The Generic DMX Relay and Dimmer Flamers are single-channel fixture types in Finale 3D that may work for various kinds of flame systems that are not specifically defined by name. The Generic Effects collection includes a set of flame effects of various heights and durations for both fixture types. The relay fixture simply uses DMX channel values 0 and 255 for OFF and ON. They dimmer fixture uses intermediate values for flames of different heights. Generic Effects also includes a safety channel effect for the generic DMX safety channel fixture, which you can configure at a separate safety channel address (see Safety channels).
Figure 1 – Flame machine
The DMX personalities for the relay, dimmer, and safety channel fixtures are given in Table 1 – Table 3.
Table 1 – DMX channels for Generic [007] DMX Relay Flamer
DMX Channel | Meaning | Effect in Finale 3D that controls channel |
Channel 1 (DMX Channel Base + 0) | Ignition (0 = OFF; 255 = ON) | Part numbers GFX1000 – GFX9927 representing flame effects with small, medium, large height at durations from 0.1s to 1s. The varying heights are only reflected in the visual simulation, no change in the DMX channel values since the relay does not have dynamic height settings. |
Table 2 – DMX channels for Generic [008] DMX Dimmer Flamer
DMX Channel | Meaning | Effect in Finale 3D that controls channel |
Channel 1 (DMX Channel Base + 0) | Ignition (0 = OFF; 1-255 = min to max height) | Part numbers GFX9928 – GFX9945 representing flame effects with small, medium, large height at durations from 0.1s to 1s. The varying heights correspond to DMX channel values from 1 to 255. |
Table 3 – DMX channels for Generic [018] DMX Safety Channel
DMX Channel | Meaning | Effect in Finale 3D that controls channel |
Channel 1 (DMX Channel Base + 0) | Activated (0 = OFF; various values = ON, based on effect definition) | Part numbers GFX9945, GFX9900, and GFX9902 are safety channel effects that write values 255, 128, and 180 respectively for ON. Use the safety channel effect that corresponds to the ON value range of your hardware’s safety channel. |
Instructions
To design a show for generic flamer 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 flamer its own DMX universe, or give each flamer a channel in a shared DMX universe. (B) In the real world configure each physical flamer unit’s “Start Address” to match the DMX Channel Base of the fixture in Finale 3D.
- Add flame effects to the show. (A) Right-click on the flamer positions to add compatible effects from the context menu or to filter the effects window to compatible effects. (B) You will also need to add a “DMX Safety Channel” effect (e.g., part number GFX9945, GFX9900, or GFX9902 ) and to adjust its duration to cover the time range you want the fixture to be eligible to fire.
- Make your own, or modify existing flame effects. The flamer effects come in a few example durations in the Generic Effects collection, 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 if you want the dimmer effect to produce a different DMX value based on the height you need to change it manually in the effect’s DMX Patch field.
Figure 2 – A show with nine generic flamer fixtures and a safety fixture for the safety channel (the long yellow bar).
Choosing the DMX channel ranges for fixtures
Each flamer fixture requires a single channel, 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 unique address for each fixture. A DMX universe has channels 1-512. Table 5 shows an example for flamer fixtures. Some DMX firing systems only support 50 or 100 channels, so you may not have all 512 channels to work with.
Table 5 – Example channel ranges for generic flamer fixtures
Fixture | DMX Channel Base | Channels Used |
1 | 1 | 1 |
2 | 2 | 2 |
3 | 3 | 3 |
4 | 4 | 4 |
5 | 5 | 5 |
6 | 6 | 6 |
7 | 7 | 7 |
8 | 8 | 8 |
9 | 9 | 9 |
10 | 10 | 10 |
… | ||
512 | 512 | 512 |
Table 6 – Example files and downloads
Download link | Explanation |
test-generic-flamer.fin | Example show |