To create and export a script for the FireByWire firing system, please follow these three steps: Design the show. Address the show ("Addressing > Address show"). Export the script ("File > Export > Export firing scripts"). Step 3 creates the script file, which is a CSV file that you can import into your firing system, or edit in a text editor.   Figure 1 – The FireByWire firing system   The exported script is a human-readable text file that contains little more than the essential information for a firing system controller to fire the show -- the ignition time, effect time, channel, position, and effect name.   Table 1 – File format and encoding File format Extension Text encoding Field delimiter End-of-line Text CSV ASCII Comma CRLF    The script contains rows of data fields separated by commas, and a few header rows.   The script contains a variable number of columns that depends on the number positions, enabling each position's data to shown in a separate pair of columns to represent the effects and channels of the shots on the position.  The special characteristics of the script are shown in the following table:   Table 2 – Special characteristics Special characteristics Description Sort order of rows Rows are sorted by ignition time (despite the fact that the effect time is the first field in each row). Columns Scripts contain three columns (row number, effect time, and event time), plus a pair of columns for each position to hold the effects and channels of shots at the position. What rows represent In FireByWire scripts exported by Finale 3D, each row identifies a unique firing pin ignition at a single position (i.e., unique module-slat-pin-position).  Although FireByWire scripts are capable of representing shots at multiple positions in the same row (since the script format has columns for each position), Finale 3D keeps each shot on a separate row in its exported FireByWire scripts. Module/slat/pin addresses The FireByWire system employs modules with 4 slats of 8 or 16 pins each, for 32 or 64 pins in total per module.  Special characters Fields include ASCII characters other than: ' , ; " tab and newline and other control characters. When you export a firing script for FireByWire, Finale 3D presents an "Export Options" dialog with options for different versions, as shown in Table 3.   Table 3 – Export options Option name Description Version Choose the 1ms time resolution or 100ms time resolution script version.     Each script row has the fields shown in Table 4.   Table 4 – Specifications of script fields Field name Description Row number The row number count, beginning with 1. Burst The time of the visual impact of the effect, such as the break of the shell. Format is MM:SS.DDD. Launch The exact time of the firing system's "ignition event" (application of a voltage to a pin) that ignites e-matches or triggers a sequencer that ultimately leads to the ignition of effects. Format is MM:SS.DDD. <First position name> The effect description of a shot in the first position. Channel The channel of a shot in the first position, in the format MMM-SP, where MMM is the module, beginning with 001, and S is the slat from 1-4, and P is the pin letter from A-P. <Next position name> The effect description of a shot in the next position. Etc. Additional columns for the remaining positions and their channels. The example script with three positions in Figure 2 below and the corresponding exported script in Figure 3 illustrate the arrangement of position columns in the FireByWire script export format.   Figure 2 – A script showing the module and slat numbers in the "Rail" column and the pin letter in the "Pin" column.   The three positions in the script shown in Figure 2 become pairs of columns in the FireByWire exported script, shown in Figure 3.   FireByWire script Exported from Finale MLE Pyrotechnics C:UserswillDocumentstest_firebywire01.wav x,Burst,Launch,Pos-01,Channel,Pos-02,Channel,Pos-03,Channel 1,00:05.000,00:02.760,Green Chrysanthemum,001-1A,,,, 2,00:06.000,00:03.760,,,Green Chrysanthemum,002-1A,, 3,00:07.000,00:04.760,,,,,Green Chrysanthemum,003-1A 4,00:09.883,00:07.643,Green Chrysanthemum,001-1B,,,, 5,00:10.883,00:08.643,,,Green Chrysanthemum,002-1B,, 6,00:11.883,00:09.643,,,,,Green Chrysanthemum,003-1B 7,00:15.731,00:13.491,Purple Chrysanthemum,001-1C,,,, 8,00:15.731,00:13.491,,,Purple Chrysanthemum,002-1C,, 9,00:15.731,00:13.491,,,,,Purple Chrysanthemum,003-1C Figure 3 – Exported FireByWire firing system script corresponding to the script of Figure 2   Table 5 – Example files Download link Explanation test_firebywire.csv Example exported file  (CSV) test_firebywire.fin Example show file

