The Sigma Services FireFly unit is a single or multi-head flame projector that can be controlled by any of the DMX-capable firing systems, such as Piroshow, Pyromac, PyroSure, fireTEK, Cobra, and Mongoose. The Standard Fixture IDs are 037 for the 4-head version, and 038 for the 8-head version.
Figure 1 – Sigma Services FireFly
Unlike fixed multi-head fixtures, the heads of the FireFly can be positioned independently. It is thus natural when designing a show visually in Finale 3D to represent each head as an independent fixture position, located and oriented however you want — while at the same time keeping all the heads as part of the same fixture in the exported DMX script.
The DMX personality of the FireFly organizes the channels for each head sequentially for each DMX attribute. In other words, for each attribute the DMX channel for head #2 is equal to the DMX channel for head #1 + 1; and the DMX channel for head #3 is equal to the DMX channel for head #1 + 2, etc. Thus, to keep all the heads of a FireFly as part of the same fixture in the exported DMX script, you simply need to assign the heads’ fixture positions to have the same DMX Universe and sequential DMX Channel Base numbers. The DMX Channel Base of head #1 is the DMX Channel Base for the entire fixture. The DMX Channel Base of head #2 is that number + 1, etc.
Normally, Finale 3D puts up warning dialogs if fixtures have overlapping channel ranges. The fixture definition for FireFly includes a special parameter “disableOverlappingChannelRangeWarnings” since what Finale 3D would perceive as overlapping channel ranges is actually your way of splitting up the channel range of the fixture into multiple fixture positions representing the heads.
Table 1 – DMX channels for 4CH fixture
| DMX Channel | Meaning | Effect in Finale 3D that controls channel |
| Channel 1 (DMX Channel Base + 0) | Head #1 ON/OFF (0-127 = OFF; 128-255 = ON) | Various part numbers in the range SGMA1000- SGMA1013 |
| Channel 2 (DMX Channel Base + 1) | Head #2 ON/OFF (0-127 = OFF; 128-255 = ON) | Various part numbers in the range SGMA1000- SGMA1013 |
| Channel 3 (DMX Channel Base + 2) | Head #3 ON/OFF (0-127 = OFF; 128-255 = ON) | Various part numbers in the range SGMA1000- SGMA1013 |
| Channel 4 (DMX Channel Base + 3) | Head #4 ON/OFF (0-127 = OFF; 128-255 = ON) | Various part numbers in the range SGMA1000- SGMA1013 |
| Channel 5 (DMX Channel Base + 4) | Head #1 arm and pilot light (0-127 = disarmed and pilot light off; 128-255 = armed and pilot light on) | SGMA1006 and SGMA1013 |
| Channel 6 (DMX Channel Base + 5) | Head #2 arm and pilot light (0-127 = disarmed and pilot light off; 128-255 = armed and pilot light on) | SGMA1006 and SGMA1013 |
| Channel 7 (DMX Channel Base + 6) | Head #3 arm and pilot light (0-127 = disarmed and pilot light off; 128-255 = armed and pilot light on) | SGMA1006 and SGMA1013 |
| Channel 8 (DMX Channel Base + 7) | Head #4 arm and pilot light (0-127 = disarmed and pilot light off; 128-255 = armed and pilot light on) | SGMA1006 and SGMA1013 |
Usage guidance from Sigma Services
- Do not leave the pilot flame on for more than 5 minutes at a time without a cool down to minimize temperature buildup.
- Try to arrange safety pilot periods of 45 seconds or longer, to avoid turning it on and off too frequently.
- Turn the pilot flame on 10 seconds before it is needed for an effect sequence.
- To ensure the gas valve fully opens, set flame durations to a minimum of 1/3 second.
The pilot flame is turned on by way of the “With Safety Channel And Pilot Flame” effect in Finale 3D, so in keeping with the manufacturer guidance you should insert safety channel effects for each head in Finale 3D approximately 10 seconds before effect sequences applying to the head; and adjust the durations of the safety channel effects to cover the periods of activity, aiming for periods of 45 seconds or longer with cool down periods in between.
On account of guidance item #4, the durations for the Standard Effects in Finale 3D for FireFly fixtures are longer than for other fixtures, beginning at 0.33 seconds instead of 0.1 seconds.
