As an avid user or Dorico (and once Finale) I’ve always been fascinated by how music notation software handles engraving algorithmically. To bring music notation into Unity I’ve been working on a custom music notation layout engine. It parses MusicXML files (a standard exported by the leading music notation softwares), generates a layout based on various heuristics, and then renders each musical element as a Unity sprite. This paves the way for dynamic animations of note heads, custom fonts/styles and more.

The layout algorithm I designed is based on fundamental principles of engraving and considers:

Spacing: The distance between notes is based on the duration of the note and a custom spacing factor
Beaming: Optimal beam and stem angles are calculated based on the constituent notes
Chord clusters: Notes in a chord are assigned either to right or left hand of the stem for best readability
Accidentals: Horizontal space is allocated for accidentals to prevent overlap

Unity Notation Engine