Effects fit into racks of the same size that are also the right kind of rack, based on the effect's "Type" field.  Candles fit into candle racks.  Single-shots fit into single-shot racks.  Cakes fit into cake racks.  Shells, mines, and comets fit into mortar racks.   Obviously single-shots can also be shells, mines, or comets in the physical world, but effects have a single Type in the Finale 3D software, and that is what determines what kind of rack the effects fit into (see Why is ‘Type’ so important? What depends on it?). In practice, you may have reason to put candles or single shots into your mortar racks, notwithstanding their Type.   You may also want to put slice cakes in single-shot racks, or ground items or single-shots in cake racks. The practice of putting single-shots and candles in mortars is called sleeving.  Finale 3D extends the meaning of the term sleeving to include all circumstances of putting an effect into a rack of a different Type.   Table 1 – Using sleeving to put an item into a different kind of rack Original type of the effect Original kind of rack that it goes into Possible to "sleeve" the effect Kind of rack the effect goes into if it is sleeved single_shot Single-shot rack YES Mortar rack candle Candle rack YES Mortar rack shell, comet, mine Mortar rack YES Mortar rack (no change) cake Cake or ground rack YES Single-shot rack (makes sense for slice cakes) ground Cake or ground rack YES Single-shot rack (example: ground strobe) other_effect None YES Single-shot rack   To sleeve effects in Finale 3D, you simply set the "Sleeve" field of the effects to the size in the rack you want them to fit into.   Then when you address the show or drag and drop pins in the rack layout view, the effects will fit into racks of the specified size, no matter what their actual Type and Size are.   Figure 1 – Example of six 2" roman candles and some 3" racks that would be nice to put them into.   The example shown in Figure 1 has six 2" candle effects that do not fit into the 3" mortar racks because of their Type and Size.  Right-click on the effects in the script window to set their Sleeve field, as shown in Figure 2.   Figure 2 – Right-click the effects in the script to set their "Sleeve" field to 3" to make them fit into 3" racks.   The menu item will bring up the dialog shown in Figure 3.  You can select multiple effects and right click on any of them to set the Sleeve of all of them at once, or if you know that you want to sleeve all similar effects in the entire show, you can right-click on any one of them and check the "Apply to all instances of this effect" box in the dialog.   Figure 3 – Check the "Apply to all instances of this effect" box to apply to all effects with the same part number.   The Sleeve field is one of the columns in the script table.  It is hidden by default.  From the blue gear menu you can unhide the column to look at the Sleeve values, as shown in Figure 4.  Inches and millimeters are compatible representations for sleeving effects, so long as they are within a small tolerance.  For example, 75mm and 76mm sizes both fit into 3" rack tubes as well as 75mm and 76mm tubes.   Figure 4 – Unhide the "Sleeve" column to examine the sleeve field of the effects in the show, which are blank by default.   Having set the Sleeve fields to 3", the empty racks shown in Figure 1 will hold the candles without errors when you re-address the show.  Figure 5 shows the result after sleeving and re-addressing.   Figure 5 – After re-addressing, the candles with the 3" sleeve fields  will fit into 3" mortars.   Sorting by size in the addressing dialog The sorting fields in the addressing dialog include a number of options related to size, as shown in Figure 6.  The sorting options that have the same name as a script column will sort by the unadjusted data value in that column.  Thus the "Size" sorting option sorts the sizes without taking into account the sleeve size.  The "Size -- XXX" options just above the blue row in Figure 6 sort by size for specific effect types while doing nothing for effects of other types.  The size and the effect type for those options refer to the "Size" and "Type" columns' data values, unaffected by sleeving.  With respect to these options, a 50mm single-shot is still a 50mm single-shot, even if you have sleeved it to go into a 3" mortar rack.   Figure 6 – The size sorting options in the addressing dialog do not take into account sleeve size, except for the "Size Or Sleeve" option.   Slice cakes in single-shot racks Sleeving changes the kind of rack that an effect is compatible with, and it changes the size of the mortar or tube or cake slot in the rack that the effect occupies, the changed size being the sleeve size.  Some single-shot racks have a "Max. usable row length" constraint that limits the number of effects that can fit in a rack row by the sum of their sizes, which must not exceed the usable row length. Sleeving changes the kind of rack that an effect is compatible with, and it changes the size of the mortar or tube or cake slot in the rack that the effect occupies, the changed size being the sleeve size.  Some single-shot racks have a "Max. usable row length" constraint that limits the number of effects that can fit in a rack row by the sum of their sizes, which must not exceed the usable row length. Cakes that are sleeved to go into single-shot racks are usually slice cakes comprising a single row of tubes.  