To create and export a pyro or DMX script for the Pyrotronix firing system, please follow these steps:

1. Address the show (“Addressing > Address show”) and select one of the PTX2 module types for the PTX C4 controller or the other options for older controllers that imported CSV-style scripts.  All PTX2 module types support both pyro and DMX.
2. Export the script (“File > Export > Export firing scripts…“).

Step 2 creates the script file, which has the “PTX2” extension.  The file format details are described in this section.

Figure 1 – Pyrotronix firing system master

DMX overview

The Pyrotronix system supports DMX fixtures by triggering pre-programmed or user-created presets on the controller.  Please refer to your PTX C4 instructions for creating presets, and then create effect libraries to match your presets in Finale 3D as described below.  The DMX instructions for scripting in Finale 3D ( DMX basic instructions ) do apply but there are two differences for Pyrotronix, since the script exported from Finale 3D will contain only the triggers for pre-programmed presets and not the actual DMX channel data that implement the effects according to the fixture’s DMX personality.

The two differences are: (1) you need to create your own effect libraries in Finale 3D to match your presets (except for the Explo X2 Wave Flamer, for which the effects in Finale 3D‘s pre-defined Generic Effects effect library match the pre-defined presets in the Pyrotronix PTX C4 controller already), and (2) you need to configure DMX fixture positions in Finale 3D as “<Any fixture type>” from the DMX Fixture Type selector after right clicking the positions and doing “Configure position as DMX fixture” from the context menu (except for the Explo X2 Wave Flamer, which you can select instead if desired).

Table 1 – File format and encoding

Structure of PTX2 script file

The PTX2 script file contains three sections: project, DMX devices, and ignition data, as shown in the example file in Figure 2.   As exported from Finale 3D, the first section of the script, the project section, is the text:

[Project]
version=1.0
type=IN

The last line is either “type=IN” for a script with individual events or “type=SQ” for a script with sequences.  See the Sequences row in Table 2, below, for further details.

The second section, the DMX devices section, contains a mapping of “Device Name” to “Device Type” and “DMX Channel Base”.  The Device Type is defined by the Category field of the DMX effect in Finale 3D, and must match the Device Type of the pre-programmed presets in the Pyrotronix controller exactly.  The DMX Channel Base is defined by the DMX Channel Base field of the positions in Finale 3D, once they are configured as DMX fixtures.  The Device Name is constructed synthetically from the Device Type and DMX Channel Base trivially by concatenating them together with a space in between.

The syntax of the rows is simply <Device Name>=<Device Type>@<DMX Channel Base>.  This DMX devices section is only present if the script contains DMX events.

[DMX devices]
Explo X2 Wave Flamer 1=Explo X2 Wave Flamer@1
Explo X2 Wave Flamer 7=Explo X2 Wave Flamer@7
Explo X2 Wave Flamer 13=Explo X2 Wave Flamer@13

The third section contains the ignition data and DMX preset triggers, intermixed and sorted by event time.

[Ignition data]
1;A;2760;1020;1;1;;Red Chrysanthemum;
2;A;3760;1020;2;1;;Red Chrysanthemum;
3;A;4760;1020;3;1;;Red Chrysanthemum;
4;A;10000;2400;DMX;;;Explo X2 Wave Flamer 1:PRG31;
5;A;11000;2400;DMX;;;Explo X2 Wave Flamer 7:PRG31;
6;A;12000;2400;DMX;;;Explo X2 Wave Flamer 13:PRG31;

The ignition data fields are described in Table 3:

Table 2 – Special characteristics

Each ignition row in the ignition rows section of the script contains a number of fields separated by the semicolon character.  The names of the fields and their descriptions are in following table.

Table 4 – Specifications of ignition row fields

The example script shown in Figure 2 is also available for download in Table 5.

[Project]
version=1.0
type=IN
[DMX devices]
Explo X2 Wave Flamer 1=Explo X2 Wave Flamer@1
Explo X2 Wave Flamer 7=Explo X2 Wave Flamer@7
Explo X2 Wave Flamer 13=Explo X2 Wave Flamer@13
[Ignition data]
1;A;2760;1020;1;1;;Red Chrysanthemum;
2;A;3760;1020;2;1;;Red Chrysanthemum;
3;A;4760;1020;3;1;;Red Chrysanthemum;
4;A;10000;2400;DMX;;;Explo X2 Wave Flamer 1:PRG31;
5;A;11000;2400;DMX;;;Explo X2 Wave Flamer 7:PRG31;
6;A;12000;2400;DMX;;;Explo X2 Wave Flamer 13:PRG31;

Figure 2 – Example Pyrotronix script for pyro and DMX

Creating DMX effect libraries to match presets on your Pyrotronix controller

Since Pyrotronix scripts control DMX fixtures by triggering pre-programmed or user-defined presets on the controller, the script exported from Finale 3D will contain only the triggers and not the actual DMX channel data.  The DMX Patch field of the effects in Finale 3D is thus unused, as its purpose is to translate the effect definition into the DMX channel data that implement it.  In its place, the Category field and Custom Part Field field of the effects in Finale 3D hold the Pyrotronix Device Type and Preset Number that together identify the preset to be triggered.

The Category field must contain the Device Type of the pre-programmed or user-defined preset on the controller exactly, except for optional capitalization.  The Custom Part Field contains an integer identifying a preset for that Device Type.  The number in the Custom Part Field is just an integer.  Finale 3D automatically formats the integer as two digits with a leading zero if necessary and prepends the letters “PRG” to the front, such as for example PRG01, PRG02, and PRG03 for the first three presets.  The preset identifiers on the Pyrotronix controller must match these presets — including the PRG — exactly.

Since the Device Type of the preset is specified in the effects, the Fixture Type field of the positions in Finale 3D is not required for Pyrotronix script exports.  You can thus set the Fixture Type to “<Any DMX Fixture>” or set it to any of the predefined fixtures in Finale 3D, your choice.   The advantage to setting it to a pre-defined fixture in Finale 3D is that Finale 3D‘s channel allocation functions will be able to allocate channel ranges back-to-back for your fixtures if the you choose pre-defined fixtures.  If you use “<Any DMX Fixture>” then you will need to set the DMX Channel Base of the fixture positions manually in the positions window or by right clicking the positions and editing the position properties.

Since the DMX presets on Pyrotronix and their triggers do not have any parameters, it is not possible for the presets to depend on user-adjustable parameters in the Finale 3D user interface like the angle or duration of an effect.  If you want to shoot a moving head wave flamer effect in a particular direction, you need to define a preset for that specific direction on your Pyrotronix controller and create a corresponding effect in Finale 3D with the matching Device Type and Preset Identifier.

Example files

Example files for a mixed pyro and DMX show are available for download in Table 5.  The example show contains three DMX fixture positions and three pyro positions.  The DMX fixture positions each contain a single shot of the Explo X2 Wave Flamer fixture, firing macro #31.  They do not contain safety channel events; and the safety channel requirement warning is disabled for Pyrotronix script exports.   The three pyro positions each contain one shell.  The timeline for the example show is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3 – Timeline for example mixed pyro and DMX show — 3 pyro shots, 3 DMX shots.

Table 6 – Downloads