Finale 3D's keyboard shortcuts are designed to support the "hands-on-keyboard" style of programming and also the "one-hand-on-mouse-one-hand-on-keyboard" style.  The keys shown in Table 1 are the hot keys (hotkeys) for inserting and replacing effects. Table 2 includes a selection of the most frequently used keyboard hotkeys for maximizing productivity. To insert an effect, you can press "C" to invoke the effects window with the filter box focused and any previous filter text selected.  From that point you can easily press Delete to delete the text and type in different filter text.  Having filtered the effects window down to a reasonable number of rows, you can use the up and down arrow keys to select the next or previous row.  When you get to the row you want, press Control-Enter to insert that effect or Control-Shift-Enter to replace with that effect; or you can press Control-. if you change your mind. Other keys tab between the cues on the timeline, or cycle among the selected positions.  You can navigate and insert or replace effects without taking your hands off the keyboard, if that is your style.  If you keep your right hand on the mouse, the "W" and "T" keys allow you to insert and replace effects with the left hand on the keyboard.  Of course, you can also ignore the keyboard entirely and just use the mouse by itself, but if that is your style you likely aren't reading this section of documentation.   Table 1 – Keyboard shortcuts for inserting and replacing effects: arrow keys, enter, and tab Shortcut Function in Design Window Function in Effects Window Function in Script Window Left/Right Arrow Tab between cues on timeline Select next/previous cell in table --- Shift-Left/Right Arrow Move playhead 1ms Extend cell selection in table left/right --- Control-Left/Right Arrow Move playhead one small notch on timeline --- --- Tab and Shift-Tab Tab between positions in alphabetical order Select cell or select next/previous cell in table Same Control-Tab and Control-Shift-Tab Activate next/previous window in Finale 3D --- --- Alt-Tab and Alt-Shift-Tab Choose and activate next/previous window (system function) --- --- C Focus the search box on effect window (and show instructions; same as, "Choose effect...") Same Same Enter Focus the search box on effect window (and show instructions; same as, "Choose effect...") Focus the search box in window Same W or Control-Enter Insert effect from effect window (same as, "Insert effect") Same Same Y or Control-Shift-Enter Replace with effect from effect window (same as, "Replace effect") Same Same Up/Down Arrow Select next/previous row in effects window Select next/previous row or cell in table Same Shift-Up/Down Arrow Select next/previous row in effects window Extend next/previous row or cell selection in table Same Control-Shift-Up/Down Arrow Select and scroll to top/bottom row in effects window Select and scroll to top/bottom row in table Same Home/End Move to beginning/end of timeline Select and scroll to top/bottom row in table Same Page Up/Down Move playhead one large notch on timeline Select and scroll to row one page up/down in table Same Escape Clear selection of effects Clear row or cell selection Same Control-. (Dot) Close the window (or dialog) Same Same   Some designers prefer to design with the effects window open all the time.  Others prefer scripting with a full screen simulation window, popping up the effects window only when needed.  The keys in Table 1 support both preferences.  If the effects window is already open when you press "C", then it will stay open when you insert an effect from it.  If the effects window is not open when you press "C", then it will close automatically when when you insert an effect from it, unless you manually reposition the window first, which clears its "auto-close" provenance.   Table 2 – Keyboard shortcuts for common and frequently used functions Key Function in Design Window Function in Effects Window Function in Script Window Function on the Timeline Shift+2 Window preset 2: design + effects + script Same Same Same Shift+left mouse button drag Draw a selection box over positions or effects Select contiguous items Select contiguous items Select multiple items Ctrl+left mouse button drag Orbit in 3D space Select non-contiguous items Select non-contiguous items Drag timeline or duplicate effect(s) Ctrl+Z Undo Same Same Same Ctrl+C Copy Same Same Same Ctrl+V Paste Same Same Same Space Play or pause show --- --- Same I Insert empty cue Same Same Same Y Replace effect (replaces the selected effect(s) with the item selected in the effects window) Same Same Same F Make into fan Same Same Same K Mirror angles Same Same Same S Make into sequence Same Same Same H Spread out evenly Same Same Same M Reverse order Same Same Same Shift+M Randomize order Same Same Same Ctrl+D Duplicate Same Same Same D Duplicate into pairs Same Same Same Shift+F Duplicate into flights Same Same Same Ctrl+H Combine as chain Same Same Same G Combine as group Same Same Same Ctrl+G Create an effect by typing a description of it Same Same Same Ctrl+P Create a cake effect by combining selected items Same Same Same Ctrl+L Add one position Same Same Same Z Add racks for show Same Same Same P Address show Same Same L Lock addresses Same Same Same  

While many of the functions in Finale 3D are aimed at pyromusicals, there are a few functions that can save you time scripting manual shows.  In some cases, they can lead to a better result than would be possible without computer assistance.   If you are scripting a manual show, you should familiarize yourself with the voice cues support described in Voice cues basic instructions and the "pin board" firing system described in Pin Board, which may factor into your production work flow. The present section focuses on the design process.   Table 1 – Functions relevant to scripting manual shows Function Menu Explanation Spread out evenly Script > Sequences Arrange selected effects as sequence with uniform gaps between the effect times. Spread out based on effect durations Script > Time adjustments Arrange selected effects as sequence with uniform gaps between the the dissipation of an event and the break/effect time of the next event. Align event times to frame rate Script > Align Adjust the event times of all the selected effects to align with the frame rate, which can be 1 second intervals for spacing effects on full second time points. Randomize Script > Reorder Reorder the selected effects randomly, shuffling the times. Add time variance Script > Add time variance Add random amounts to all the times, to make them less robotic. Re-align cues to their event time Script > Time adjustments For each group of effects having the same effect time (collectively, a "cue"), adjust the times if they have different prefires so that the event times of all the effects of the cue align, which will cause the effect times to not align if the prefires are different. Insert minimum separation Script > Time adjustments Insert extra time between any consecutive events with less than the minimum separation of time between their event times (or optionally their effect times, but event times are more relevant to manual shows). Speed up cadence at end Script > Time adjustments Modify the times of an existing sequence, which may have irregular spacing between shots, to increase the rate of firing gradually toward the end of the of sequence, building toward a crescendo. Set timeline snap-to resolution Show The "1 second" option for snap-to resolution supports dragging items on the timeline in 1 second intervals.  Timeline snapping is always based on the effect time blips, so the snap-to resolution mode is useful before performing the step to align the event times (as opposed to effect times) to the frame rate. The list of relevant Finale 3D functions is shown in Table 1. These functions can be useful for scripting pyromusicals as well, but they have particular significance for manual shows.   The best way to describe them is to walk through an example scenario that employs them together to script a section of a show.  The example scenario is, Given a list of effects to use in a section of a manual show, lay out the effects at a pleasing cadence, taking into account the effect durations, and the desire to have some pairs and different size shells mixed into the sequence.  The cadence should be implementable by an operator pressing a button on a pin board while listening to voice cues or reading from a cue sheet.  In other words, the cadence mustn't be too fast.  The cadence of the shots should build to a crescendo at the end of the section, in preparation for a finale.   To simplify the cue sheet, the shots will be aligned to trigger times that fall on full second time points.  The scenario begins with the effects already inserted into the show, all at one time.  The design procedure will spread them all out in a pleasing temporal arrangement.  In a nutshell, the procedure is, Spread out the effects evenly so you can see them. Optionally drag some cues on the timeline to snap some pairs or stacks of shells together, choosing complementary effects. Randomize the order of the entire section. Spread out the randomized sequence of effects based on the effect durations. Optionally, speed up cadence at the end to build toward a climax. Re-align the cues to their event times so the pairs and stacks are a single cues for the firing system regardless of their prefires. Optionally, insert minimum separation to guarantee the operator has time to react to the voice cues. Optionally, align event times to 1-second resolution so the cue sheet is easier for the operator to follow. Optionally, turn on "Snap to resolution: 1 second by event times" to make manual adjustments. The starting point for this procedure is illustrated in Figure 1.  Twenty various effects have been inserted into the show, all at one time.  