Hi Blackbat, it sounds like you’re taking a methodical approach to get your footing with DMX, that’s great! Assuming that the effect duration is the only thing changing, I would expect the scripts to be identical. To help troubleshoot the issue, I’m going to loop in my colleague Will, the developer on our team who handles DMX.

I’m new to the DMX world but have a firing system (fireTEK) capable of DMX control so thought I’d try and learn about DMX. I’ve bought a cheap DMX light and created it as a fixture in My Effects, and have added some colour light effects to the fixture, and exported a firing script with DMX information. So far so good.   If I right click on the light effect on the timeline and edit properties, I can change the duration of the effect and this is reflected in the duration column in the exported 2 line script. If instead, however, I drag the right hand end of the effect on the timeline to change the duration the resulting script is different. Instead of two lines for pins 101 and 102 with dmx values of 255, RampX 1 and the specified duration, I get four lines with dmx values of 255 at the start time for the first two lines and dmx values of 0 at the end time for the new 3rd and 4th lines. All with RampX 0 and duration 0.   I suspect that both scripts will work, but am wondering why two different looking scripts result from changing the duration in two different ways. Is this a bug?

Thanks Drew.  I understand.  Meters only, no feet.

Hi Rick, welcome to the Finale 3D forum! The title of the height column in the Effects window is ‘Height Meters’. This is the giveaway that it’s always meters. Sorry, there’s no way to change it. If you want to enter values directly into the column, they need to be in meters. However, you do NOT need to enter meters if you adjust your effects by right clicking on them and selecting ‘Edit this item (VDL)’. in the ‘Edit Effect’ dialog, you can enter feet (such as 250ft or 250′) and it will automatically be converted to meters.  

Perfect!!  Wow!  You make it look so easy.  I guess it is.  I just couldn’t find it. Thank you NEC   So, I just discovered another similar issue maybe you (or someone) can help me with: In the Inventory Window (that contains the list of firework products to choose from), the “Height” column header shows no indication of the measure unit being used.  However, the number range would seem also to indicate meters since they are so small, e.g.- 68.0, 49.0 – all less than 100. Hoping that after I closed and reopened Finale3D, they too would update.  But, no.  How can I change this to feet also?   Thanks again, Rick

I know, I know, the U.S. adopted the metric system in the 1970’s.  I’m still a pre-70’er and would like the field (and other measurements) in feet and inches (or yards).   I’ve looked around but find no help button, search bar, etc.  So, I just need someone to tell me how.   Thanks, Rick

I am Rick Moore currently residing in Northeast Tennessee.  I have been using Finale since the mid-1990’s and previously used Personal Composer before that.  Oh, that’s right, this is the Finale3D forum. My life has been in music and event production mostly for / with churches in Michigan, California, Wisconsin, Missouri, Virginia, and Tennessee.  I have hired other companies for the pyro portion of our events, e.g.- Zambelli, San Diego Fireworks, and Garden State Fireworks.  But, now it’s my turn to do the firing myself and I’m lovin’ it. I bought my first electronic firing equipment earlier this year and blew my first show on July 4th (2023) . . . at church!   They loved it. I’m still using Finale (music notation software) regularly.  So, now I have / use TWO Finale’s in the house!  They are BOTH very complicated software (which also means they’re quite flexible [preferred]).  So, the learning is killin’ me right now!  Hope to get a lot of help right here! My organization name is Axehead Event Productions, LLC.

Hello Using Finale 3D for a long time can cause eye strain. Can I change the Scripts and Effects window to dark mode?

It may be worth making another topic to state this on, but this is a common thing I’ve seen finale users talk about. I’m pretty sure we narrowed it down to the creation of the audio file itself in a daw. If the timeline goes from empty space into your track, you will likely experience the ‘pop’ when the audio starts in Finale. I could give the technical, audio reason for anyone interested, but I won’t bore the rest. The solution, if you want empty space at the beginning of your track is to use the ‘insert silence’ feature of your daw and blend that into the start of your track.