As a special mechanism, sleeved cakes will require and occupy an entire rack row if the rack has a "Max. usable row length" constraint, rather than consuming just part of the row length. Imagine a slice cake that consists of 10 tubes with 1" diameter.  Its footprint is wide and rectangular, approximately 1o or 11 inches by 1".  If you put that slice cake in a single shot rack, the slice cake slides into the row, aligning length-wise with the row.  It consumes 10 or 11 inches, not 1". Since a common practice is for slice cakes to consume entire rows of single-shot racks, the special mechanism for sleeving cakes implements just that -- sleeved cakes consume the entire row of racks with "Max. usable row length" constraints.  Thus to sleeve a 10 tube slice cake with 1" tubes into a single-shot rack you would typically use a sleeve size of 1", not 10 or 11 inches.  If the rack has a min/max size constraint, the 1" will fit appropriately into the min/max range of the rack.  If you want, you can cancel out the special mechanism and set an explicit row length consumption for a cake by settings its "rackRowLengthConsumption" property in the Physical Specifications column in the effects window (see Variable tube size racks with row length constraint). Unlike single-shots and shells, cakes in Finale 3D are considered non-rotationally symmetric (see Why is ‘Type’ so important? What depends on it?).  A shell doesn't look any different if it is rotated inside the mortar, whereas a cake might.  A sideways fan cake is different from a forward/back fan cake.  A left-to right fan cake is different from the same cake rotated 180 degrees. A slice cake needs to align with the row of the single-shot rack that contains it in order to fit, physically: a long, skinny slice cake fits into a long, skinny row.  Because cakes are non-rotationally symmetric, their orientation in the show matters, and the rack that contains them must be oriented compatibly with the cake orientation.  The actual requirement is that the sum of the cakes' PAN and SPIN angles is required to match the orientation of the rows in the single-shot rack they are sleeved into, plus or minus 180 degrees.  For example, if the slice cake is oriented facing forward such the fan faces the audience, the single-shot rack that it fits into needs to be rotated 90 or 270 degrees so that its rows are sideways, aligned with the forward-facing, wide, rectangular cake.    

The "Pre-Wired Rails" field of the racks in the rack layout view enables you to restrict racks to using specific rails.  In most circumstances it is best to leave the Pre-Wired Rails field empty, so the addressing functions can assign effects and firing system pins to racks optimally for the constraints you've defined.  But in some circumstances like fixed-use venues or theme parks with firing systems pre-wired to the racks, you don't have a choice -- if the firing system module is pre-wired to a specific rack, then you had better make sure the addressing functions abide by that constraint. The rack layout in Figure 1 is an example from a theme park that has the racks wired up to the firing system in a permanent configuration, so this is an example in which it is necessary to specify the Pre-Wired Rails to ensure the racks end up with the right modules (rails and modules are the same thing for firing systems like PyroDigital that don't partition the module's pins into slats).      Figure 1 – The "Pre-Wired Rails" field of racks restricts the rack to one or more specified rails.   The Pre-Wired Rails field in the rack layout view is usually on the far right of the table.  To see it, you will probably need to hide other columns with the blue gear menu, to make room.  Once you can see and edit the Pre-Wired Rails field, enter into it the list of rail addresses that a rack is permitted to use.  In the Figure 1 example, each rack has only a single tube, so each rack is bound to a single module.  Other use cases like large single-shot racks may require a list of permitted rail addresses.  You can type a list of addresses into the field, separated by commas. It is okay to use the same address for multiple racks.  The meaning of the Pre-Wired Rails field is that the rack is restricted to the rail addresses from the given list.  The constraint is only in that direction, though.  It doesn't imply that the rail addresses are restricted to that rack.   Figure 2 – The "Pre-Wired Rails" of the rack must be chosen from the "Pre-Assigned Rails" of the position.   The Pre-Wired Rails field must only contain rail addresses that are pre-assigned to the position by way of the "Add rail" or "Edit rails" buttons at the bottom of the rack layout view or in the position properties (the "Pre-Assigned Rails" field of the position, as shown in Figure 2).  If the Pre-Wired Rails field of a rack contains an address that is not in the Pre-Assigned Rails field of the position, the Pre-Wired Rails field will be ignored.  