These are the effects that are going to be arranged in an appealing sequence.   Figure 1 – The starting point: 20 effects inserted at one time.   1. Spread out the effects evenly From the starting point, the first step is to spread the effects out on the timeline so you can see them and make decisions about what effects might look good in pairs.  Choosing 40 seconds duration, the timeline will look like Figure 2.     Figure 2 – After spreading out the effects on the timeline, you can see them.   2. Drag some cues on the timeline to snap some pairs of shells together Scrubbing back and forth on the timeline, you can see what effects you have to work with.  You can snap some together that you think would look good as pairs, which results in the timeline looking like Figure 3.   Figure 3 – Drag effects on the timeline to make pairs of complementary effects; don't worry about the timing.   3. Randomize the order The initial sequence from Step 1 arranged the effects on the timeline in the order they were inserted, which happened to be all the 4" effects (blue bars) followed by the 3" effects (yellow bars).  Do the randomize function to shuffle the order.  Repeat the function multiple times if you want to pick a random order that looks better than the others.  The results of the randomize function are shown in Figure 4.  Notice that the function keeps together the pairs.   Figure 4 – The randomize function shuffles the order of effects, keeping pairs together.   4. Spread out based on duration At this juncture the timing is a mess, but the order of shots and the combination of effects into pairs is correct.  Apply the operation "Spread out based on effect durations" to fix the timing.   The original sequence in Step 1 was spread out over 40 seconds, but the dialog from the "Spread out based on effect durations" operation indicates the "zero gap" duration is about 45 seconds.   Although you can easily stretch the total duration later, it is usually easiest to begin with some small gaps.   Figure 5 illustrates the result of choosing 60 seconds for this spreading out operation.  The red arrows show the consistent gaps between the dissipation time an effect and the break time of the next effect.   Figure 5 – The gaps between the dissipation time of an effect and the break time of the next effect is consistent after spreading out based on duration.   5. Speed up cadence The "Speed up cadence at end" function will speed up the cadence of the shots progressively over the sequence, building to a climax.  The function presents a dialog with a choice of acceleration rate, from subtle to pronounced, 1-10.  Choose the amount that feels good.  Figure 6 shows the result of an acceleration rate of 6 for this sequence.  The red arrows illustrate gaps.  Comparing Figure 6 to the previous Figure 5, you can see that after the cadence function the gaps at the beginning of the sequence are much larger than the gaps at the end.  In fact, the shots at the end get squeezed together so much that the gaps are negative!  The red circles in Figure 6 indicate gaps that are small or negative.  You can clearly see the progression from left to right. Because the effects are different durations, the gaps between the effect times are irregular.  Look at the cue flags along the top of the timeline in Figure 6.  Can you tell from the cue flags that this is an accelerating sequence?   It would be hard to guess!  Yet if you look at the gaps illustrated by the red arrows and circles, you can see that the sequence accelerates in a pronounced way.  By the end of the sequence, the effects are stepping on each other, which is in stark contrast to the luxurious spacing at the beginning.   Figure 6 – Red arrows point out the large gaps on the left; red circles point out small gaps in the center, and negative gaps on the right!   6. Re-align the cues to their event times Electronic firing systems may have "macro" or "sequence" capabilities, but manual shows shot with a pin boards require a single ignition pin per cue.  It is thus necessary to align the event times of the effects of a cue, rather than the effect times.  Finale 3D's timeline user interface and scripting features are principally based on the effect times, so the easiest way to script a manual show is to design the show with cues of effects having the same effect times (the blips aligned on the timeline and the effects sharing a cue flag), and then convert the cues to alignment based on event times when you get to the stage of your design process in which you are making the show operational. The "Re-align cues to their event times" function does this operation for the entire show in one step.  Select everything and apply the function.  The result in this scenario is shown in Figure 7.  The circled areas show the changes.  You can see the left ends of the pairs of different sized effects have become aligned, and as a consequence the blips of the effects have become unaligned.   Figure 7 – Aligning the event times of pairs of different size effects is required for pin board firing systems.   7-9. Insert minimum separation and align event times to seconds The "Insert minimum separation" function provides a guarantee that event times are not too close together, based on the separation time you specify.  For fast sequences, you may need to use this function to ensure the operator can fire the show.  Optionally, the "Align event times to resolution: 1 second" function can be used to align the effect times of the shots to full seconds, without fractions, which makes the cue sheets easier for the operator to read at the expense of timing resolution.  These functions produce subtle changes in the timeline, shown in Figure 8.  The benefits are more clear in the cue sheet shown in Figure 10.   Figure 8 – The final steps -- insert minimum separation and align event times to seconds.   Preparing the script Steps 1-9 illustrate an example design procedure for a section of a manual show.  Obviously this procedure can be combined with other procedures to script a full show, and the functions used in this procedure may be applicable in other contexts.  To close the story of this scenario, Figure 9 and Figure 10 show the production steps for addressing the show and printing a cue sheet.  Table 2 provides the example files if you want to download and look at them.   Figure 9 – To address a manual show with a single firing system pin per cue, 1) set max e-matches to a large number, 2) sort chronologically by event time, and 3) remove all the constraints.   The "Addressing > Address show..." function assigns firing system addresses for the manual show.  Figure 9 points out the important three requirements for addressing manual shows.  The full details of the addressing procedure are described in Pin Board.  After addressing the show, you can print out the cue sheet as a standard report, which produces what you see in Figure 10.  If you want voice cues for your show, the procedure is described in Voice cues basic instructions. Example files for this show, and the cue sheet, and the voice cues, are provided in Table 2. Figure 10 – The cue sheet for this manual show example.   Table 2 – Example files Download link Explanation test_manual_show.fin Show file manual-show-cue-sheet.pdf Cue sheet [audio wav="https://finale3d.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/manual-show-voice-cues.wav"][/audio] Voice cues

The standard sequence operation in Finale 3D is great for chases and fans but not so great for procession of effects that have different durations.  A perfectly uniform cadence gives a show a mechanical feel, and if the effects have different durations then the regular spacing between them looks especially awful.  The "Spread out based on effect durations" function in Finale 3D offers a fast and easy solution. Figure 1 shows a sequence of effects spaced regularly.  The third shot has two effects at the same time.  The two shells are different sizes, so you can see their prefire times and dissipation times are very different.  While the breaks are spaced out regularly, you can see that the gaps between the dissipation of an effect and the break of the next effect are not regular -- since the third shot has a shell that lasts longer, the gap between its dissipation and the next break is tiny relative to the other gaps.  The tiny red arrow in Figure 1 illustrates the problem.   Figure 1 – BEFORE spreading out based on effect durations, a regular sequence has irregular gaps if the effects have different durations.   The "Spread out based on effect durations" function fixes the problem, as you can see in Figure 2.  This function applies to whatever effects you have selected at the time you perform the operation.  It keeps pairs and flights of effects that have the same effect time together, as you can see in the third shot of the sequence before and after.   Figure 2 – AFTER spreading out based on effect durations, the gaps are identical.   To apply the function, just select the effects on the timeline that you want to lay out into a sequence based on durations, and choose the menu item shown in Figure 3. Figure 3 – Select the effects you want to spread out into a sequence and choose this menu item.   The dialog that pops up with show you the current total duration of the selected effects, from first to last, and will also tell you (circled in red in Figure 4) the duration to enter to reduce the gaps to zero.   Figure 4 – The "Spread out based on effect durations" dialog tells you the current duration and the duration that would leave no gaps.   If you do enter the duration that reduces the gaps to zero, you get the sequence shown in Figure 5, with no red arrow gaps at all like those shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2.   Figure 5 – If you enter the no-gap total duration, each effect will break exactly as the previous effect dissipates.  

