The Spray The Fire unit is a low-cost, hobbyist flame projector that can be controlled by any of the DMX-capable firing systems, such as Piroshow, Pyromac, PyroSure, fireTEK, Cobra, and Mongoose.
Figure 1 – Spray The Fire
Triggering a flame effect requires two DMX channels — an ON/OFF ignition channel and a fuel channel. Both channels are contained in the DMX personality of the fixture at defined offsets relative to the DMX Channel Base of the fixture.
Table 1 – DMX channels
| DMX Channel | Meaning | Effect in Finale 3D that controls channel |
| Channel 1 (DMX Channel Base + 0) | Ignition (0 = OFF, 255 = ON) | Part numbers GFX1501 – GFX1518 |
| Channel 2 (DMX Channel Base + 1) | Fuel (255 = max) | Part numbers GFX1501 – GFX1518 |
Instructions
To design a show for Spray The Fire units, please follow these steps:
- Set up. (A) Follow the flame set up instructions in the Flame systems basic instructions and Exporting a firing system script for flame systems. Depending on your DMX controller, you may choose to give each Spray The Fire unit its own DMX universe, or give each Spray The Fire unit a channel range in a shared DMX universe. (B) In the real world configure each physical Spray The Fire unit’s “Start Address” to be the start of the channel range you allocate for it — a range of two channels that doesn’t overlap with any another fixture. (C) In Finale 3D configure the “DMX Channel Base” of the fixture to match the Start Address exactly.
- Add flame effects to the show. Right-click on the Spray The Fire positions to add compatible effects from the context menu or to filter the effects window to compatible effects.
- Make your own, or modify existing flame effects. The Spray The Fire effects come in a few example durations in Generic Effects, but you can also create your own variations that have arbitrary durations. (A) First copy the original effect by selecting the effect row in the Generic Effects, then right-click copy (or control-C). (B) Then paste into your My Effects or any of your other effects collections. (C) After copying it to your own inventory, you can modify its parameters. Simply edit the duration field to change its duration. The 3D simulation and the DMX Patch will automatically incorporate your change. You can also adjust the height field to change the height of the flame simulation, though doing so has no bearing on the exported DMX script.
Choosing the DMX channel ranges for fixtures
Each Spray The Fire fixture requires two channels, so if you are putting multiple fixtures in the same DMX Universe, you need to set the Start Address on the fixture in the real world and the corresponding DMX Channel Base on the fixture in Finale 3D to a range of channels that doesn’t overlap with others. A DMX universe has channels 1-512. If you want to pack as many fixtures into the 512 channels of a DMX universe as you can, back-to-back ranges are the most efficient. Some DMX firing systems only support 50 or 100 channels, so you may not have all 512 channels to work with.
Table 2 – Example channel ranges for Spray The Fire fixtures in a DMX universe
| Fixture | DMX Channel Base | Channels Used |
| 1 | 1 | 1-2 |
| 2 | 3 | 3-4 |
| 3 | 5 | 5-6 |
| 4 | 7 | 7-8 |
| 5 | 9 | 9-10 |
| 6 | 11 | 11-12 |
| 7 | 13 | 13-14 |
| 8 | 15 | 15-16 |
| 9 | 17 | 17-18 |
| 10 | 19 | 19-20 |
| … | ||
| 256 | 511 | 511-512 |
Table 3 – Example files and downloads
| Download link | Explanation |
| spray-the-fire-user-manual | Spray The Fire user manual |