When you drag a pin number to a rack in the rack layout view, the pin number may display in red in its new position, indicating an error.  There are a number of possible explanations, such as: the effect with that pin number is the wrong size or wrong angle for the tube.  If the cause of the error isn't obvious, you can right click on the pin number and select the menu item, "Why is this tube red?" to see an explanation.   Figure 1 – Right-click on a tube and select "Why is this tube red?" for an explanation!   The full list of possible explanations is given in Table 1.  The explanations don't require further elaboration, except for one: when the effect angle doesn't match the tube angle, at times it can be difficult to reason why.  Effect angles are based on the Pan, Tilt, and Spin columns in the script, to enable the effect to aim in any direction and with any spin.  Effects like shells and mines are rotationally symmetric around the axis of their trajectory, so spin doesn't matter for those types of effects.  But spin does matter for cakes, which may look different if you rotate them 180 degrees to face them the opposite direction, for example. Since the left/right Tilt of the effect is by far the most common angle adjustment, most of the user interface and tool tips display only the Tilt angle, so as not to overwhelm you with three numbers when one is usually sufficient.  But sometimes when you are trying to figure out why an effect is highlighted in red in a tube, you do need to look at all three angles.  It is no favor to you in this circumstance that the user interface omits the other angles.  So if you are having trouble understanding why an effect's angle doesn't match the tube, try un-hiding the Pan, Tilt, and Spin columns in the script window so you have all the information at hand to get to the bottom of the problem. Table 1 – Possible explanations Attribute Explanation Rack Type Incompatible Rack Type.  Look at the 'Rack Type' column for the effect in the script, and compare to the 'Rack Type' column for the rack in the table below. Part Number The effect is missing a part number. Part Number The effect's part number does not match an effect in the Per-show effects. Type The type of the effect does not match rack. For example, effects with type 'single_shot' go into single-shot racks; effects with type 'shell' or 'comet' go into mortar racks. Look at the effect's 'Type' column and compare to the kind of rack it is placed in. Pre-Wired Pins The rack's pre-wired pins specify a different pin number for this tube. Edit the rack's VDL to examine its 'Pre-wired pins' constraint. Size The effect sizes in this row of tubes add up to more than the length of the row. Edit the rack's VDL to examine its 'Max. usable length per row' constraint. --- The rack does not have any available tubes. --- The tube is used by another effect. --- The rack does not have any available tubes. Size The effect size is not compatible with the tube size. Size The effect size is not compatible with the min/max size range of rack. Angle The effect angle does not match tube. The effect angle is based on the Pan, Tilt, and Spin columns in the script table. Pre-Wired Rail The address of the effect does not match rack's pre-wired rails. Look at the 'Pre-Wired Rails' column for the rack in the table below.   What red pin warnings do not take into account The red pin warnings test whether the item's properties like Size and Type and Rack Type are compatible with the rack's definition, taking into consideration sleeving and Rack Type Part Numbers.  The warnings also test the pre-wired pins and pre-wired rail constraints if the rack has these constraints.  The warnings do not, however, take into account the addressing constraints from the addressing dialog or blueprint.    Thus the red pin warnings can show you some of the reasons that an item may not get assigned to a rack by the addressing function, but they may not show you all the possible reasons. If you think about it, the red pin warnings couldn't possibly take into account the addressing dialog or blueprint constraints, because the red pin warnings can only depend on the constraints of the items and racks as they stand.  The addressing dialog and blueprint constraints are merely inputs to the addressing algorithm that are not recorded in the items and racks themselves.  

Tiltable row racks like the two Pyrolamas rack shown in Figure 1 have rows that fan out at various angles.  This rack structure contrasts with Fan row racks in which the tube holders fan out within each row.   Figure 1 – The rows of tiltable row racks aim forward and tilt left/right to make fans from the audience perspective.   Pre-configured vs. adjustable tilt rows If you specify the row angles of the rack before addressing the show and choose "Single-shot rack, fixed tube angles" for the rack structure in the "Create rack" dialog, then the rack is said to be "pre-configured".  The addressing algorithm will fill the rows with effects whose angles match the angles of the rows.  Figure 2 shows the "Create rack" dialog.  To set the row angles for a rack, fill in the "Row tilt" fields for the eight rows with tilt angles in degrees, following the angle convention that -90 is to the left, 90 is to the right, and 0 is up. If you leave the row tilt angles unspecified and instead choose the "Single-shot rack, adjustable tilt angle of each row" for the rack structure, then the addressing algorithm will define the row angles on the fly as it assigns firing system addresses to the shots.  