Manually fired shows in which the operator triggers each shot by pressing a button or connecting an electrical terminal can make use of a voice cues audio recording for timing.  The voice cues track is usually a human voice counting out the buttons or pin numbers as instructions for the operator on a schedule that is defined in the design of the show.     Figure 1 – A manual firing system by Hance Pyrotechnics   Finale 3D supports manually fired shows with a range of options for exporting voice cues sound tracks.  The options include specifications for combining the voice cues with music, with voice cues on one channel and music on the other, or a combination.  The options also include choices for the vocalization.  Do you want the human voice to read off the numbers only, or numbers followed by beeps?  Other specifications include the lead time in milliseconds for the vocalization prior to the launch time of the effect, which you can adjust for desired reaction time of the operator.   Figure 2 – Options for exporting voice cues tracks from Finale 3D   Some manual firing systems like the one shown in Figure 1 have a series of banks, each with its own set of pin numbers.  Others, like the pin board shown in the Pin Board section, just have single large array of electrical terminals or buttons, maybe as many as 400! If the firing system has banks, the banks may be numbered 1, 2, 3, ... or they may be named with letters, A, B, C, ....  Finale 3D supports both numbers and letters for manual firing systems, but for the vocalizations in the exported voice cues track, Finale 3D will always use the vocalizations of the military alphabet (alpha, bravo, charlie, ...) to indicate the bank when it changes in the sequence of shots.  For manual firing systems with numbered banks, then number 1, 2, 3... correspond to alpha, bravo, charlie, ... in sequential order. The voice cues in the exported voice cues sound track correspond to the firing system addresses of the shots.  Thus it is important that the addresses of the shots are in chronological order, and that each "shot" has its own address (pin number).  When you address the show for voice cues, please configure the settings in the "Addressing > Address show..." dialog to have 1) a large limit on e-matches per pin, 2) order of assignment by event time (chronological), and 3) no constraints on modules (not constrained to the same position), as shown in Figure 3, for otherwise you might have voice cues out of order or multiple voice cues at the same time.   Figure 3 – Addressing settings for pin board shows must have 1) a large limit on e-matches per pin, 2) order of assignment by event time (chronological), and 3) no constraints on modules (not constrained to the same position)   Since you don't need to export a firing system script for a manually fired show you can actually choose any firing system in Finale 3D for addressing a pin board show.  However, Finale 3D comes with a firing system option called "Pin Board" that conveniently has pre-made "Module Type" configurations that match the common pin board pin configurations, with 32, 36, 45, 48, 50, 100, and 400 pins.  The easiest way to address a pin board show is to choose the Pin Board addressing system and select the Module Type that matches the number of pins and banks in your electrical firing system.  If the exact pin number configuration isn't one of the standard options, you can make a custom module variation to match whatever you need.  Full documentation for the "Pin Board" firing system is here. When designing a show for voice cues, you need to take care not to make shots too close together, or the operator may get confused or not have enough time to react to the voice cues.  As a rule of thumb, somewhere between 0.75 seconds and 1.5 seconds is a good minimal spacing between shots.  To get a feel for whether the voice cues are too close together, you can turn on voice cues for playback in interactive mode while editing the show, with the menu item, "File > User settings > Turn voice cues ON for playback".  The hot key toggles this setting if you need to switch back and forth.   Figure 4 – Toggle "Turn voice cues ON for playback" if you want to hear the voice cues while designing the show.   Handling non-standard pin board numbering systems The pin board firing system described in the Pin Board section has configurations for most of the standard numbering systems, but if yours isn't in the list you can create a custom module from the "Addressing > Addressing settings > Set custom module specifications" menu item, which presents the dialog shown in Figure 5.  Full instructions for custom module addresses are in Custom module specifications.  The example in this section is tailored toward non-standard numbering systems in pin boards.   Figure 5 – Configure a custom module type if your pin board's numbering system isn't one of the standard ones.   The "Rail address template" of a custom module shown in the middle of the dialog of Figure 5 defines the numbering system, which can contain modules, slats, and pins; or just modules and pins.  For pin board systems, the modules and slats usually correspond to the banks of addresses on the pin board, and usually the pin board only has one set of banks so it suffices to represent the pin board simply with modules and pins (no slats), like the default settings shown in Figure 5.  The rail address template Z-#100 means the "modules" (banks) are lettered A-Z; the #100 means that each module has 100 pins, starting with 1 (the # sign means start with one; if it is missing the numbers will start with zero). If your pin board numbering system is not one of the standard ones, you may be able to write a rail address template to represent it as a custom module.  Consider a pin board with pins numbered in groups of eight, "A11, A12, A13, A14, A15, A16, A17, A18, A21, A22, A23, …  all the way up to A88, then starting over with B11, B12, B13 … ".  You can represent this numbering system using letters for the modules and numbers 1-8 for the slats, and numbers 1-8 for the pins: Z-#8-#8.  With this representation the "Rail" address comprises both the letter and the first digit of the number (1-8); the "Pin" address is the second digit (1-8). In reality, the addressing banks of this firing system correspond to the letters alone, and the pins correspond to the numbers alone (both digits together), but since the pin board's numbering system doesn't have a contiguous sequence of numbers for the pins (e.g., A19 and A20 are missing in between A18 and A21), you need to represent it in Finale 3D using modules and pins and slats. Figure 6 – The operator can follow the cue sheet.   The cue sheet in Figure 6 shows the result of using this custom rail address template, Z-#8-#8.  Although the combination of rail and pin addresses matches the pin board, the voice cues will be slightly different for two reasons.  First, for addressing systems with modules and slats, the voice cues articulate only the slats.  Thus for this pin board the voice cues will ignore the modules.  The reason is that articulating both the module and the slat is more information than the operator usually needs.  Articulating just the slat when it changes is sufficient because the operator can see the module change coming up and doesn't need a reminder.   Second, the voice cues always articulate the modules or slats using the military alphabet, and the pins using numbers.  Thus for this pin board the groups of eight pins are always numbered 1-8.  The reason is to prevent the operator from confusing modules and slats from pins as they are spoken. In this particular example, it isn't ideal that the voice cues articulate only the slats and that the slats are articulated in the military alphabet.  The first 64 pins of this pin board system A11-A88 will be vocalized as, Alpha 1,2,3,..8, Bravo 1,2,3,..8, ... Hotel 1,2,3,...8 and then the next 64 pins B11-B88 will be vocalized exactly the same, as, Alpha 1,2,3,..8, Bravo 1,2,3,..8, ... Hotel 1,2,3,...8 The operator listens to the count of eight pins, and then hears a military alphabet letter as the indication to move to the next row of eight pins on his pin board, and so on.  After the last row of pins, the operator will hear "Alpha!" again and will know to advance the bank letter of the pin board from A to B, or to whatever the next letter is.  The cue sheet has the exact match of the addresses so if the operator is following along with the cue sheet, he's always got a reference in case he gets lost.   One voice cue per track Ordinarily, the Track field of the script has nothing to do with voice cues, but if your firing system or manual firing method requires only one voice cue per track, you can select the "One voice cue per track" checkbox on the voice cues settings or export dialog, as shown in Figure 7.   Figure 7 – If you check "One voice cue per track" then only the first event of each track will generate a voice cue.   Parente Firemaster is one of the firing systems that require one voice cue per track.  Although each track may contain multiple addressed events, the firing system fires the track sequence of events when triggered.  The voice cue beep is the trigger for the entire track.   Table 1 – Example files Download link Explanation test_pin_board.csv Example exported file  (CSV) test_pin_board.fin Example show file [audio wav="https://finale3d.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/voice-cues-example-pin-number.wav"][/audio] Example voice cues with pin number only [audio wav="https://finale3d.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/voice-cues-example-pin-number-and-beep.wav"][/audio] Example voice cues with pin number and beep [audio wav="https://finale3d.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/voice-cues-example-pin-number-and-buzzer-with-music.wav"][/audio] Example voice cues with pin number and buzzer; music in right channel [audio wav="https://finale3d.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/voice-cues-example-firemaster-beep.wav"][/audio] Example voice cues with Firemaster beep

