The version of Finale that supports drone shows will be available in beta in the first half of June (within about two weeks from now).  We expect it to be in the full release before the end of the month.   The features include the ability to slide the drone show around on the ground to reposition the whole show, but not the ability to manipulate/alter the drone show itself.  We expect users to design drone shows using drone show software, and then import the designed shows into Finale to choreograph hybrid fireworks displays along with them and to create videos of the combined shows.  We are optimizing Finale's features to support a workflow in which users can iteratively edit or modify their drone shows in the drone show software, export, and reimport into Finale to update the drone show portion of a hybrid show being scripted in Finale.   We worked with Verge Aero to come up with an interchange format for drone show software to export that Finale could import.  Verge Aero was in the news recently for winning a Gold Buzzer award on America's Got Talent Extreme.  We actually used that AGT show as a test case for working out the details of the file format.   (For those who are seeing this post as the first mention of drones for Finale, we posted a video to our Instagram account (finale_3d) over the weekend, which teased the upcoming feature.        

Where can I find the update that allows us to import a drone script into Finale 3D?   Also, are we able to  manipulate the drone positions/images? Or is this strictly just for importing pre-scripted flights?

Hi PyroWalker, I'm sorry, I hear your frustration, we'll get this fixed as soon as we can. Unfortunately, it's not a quick task, we estimate we need to allocate a full week of development time troubleshoot and resolve the issue. In the meantime, you can still you MP3s in Finale 3D, not just WAV files. You just need to convert your soundtrack to WAV and then back to MP3. Here's a tutorial that demonstrates the process: https://www.loom.com/share/a3c30e578310494a9176c9564a02db20

Hi PAJ06A and Eric G,   Try loading the script one more time and watch very closely for the first error message. I suspect you will see Error 26 flash once before Error 5 is repeatedly displayed. If so, then the problem is "Audio Box file name too long", and the solution is to shorten your Audio Box filename in the Finale 3D export options dialog before exporting your script. For more error info, check out the COBRA Error Code Reference Guide.   Cobra is a little inconsistent about Audio Box filename length limitations in their documentation. I have worked with Zach on testing this an found that the actual limits are as follows: • v5.0.X - 12 characters including the .mp3 • v5.1.X - 45 characters including the .mp3 • v6.0.X - 31 characters including the .mp3   Additionally, the Audio Box filename is limited to letters, numbers, "-" (hyphen), "_" (underscore), and " " (space). No other characters are permitted.

Rendering Batches The possibility to Render defined batches would safe work when we exporting different sequneces from a show. For example i often scripting sequneces for concerts and different tracks in one showfile. Most every Song have only one sequnece with 20 seconds which i need to render. Actual i have to repeat every time the render dialog and type in again and again the start and stop time. Would be great if we can arrange it with kind of start stop keyframes and get the option to render all these defined start stop ranges at once. Optinally as single or in multi files.   In general the option to render a timecode like in the design window would also be a good help to indicate which times weve rendered if we doesnt have the whole showfile.

Not had that error before.   Check list: 1. Re address show.  You might have added a cake or shell and forgot to re-address the show.  This would leave the event “orphaned”, with no module/pin. 2. When exporting selected cobra w/correct 18r2 Firmware version?   Have you examined the CSV file to see what row might be the issue? Eric

Good afternoon fellow Pyros -   I'm using Finale3d for the first time and just finalized this years show in the tool.   However upon addressing the show, exporting the csv file, and then loading it on my 18r2 controller, I receive Error 5.   "5 - Events found with no script header row - Remove the event row that contains no script header row or add a script header row above the events."   I have not edited the CSV and I'm downloading the file directly from Finale3d and directly into the controller.   Has anyone else experienced this?   Any help is greatly appreciated.   Thanks,   Phillip

Well... I got a solution working, but I had to manually edit the exported script.  I had to edit the starting position (MOVE IN BLACK) pan to go around past 360 (DMX value 192) then the Move to (DMX value 149) doesn't cause the head to spin around backwards.

How do I get a moving head to pan from Right to Left (45 Right to 45 Left).  

Yeah, this negatively impacted my PyroJam entries, and I didn't know enough then about how to fix it. The ironic thing is Cobra will only take MP3 files, and Finale will only use wav. For those of us who use both interchangeably this is frustrating.