Whenever you use the "Single-shot rack, adjustable tilt angle of each row" option, it is advisable to assign firing system addresses sorted by angle or tilt within each position, as shown in paragraph 2 of Figure 3, to guarantee that the addressing algorithm doesn't spread effects of the same angle across multiple rows when they could be in the same row, which could result in inefficient filling of the rack. In addition to the addressing sort order, the tube loading order option in the rack definition can affect the angles of the rows for adjustable tilt row racks, so for this kind of rack please follow both these guidelines: Set the tube loading order in the rack definition to "By rows, left to right" (which is also the default). When addressing, sort the addressing order by tilt or angle as the primary condition after Position. The reason for these guidelines is that the first effect assigned in each row will set the angle of the row.  The "By rows" loading order means the effects being addressed will fill out the first row, to the extent their angles are compatible, before moving on to the next.  The "Across rows" loading order means the effects being addressed will fill out the first tubes in each row before moving on to the second tubes, and so on.  The best approach to guarantee the rows are filled completely is to "fill" all the left-most rows first, and work your way to the right as the rows fill up, which requires (1) and (2).  Imagine if you have 25 shots to fill a 5-row rack, and your shots are in 5 angles, 5 shots each.  If you sort by angle but your tube loading order is "Across rows" instead of "By rows", then the first five shots would be assigned to the first tube in each of the five rows, forcing ALL of the rows to be the first angle.  Those first five shots would get racked and the next 20 would not fit in the rack because all the rows are aiming a single direction! These guidelines are not required for pre-configured tilt angle, only for adjustable tilt angles.  The guidelines still apply if you use the Re-arrange tubes in adjustable angle racks to avoid collisions option when addressing.   Pyrosure + Evolved example The Evolved racks are a kind of tiltable row rack that works with pre-wired pins.  The PyroSure firing system uses slats that are pre-wired individually to each row, requiring the pre-wired pins option "Sequential for each row" shown in Figure 2.    Since all the tubes in a row have the same angle, all the effects addressed to the same slat must therefore be the same angle.  The addressing configuration in Figure 3 adds the constraint in paragraph 3 that slats are restricted to a single angle.  If you are addressing for tiltable row racks with PyroSure, you need this constraint for the tiltable row racks.   Figure 2 – The Evolved rack for PyroSure requires the "Sequential for each row" option, since each row is wired to a slat.   Your show probably has other kinds of racks in it as well, though, and you may want to use other constraints and sorting criteria for other racks in the show.   The "Addressing > Address show" function applies a single set of addressing criteria for the entire show, so if you need different criteria for different parts of the show you need to use either 1) the "Addressing > Fill down addresses" function, or 2) addressing blueprints.   Addressing blueprints are rule sets or templates of the addressing criteria that look approximately the same as the "Addressing > Address show" dialog.  You can assign different addressing blueprints to different positions of the show, and then use the "Addressing > Address show using blueprints assigned to positions" instead of the "Addressing > Address show" function.  To use a different addressing blueprint for your tiltable row racks, you need to split off your tiltable row racks and their effects into their own positions, and then assign your custom addressing blueprint to those positions.   Figure 3 – The addressing configuration for PyroSure requires that each slat is restricted to a single angle.   In paragraph 3 of Figure 3, the two circled constraints connected by a red line restrict each module to a single rack, and each rack to a single module.  The combination of those two constraints creates a 1:1 relationship between modules and racks.  This is the necessary configuration for using PyroSure firing system with the Evolved tiltable row racks. The PyroSure slats are pre-wired to the tubes in the tiltable row rack in a pre-defined (and obvious) order, beginning with pin 1 at the top and pin 4 at the bottom for each row, since each row is pre-wired to a slat with four pins.  The "Sequential for each row" option shown in Figure 2 is the choice that will guarantee that pin layout.  There are other options that are applicable to other firing systems, but the "Sequential for each row" option is the correct choice for PyroSure because PyroSure uses a separate slat for each row.  The various pre-wired pin options are all illustrated in Pre-wired pin options.  The illustration of "Sequential for each row" is shown here in Figure 4.   Figure 4 – The "Sequential for each row" option works for firing systems like PyroSure that assign a separate module or slat to each row.    FireOne example The setup for FireOne is slightly different from PyroSure because FireOne doesn't use slats for its addressing scheme.   Figure 6 illustrates the natural pin pattern for pre-wiring a FireOne module to a tiltable row rack with the same number of tubes (see Pre-wired pin options for other options).   Figure 6 – The "Sequential by rows, left to right" option works if a single module and pin range cover the entire rack.    You can select this "Sequential by rows, left to right" pre-wired pins option in the "Create rack" dialog, as shown in Figure 7. Figure 7 – The tiltable row rack configuration for FireOne can use the "Sequential by rows, left to right" option.   The FireOne system doesn't use slats in its addressing scheme, so the addressing configuration for tiltable row racks using FireOne doesn't specify anything in the slats line of paragraph 3 of the addressing configuration shown in Figure 8.   Figure 8 – The addressing configuration for FireOne doesn't have constraints for slats, because there aren't any.  