The design process in Finale 3D for a pin board show is mostly the same the design process for a computer fired show, except that you may export a voice cues track instead of a firing system script.  Although you don't need a firing script, you still need reports and maybe rack layout diagrams or labels, so you still need to address the show.  The section Voice cues basic instructions provides general instructions for voice cues. This section focuses on the "Pin Board" firing system option on the "Addressing > Address show..." dialog. You can choose any firing system in Finale 3D for addressing a pin board show but Finale 3D comes with a firing system option called "Pin Board" that conveniently has pre-made "Module Type" configurations that match the common pin board pin configurations, with 32, 36, 45, 48, 50, 100, and 400 pins.  The easiest way to address a pin board show is to choose the Pin Board addressing system and select the Module Type that matches the number of pins in your electrical firing system.  If the exact pin number configuration isn't one of the standard options, you can make a custom module variation to match whatever you need. The design process for a pin board show is, Design the show. (Optionally, turn on voice cues with "File > User settings > Set voice cues ON while editing") Address the show ("Addressing > Address show" using the "Pin Board" firing system). Export the voice cues track ("File > Export > Export voice cues track"). Step 3 creates the voice cues sound file, which is a WAV file with a human voice counting out the shots, or beeps, or both, depending on your choices when exporting.   Figure 1 – An electrical "pin board" firing system   Since the "Pin Board" firing system that you use for addressing the show is a firing system from the perspective of the software, it has an script format that will be exported if you choose to export a firing system script.  The script format is virtually identical to the "CSV" firing system.  In fact, you could just as well use the CSV firing system to address your show as the Pin Board firing system.  The only difference is that the CSV firing system has standard Module Type options that are more common for do-it-yourself computer firing systems, and the Pin Board firing system has standard Module Type options that are more common for pin boards. The exported script format by the Pin Board firing system is explained in the tables below.   Table 1 – File format and encoding File format Extension Text encoding Field delimiter End-of-line Text CSV UTF-8 Tab CRLF  The script contains five header lines, followed by a single header row with the column names of the rows, followed by the rows themselves. 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. What rows represent Each row identifies a unique firing pin ignition (i.e., unique rail address, pin address, ignition time). Module types Rows in the script can represent multiple types of modules: pinboard_alpha_32ch -- 32 pins; modules named A-Z pinboard_alpha_45ch -- 45 pins; modules named A-Z pinboard_alpha_48ch -- 48 pins; modules named A-Z pinboard_alpha_50ch -- 50 pins; modules named A-Z pinboard_alpha_100ch -- 100 pins; modules named A-Z pinboard_num_32ch -- 32 pins; modules named 1-99 pinboard_num_45ch -- 45 pins; modules named 1-99 pinboard_num_48ch -- 48 pins; modules named 1-99 pinboard_num_50ch -- 50 pins; modules named 1-99 pinboard_num_100ch -- 100 pins; modules named 1-99 pinboard_num_400ch -- 400 pins; modules named 1-99 If you need more than 400 pins in the same bank or module, you can create a custom module. Special characters Fields include any Unicode characters except: ' , ; " tab and newline and other control characters.   Each script row has the fields shown in Table 3.   Table 3 – Specifications of script fields Field name Description Cue The cue count, beginning with one and incrementing at each new ignition time or at each new track group of effects.  The cue count does not increment within a track group of effects even if the effects in the track group have different ignition times. Event Time 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 HH:MM:SS.DDD. Prefire The delay from the ignition time to the perceived visual effect.  This delay typically includes the lift time (for shells) plus any fuse time between the ignition time and the first launch of the effect.  Format is in seconds with two digits after the decimal point. Effect Time The time of the first visual effect triggered by the firing system's ignition event, which is generally the break time for shells, and just a small delay or no delay after the event time for ground effects. Format is HH:MM:SS.DDD. Duration The duration represents the lifetime of the perceived visual effect, which is usually interpreted for shells as the time from break to dissipation of the stars. Format is in seconds with two digits after the decimal point. Device Count The number of devices (shells) represented by the row.  May be more than one in the case of chains or multiple e-matches connected to the same firing system pin. Description The name of the effect. Size The device caliber.  Format is either a number followed by double-quote for inches or "mm" for millimeters, or the string "NA" or blank for effects for which the caliber term is not applicable. Category A user defined string identifying the category of the effect. Type One of several pre-defined terms that have specific meaning in Finale 3D (see Why is ‘Type’ so important? What depends on it?). Position The name of the launch position. Module Type The type of module or slat, as listed in Table 1. Rail Address The module number or letter, depending on the Module Type.  Pin Address The pin number. Angle An ASCII art representation of the angles of the devices on this shot, made with backslash, vertical line, and forward slash characters. Hazard A string identifying a group of effects that can be disabled by pressing the associated button on the firing system controller during the performance, due to conditions. Notes Firing notes from the script pertaining to this row. Part Number A user-defined identifier for the effect. Track A string identifying a group of effects that are to be fired as a sequence with a single trigger if the firing system is in semi-autonomous mode.   The example script below shows an exported script with pairs of shots fired from different positions.  Since cues are typically chronological, it is important to address the show with 1) max e-matches per pin = 99, 2) sort rows by = event time, 3) no constraints on modules or pins (i.e., do not constrain modules to the same position, which is the default addressing constraint).  All three of these conditions are illustrated in the example file.  If e-matches per pin were 1 (the default) then the each pair of shots would result in two cues, when obviously it should be one.  If modules were constrained to the same position, then each position in the example would have its own module, instead of all the positions sharing the same pin board.   Cue Event Time Prefire Effect Time Duration Device Count Description Size Category Type Position Module Type Rail Address Pin Address Angle Hazard Notes Part Number Track 1 00:00:02.760 2.24 00:00:05.000 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-01 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 1 || G2SH1000 2 00:00:05.260 2.24 00:00:07.500 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-02 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 2 || G2SH1000 3 00:00:07.760 2.24 00:00:10.000 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-03 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 3 || G2SH1000 4 00:00:10.260 2.24 00:00:12.500 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-04 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 4 || G2SH1000 5 00:00:12.760 2.24 00:00:15.000 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-05 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 5 || G2SH1000 6 00:00:15.260 2.24 00:00:17.500 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-06 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 6 || G2SH1000 7 00:00:17.760 2.24 00:00:20.000 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-07 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 7 || G2SH1000 8 00:00:20.260 2.24 00:00:22.500 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-08 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 8 || G2SH1000 Finale 8 00:00:22.760 2.24 00:00:25.000 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-09 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 9 || G2SH1000 Finale 8 00:00:48.240 2.24 00:00:50.480 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-08 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 17 || G2SH1000 Finale 8 00:00:50.740 2.24 00:00:52.980 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-09 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 18 || G2SH1000 Finale 8 00:01:15.498 2.24 00:01:17.738 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-08 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 26 || G2SH1000 Finale 8 00:01:17.998 2.24 00:01:20.238 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-09 