select the "delete overlaps" option, but if I don't put "17" in the performer numbers box, it will leave out two players.
Count Editor
Ctrl-Clicking on the count track could bring up the Count Editor?or perhaps double clicking on it (when the page tab feature is not activated).
Fonts
The ability to use different fonts within one document would be freaking fantastic. As it is right now, unless I am deceived, I cannot use the PyJava font (from which I use the dot and the Flag symbols) as well as the Pyware Dot Font key (which bears a suspicious resemblance to the old Drillquest font) from which I use the square diagonal box thing and the cylon raider ship-looking symbol.
Miscellaneous
The option to get rid of the set and count numbers on the upper right hand side would be nice. Most of the time, this information is redundant to what I have already inserted on the left hand side (via the Page Tab Editor). I am sure it is useful to a lot of people, but the option to blank this area out would be much appreciated to avoid confusion.
There seems to be an awful lot of wasted space at the bottom of a letter-sized page. Perhaps the field grid could be moved down a little so that it fits more neatly in the middle of the page?
In the Individual coordinate sheets, a lot of space is wasted by adding ?high school? at the end of every instance of the word ?hash.? This should be removed in the coordinate sheets.
The ability to have an ?autosave? feature would save me a lot of headaches.
Big Master List of Suggestions
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