Effect libraries for light fixtures contain a set of pre-defined effects to use in your show, like "Red Flash (lg)" for a par light or perhaps a "Green Move-To (lg)" for a moving head fixture.   If a fixture supports strobing, then its effect library will likely include effects with names like "With Strobing (Fast)" or "With Strobing (Medium)".  These strobing effects don't make any light on their own; they are modifier effects.  They modify the behavior of light effects that are playing on the fixture at the same time.   Figure 1 – The yellow dotted lines overlaying the second set of effects on the timeline cause them to strobe.   To add strobing effects to your show, first add whatever light effects you want to the fixtures, and then add "With Strobing" effects to those same fixtures.  The "With Strobing" effects need to begin at the same time or before the effects that they modify, and to avoid confusion they should extend long enough cover the full extent of the effects that they modify.  The effect simulations and DMX output for an effect are determined by the strobing modifiers overlapping the beginning of the effect.  The modifiers at that time will apply for the full duration of the effect.  If a strobing modifier ends in the middle of an effect's duration, the strobing will continue to the end of the full duration anyway, both for the simulation and in the exported DMX script, as illustrated in Figure 2.   Figure 2 – If the dotted line overlaps the beginning of the solid line, then the full duration of the solid line effect will be strobing.   "With Strobing" effects typically have a default duration of 10 seconds, which is probably too short or too long.  After inserting the "With Strobing" effects, grab the the right end of their timeline bars one at a time and drag them to adjust the durations; or edit the duration field of the "With Strobing" effects in the script table.  As you can see in Figure 1, the durations of the yellow dotted lines representing the "With Strobing" effects don't need to be exact; they just need to cover the red lines representing the light effects that they modify.   Strobing effects that strobe according to their own definitions While the more common approach to strobing is with modifier effects like "With Strobing" that overlap and apply to other effects like "Red Par Light", it is also possible to create an effect that is strobing according to its own definition and therefore doesn't require an overlapping modifier effect.  An effect like "Strobing Red Par Light" if present in the effect library can be inserted onto the timeline just like a "Red Par Light" effect, and the only difference will be that it is strobing.  The VDL for strobing DMX effects and modifiers is a little complicated if you are creating your own effect libraries; a full description is here: Creating fixture definitions and effects.    

The Tengchang Party Fog Jet fixtures combine fog with RGBA LED lights, available from Amazon for $129 (ASIN B01N9PU5IE).  The Standard Fixture ID for this fixture in Finale 3D is 066.   Figure 1 – Tengchang Party Fog Jet   The fixtures have a 6-channel DMX personality, which provides RGB control over the LED lights.   Table 1 – DMX personality choices DMX personality ("DMX Channel Mode") Supported in Finale 3D 6CH YES   Instructions To design a show for Tengchang Party Fog Jet fixtures, please follow the steps in DMX basic instructions and Light fixtures basic instructions.  If you don't already have a compatible firing system or controller capable exporting a DMX script, please refer to Supported firing systems and controllers (DMX) for the list of available hardware options.   Choosing the DMX channel ranges for fixtures Each fixture requires multiple channels, so if you are putting multiple fixtures in the same DMX Universe, you need to set the Start Address on the fixture in the real world and the corresponding DMX Channel Base on the fixture in Finale 3D to a range of channels that doesn't overlap with others.  A DMX universe has channels 1-512.  If you want to pack as many fixtures into the 512 channels of a DMX universe as you can, back-to-back ranges are the most efficient.  Table 2 shows an example for 6-channel fixtures.  