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 27 || G2SH1000 Finale 8 00:01:43.478 2.24 00:01:45.718 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-08 pinboard_alpha_32ch B 3 || G2SH1000 Finale 8 00:01:45.978 2.24 00:01:48.218 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-09 pinboard_alpha_32ch B 4 || G2SH1000 Finale 9 00:00:30.740 2.24 00:00:32.980 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-01 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 10 || G2SH1000 10 00:00:33.240 2.24 00:00:35.480 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-02 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 11 || G2SH1000 11 00:00:35.740 2.24 00:00:37.980 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-03 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 12 || G2SH1000 12 00:00:38.240 2.24 00:00:40.480 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-04 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 13 || G2SH1000 13 00:00:40.740 2.24 00:00:42.980 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-05 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 14 || G2SH1000 14 00:00:43.240 2.24 00:00:45.480 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-06 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 15 || G2SH1000 15 00:00:45.740 2.24 00:00:47.980 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-07 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 16 || G2SH1000 16 00:00:57.998 2.24 00:01:00.238 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-01 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 19 || G2SH1000 17 00:01:00.498 2.24 00:01:02.738 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-02 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 20 || G2SH1000 18 00:01:02.998 2.24 00:01:05.238 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-03 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 21 || G2SH1000 19 00:01:05.498 2.24 00:01:07.738 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-04 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 22 || G2SH1000 20 00:01:07.998 2.24 00:01:10.238 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-05 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 23 || G2SH1000 21 00:01:10.498 2.24 00:01:12.738 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-06 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 24 || G2SH1000 22 00:01:12.998 2.24 00:01:15.238 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-07 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 25 || G2SH1000 23 00:01:25.978 2.24 00:01:28.218 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-01 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 28 || G2SH1000 24 00:01:28.478 2.24 00:01:30.718 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-02 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 29 || G2SH1000 25 00:01:30.978 2.24 00:01:33.218 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-03 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 30 || G2SH1000 26 00:01:33.478 2.24 00:01:35.718 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-04 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 31 || G2SH1000 27 00:01:35.978 2.24 00:01:38.218 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-05 pinboard_alpha_32ch A 32 || G2SH1000 28 00:01:38.478 2.24 00:01:40.718 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-06 pinboard_alpha_32ch B 1 || G2SH1000 29 00:01:40.978 2.24 00:01:43.218 1.02 2 (2) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" 2 Assorted shell Pos-07 pinboard_alpha_32ch B 2 || G2SH1000 Figure 2 – Example Pin Board firing system script for pin board controllers   Table 4 – Example files Download link Explanation test_pin_board.csv Example exported file  (CSV) test_pin_board.fin Example show file

To create and export a script for the Firemaster firing system, please follow these steps: Address the show ("Addressing > Address show") and select "Firemaster6" as the module type.  Firemaster6 is the most up-to-date script format and is backward compatible, so you should try this format first no matter how old your firing system is.  If it doesn't work and you have old hardware, you can try the Firemaster5 and Firemaster3 module types. Export the script ("File > Export > Export firing scripts"). If you use a beep track for synchronization, export a voice cues track using the "Firemaster beep" as the vocalization ("File > Export > Export voice cues track"). Step 2 creates the script file, which has the "TXT" extension.  The file format details are described in this section.   Figure 1 – Firemaster firing system   Table 1 – File format and encoding File format Extension Text encoding Field delimiter End-of-line Text .TXT ASCII semicolon CRLF The script contains rows for the firing events, i.e., unique combinations of module, pin, and ignition-time.  Multiple effects can be combined on a single cue.  The special characteristics of the script are shown in the following table:   Table 2 – Special characteristics Special characteristics Description Sort order of rows Rows sorted ascending by event time. What rows represent Each row represents a unique firing event, a module/pin/event-time combination.  For example, a chain of five shells will be one row, not five.  A pair of shells shot together from the same position will be one row, not two, even if the shells are different effects.  A flight of shells shot together from multiple positions with the same module-pin using scab wire is still one row. Header The first line of the file indicates the file format, Firemaster6.  The next three rows are for the name, date, and time.  Finale 3D fills in the show name and date fields from the show information that you set with the menu item, "Show > Set show information..."   Finale 3D fills the time with 12:00:00.   Parente Firemaster has strict requirements for the format of the date: DD/MM/YYYY.  If the date format in show information doesn't match, Finale 3D fills in a default date,  01/01/2000. The next row is column header row, which specifies the fields of the following data rows: Firemaster6 Finale3D Name testshow Date 05/08/2021 Time 12:00:00 Cue;Seq;Rif;Start;Delay;Address;Group;Note Time resolution The Firemaster system supports 1/100th second resolution.  To accommodate fast paced events, the file format includes named sequences that require a single trigger for the entire sequence, rather than a trigger for each event in the sequence, thereby limiting the network bandwidth and precision required to control the script reliably in real time. By default, the Finale 3D exporter will automatically combine events that are closer together than 1.0 second into a sequence, and will give the sequence a name (an integer) that does not conflict with any sequences manually defined by the user in Finale 3D using the "Track" field. Optionally, a user can change the minimum Separation Time from 1.0 seconds to other choices in the script export options (See Table 3). Aside from accommodating fast paced sequences of events, the sequences in the script can be used to combine effects together into a group with a single trigger for semi-automatic or manual fire (see below). Semi-automatic fire and manual fire The Firemaster script format supports semi-automatic and manual fire with sequences.  The script contains cue numbers (Cue) and sequences names (Seq) as described in Table 4.  The cue number is the progressive count of sequences, in chronological order starting with 1.  The sequence name is the unique name (an integer) of a sequence of effects with same start time and various delay times relative to the start. Sequence names may be the same as the cue numbers, or they may be different. The user can define and name sequences using the Track field in Finale 3D, by simply selecting  range of effects on the timeline, and assigning them the same Track number, which is taken to be the sequence name.  In this case, the sequence names can be any number > 0 and do not need to be the same as the cue numbers. Sequences that are automatically generated by the Finale 3D exporter to accommodate fast paced events will have automatically generated sequence numbers beginning at 1 + the largest Track number, or just 1 if there are no Track numbers specified in the show.  Pyromusicals and other full shows that are not fired with semi-automatic firing or a beep track generally do not have any user-defined Track numbers, because there is no reason for them.  Tracks are required for beep tracks (see next paragraph). Optionally, a user can add an offset to the automatic sequence numbers by specifying a Sequence Number Offset in the export options (See Table 3).  This offset will be added to automatically generated sequence numbers, not to the sequence numbers defined by Tracks. Beep tracks If you use a beep track for synchronization, export a voice cues track using the "Firemaster beep" as the vocalization ("File > Export > Export voice cues track"). Since Firemaster needs only one beep trigger per sequence, you must turn ON the checkbox, "One voice cue per track" on the voice cues dialog, and you must explicitly make any fast paced sequence of events a track using the Track field in the script window.  Although the Finale 3D exporter for Firemaster will automatically create implicit sequences for fast paced sequences of events that need them, the "One voice cue per track" setting is based only on the explicit tracks in the Script window's Track column. When you export a firing script for Firemaster, Finale 3D presents an "Export Options" dialog with the choices shown in Table 3.   