I have looked over the latest VDL documentation and I still cannot find a descriptive term that tells the VDL to delay the second defined effect.  VDL like red peony to crackle flower, fires the crackle flower much too soon to accurately depict some the cake effects.

  Pyro_1990000 wrote: How did you get on with getting an API I am building my own software to feed to the market that does all our tracking aswell as all our permits shipping etc and an api into finale would work wonders     Would appreciate it a lot.

  Pyro_269620000 wrote: For example, if you were creating the effects individually to get the desired look, timing, etc. Then highlight/select them all to “combine as cake effect.” under the effects tab. Is that allowed? Thanks Yes, in fact, the completed full VDL for each cake is what you need to submit for the contest. VDL for individual effects from within cakes (i.e. individual cake shots) can’t be submitted.    

For example, if you were creating the effects individually to get the desired look, timing, etc. Then highlight/select them all to “combine as cake effect.” under the effects tab. Is that allowed? Thanks

Circling back with a forum post to help anyone who may run into this issue in the future…   The problem with the show is that the camera exposure duration was not set to 0. You can tell because when the show is paused, the effects appear like as would in a long-exposure photo. This probably happened inadvertently when using the ‘Create photo’ feature. To fix the issue, go to ‘Window (menu) > Per-show settings window’, find the ‘cameraExposureDuration’ setting and change the value to 0.   We occasionally get reports of this issue, but we’ve never been able to reproduce it. If you find a way to consistently get it to happen, please let me know so we can try to fix the root cause.

  Pyro_269620000 wrote: Good Morning!   Are we allowed to combine effects to make the cake? The VDL does get lengthy. Thanks, C   Sorry, I’m not sure what you mean by ‘combine effects’, can you give me an example?

Good Morning!   Are we allowed to combine effects to make the cake?  The VDL does get lengthy.  Thanks, C

You mentioned the issue only occurs on a couple recently designed shows. In that case, it seems likely that the problem may be show-file specific, not release-version-specific. To determine if the problem is a recent Finale 3D release or the show file itself, try installing an older release and see if you’re able to reproduce the issue. If the playback is glitchy when you roll back, the problem is most likely something in the show. If you find the show file is the culprit, send it to support@finale3d.com and we’ll troubleshoot.

Hi all anyone else having massive glitching when playing back your shows it is only on a couple of newly designed shows. I have checked setting and all is good so wondering if there is an issue from the last update  

Hi Phil (Fire In the Sky Pyrotechnics), thanks for the thoughtful question. We considered having contestants submit FIN files, but we decided that simply having VDL submitted was a better approach for this contest. On the judging side, it actually only takes a few seconds to bring the VDL for an entire batch of cakes back into Finale 3D.   The challenge with FIN files is that they can’t be uploaded directly to the contest entry form. This is a limitation we hope to eliminate in the future. In the meantime, it means that contestants have to go somewhere else to upload their file and then provide a link. For small files, email is an option, but that can lead  to confusion when we are trying to match the emails up with form submissions. On balance, we decided it was just simpler to have a one and done way to enter this contest.