The Auvi Spark unit is a variable height, vertical sparks machine that can be controlled by any of the DMX-capable firing systems, such as Piroshow, Pyromac, PyroSure, fireTEK, Cobra, and Mongoose.
Figure 1 – Auvi Spark
The Spark has a three-channel DMX personality. The first channel turns on the heater and enables the effect (Pre-Heat And Safety Channel). The second channel is the density setting. The third channel is the height setting and ON/OFF (height = 0 means OFF).
Table 1 – DMX channels
| DMX Channel | Meaning | Effect in Finale 3D that controls channel |
| Channel 1 (DMX Channel Base + 0) | Pre-heat on (255 = ON) | Part number AUV1018, “AUVSPK [014/0000] With Pre-Heat And Safety Channel” |
| Channel 2 (DMX Channel Base + 1) | Density (0 = OFF; 255 = ON; intermediate values appear to be same as 255) | Part numbers AUV1000- AUV1017 |
| Channel 3 (DMX Channel Base + 2) | Sparks off (0 = OFF) or on at varying height (0-99 = a little unreliable; 100 = about 5ft, 255 = about 10ft) | Part numbers AUV1000- AUV1017 representing spark fountain effects with small, medium, large height at durations from 0.1s to 1s |
Instructions
To design a show for Auvi Spark units, please follow these steps:
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- 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 Spark its own DMX universe, or give each Spark a channel range in a shared DMX universe. (B) In the real world configure each physical Spark unit’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 spark fountain effects to the show. (A) Right-click on the Spark positions to add compatible effects from the context menu or to filter the effects window to compatible effects. (B) Also add a “With Pre-Heat And Safety Channel” effect (e.g., part number GFX2018) and adjust its duration to cover the active time range.
Choosing the DMX channel ranges for fixtures
Each Spark fixture requires three 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 Spark fixtures in a DMX universe
| Fixture | DMX Channel Base | Channels Used |
| 1 | 1 | 1-3 |
| 2 | 4 | 4-6 |
| 3 | 7 | 7-9 |
| 4 | 10 | 10-12 |
| 5 | 13 | 13-15 |
| 6 | 16 | 16-18 |
| 7 | 19 | 19-21 |
| 8 | 22 | 22-24 |
| 9 | 25 | 25-27 |
| 10 | 28 | 28-30 |
| … | ||
| 169 | 508 | 508-510 |
Table 3 – Example files and downloads
| Download link | Explanation |
| auvi-spark-user-manual.pdf | Auvi Spark user manual |