Table 3 – Export options Option name Description Version Choose version V3, V5, or V6. Separation Time Choose the minimum separation time between shots, as described in the "Time resolution" row of Table 2.  The default value is 1 secoond. Sequence Number Offset If you want the automatic sequence numbers to begin at an offset, specify the offset with the option.  The default value is zero.   Each row in the script has a number of fields separated by the semicolon character.  The names of the fields and their descriptions are in following table.  The old Firemaster 3 format contains a subset of the Firemaster 5 fields and in a different order, but the Firemaster 5 format is backward compatible so there is no reason to use the old format.  The header in Table 2 indicates what columns are present in each format, and in what order.   Table 4 – Specifications of script Firemaster 5 fields Field name Description Cue The cue number is the progressive count of sequences or individual events, in chronological order of their earliest event time, starting with 1.  Rows of the same sequence have the same cue number.  Rows are sorted by cue number, then event time, then delay (for rows in a sequence).  Rows of all sequences are thus listed contiguously in the exported script, even if sequences have overlapping time ranges. Seq The sequence name is the unique name (an integer) of a sequence of events with same start time and various delay times relative to the starting event time.   An individual event is considered to be a sequence of one event, and thus all rows in the script must have defined sequence names.  Sequence names may be the same as the cue numbers, or they may be different, but all rows of the same sequence have the same sequence names and the same cue numbers. Rif An auxiliary identifier for the effect.  Finale 3D leaves this field blank. Start The start time of the sequence, in the format HH.MM.SS,XX. Delay The delay from the start time of the row in its sequence, in the format HH.MM.SS,XX. Address The combined Unit and Term address, as an integer: (Unit - 1 ) * 24 + Term.  Unit is the module number starting with 1; Term is the pin number starting with 1. Group The hazard lockout number, from 0-9.  The default value is 0.  The values 1-9 indicate groups that can be disabled on the fly by the Firemaster system.  The group number comes from the "Hazard" field in Finale 3D. Note The name of the effect.   The example script shown in Figure 1 includes both automatically defined sequences and sequences defined by the user with the Track field.  The rows with cue numbers 3 and 4 represent two sequences named 101 and 102.  The sequence names were defined in the Finale 3D show using the Track field.  The rows with cue numbers 1 and 2 do not have any Track number in the Finale 3D show, but they represent two fast paced sequences of events with just 0.1 seconds separating the events. To accommodate the face paced events, Finale 3D automatically combines the events into sequences and gives them names.  Ordinarily, if there were no user-defined Tracks, the sequence names would begin at 1, just like the cue numbers, and would advance in the script along with the cue numbers, identically, each row having the same value for its first two fields.  This show contains Track values 101 and 102, so the automatically generated sequence names begin at 1 + the largest Track value, which is 103. Firemaster6 Finale3D Name testshow Date 05/08/2021 Time 12:00:00 Cue;Seq;Rif;Start;Delay;Address;Group;Note 1;1;;00.00.02,76;00.00.00,00;1;0;Red Chrysanthemum 1;1;;00.00.02,76;00.00.00,57;25;0;Red Chrysanthemum 1;1;;00.00.02,76;00.00.01,14;49;0;Red Chrysanthemum 1;1;;00.00.02,76;00.00.01,70;73;0;Red Chrysanthemum 1;1;;00.00.02,76;00.00.02,27;97;0;Red Chrysanthemum 1;1;;00.00.02,76;00.00.02,84;121;0;Red Chrysanthemum 1;1;;00.00.02,76;00.00.03,41;145;0;Red Chrysanthemum 1;1;;00.00.02,76;00.00.03,98;169;0;Red Chrysanthemum 1;1;;00.00.02,76;00.00.04,54;193;0;Red Chrysanthemum 2;2;;00.00.10,32;00.00.00,00;2;0;Red Chrysanthemum 2;2;;00.00.10,32;00.00.00,57;26;0;Red Chrysanthemum 2;2;;00.00.10,32;00.00.01,14;50;0;Red Chrysanthemum 2;2;;00.00.10,32;00.00.01,71;74;0;Red Chrysanthemum 2;2;;00.00.10,32;00.00.02,28;98;0;Red Chrysanthemum 2;2;;00.00.10,32;00.00.02,84;122;0;Red Chrysanthemum 2;2;;00.00.10,32;00.00.03,41;146;0;Red Chrysanthemum 2;2;;00.00.10,32;00.00.03,98;170;0;Red Chrysanthemum 2;2;;00.00.10,32;00.00.04,55;194;0;Red Chrysanthemum Figure 2 – Example Firemaster 6 script   Table 5 – Downloads Download link Explanation test_firemaster.fin Example show file test_firemaster.txt Example exported file (TXT) MANUAL_FIR5-ENG_v201120.pdf Firemaster manual [audio wav="https://finale3d.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/voice-cues-example-firemaster-beep.wav"][/audio] Firemaster beep track

Racks like the Craig Co Rack shown in Figure 1 have tube holder angles that fan out within each row.  This rack structure contrasts with Tiltable row racks in which the rows themselves tilt sideways to make fans. Figure 1 – Fan row racks are usually rotated 90° in the rack layout so holders can fan out left/right from the audience perspective.   In Finale 3D there are two kinds of fan row racks -- Pre-configured fan row racks, and Adjustable fan row racks.  In the real world, the two kinds of fan row racks are usually the same physical hardware.  The difference is in the design and planning phase.  Do you want to pre-define the angles of your rack tube holders and design the show to fit in racks so configured, or do you want to let your show design dictate the angles of the tube holders in your racks?   Pre-configured fan row racks The effects window contains various collections of effects like My Effects, Generic Effects, supplier catalogs, and possibly your company inventory in a single collection or spread out into multiple effects files (FDB files).   You choose between different collections with the blue selector in the upper right of the effects window.  The effects collections can contain racks, along with shells and other pyrotechnic devices.  Every item in the effects list has a unique part number, which is the reference used when the effect is inserted into the show or when the rack is inserted into the rack layout. When you make a rack configuration of one of your racks to add to the show as a pre-configured rack, you need to add the new rack definition representing the pre-configured rack as as item in one of your effects collections.  That means you need to assign it a unique part number.  Let's say you use racks like the one shown in Figure 1.  If you use 10 different configurations of this rack, then you would have 10 different items in your effects collection, representing the variations.  Each one would need its own part number, but they are related since they are all configurations of the same physical hardware, so you might make a part number scheme for your variations that has a common stem, like PLS30-A, PLS30-B, PLS30-C, for three different configurations of PyroDigiT racks, or maybe PLS30-FAN, PLS-30-STRAIGHT, PLS-30-ANGLES, if part numbers like that are more recognizable. Figure 2 shows a possible configuration of a PyroDigiT fan row rack that requires pre-wired pins.   Figure 2 – Six row example in which all the tube holders in each row aim the same direction instead of fanning out.   The corresponding rack configuration in Finale 3D is shown in Figure 3.  You can invoke this dialog with the command "Racks > Create rack...".  The salient input fields are circled in red.  The first indicated field defines the rack structure -- "Single-shot rack, fixed tube angles".  The reason this is the correct selection, rather than any of the adjustable tube holder options, is that you are "pre-configuring" the rack.  From the perspective of Finale 3D, none of the angles are adjustable. Figure 3 – Rack definition corresponding to the pre-configure tube holder angle specifications of Figure 2.   The diagram of Figure 2 also specifies the pin numbers ("Ch" in the diagram) for all the tube holders, as is common for PyroDigiT racks with built in firing system rails.  You will need to specify the pre-wired pin order in the second red circle of Figure 3 in your rack definition.  The pre-wired pins option applies equally to pre-configured fan row racks and adjustable fan row racks.   Adjustable fan row racks Adjustable fan row racks are usually the same hardware as pre-configured fan row racks, so Figure 1 could represent either.  In Finale 3D, you define an adjustable fan row rack by setting the rack structure selector in the first red circle of Figure 3 to, "Single-shot rack, adjustable fan angle tubes in each row".  Having declared that the tube holder angles are adjustable, you obviously shouldn't specify the angles within the rows, so the circled area on the right side of Figure 3 should be blank or should contain angle ranges instead of specific angles. For most fan row racks, the tube holders at the ends of the rows can rotate significantly wider than the interior tube holders because the interior tube holders run into their neighbors when they lean far enough.  You can represent the angle ranges in the rack definition following the instructions in Tube angle range constraints. The Addressing algorithm that assigns firing system modules and pins to the effects also assign the racks and tube holders to the effects.  The tube holder angles of adjustable fan row racks are undefined until effects are assigned to them, at which point the tube holder angles take on the angles of their effects.  In this manner it can be said that the addressing algorithm chooses the tube holder angles of the adjustable fan row racks.        