When you define a rack with the "Create rack" function you have the option specifying a "Pre-wired pins" constraint, which pre-defines the one and only pin number that can go into each tube holder of the rack.  This feature is required if your racks physically are pre-wired to the firing system.  What is less well known is that using the pre-wired pins option to put the pins into an optimal order can be useful even for racks that are not pre-wired to the firing system.  By forcing the pin numbers to be arranged in an order that is more understandable for the crew, or that results in cleaner wiring layouts, or that puts shots of the same product type into a straight sequence of pins, you can save the crew time and reduce the chance of error. To complement this section, please see Racks with pre-wired pins and Shoot sites with pre-wired pins for example uses of pre-wired pins.  The section Rack “row” and standard orientation explains the orientation of rows (vertical). The "Create rack" dialog has eleven options for pre-wired pins.  The first nine options are specific patterns that correspond to common use cases.  The last two -- "Specified by Custom Part Field' and "Specified by Custom Rack Field" -- enable you to specify any arbitrary pattern for the pins by typing in a list of pin numbers separated by commas in the Custom Part Field of the rack in the effects window, or in the Custom Rack Field of a rack instance in the rack layout view.  If you want to mark off any tube holders as unusable, you can simply assign them large pin numbers like 99 that don't exist on your firing system.   Figure 1 – The "Pre-wired pins"  options on the "Create rack" dialog   The following figures illustrate the various pre-wired pin pattern options.  In all of these figures, the racks are oriented in the vertical row orientation, starting with row #1 on the left.  Since single-shot racks usually have rows aiming sideways, you would probably change the standard orientation of these racks to "Rows or horizontal on screen (most single-shot racks)", as described in Rack “row” and standard orientation.   Figure 2 – "By rows, left to right" (the rack has eight vertical rows, starting with the row on the left)   Figure 3 – "Across rows, left to right"   Figure 4 – "By rows, left to right, half and half" (requires two modules or slats because it includes two pin ranges)   Figure 5 – "Across rows, left to right, half and half" (requires two modules or slats because it includes two pin ranges)   Figure 6 – "By rows, right to left" (pattern begins with the right-most vertical row)   Figure 7 – "Across rows, right to left"   Figure 8 – "By rows, right to left, half and half" (requires two modules or slats because it includes two pin ranges)   Figure 9 – "Across rows, right to left, half and half" (requires two modules or slats because it includes two pin ranges)   Figure 10 – "Sequential for each row" (requires eight modules or slats because it includes eight pin ranges, one for each row)      

If you want to include flames or other simulations in a show design but you would like to exclude them from the firing system script, you can change their "Type" to "not_an_effect".  The Type field controls a number of factors, such as whether an effect requires an e-match, whether it fits in a single-shot rack or a mortar rack, whether its duration is adjustable, and a few more factors in addition to the present factor of whether the effect receives firing system addresses.  The complete list and explanation of types and the factors they control is, Why is ‘Type’ so important? What depends on it?.   Figure 1 – The "Type" field affects whether the effect receives firing system addresses.   Figure 2 shows one of the flame effects from the default "Generic Effects" collection.  It has the type "flame".  A quick glance at the table in Why is ‘Type’ so important? What depends on it? will show that effects with type "flame" do receive firing system addresses (or DMX addresses depending on the firing system type).  If you want to exclude them from getting firing system addresses, change their type to "not_an_effect".  You can change the type by double-clicking the cell in the effect window and manually typing the other type.  There are 14 pre-defined type possibilities to choose from.   Figure 2 – Change the Type to "not_an_effect" to exclude the effect from firing system addresses.   After you change the type to "not_an_effect", the table in the effect window looks like Figure 2.  If you then address the show with "Addressing > Address show", the flame effects will have blank cells in the "Rail" and "Pin" column, as shown in Figure 3.   Figure 3 – Script lines with the Type "not_an_effect" will not receive firing system addresses.   The firing system export function, "File > Export > Export firing system script(s)" may give a warning that some effects are missing assignments, but the warning mentions that the usual reason is an empty cue, and it is not anything to worry about.  

After you lay out the racks in the rack layout view, the addressing functions like "Addressing > Address show" may fill in the firing system pin numbers starting with the wrong rack, from your perspective.  To fix the problem, you can adjust the order of the racks.       Figure 1 – If you would prefer the top left tube to be module 50, pin 0, the racks are in the wrong order.   The rack layout of Figure 1 shows six 3" racks in two clusters.  The addressing function appears to assign firing system module and pin numbers starting with the right cluster of three racks, wrapping around to the left cluster of three racks.  The tube in the top-left (circled in Figure 1) is thus assigned a firing system address of module 51, pin E.  It would be natural to want something different.  Perhaps you want this tube to have the address: module 50, pin 0. The reason the racks on the right are assigned the lower firing system addresses is that their rack numbers are lower numbers than the rack numbers of the racks on the left.  The rack numbers are shown in the "Rack" column in the table below the rack diagram.  The three selected racks (circled) have the rack numbers 39, 40, and 41, as you can see in the three selected rows in the table in Figure 2.   Figure 2 – To correct the problem, move the three racks on the right to be "last".   To force the three racks on the right to be addressed after the three on the left, select them and right click on them to do the function "Renumber left to right" from the context menu, which brings up a dialog with a field, "Starting with rack number", and with a checkbox, "Start after all other racks".  To move these three racks to last, just check the checkbox and click okay.   Figure 3 – The "Renumber left to right" function changes the rack numbers in the "Rack" column.   The "Renumber left to right" function changes the rack numbers in the "Rack" column, making them larger than any other rack numbers.  Notice in Figure 3 that the three selected racks that used to have rack numbers 39, 40, and 41 now have rack numbers 45, 46, and 47, making them last.    Figure 4 – After you adjust the rack numbers in the "Rack" column, the addressing function assigns addresses in the correct order.   Once you've changed the rack numbers to be in the order you want, repeat the "Addressing > Address show" function to re-assign firing system addresses, considering the racks in order.  You can achieve the desired result shown in Figure 4 -- the top-left tube having the address: module 50, pin 0! You may also find it easier to edit the rack numbers directly in the table by hand instead of using the "Renumber left to right" function.  Rack numbers need to be unique, which means it is difficult to swap two numbers without temporarily assigning one to a temporary number to move it out of the way.   Renumber functions In addition to the "Renumber left to right" context menu function, the main menu item "Racks > Renumber all racks consecutively" will compact all the rack numbers to a consecutive sequence from 1 to N by eliminating any gaps.  Please see Renumber racks for examples and more information about renumbering racks.  

