bringing this back on track to my original question…   VDL appears to support color randomization for pearl only. it would be nice to support randomization for other effects.

The puzzle here is that King Dragon (and many other 1.75″ consumer shells) are not remotely random and often they have labeled effects on both the shells and the box.  I typically load a separate item number into my effects for each shell so I can track my inventory of each. If you don’t care, I suppose you could just make one and then your original request is valid, but randomizing within a defined set of effects for an entire kit sounds like a big enhancement.   King Dragon is as follows:   RA62401-01 : RED STROBING TAIL TO RED DAHLIA WITH SILVER CHRYSANTHEMUM RA62401-02 : RED STROBING TAIL TO NISHIKI WILLOW RA62401-03 : RED STROBING TAIL TO CRACKLES WITH RED PLUM BLOSSOM RA62401-04 : RED STROBING TAIL TO RED DAHLIA WITH WHITE GLITTER RA62401-05 : RED STROBING TAIL TO WHITE BROCADE CROWN RA62401-06 : RED STROBING TAIL TO NISHIKI WILLOW WITH PEACH RA62401-07 : RED STROBING TAIL TO NISHIKI WILLOW TO PINK RA62401-08 : GREEN STROBING TAIL TO GREEN DAHLIA WITH SILVER CHRYSANTHEMUM RA62401-09 : GREEN STROBING TAIL TO NISHIKI WILLOW WITH GREEN GLITTER RA62401-10 : GREEN STROBING TAIL TO GREEN PLUM WITH RED PLUM RA62401-11 : GREEN STROBING TAIL TO WHITE BROCADE CROWN WITH GREEN GLITTER RA62401-12 : GREEN STROBING TAIL TO NISHIKI WILLOW WITH BLUE RA62401-13 : GREEN STROBING TAIL TO GREEN DAHLIA WITH WHITE GLITTER RA62401-14 : GREEN STROBING TAIL TO NISHIKI WILLOW WITH TEAL RA62401-15 : GREEN STROBING TAIL TO NISHIKI WILLOW TO GRASS GREEN RA62401-16 : LEMON STROBING TAIL TO YELLOW DAHLIA WITH SILVER CHRYSANTHEMUM RA62401-17 : LEMON STROBING TAIL TO CRACKLES WITH GOLD PLUM RA62401-18 : RED STROBING TAIL TO SKY BLUE TO RED WITH SILVER PLUM RA62401-19 : LEMON STROBING TAIL TO GOLD PLUM WITH SILVER CHRYSANTHEMUM RA62401-20 : LEMON STROBING TAIL TO NISHIKI WILLOW WITH BLUE RA62401-21 : LEMON STROBING TAIL TO NISHIKI WILLOW TO TEAL RA62401-22 : RED STROBING TAIL TO NISHIKI WILLOW WITH RED PLUM BLOSSOM RA62401-23 : GREEN STROBING TAIL TO NISHIKI WILLOW WITH GREEN PLUM BLOSSOM RA62401-24 : LEMON STROBING TAIL TO NISHIKI WILLOW WITH GOLD PLUM BLOSSOM   If you want VDL that covers some of the details (no trail, can’t use Teal in VDL, etc), here’s a start for you: RA62401-01 : RED STROBING TAIL no trail TO RED DAHLIA WITH SILVER CHRYSANTHEMUM RA62401-02 : RED STROBING TAIL no trail TO NISHIKI WILLOW RA62401-03 : RED STROBING TAIL no trail to popcorn crackling WITH RED PLUM BLOSSOM RA62401-04 : RED STROBING TAIL no trail TO RED DAHLIA WITH WHITE GLITTER RA62401-05 : RED STROBING TAIL no trail TO WHITE BROCADE CROWN RA62401-06 : RED STROBING TAIL no trail TO NISHIKI WILLOW WITH PEACH RA62401-07 : RED STROBING TAIL no trail TO NISHIKI WILLOW TO PINK RA62401-08 : GREEN STROBING TAIL no trail TO GREEN DAHLIA WITH SILVER CHRYSANTHEMUM RA62401-09 : GREEN STROBING TAIL no trail TO NISHIKI WILLOW WITH GREEN GLITTER RA62401-10 : GREEN STROBING TAIL no trail TO GREEN PLUM WITH RED PLUM RA62401-11 : GREEN STROBING TAIL no trail TO WHITE BROCADE CROWN WITH GREEN GLITTER RA62401-12 : GREEN STROBING TAIL no trail TO NISHIKI WILLOW WITH BLUE RA62401-13 : GREEN STROBING TAIL no trail TO GREEN DAHLIA WITH WHITE GLITTER RA62401-14 : GREEN STROBING TAIL no trail TO NISHIKI WILLOW WITH aqua RA62401-15 : GREEN STROBING TAIL no trail TO NISHIKI WILLOW TO GRASS GREEN RA62401-16 : LEMON STROBING TAIL no trail TO YELLOW DAHLIA WITH SILVER CHRYSANTHEMUM RA62401-17 : LEMON STROBING TAIL no trail TO popcorn crackling WITH GOLD PLUM RA62401-18 : RED STROBING TAIL no trail TO SKY BLUE TO RED WITH SILVER PLUM RA62401-19 : LEMON STROBING TAIL no trail TO GOLD PLUM WITH SILVER CHRYSANTHEMUM RA62401-20 : LEMON STROBING TAIL no trail TO NISHIKI WILLOW WITH BLUE RA62401-21 : LEMON STROBING TAIL no trail TO NISHIKI WILLOW TO aqua RA62401-22 : RED STROBING TAIL no trail TO NISHIKI WILLOW WITH RED PLUM BLOSSOM RA62401-23 : GREEN STROBING TAIL no trail TO NISHIKI WILLOW WITH GREEN PLUM BLOSSOM RA62401-24 : LEMON STROBING TAIL no trail TO NISHIKI WILLOW WITH GOLD PLUM BLOSSOM