Fan racks and other racks with fixed angle tubes are easier to wire up if the pin numbers correspond to tubes in an understandable pattern.  Circle racks, like the PyroDigiT CLS30 rack shown in Figure 1 and the monstrous 28 x 4 rack shown in Figure 3 are good examples.   Racks like these make use of a the "pre-wired pins" options discussed in Racks with pre-wired pins.   PyroDigiT CLS30 You can see in Figure 1 that the module pins in the center of the rack are laid out with an obvious correspondence to the rack tubes, 15 on the left half of the circle and 15 on the right half of the circle.  Although, strictly speaking, these tubes aren't pre-wired to specific pin numbers, it would certainly make things easier on the crew if the pin numbers corresponded to the tubes in a natural way.  The "pre-wired pins" options for racks in Finale 3D can guarantee that is the case.   Figure 1 – PyroDigiT CLS30 circle rack is well suited for using pre-wired in Finale 3D.   To create a rack with pre-wired pins,  do “Racks > Create rack...” to bring up the rack configuration dialog.  Figure 2 shows the configuration for the PyroDigiT CLS30.  The three circled areas on the dialog are the salient input fields. Since the rack houses single-shots at fixed angles, the rack structure is "Single-shot rack, fixed angle tubes".  The "Pre-wired pins" selector in the second red circle specifies the required correspondence between the rack tubes and pin numbers.  To understand this field, you need to look first at the specifications of this rack's tubes.  This rack has a total of 30 tubes.  If we weren't concerned with the wiring, we could represent this rack as one row with 30 tubes in it, and we could specify the angles of all the tubes starting at 0 degrees (up) and rotating around.  But the wiring concerns for this particular rack and module type complicate matters. You can't really see it in the picture, but the two module rails of 15 pins are oriented with their pins running in opposite directions.  The rail on the left half of the circle begins with pin number 1 at the bottom, incrementing upward to 15 at the top.  The rail on the right half of the circle begins with pin number 1 at the top, incrementing downward.  Let's call the rail on the left the first rail, and the rail on the right the second rail.  We can now define specifically what correspondence we would like between the tubes and the pin numbers.  There's no hard lined requirement forcing us to use a specific correspondence because the rail pins aren't actually pre-wired to the tubes in the physical world.  It would be possible to extend a wire from any one of the pins to any one of the tubes.  But let's set this up to make it easy on the crew. Let's define that the tube aiming straight down is wired to pin 1 of the first (left-side) rail.  The tube aiming a little more to the left, rotating around the circle clockwise, is pin 2 of the first rail, and so on, up to the slightly left of vertical tube being pin 15 of the first rail.  Keeping in mind the orientation of the second rail, we will define the tube aiming straight up to be pin 1 of the second (right-side) rail; the next tube aiming slightly to the right, continuing clockwise, is pin 2, and so on, down to the nearly straight down tube being pin 15 of the second rail.   Figure 2 – Pre-wired pins rack configuration for the PyroDigiT CLS30 rack   You can see now in the third circle of Figure 2 how this configuration defines the tube angles of the rack.  The rack is defined as two rows of 15 tubes each.  The first row, representing the left side of the circle, begins with the tube angled at 180 degrees, straight down!  The next tube in this row is at angle 192 degrees, with rotates it a little to the left, clockwise.   Although you can't see the full list of 15 angles in the first row of the red circle, the last number is 348, representing the tube angle slightly to the left of straight up. The second row of the rack is also 15 tubes.  It begins with the tube angle 0, straight up, and continues with additional tubes spaced out in 12 degree intervals.  The last number in the tube angles of row 2 is 168, angling just right of straight down. Having defined the tube angles in the row specifications, we can now return to the second red circle, which specifies the correspondence between the pins and the tubes.  The option "Sequential by rows, left to right, half and half" means that, Sequential by rows.  The tubes are sorted sequentially by rows, meaning the first row would have tubes 1..N, and the next row would have tubes N+1..2N, etc. Left to right. The rows are sorted left to right.  The "rows" that the rack configuration dialog refers to are actually vertical if you are looking at the rack in a top-down view as in the rack diagrams.  The reason for this is that a simple wooden rack with one "row" is naturally oriented vertically in the top-down view, so if a rack definition had multiple rows, the additional rows would also be vertically oriented, stacking to right like a picket fence in the top-down view.  Thus "left to right" in the specification just means that row 1 (our left half of the circle) has tubes 1..N, and row 2 (our right half of the circle) has tubes N+1..2N. Half and half. Instead of the tube numbers corresponding to pins of exactly the same numbers, the tube numbers are divided half and half into two groups, and both groups correspond to the same pin numbers.  Thus in our example of 2N tubes (N = 15), the first 15 tubes correspond to the first 15 pins of a firing module (pins 1-15) and the second 15 tubes also correspond to the first 15 pins of a firing module (pins 1-15, the same). These "pre-wired pins" restrictions force the tubes of the PyroDigiT 30CLS to correspond naturally to the pins in the two rails mounted in the rack.  If you define your racks with this configuration, then your crews can know when setting up the show that pin 1 of the first rail is always the straight down tube, and the next pins continue around the circle clockwise.   This correspondence is 100% independent of the firing order of the shots or addressing order of assignment.  No matter what the firing pattern looks like in the show, the setup is the same.   28 x 4 circle rack using 4 modules If your modules have at least 28 pins, then the 28 x 4 rack shown in Figure 3 may be easiest to setup with four modules, each module serving one complete circle of 28 tubes (leaving 4 pins left over if your modules have 32 pins, for example).  The obvious advantage of this setup is that each cluster of 4 tubes could use the same pin numbers on its 4 modules.  All the pin 1s could go to the first cluster of 4 tubes; all the pin 2s could go to the second cluster; and so forth.  Using "Pre-wired pins" in the definition of this rack in Finale 3D can guarantee this regularity no matter what the firing pattern or addressing order of assignment is.     Figure 3 – A 28 x 4 point circle rack is much easier to setup using the "pre-wired" pins option in Finale 3D.   The rack configuration for this 28 x 4 rack is shown in Figure 4. Like the PyroDigiT rack, this rack configuration is a single-shot rack with fixed angle tubes.  However, unlike the PyroDigiT rack, the natural way to model this rack is with four rows of 28 tubes each.  The "Pre-wired pins" constraint is "Sequential for each row", meaning that each row has sequentially ordered tubes corresponding to the first N pins of a module.   Figure 4 – The 28 x 4 point rack can be represented as four rows of 28 tubes each.   After creating the rack and and addressing the show with "Addressing > Address show..." using any order of assignment, the pin numbers fill into the tubes regularly for the four modules as shown in Figure 5.  The example show illustrated in Figure 5 consists of four completely different firing orders for four sequences of shots around the circle, but the pin numbers are the same for all of them because of the "Pre-wired pins" constraint.   Figure 5 – The large 28 x 4 rectangle represents the circle rack with 28 angles, 4 tubes each in the rack layout screen.   Angle problems with circle racks It is important that the tube angles of the rack align exactly to the shot angles in the show design.   Sometimes that requires some extra work.  Take for example the 28 x 4 circle rack.  The number 28 does not divide evenly into 360 degrees, so the angle intervals between the tubes in the real world are fractional numbers (360 / 28 = 12.857 degrees).   To make the circle fan in the show design, add 28 shots to the show and select all of them.  Then do the command "Script > Angles > Make into fan..."  and choose 12.857 as the angle interval, having calculated that number with a calculator as 360 / 28.  For a circle fan you can't simply set the total angle in the fan dialog to 360 because that would create two coincident shots at angles 0 and 360, which are the same angle.  Circle fans have one more angle gap than regular fans for the same number of shots.   Figure 6 – The angle intervals of a 28 point circle rack are fractional numbers since 360 / 28 = 12.857 degrees.   Once you have created your circle fan of shots, you need to create a rack with identical angles.  Since the angles are all fractional, it is easiest to create the rack tube angles using cut and paste.  In the script window, drag a tall, skinny selection rectangle over the 28 cells in the "Tilt" column of your circle fan of shots.  Copy with control-C and paste these 28 angles into a text editor.  Then combine the list of angles into a single line, separated by commas.  Copy/paste that list of numbers into tube angles fields in the rack configuration dialog shown in Figure 4.  Since these angles are copied from the actual shot angles, they are guaranteed to match exactly.