If a shoot site will be used over and over again for repeated events, such as in a theme park, the shoot site may be pre-configured with a fixed number of stationary mortars at pre-defined angles and with pre-defined firing system wiring.  Take a look at Figure 1, below.    Figure 1 – Launch position with 32 tubes at pre-defined angles and with pre-defined module and pin numbers.   The rack layout of Figure 1 represents a launch position labeled B02 with two Pyrodigital modules, 79 and 7B.  The tubes in this launch position are modelled in Finale 3D as individual single-tube racks.  There are 32 tubes at this launch position, and thus there are 32 racks, represented by the peach and green squares.  The peach squares are 5" tubes and the green squares are 6" tubes.  Additionally, all 16 of the 5" tubes on the left side are tilted 10 degrees to the left.  Only two of the 6" racks on the right side are tilted to the left (the rest are straight up).  All of the 5" tubes on the right are tilted 10 degrees to the right. Further to the specifications of this launch position, the 16 tubes on the left are all constrained to module 79, and to pin numbers counting from 0 to F beginning with 0 in the lower left, then 1 above it, then 2 on the bottom row again, then 3 above it, etc.; the 16 tubes on the right are all constrained to module 7B and to pins in a similar order beginning with 0 in the lower left.  Not all of the tubes are filled in this example, which is why some of the tubes do not have pin numbers in them, but you can observe that all of the tubes that do have pin numbers are laid out consistently with these specifications. Imagine that the specifications illustrated by Figure 1 are pre-defined by the shoot site.  Then any show design that is compatible with this shoot site must have effects that fit in these specific tube sizes at these specific angles -- and the firing system addresses of the effects must match the pre-defined modules and pins of the tubes that the effects go into. This section shows how to set up your shoot site in Finale 3D such that the addressing functions will assign firing system addresses in keeping with these complex specifications of the shoot site.   Setting up the shoot site in Finale 3D The addressing functions in Finale 3D like "Addressing > Address show" assign firing system module and pin numbers to the effects, and additionally rack and tube numbers if you've added racks to the launch positions.  To set up the shoot site for pre-wired tubes as shown in Figure 1, you need to, Create definitions of the racks, specifying the size and "Pre-wired pins" option. Add all 32 racks to the rack layout and tilt them to the correct angles using the blue control point in the lower right. Specify the "Pre-Assigned Rails" for the launch position (79 and 7B in this example). Specify the module and pin numbers for all 32 racks exactly as you want them to be laid out.   Step 1: Creating the rack definitions  Creating the rack definitions may be the simplest step of all.  The shoot site of Figure 1 requires only two rack definitions, a 5" and a 6" rack.  Both racks have a single tube.  Both racks are mortar racks with the "Pre-wired pins" option of "Specified by Custom Rack Field".   Figure 2 shows the dialog for creating one of these racks:   Figure 2 – Definition of a single-tube rack for a pre-wired shoot site.   Step 2: Adding the racks to the launch position  Once you've created the two rack definitions, you can add all 32 rack instances to the launch position by clicking on the rows representing the racks in the effects window while viewing the launch position in the rack layout window.  It is easiest to do this by hand, one at a time.  For each one that needs to be angled, you can click on the blue dash control point in the lower right corner of the rack and drag it to tilt the rack to the correct angle.  After completing this step, your launch position should have peach and green squares looking like Figure 1, although no pin numbers or module numbers yet.   Step 3: Specify the "Pre-Assigned Rails"  Knowing that your launch position is to use modules 79 and 7B, edit the position properties for the launch position and type in "79,7B" into the "Pre-Assigned Rails" field.  The terms "Rail" and "Module" mean the same thing unless the firing system partitions its module pins into slats (Rails).  Since the Pyrodigital firing system does not do that, the terms "Rail" and "Module" are synonymous.   Setting the Pre-Assigned Rails for the position allocates those specific modules to the position.   You can edit position properties by right clicking a position in the 3D view, or by clicking the "Edit rails" link at the bottom of the rack layout view, or by opening the positions window and editing the Pre-Assigned Rails column.  Editing the numbers in the positions window is the quickest user interface if you are configuring multiple launch positions.   Figure 3 – Pre-allocating specific rails (modules) for the launch position.   Step 4: Specify the module and pin numbers for the racks  Refer again to Figure 1 and look at the numbers circled in red.   