The Explo GX3 Power Flame unit is a high powered vertical 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 – Explo GX3 Power Flame
The fixture has a four channel DMX personality, shown in Table 1. The fixture does require a safety channel effect in Finale 3D, in addition to a “flame enable“ effect that indicates whether recharging is required. The safety channel is part of the DMX personality, so it should be added to the same fixture position in Finale 3D as the flame effects themselves, not a separate safety channel fixture position.
Table 1 – DMX channels for DMX personality
| DMX Channel | Meaning | Effect in Finale 3D that controls channel |
| Channel 1 (DMX Channel Base + 0) | Ignition (0 – 253 = OFF; 254- 255 = ON) | Part numbers GFX9112 – GFX9117 representing flame effects with durations from 0.1s to 1s. |
| Channel 2 (DMX Channel Base + 1) | Duration (0-255 = duration from 0.5s to 2.5s ) | Part numbers GFX9112 – GFX9117 representing flame effects with durations from 0.1s to 1s. |
| Channel 3 (DMX Channel Base + 2) | Flame Enable And Recharge ( 0-84 = pilot flame only; 85-170 power flame enabled with recharging; 171-255 power flame enabled without recharging) | Part numbers GFX9119 – GFX9120 to enable the flame with or without recharging; the user must insert one or more of these effects into the show and adjust their durations to cover the periods of activity, overlapping the flame effects on the Finale 3D timeline. |
| Channel 4 (DMX Channel Base + 3) | Safety ( 0-49 = disabled; 50-200 = ON for duration; 201-255 = disabled) | Part number GFX9118, the safety channel effect, which the user must insert into the show and adjust the duration of to cover the periods of activity, overlapping the flame effects on the Finale 3D timeline. |
Unlike most other flame fixtures, the GX3 Power Flame requires the user to add both a safety channel effect and also a flame enable effect. The flame enable effect indicates whether automatic recharging should take place. If the user wants recharging for some parts of the show, and no recharging for other parts of the show, the user can insert flame enable effects back to back, covering the period of activity with recharging or not, as desired.
For further information about the GX3 units, see the Explo website (www.explo.at).
Instructions
To design a show for Explo GX3 Power Flame 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 GX3 its own DMX universe, or give each GX3 a channel range in a shared DMX universe. (B) In the real world configure each physical GX3 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 flame effects to the show. (A) Right-click on the GX3 positions to add compatible effects from the context menu or to filter the effects window to compatible effects. Also add a safety channel effect and flame enable effect with or without recharging. Edit the durations of the safety channel effect and flame enable effect to cover all the flame shots on the timeline.
- Make your own, or modify existing flame effects. The GX3 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 GX3 fixture requires four 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. Table 2 shows an example. 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 GX3 fixtures in a DMX universe
| Fixture | DMX Channel Base | Channels Used |
| 1 | 1 | 1-4 |
| 2 | 5 | 5-8 |
| 3 | 9 | 9-12 |
| 4 | 13 | 13-16 |
| 5 | 17 | 17-20 |
| 6 | 21 | 21-24 |
| 7 | 25 | 25-28 |
| 8 | 29 | 29-32 |
| 9 | 33 | 33-36 |
| 10 | 37 | 37-40 |
| … | ||
| 128 | 509 | 509-512 |
Table 3 – Example files and downloads
| Download link | Explanation |
| GX3 Power Flame v1.3 EN.pdf | Explo GX3 Power Flame user manual |