Pilot Light / Safety Channel effects
For the Sigma Services FireFly fixtures, Finale 3D treats the pilot light, arming, and safety channel functions as one and the same. Thus turning on the pilot light is the same thing as turning on the safety channel. The name of the effect is “FFLY8CH [038/0000] With Pilot Light / Safety Channel”.
Each head has its own pilot light, and thus each head, represented by its own position in Finale 3D configured as the fixture with the appropriate DMX Channel Base, needs its own “With Pilot Light / Safety Channel” effect to turn on its pilot light for its duration of operation. Since the fixture requires separate safety channels per head, Finale 3D does not provide a warning dialog for missing safety channel as it does for other simpler fixtures that only need a single safety channel.
Instructions
To design a show for Sigma Services FireFly units, please follow these steps:
- Set up. (A) Generally follow the flame set up instructions in the Flame systems basic instructions and Exporting a firing system script for flame systems except that for FireFly fixture you will create a separate fixture position for each head of the fixture, as described above. Depending on your DMX controller, you may choose to give each fixture its own DMX universe, or give each fixture a channel range in a shared DMX universe. (B) In the real world configure each physical fixture’s “Start Address” to be the start of the channel range you allocate for it. (C) In Finale 3D configure the “DMX Channel Base” of the fixture to match the Start Address exactly.
- Add the Assorted DMX supplier catalog to your Finale 3D account. Login to the finale3d.com website. At the top of the page, go to “My Account > Supplier Catalog Settings” (www.finale3d.com/supplier-catalogs-settings/). Find the Assorted DMX supplier catalog in the table, and turn the switch to ON. Then launch the Finale 3D application and synch to network. The Assorted DMX catalog will appear as one of the available collections in the effects window, which you can choose from the selector at the top of the window. This catalog contains effects for all types of Assorted fixtures currently supported in Finale 3D, together.
- Add flame effects to the show. (A) Right-click on the fixture positions to add compatible effects from the context menu or to filter the effects window to compatible effects.
Choosing the DMX channel ranges for fixtures
Each multi-head fixture requires twice the number of DMX channels as it has heads, 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 head #1 position of the fixture in Finale 3D to a range of channels that doesn’t overlap with others. Successive heads for the same fixture, represented by separate fixture positions in Finale 3D, should have the DMX Channel Base of the first head + n, where n is 0 for the first head, 1 for the second head, and so on.
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. Table 2 shows an example for 4-head fixtures. 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 4-head fixture
| Fixture | DMX Channel Base | Channels Used |
| 1 | 1 | 1-8 (the four positions representing the four heads having DMX Channel Base of 1, 2, 3, and 4) |
| 2 | 9 | 9-16 (the four positions representing the four heads having DMX Channel Base of 9, 10, 11, and 12) |
| 3 | 17 | 17-24 |
| 4 | 25 | 25-32 |
| 5 | 33 | 33-40 |
| 6 | 41 | 41-48 |
| 7 | 49 | 49-56 |
| 8 | 57 | 57-64 |
| 9 | 65 | 65-72 |
| 10 | 73 | 73-81 |
| … | ||
| 64 | 505 | 505-512 |
Taking a closer look at the 4-head fixture channel range example of Table 2, consider a possible plan that uses two fixtures in the first two ranges, from channel 1-17. Both fixtures have four heads, each represented as a fixture position in Finale 3D. The DMX Channel Bases of those eight heads are shown in Table 3.
Table 3 – Example DMX Channel Base for heads of two 4-head fixtures, back-to-back
| Head | DMX Channel Base | Specific Channels Used |
| Fixture 1, Head #1 | 1 | 1, 5 |
| Fixture 1, Head #2 | 2 | 2, 6 |
| Fixture 1, Head #3 | 3 | 3, 7 |
| Fixture 1, Head #4 | 4 | 4, 8 |
| Fixture 2, Head #1 | 9 | 9, 13 |
| Fixture 2, Head #2 | 10 | 10, 14 |
| Fixture 2, Head #3 | 11 | 11, 15 |
| Fixture 2, Head #4 | 12 | 12, 16 |
Table 4 – Example files and downloads
| Download link | Explanation |
| Firefly Manual with Four Channel Control_Revision 00_05_16_2017.pdf | Sigma Services FireFly user manual |
| test-show-3-x-4-channel-sigma-fixtures.fin | Example show |