The table in this diagram has a lot of the columns hidden in order to make the columns important to this example more visible (hint: to hide columns, right-click on the column header and select "Hide column" from the context menu; or click on the blue gear menu in the upper right).  The two red circles show the "Custom Rack Field" and the "Pre-Wired Rails" for the racks in the launch position.  These fields are editable.  You can click on a rack in the rack layout view to select it in the table, and then you can edit these two field values for that rack.  If you recall in Step 1, you defined the racks with the "Pre-wired pins" option of "Specified by Custom Rack Field".  That option enables you to specify different pins for each rack instance in the position.  Since these racks have just a single tube each, each rack needs only a single number, representing the pin number pre-wired to its one and only tube (if the rack had multiple tubes you can specify a comma-separate list of pin numbers instead of a single number).  So, for this example, just fill in the desired pin number for the tube in the "Custom Rack Field" of the rack representing the tube. The "Pre-Wired Rail" field sets a constraint that the rack is only compatible with a list of one or more specified rails.  In this example, each rack has one tube so it obviously involves only one module.  Simply type the appropriate module number into the "Pre-Wired Rail" field of each rack.   What next?  Steps 1-4 complete the setup of the shoot site for pre-wired tubes.   After completing these steps, you can design a show and assign firing system addresses with "Addressing > Address show" or any of the other addressing options.  Finale 3D will assign firing system addresses consistent with the specifications you've laid out.   Looking back again at Figure 1, notice that some of the pin numbers in the counting sequence appear to be missing.  The second green square, for example, which would be expected to house pin 3, is empty.  Why is that?  The show design for this example has only one 6" shell aiming to the left 10 degrees.  Thus that tube cannot be used for anything.  Since the tube cannot be used for anything, neither can the pin that is pre-wired to it.  Pin 3 of module 7B must be unused for this show design. While designing a show you can check at any time if your design fits in the constraints of your shoot site by clicking "Addressing > Address show" and seeing if there are any errors.  If your show design uses angles or sizes that you don't have in the shoot site, you'll find out about it with errors in the summary dialog from the addressing function.  

Unless otherwise specified, the tubes in racks will load top to bottom when addresses are assigned.  Of course you can drag-and-drop the pins in the racks to rearrange the tube assignments in the rack layout view, but if you know that you want to snake the loading order back and forth as shown in Figure 1, then you can save some time by indicating that alternating racks have reversed tube loading order. The "User settings > Reverse tube loading order on alternating racks" setting will cause the "Racks > Add racks for show" and other rack adding commands to reverse the tube loading order of alternating mortar racks in every size-angle group of racks (excluding cake, candle, and single-shot racks).      Figure 1 – If "User settings > Reverse tube loading order on alternating racks" is ON, then "Add racks for show" will reverse the loading order of alternating mortar racks within a size-angle group.   If you add racks individually by clicking on them in the effects window, then they'll be inserted into rack layout with the standard tube loading order.  To reverse the tube loading order on specific racks, shift-click to select all the racks you want to reverse, then right-click on any of them and do the command "Reverse tube loading order" from the context menu, as shown in Figure 2.  The small bar at the top of the rack indicates that its tube loading order is reversed.   Figure 2 – Right-click on a rack to reverse its tube loading order individually, as indicated by the small bar above the rack.   Racks with multiple rows of the tubes will load top to bottom, left to right.  If you want alternating rows of the multi-row rack to load tubes in reverse, snaking up and down as in Figure 3, then check the "Alternating" box in the rack's VDL as shown in Figure 4 by right-clicking the rack and doing "Edit this rack VDL" from the context menu.   Figure 3 – A multi-row rack can be configured to have alternating row tube loading orders.   The "Alternating" checkbox applies to the definition of the rack, meaning that it will apply to all instances of the rack in the show.  That is in contrast to the "Reverse tube loading order" command applied to any individual rack instances, which just reverses the loading order of the selected rack instances specifically.   Figure 4 – Multi-row racks like the one in Figure 3 can be set to alternate in the rack VDL specifications.