Hi Brian, happy to help.   Tip: you can rotate the heading of all your positions in three click by following these steps:   1) Click the ‘All positions’ shortcut on the left side of the Design window (to select all the positions in your show) 2) Right click on the ground in the audience area 3)  Select ‘Aim positions at this point in parallel’

Hey all! I’m new to the world of rendering, and I wanted to render a video. But! I first rendered a photo. Now, every frame that I try to work with, even when i try to play my video in the player, it acts like it’s rendering a photo. How can I make this stop?

Thank you, Drew. i thought it might have something to do with that process.  This hapened when i put in the Google image for the shoot location.  this was the first time i had done this.  i don’t remember why i messed with the arrows, but i was not aware that i was affecting that when i made those adjustments.  i have too much to learn about this software, and i really only use it a couple times a year.  i am probably doing a lot things harder than what you have designed this to be.  Every time i find something new, i think that you and your team are genius for including it.  Jim (at KCAP) says i need to learn rack assignments, but i have no idea where to start.   anyway, thank you for answering this.  i am going through and rotating each position (heading) back toward the crowd. 🙂

Hi DB, the most current discussion is in the DMX light simulations topic from April 2022. Since that time, what’s changed is that we finished implementing the first version of the ‘Create DMX effect’ feature, which you can find in the DMX menu. This means that even though there isn’t a dedicated fade/ramp function, you can create a series of effects of progressive intensity and use them back-to-back on the timeline to build your own fade.

Hi Brian, did you know that you don’t have to be “Pyro_29800000”? Head over to your My Profile page to customize your display name and profile picture.   The problem could be that your firing position is oriented the wrong way. By default, tilt to the left is a negative angle when the arrow on the firing position points toward you (the audience). If the arrow on the firing position is pointing away from your viewpoint, then grabbing and tilting an item to the left will result in a positive angle. Make sure that the arrows on your firing positions point toward you, which is toward the audience, assuming you are designing your show from the audience’s perspective.   Another possibility is that you inadvertently changed the “Pan” angle for one or more of your effects. The “Tilt” angle is actually the angle from vertical. The “Pan” angle is the angle around the vertical axis. Check out the impact lawn sprinkler in the photo below. The jet of water is tiled to spray water out at an angle, and the sprinkler pans around to cover an area of lawn. An impact sprinkler’s “Tilt” angle is fixed, and the “Pan” angle is changing as the sprinkler swivels around.   Here’s a video tutorial on fixing pan angles: https://finale3d.com/video/fixing-pan-angles  

I am noticing that, for example, if I place a comet, and move the angle from center, to the right to 30 degrees, it shows up on the comet “head” and in the script in the tilt column as -30. Same thing if i move it to the left side to minus 30, it displays on the comet head and in the tilt column as /30.  Everything is opposite. Not sure what i have done. ??? ~Brian

Is there a way in Finale to fade lights vs a simple on/off. I’m trying to do a gradual fade-to-black and not have the lights suddenly shut off. I searched the forum and someone asked the same question back in 2018. It wasn’t possible back then, but I’m hoping that functionality is available now. Thanks.

  Here’s an overview of the steps to produce a show using a COBRA firing system and SMPTE timecode.   courtesy: COBRA   Step 1: Design your show Import music into Finale 3D, design you show, and choose COBRA when addressing.   Step 2: Export your script Go to File > Export > Export firing system script file. In the Export Options dialog, select your COBRA firmware version and adjust other settings as needed. Be sure to set ‘Use Cobra Audiobox’ to ‘No’ and select ‘Timecode 1’ or ‘Timecode 2’ for the ‘SMPTE Timecode’ setting. If you choose Timecode 1, the 18R2 will continue to fire even if the timecode is lost or the quality is too poor. If you choose Timecode 2, the 18R2 will stop firing if the timecode is lost or the quality is too poor. If the timecode stops, fast forwards, or is rewound, the 18R2 will keep in sync with the timing. After exporting your script, follow standard procedures from COBRA to load the script into your 18R2 remote.   Step 3: Export your soundtrack with SMPTE timecode Go to File > Export > Export Soundtrack. In the export soundtrack dialog, set the left channel to ‘Music mono’ and the right channel to ‘SMPTE 30 fps’.     Step 4: Select an audio player Finale 3D exports your soundtrack as a WAV file with music on one channel and SMPTE timecode on the other. To play the soundtrack at your show, you can use any device that plays WAV files and has a headphone jack. The following steps are for playing the soundtrack using a computer.   Finale 3D is NOT needed during the firing of your show, and it is NOT recommended to use Finale 3D as your audio player.   Step 5: Connect the COBRA provided USB sound card and audio cable  Some computers have excellent internal sounds cards, others do not. To avoid having to worry about internal sound card issues, best practice is to use the USB sound card that comes with the COBRA SMPTE kit.   Connect the USB sound card to USB port on your computer and connect the 1/8″ (3.5mm) Stereo to RCA splitter cable to output jack on the USB sound card.   courtesy: COBRA   Step 6: Connect the audio cable to your 18R2 remote and sound system Connect the right (red) RCA to your 18R2 and the left (white) RCA to your sound system.   courtesy: COBRA   Step 7: Test timecode and music With your audio cable connected, your sound system on, and your COBRA 18R2 remote on in test mode, play the soundtrack. You are now sending timecode to the COBRA 18R2 remote and simultaneously sending music to your sound system. When the 18R2 receives SMPTE timecode, it will display a value of tc0 to tc9, where tc9 is the highest quality timecode and tc0 is the poorest quality timecode.   Step 8: Shoot your show To start your show, press the trigger button and trigger channel that you selected in the Export Options dialog when exporting your script in Finale 3D. Once you start the show on the 18R2, “PAU” will appear on the 7-segment display to indicate the 18R2 is paused and waiting for timecode. With your audio cable still properly connected to your computer, 18R2, and sound system, play the soundtrack to fire your show.

What are you playing the .wav file from? If your audio output is a 1/8″ stero plug, you’ll need an adapter that breaks it out into L/R cables, RCA would be the most common.   EX:https://www.amazon.com/Headphone-Adapter-Splitter-Connects-Smartphone/dp/B09GW6JHY6/ref=sr_1_1?crid=TMM85M5NDONZ&keywords=1%2F8+to+rca+stereo+cable&qid=1685645718&sprefix=1%2F8+to+rca%2Caps%2C122&sr=8-1 . You’ll need to send only the left channel to sound system and right to the SMPTE input on your 18R2. It sounds like your sending L and R to the sound system and muting R cleans up the audio

At the end of your video (https://finale3d.com/video/adding-smpte-time-code-to-your-soundtrack/)  you say “i have my soundtrack (.wav file has smpte code with the sound on left and smpte on the right) and i can export my firing script from Finale, when I shoot my show, I’ll play this file from anything that can play a wave file. I will feed the left channel to my speakers and my sound system and i will feed the right channel to my Cobra 18R2 remote that supports smpte and everything will synch up and work as expected” (please forgive errors in transcription). I followed along and produced a .wav file but it does not play without a horrible background sound (suspect smpte code).  If you send the file to play to a sound system, are you doing the 123 sound and show method? If you send the right channel to Cobra (what cobra product?) I tested and if you mute the right channel, the left plays perfectly well.  In short, I am not sure how we are getting to where you intend.  Please advise.