Is there any way to randomize colors for shells like it’s done for pearls?   finale3d randomizes the colors for the zipper in this effect:   Spirit of ’76 – MS622 Bring It On 3″ 40.00s 0.10 PFT 96 Shot rising multi-color pearl z shape cake     I would like to randomize the colors for shells like as done in this raccoon product. Strobing rising shell is randomly red, green, or yellow.    

I opened “create effect” and entered:   Bright Comet w/ Whistles   Then I selected the effect and “Edit in effect editor”   I hit playback in effect editor and it’s completely silent? I see the trail but no sound. The editor shows a “sound whistle” node.   It would be nice to be able to preview the entire effect as a cake instead of being limited to individual effects.

Got the email. I will investigate and follow up with you as soon as possible.

Email sent…

Yeah, the Script window is not a what-you-see-is-what-you-get preview, it’s showing you the relative column widths. In other words, if you make a column 10% the width of the Script window, it will be 10% the width of the page. What that looks like on the PDF versus in the Script window depends on how wide the Script window is on your screen, and the font size you’ve selected for the report.

Hi PyroBunny and Barehm, you can preview effects in real-time as you type VDL using the Effect Editor. The Effect editor is a powerful tool for creating “custom” effects that can’t be creating by typing words (VDL). But the effect editor can also be used to create standard VDL effects. The main limitation you may bump into with the Effect Editor is that you can only edit individual effects, not cakes or chains. This means you can make cake shots or shells in the editor, and then you just have to combine them into a cake or chain as a second step.   To open an effect in the Effect Editor, right click on it and select ‘Edit in effect editor’. If you don’t see that option, you’re probably running an older release of Finale 3D. In that case, look for ‘Customize this effect simulation’s parameters’.    

Hi PyroBunny, calling these 6″ shells is a bit of a marketing gimmick. Aerial shells are measured by the diameter of the tube that they are launched from. Sure, these shells are 6″ tall, but if they fit into a standard consumer mortar tube, then they are really no larger than 2″. This matters in Finale 3D because simulations are scaled based on shell size (i.e. caliber). In Finale 3D, a 3″ shell reaches a height of about 300ft, and has a break-width of almost 240ft. A 6″ shell reaches 600ft and breaks 500ft across. Finale 3D also uses shell size to calculate mortar/rack counts. If you create a 3″ or 6″ shell, Finale 3D is going to tell you it needs a mortar of that size.

Hi Pyro_123390000, thanks for posting. This might be a model import bug in Finale 3D. Please send the model that doesn’t import correctly to support@finale3d.com and we will investigate.