Hello, you found a bug.  We recently added more information to the coordinates field of the Finale Generic CSV export file format (adding the angle of the position and the angle of the effect in 3D), but we forgot to make import handle the extra information if you try to import Finale Generic CSV.  So at this moment, if you export a Finale Generic CSV and reimport it, all the positions appear at coordinates 0, 0, 0, the location of Origin Man.   (For specifications of the coordinates information in Finale Generic CSV, see "Coordinates" in Table 3 of https://finale3d.com/documentation/finale-generic-csv-file-format/).   An immediate workaround if you are in a pinch is to edit the "Coordinates" column of the Finale Generic CSV spreadsheet.  Each cell in this column contains nine floating point numbers.  Delete the last six, and then the file will import with correct position coordinates.   I have fixed the problem already, and a new beta release will be coming out this week with the fix.   The fix, however, just imports the position coordinates; it doesn't import the position angles or 3D effect angles.  We have never round-tripped that information through Finale Generic CSV before.  We could do that, but it would be a bit more work.  If the ability to export and reimport position angles and 3D effect angles is important to you, could you describe the use case so we can understand the context?      

When I export a show (Export > Export script as Finale Generic csv...), I have in my csv file the names of my positions (column Position Name) and the coordinates of my positions (column Coordinates). Why when I import this file (Import > Import into a new show... > Do-it-yourself CSC file...), my positions are not at their place and are confused with the origin man?

Hey Will, i just want to explain in which use case i need this...... I often got cuelists which i have to import as a marker into finale 3d. So for me it would be great to have during the import Dialog "do it your self CSV" a possible to say that the time which i want to import have a special format and that finale   For the script window i prefer the variant as it is at the moment but i think a generated column which shows the show time format  with the ugly millisecond remainders would be a good addition to have acces to it in the script window and reports.   KR

Adding to Dusty's reply, when you want to edit Visual Descriptive Language (VDL) by typing readable words, typically you right-click on an effect and select 'Edit this effect simulation...'   When you want to create a custom simulation and have full control over all aspects of an effect, you right-click on the effect and select 'Customize this effect simulation's parameters....'   These are two ways to created/edit effects.

Hi Mark, the answer depends on which version of Finale 3D you are running. In Lite, you can limit the number of pins used by limiting the items you add to a position and then restricting each module to a single position when addressing. For example, if you have a position with just 12 salute chains and nothing else, then a single module will be assigned to that position and only 12 pins will be used. The other option in Lite would be to manually hand-key in the addresses you want. In the Hobbyist version, you can take further with more options to constrain modules and selectively lock and unlock addresses. For example, you can restrict each module to a single part number, this would give you the desired result. In Pro, there are many more options, my favorite way to achieve this is by dragging and dropping racks in to two separate clusters (one for salute chains and one for color chains), and then restricting each module to a single rack cluster.   To see how max. e-matches per pin works, start small. Open a new blank show and add two of the same effect on the same position at the same time. Next, address the show with a max. of 1 e-match per pin. You will see that the first item gets rail 1 pin 1 and the second item gets rail 1 pin 2. Now address the show again and change the max. to 2. Now you will see that both items are assigned rail 1, pin 1. Build up from there...   It's also worth noting that any manual addressing you do isn't taken into account whatsoever when you then do 'Addressing > Address show...' In other words, when you address your show, the slate is wiped clean, anything you have typed in the rail and pin columns is completely and utterly blown away.

Hello,   I've taken this down as a task request ("Add format options for event time in script window.").  You are right, currently you have options in "Show > Show settings > Set effect time format" but they do not apply to the event time format.  Part of the reason we don't treat them together is that a number of firing systems including PD use a different time representation for prefire and effect time.  For PD, prefire is in 10ths of a second; for a number of other firing systems, prefire is in 100ths or ms.  Consequently the event times, which are effect times minus prefire times, often aren't themselves representable cleanly as frames, because they don't fall on an even frame boundary.  Our formatting options do include the ability to represent fractional frames with millisecond remainders but they are ugly when printed (example: 00:05;11+14).   So the long winded explanation for why event times are in milliseconds is that I didn't think people would like the frames representation of them, which would usually have ugly millisecond remainders.   But it is possible to add this feature, so I've added it to our feature request list.   Will      

Drew,I have another question for you:  Is there a way to end a module at less than 18?  For example if I have 12 salute chains on module 21 and 18 color chains on module 22, how can I stop finale from adding cues to module 21 to "fill it up"?   Also, I changed the max. ematch per pin to 3, but the addressing is still off.  Not sure why, but even if I manually fix it, addressing with multiple match per cue reverts to exactly how it was when it was set to 1???   Thank you again.   MP

Drew, pls see below

When you are customizing a simulation, you can create what we call a "blob" effect, as opposed to a "vdl" effect.   A VDL effect has VDL text in the VDL column.  For example, "Red to Green Peony". Or more complicated cake VDL, like "20 Shot Cake (a) Rising Very Long Silver Tip + (b) Glittering Gold Crown, 4 Rows, Row 1 (bbbbb/STR), Row 2 (aaaaa/BLT), Row 3 (aaaaa/BRT), Row 4 (aaaaa/VST)" Either way, it is more or less readable.   A Blob effect shows up as "{SIM1}" in the VDL column of the effects table when the effect is not selected, and it looks like a bunch of random characters in between curly braces if you edit the actual VDL column. It looks something like "{1KLUv/WDpAvUIAKQJu....}". It is not human-readable.   When you have a VDL effect, the "height" column of the effects table is used to generate the low-level effect definition.  This will determine the height of a comet, fountain, or mine, and it will determine the break height of a shell.   When you have a Blob simulation, the "height" column of the effects table is no longer used to generate the low-level effect definition. When you are customizing a simulation, you are effectively editing the low-level effect definition directly. You can put whatever value you like into the height column, but it will not change the low-level effect definition.   To change the actual height of a custom simulation, look at the 'launch' node in the Effect Editor, and adjust the 'height' field there.  

Hi Mark,   In the 'Address Show' dialog, set the 'Max. e-matches per pin' setting to a number higher than 1. For example, if you want to allow 2 e-matches to be on the same pin (i.e. cue), change the number to 2, etc. Once you do this, Finale 3D will automatically put qualifying items on the same pin, up to the max. that you specify.