The term "prefire" means the time from firing system ignition to the effect time that is synchronized to the music.  For aerial shells, the prefire is usually associated with the lift time.  In fact, the association is so close that people often use the terms interchangeably.  VDL supports this common usage with the special rules, Prefire < 0.5 defines delay before simulation; Prefire >= 0.5 defines aerial shell lift time In other words, if the prefire is a small fraction of a second, then it refers to the latency introduced by the firing system or the time it takes for the effect to get started.  If the prefire is in the range that it could be a lift time, then that's what it is.  These rules work almost all the time, so you usually don't need to give much thought to it. The rules even work for combination effects like RED PEONY w/ BLUE MINE, or BLUE MINE w/ RED BOMBETTES.  If you want to synchronize the launch of the mine to the music, specify a small prefire < 0.5.  If you want to synchronize the break of the shell to the music, specify a larger prefire, being the lift time of the shell. The prefire can be specified in the effect window table in the "Prefire" column explicitly, or it can be included in the VDL using the term PFT (see VDL timing adjustment terms). If the prefire is specified in both places, the value in the window table prevails.   LFT and DLY In circumstances for which the prefire rules are insufficient, the LFT and DLY terms in VDL specify the lift time and delay before simulation, taking precedence over whatever the default lift time would be or whatever the prefire implies.  Consider the case of a bombette roman candle with a 1.0 second fuse prior to the first launch, and then 2.0 seconds between the shots, and finally 3.0 seconds lift time in each of the bombettes.  You can define this effect in VDL as, 50mm 21.0s 4.0 PFT 10 Shot RC 1.0 DLY Pink Peony w/ Green Mine 3.0 LFT Breaking this phrase apart, you can see the 3.0 LFT time at the end, defining the lift time.  The 1.0 DLY is the delay before simulation, representing the delay before the first launch as the visco fuse works its way down into the roman candle tube to the first shell.  The 4.0 PFT aligns the prefire with the first break, which occurs at 1.0 seconds + 3.0 seconds = 4.0 seconds after the firing system ignition.  The overall duration of 21 seconds measures first launch to last break (see Cake and candle duration), so that's 18 seconds between the first launch and the last launch, accounting for the 3 second lift time to the last break.  There are 9 gaps between 10 shots, so 18/9 = 2 seconds between shots.   Editable fuse delay If you need to represent a long fuse in front of the device, like a Pyro-Clock fuse or a Visco fuse on a cake, then the “Delay Default” field in Finale 3D may be better suited to your purpose than “Prefire“. The Delay Default field in Finale 3D is an external delay between the firing system ignition and the ignition of the effect.  The column is normally hidden in the effects window and the script, so click the blue gear menu in the upper right of those windows to unhide it.  In the effects window, the column is called “Delay Default” whereas in the script window it is called “Delay”.  The reason it is called “Delay Default” in the effects view is that when you insert an effect the “Delay Default” is copied by value into the script’s “Delay” field.  Once it is copied into the script, you can edit the Delay in the script on a row-by-row basis, as you might need to do if you were adjusting the length of the delay fuses on an item by item basis in the physical world.  Thus the “Delay” in the script can be different for different occurrences of the same effect.,   Measuring prefire The prefire values in your effects list can come from a variety of sources.   If you measure your effects' prefire times yourself  in the real world using photography or a stopwatch -- from firing system ignition to break -- then the times will incorporate any latency from your firing system into the prefire times.  Thus, Measured prefire = delay before launch + lift delay It works fine to use these prefire times directly in Finale 3D.  Here's why: Finale 3D will interpret them for shells as just the lift delay, following the rules described above.  Thus the simulated launches will leave a little early and the breaks will linger compensatingly long to make them hit exactly at the prefire.  But this slight inaccuracy is okay because small changes to the shape of the trajectory are virtually imperceptible, and if you are entering prefires >= 0.5 to synchronize the breaks to the music, then you probably don't care if the launch begins a little early.  If the shell includes a bouquet of mine stars as part of the effect, then you probably would be synchronizing the music to the mine launch with a prefire < 0.5 and wouldn't care about a slight inaccuracy in the shell breaks.   If you have any objection to the approximations, you can fix them with LFT and DLY.   Using lift times from suppliers as prefire As an alternative to measuring your own prefire times, you may use the prefires or lift delays provided by your suppliers.  These times obviously wouldn't take into consideration any delays introduced by your firing system.  Thus, Prefire from supplier = lift delay If the delays introduced by your firing system are enough to pay attention to, you have two choices.  You can add them to the prefire times from the supplier, modifying the effects lists, or you can set the "Firing system export offset" in the "Show > Show settings..." dialog in Finale 3D.  To compensate for a positive delay enter a negative number as the export offset, e.g., -0.1 if your firing system adds a latency of a tenth of a second. An advantage to the using the export offset for firing system latency instead of folding firing system latency into the prefires is that your prefire values are then not firing system dependent.  You could re-purpose an existing show from one firing system to another by simply changing the export offset.

If you ever need to make a backup of your My Effects collection or your Finale Inventory products list, you can copy and paste from the effects window to an Excel XLSX file, or you can save your effects as a Finale 3D FDB effects database file.  Both methods are easy to do, and you will not lose any data.  If you backup your effects to an Excel spreadsheet, you can copy and paste your effects back into a Finale 3D anytime. If you backup your effects using an (.fdb) effects file, the collection will automatically be loaded into the effects window each time you launch Finale 3D. Please note: if you are having trouble syncing with the network (e.g. due to an internet connection issue or some other error), it's critical that you make a backup before closing Finale 3D. If you don't make a backup and Finale 3D is closed without successfully syncing, any unsaved changes to your effects will be lost.   Procedure to save effects list as Excel XLSX file (Lite, Hobbyist, Pro) In the effects window, view the collection you would like to backup. Press Ctrl+A to select all (your entire effects collection should now be highlighted yellow). Press Ctrl+C to copy the effect collection. Open a blank Excel spreadsheet and press Ctrl+V to paste. Save the spreadsheet. To restore your effects later on: Open the Excel spreadsheet with your effects, press Ctrl+A to select all, then Ctrl+C to copy. Go back to the effects window in Finale 3D, press Ctrl+A to select all, then press Delete on your keyboard to delete everything. Finally, press Ctrl+V to paste the backup you copied from Excel into the effects window. If you are restoring My Effects or another online effect collection, be sure to do File > Sync with network to save.   Procedure to save effects list as an FDB file (Hobbyist, Pro) In the effects window, view the collection you would like to backup. Press Ctrl+A to select all (your entire effects collection should now be highlighted yellow). Press Ctrl+C to copy the effect collection. Go to File > Effects files > New effects file, to add a new 'Unnamed effects file' to the effects window. Looking at the empty/new effects file in the effects window, press Ctrl+V to paste. Go to File > Effects files > Save (fdb format), to save the effects file on your computer. Unless you move the (.fdb) file to another location on your computer, it will automatically be loaded each time you launch Finale 3D. Later on, you can restore from the backup by viewing the contents of the (.fdb) file in the effects window, pressing Ctrl+A to select all, then Ctrl+C to copy, then switch to view the effects collection you want to paste into, then go to Effects > Paste clipboard into effects window, add or update.