Some DMX firing systems and controllers only support 50 or 100 channels, so you may not have all 512 channels to work with.   Table 2 – Example channel ranges for 6-channel fixtures in a DMX universe Fixture DMX Channel Base Channels Used 1 1 1-6 2 7 7-12 3 13 13-18 4 19 19-24 5 25 25-30 6 31 31-36 ... 85 505 505-511   Technical details The following tables show the technical specifications of the fixtures, as tested by the Finale support team.   Table 3 – DMX channels for 6 CH personality DMX Channel Meaning Channel 1 (DMX Channel Base + 0) Fog ON/OFF Channel 2 (DMX Channel Base + 1) Red Channel 3 (DMX Channel Base + 2) Green Channel 4 (DMX Channel Base + 3) Blue Channel 5 (DMX Channel Base + 4) Strobe Channel 6 (DMX Channel Base + 5) Program Speed     Table 4 – Example files and downloads Download link Explanation 1500W LED Fog Machine Manual.pdf Tengchang Party Fog Jet User Manual

The U `King Two-Bar RGBW Spider Light fixtures, Standard Fixture ID 065, are available from Amazon (ASIN B081H833BG) for less than USD $100.   Figure 1 – U `King Two-Bar RGBW Spider Light   The fixtures have 7 channel and 15 channel options, which you can select from the fixture's DMX panel.  Effects in Finale 3D are compatible only with the 15 channel mode.   Table 1 – DMX personality choices DMX personality ("DMX Channel Mode") Supported in Finale 3D 7CH NO 15CH YES   Instructions To design a show for U `King Two-Bar RGBW Spider Light fixtures, please follow the steps in DMX basic instructions and Light fixtures basic instructions.  If you don't already have a compatible firing system or controller capable exporting a DMX script, please refer to Supported firing systems and controllers (DMX) for the list of available hardware options.   Choosing the DMX channel ranges for fixtures Each fixture requires multiple channels, so if you are putting multiple fixtures in the same DMX Universe, you need to set the Start Address on the fixture in the real world and the corresponding DMX Channel Base on the fixture in Finale 3D to a range of channels that doesn't overlap with others.  A DMX universe has channels 1-512.  If you want to pack as many fixtures into the 512 channels of a DMX universe as you can, back-to-back ranges are the most efficient.  Table 2 shows an example for 15-channel fixtures.  Some DMX firing systems and controllers only support 50 or 100 channels, so you may not have all 512 channels to work with.   Table 2 – Example channel ranges for 15-channel fixtures in a DMX universe Fixture DMX Channel Base Channels Used 1 1 1-15 2 16 16-30 3 31 31-45 4 46 46-60 5 61 61-75 6 76 76-90 ... 34 496 496-510   Technical details The following tables show the technical specifications of the fixtures, as tested by the Finale support team.   Table 3 – DMX channels for 15CH personality DMX Channel Meaning Channel 1 (DMX Channel Base + 0) Bar 1 Angle (0 = aiming outward; 255 = aiming across center about 45°) Channel 2 (DMX Channel Base + 1) Bar 2 Angle (0 = aiming outward; 255 = aiming across center about 45°) Channel 3 (DMX Channel Base + 2) Master Dimmer Channel 4 (DMX Channel Base + 3) Strobe (0 = OFF, 1-255 = slow to fast) Channel 5 (DMX Channel Base + 4) Bar 1 Head 1 (Red) Channel 6 (DMX Channel Base + 5) Bar 1 Head 2 (Green) Channel 7 (DMX Channel Base + 6) Bar 1 Head 3 (Blue) Channel 8 (DMX Channel Base + 7) Bar 1 Head 4 (White) Channel 9 (DMX Channel Base + 8) Bar 2 Head 1 (Red) Channel 10 (DMX Channel Base + 9) Bar 2 Head 2 (Green) Channel 11 (DMX Channel Base + 10) Bar 2 Head 3 (Blue) Channel 12 (DMX Channel Base + 11) Bar 2 Head 4 (White) Channel 13 (DMX Channel Base + 12) Program Number (0-7 = no program; 8-255 = predefined programs) Channel 14 (DMX Channel Base + 13) Program Speed (slow to fast) Channel 15 (DMX Channel Base + 14) Reset (hold 5 seconds to reset)   The U `King Two-Bar RGBW Spider Light fixtures do not have adjustable motor speed.  The bars rotate at about 300°/sec.  If you are exporting a script from Finale 3D to a firing system or controller that uses motor speed to adjust the speed of an angle sweep, you need to leave enough time between the "Move-In-Black" effect and the "Move-To" effect for the bar to rotate. Table 4 – Example files and downloads Download link Explanation spider-user-manual.pdf U `King Two-Bar RGBW Spider Light User Manual