Thanks!

Hi DB, check out the “Multi-hit pins” section of Table 2 in our Cobra documentation. Here’s an excerpt:   The standard pyro addressing functions in Finale 3D assign pins sequentially, so it may be easiest to address multi-hit pins in Finale 3D by editing the script table by hand and then locking the edited rows so the show can be re-addressed for pyro without affecting them.   In other words, yes, you do need to assign pin numbers manually for your flame hits, but you only have to do it once. After addressing lines of script that are for flames, select the lines, then go to ‘Addressing > Lock addresses’. Once the addresses for your flames are locked, they will not be changed or used for anything else when you readdress your show.

Thanks Drew.   The video clarified my approach and partially answered another question. Based on the video, it appears there is no automated way to assign non-DMX flames to a single pin and it will have to be done manually. In the video example that’s easy. But in a real show it would be painful to assign everything manually, defeating one of the main benefits of the software. If I address my show with the non-DMX flames, each time I use a flame a different pin will be assigned (just like in the video). Then I would have to go back and manually re-assign the effect to the same pin and also re-assign all the effects after the non-DMX flame effects to different pins. For example, if I have a show with two flame machines that fire 10 times each, they would take up 20 pins in addition to my regular effects that also take up 20 pins (40 pins total). But I would go back and reassign the flame machines to 2 pins as well as the regular effects so I don’t have unused pins on a module since I now only need 22 pins vs 40. Is doing this manually the only way? Thanks!

Hi DB, check out this video: https://finale3d.com/video/designing-non-dmx-flames-for-cobra/

I got it to work. I don’t know if how I did it was the best way, but I created a new effect in Finale and called it G-Flame and added it to a pyro position. I then fired that position like a normal event vs a DMX event. I couldn’t use the built in Galaxis flame effects because they require a DMX position. Seems to work fine, but my timing is off (0.0 and 0.2 prefire didn’t help) so I’ll need to play around with that.

Here’s another example where I don’t think the sound is defaulting in correctly:   1.75″ Gold Chrysanthemum To Silver Time Rain w/ Tiger Tail Single Shot   It draws the silver time rain effect correctly, but no sound .   Regarding your suggestion to add nodes anywhere, do I need to dump this out to a text file first?  When I click the action drop down next to each node, I’m very limited in which ones allow me to put in a blank sound node.  For example, I can add one on a ‘break’ node, but not on a ‘star’ node. When I build this VDL: 1.75″ Gold Peony w/ Time Rain w/ Tiger Tail Single Shot Then I can see a sound node under ‘star’, but I can’t add one manually (or add one in another effect being edited in the effect editor). It does certainly work to change the effect of an existing sound node.   thanks for your continued help.   -Brett

I’m looking for instructions on how to set up G-Flame positions in Finale for a Cobra firing system using the Cobra G-Flame Cue adapters (https://www.cobrafiringsystems.com/harness_gflame). I can’t find any documentation that walks through the steps. I’m assuming they still need to be set up as DMX fixtures in Finale or will they be regular pyro? The connectors use a 3-pin adapter, but they plug into the External fire input and not the DMX input. This is where I get lost. Do I still need to send the safety channel? If anyone has detailed instructions, please send them my way. I’m going to run a few tests now to see if I can figure it out.

Hi Brett, with Dirk’s suggestion, you can add sound effects at any level of the tree. You don’t have to choose between a rising whistle sound, a break sound, or another sound effect for the stars after the break.

HI Drew,   Glad it was helpful. I work for a large software company and hence am always on the hunt for software issues to report :).  Neither of these seem very high priority to me personally for what it’s worth.   I didn’t get a chance to try Dirk’s suggestion, but seems like I’d be picking the whistle sound and losing the shell break – pretty minor stuff in the grand scheme of things, but the ideal enhancement would be to have two stage sound based on the duration of each phase of the effect.   -Brett

  Barehm wrote: I’ve got a pretty easy one – can you add the RGB value for Teal to VDL? I’m shocked how many cannister shells I’m loading into my inventory that use that description. Have you checked out VDL Colors? Are any of the existing colors a good match?