I have mortar racks consisting of four angled racks with six mortars each, for a total of 24. I like to fuse them perpendicular to the racks so that each angle takes turns going off. I usually set them off sequentially in a Z pattern with anywhere from a quarter second to five seconds between each mortar canister shot.

Thank you for starting this thread Drew so we have one place to put responses to any questions folks might have.  I think it worked well last year and expect it to do the same this year.   I recently had a question about whether a previous finalist could participate this year.  The answer is "yes by all means".  The goal here is to end up with the strongest shows possible so not only can a previous finalist (or even winner for that matter) submit an entry, no one is limited to a single entry.  There is no limit to the number of entries someone can submit, we just have to have them in by March 4th :-)   Good luck to everyone, we are super excited to see all the great show designs you submit.

Are you having creating the effect? Or trouble adding the shells to your script/timeline/show? Or trouble creating the rack? Or getting your shells to go into the rack? Or something else?   You mentioned fusing, would you like all 24 shells chained together on a single chain fuse? Do you have a picture of the mortar rack you're trying to simulate?

That's strange. It's a very common practice to create a pyromusical soundtrack with gaps between songs. I wouldn't expect doing that to cause a problem. Would you mind sending the soundtrack with the gaps so we can try to reproduce the issue?

I'm trying to simulate a 24 mortar rack, 4 rows of 6 at various angles, to show as if fused to shoot one mortar at a time, working its way back and forth like a zipper cake. I can't get the VDL to show more than one shot total  

I had added gaps between songs while in Audacity. When I deleted the gaps it worked in Finale

  Pyro_112610000 wrote: Is there a way to search the forum by keyword? I feel like some of my questions have probably already been answered but I haven’t found an efficient way to search posts and replies.   Great question! I know it's not super intuitive, but you can search the forums from the Help Center. The search box in the help center simultaneously searches all the Finale 3D documentation, videos and forum posts. In the future, we'll add a forum search box somewhere on the forum pages to make it more intuitive.     Also, I have slice racks from Craig Co. Their other single-shot racks are shown in the Finale catalog but I don’t see anything for slice/sweep racks, even in generic racks. I tried to create one but it didn’t go well. Is it possible to create a 26.5″L x 20.5″ W rack that can be used for slices/sweeps? The sides are open so technically the width doesn’t matter too much. The length is adjustable up to 26.5″ by sliding a tension plate.   Thanks!   Yes, it's absolutely possible. When you tried to create the rack, where did things go wrong? Did you have trouble with the terminology in the dialog when you were trying to configure the rack? Or did the rack not work after you created it? Or something else?  

Is there a way to search the forum by keyword? I feel like some of my questions have probably already been answered but I haven't found an efficient way to search posts and replies.   Also, I have slice racks from Craig Co. Their other single-shot racks are shown in the Finale catalog but I don't see anything for slice/sweep racks, even in generic racks. I tried to create one but it didn't go well. Is it possible to create a 26.5"L x 20.5" W rack that can be used for slices/sweeps? The sides are open so technically the width doesn't matter too much. The length is adjustable up to 26.5" by sliding a tension plate.   Thanks!

The PyroJam 2023 design competition is LIVE! This is your chance to see your show design brought to life in front of thousands of people and compete for $5,000 in prizes. New to PyroJam? Don’t wait to get started, the deadline to submit your show is March 4, 2023. Get all the details at finale3d.com/pyrojam. Have a question? Need some help? Post it here!     PyroJam 2023 FAQ:   1) I'm having trouble with the simulations for some of the effects in the PyroJam catalog, what's wrong? The PyroJam effect simulations were created using the 2022.12.19 beta release of Finale 3D. Please go to ‘File > View account details’ in Finale 3D to make sure you are running this release or newer. If you are running an older release, please close Finale 3D, then download and install the latest BETA release.   2) Which Finale 3D release do I need to download for the competition? You need to download and install the latest BETA release of Finale 3D.   3) What kind of single shot racks are used at PyroJam? The single shot racks used at PyroJam are produced by CraigCo. You can see the racks used last year in the PyroJam behind-the-scenes video.   4) Can 360-degree circle racks for single shots be used at PyroJam? No, circle racks can't be used in the PyroJam competition because firing positions will be placed on the ground. The only exception is a special selection of single shot effects which can be shot horizontally. For details, see: Firing effects horizontally.   5) What firing system will be used at PyroJam? The StarFire firing system will be used at PyroJam. The system is capable of 1/100th of a second (0.01 second) timing resolution and can fire any number of pins simultaneously. Please keep in mind that you are only responsible for the artistic design. When you submit your show, you do not need to assign firing system modules or pins. If your show is selected to be produced, the firing system addresses will be assigned by the PyroJam organizers. You can see how this was done in 2022 in the PyroJam behind-the-scenes video.   6) Can liquid fuel mines be used in the PyroJam competition? No, liquid fuel mines cannot be used in the PyroJam competition. When designing your show, please only use effects contained in the PyroJam catalog. This effect was used at PyroJam in 2022, but not in the competition shows. If you saw this in a video, it was from the opening or closing shows which are out of competition.   7) Can more firing positions be added to the PyroJam layout? The PyroJam design template includes 53 predefined firing positions. You may use as many or as few firing positions as you like but modifying the layout by adding positions is not permitted.   7) When I import my MP3 soundtrack into Finale 3D, I hear audio artifacts like, static, crackling, popping, or clicking, how can I fix this problem? To resolve this issue, encode or convert your soundtrack to WAV before importing it into Finale 3D. We recommend using Audacity for this process. When creating a WAV in Audacity or other audio editing software, the recommended sample rate is 44.1 kHz with a bit depth of 16-bit. WAV files with other sample rates and bit depths may not work properly in Finale 3D. For more details and a tutorial video, visit the MP3 audio issues forum topic.     P.S. If you're new to the forum, don't forget to head over to your My Profile and customize your Display Name and Profile Picture!