To create and export a script for the RFRemotech firing system, please follow these three steps:
- Design the show.
- Address the show (“Addressing > Address show”).
- Export the script (“File > Export > Export firing scripts“).
Step 3 creates the script file, which is a CSV file that you can import into your firing system.
Figure 1 – The RFRemotech firing system
The RFRemotech script is a CSV file. The terminology in the CSV file is slightly different from Finale 3D, and a simple conversion is required for firing system addresses. The firing system itself is wireless system suitable for large scale displays. The system consists of up to 50 “Master” modules and 50 “Slave” modules per master module. Both the master module numbers and slave module numbers start counting at 1. In the future, the system may support as many as 99 master modules and 999 slave modules per master. Each slave module has 32 “Cues” (pins) named A1, A2, … A8, B1, B2, … B8, C1, C2, … , C8, D1, D2, … D8. In the future, RFRemotech plans to release an 8-pin module with pins named 1, 2, … 8. The terminology conversion from Finale 3D to RFRemotech terminology is:
- Module in Finale 3D means “Master” in RFRemotech
- Slat in Finale 3D means “Slave” or “Firing Module” in RFRemotech
- Rail in Finale 3D means a two-part address that specifies both the master and the slave, such as “01-10” for master = 1 and slave = 10. In RFRemotech, the corresponding two-part address is formatted as, M01S010, for master = 1, slave = 10.
- Pin in Finale 3D means “Cue” in RFRemotech. The format for pins in Finale 3D is numerical, starting with 1. Since the format in RFRemotech involves four banks, A, B, C, D, of eight cues each, the formula for converting from pin numbers in Finale 3D to cues in RFRemotech is simply 1 → A1, 9 → B1, 17 → C1, and 25 → D1. The last pin, number 32, is D8.
In addition to these terminology conversions, Finale 3D stores the launch position name and the effect description in the “Module Name” and “Master Name” fields, since this information is available from the visual scripting process and is useful. The “Firing Point Type” field is effect type, such as ‘cake’, ‘comet’, or ‘mine.’
Table 1 – File format and encoding
| File format | Extension | Text encoding | Field delimiter | End-of-line |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | .csv | UTF8 NO BOM | , | CRLF |
The script contains rows for the firing events, i.e., unique combinations of module, slat, pin, and ignition-time. Multiple effects can be combined on a single cue. The special characteristics of the script are shown in the following table:
Table 2 – Special characteristics
| Special characteristics | Description |
|---|---|
| Sort order of rows | Rows sorted ascending by time. |
| What rows represent | Rows represent firing events, i.e., unique module-slat-pin-ignition-time events. If multiple effects are triggered on the same cue, the effects are combined in name field, but the row is still just one row. |
| Header | The file contains a single header row with the column names, in the same format as the CSV data rows themselves. |
| Special characters | The characters “ and , and ; and tab and newline will be filtered out of any fields. |
| Minimum separation between cues | None required; millisecond resolution supported. |
After the header, each row in the script has a number of fields separated by the vertical bar character. The names of these fields and their descriptions are the following:
Table 3 – Specifications of script fields
| Field name | Description |
|---|---|
| NO. | The row number in the script, beginning with 1. |
| Firing Point Type | This field contains the type field from Finale 3D, which can be blank or one of these enumerated values: cake, candle, single_shot, shell, ground, rocket, mine, comet, flame, other_effect, not_an_effect, rack. |
| Cue | The pin number 1-32, converted to RFRemotech format of A1, A2, … A8, B1, B2, … B8, C1, C2, … , C8, D1, D2, … D8. |
| Module Name | Finale 3D writes the launch position name in this field. |
| Module Logic ID | The master module number and slave module number, combined and formatted as in: M01S001 for master module number 1, slave module number 1. |
| Module Type | The type of module, e.g., 32Q. |
| Master Name | Finale 3D writes the effect name in this field. |
| Master Logic ID | The master logic number, formatted as in: M01 for master module number 1. |
| Program Seq. | The shot count, beginning with 1. This count is similar to the row number field (NO.), except that it does not increment for rows that have the same ignition time. For example, if the script contains four rows, and the second and third row have the same ignition time, then the shot counts of the rows are 1, 2, 2, 3. |
| Locating | The ignition time, in the format H:MM:SS.DDD. |
| Remark | Finale 3D writes the Script Notes in this field. |
An example script is shown below. Notice the second and third data row at position Pos-02 have the same ignition time, so their Program Seq. is the same number (2).
NO.,Firing Point Type,Cue,Module Name,Module Logic ID,Module Type,Master Name,Master Logic ID,Program Seq.,Locating,Remark
1,,A1,Pos-01,M01S001,32Q,Red Chrysanthemum,M01,1,0:00:02.800,
2,,A1,Pos-02,M02S001,32Q,Red Chrysanthemum,M02,2,0:00:02.900,
3,,A2,Pos-02,M02S001,32Q,Red Chrysanthemum,M02,2,0:00:02.900,
4,,A1,Pos-03,M03S001,32Q,Red Chrysanthemum,M03,3,0:00:03.000,
5,,A1,Pos-04,M04S001,32Q,Red Chrysanthemum,M04,4,0:00:03.100,
6,,A1,Pos-05,M05S001,32Q,Red Chrysanthemum,M05,5,0:00:03.200,
7,,A1,Pos-06,M06S001,32Q,Red Chrysanthemum,M06,6,0:00:03.300,
8,,A1,Pos-07,M07S001,32Q,Red Chrysanthemum,M07,7,0:00:03.400,
9,,A1,Pos-08,M08S001,32Q,Red Chrysanthemum,M08,8,0:00:03.500,
10,,A1,Pos-09,M09S001,32Q,Red Chrysanthemum,M09,9,0:00:03.600,
Figure 1 – Example RFRemotech script
Table 4 – Example files
| Download link | Explanation |
| test_rfremotech.csv | Example exported file (CSV) |
| test_rfremotech.fin | Example show file |