This example illustrates the steps to setup and design a flame show for the Explo X2 Wave Flamer using the Pyromac firing system.  The example includes the use of, Explo X2 Wave Flamer pre-defined macros/programs Explo X2 Wave Flamer non-macro shots with user-defined angles Pyro effects used in the same show as the flames Safety channels turned on for the flame units for the flame part of the show A Pyromac script that contains both DMX and firing system outputs The example show is 30 seconds long.  It contains five flame positions, one per flame unit; and three pyro launch positions.  It also contains five "safety" positions to hold the safety channel effects for the corresponding five flame units.   The safety positions don't exist in the real world; they just hold the safety channel effects in Finale 3D. Since Explo X2 Wave Flamer fixtures incorporate the safety channel in the DMX personality of the fixture at a defined offset it is not necessary to use safety positions for Explo shows -- you can just add the "DMX safety channel" effects directly to the Explo X2 Wave Flamer fixture positions.  This example uses safety positions to explain the concept, since they are required for other types of flame systems (G-Flame, Flamaniac) for which safety channels are configured to their own DMX channels (not at pre-defined offsets relative to a Start Address). From the front view when designing the show in Finale 3D, the show looks like Figure 1:   Figure 1 – An Explo X2 Wave Flamer macro shot in parallel from five positions   Setting up the show Switch to top view in Finale 3D by clicking on the camera icon on the right side of the screen. Figure 2 shows the site layout from the top view perspective. When designing the show it is easiest to create a safety channel position for each DMX safety channel the show requires. The Explo X2 Wave Flamer flame units require a separate safety channel for each independent flame unit. The show contains five independent flame units, thus it requires five safety channels. By comparison, if the flame units were listening to the same DMX channel range (firing in parallel) then the show would only need one safety channel.  The flame units in this show are independent ,though, so they will be configured for different DMX channel ranges.  Some other types of flame systems have independently configurable safety channel addresses that can be shared by flame units listening to different DMX channel ranges, but with the Explo X2 Wave Flamer system each DMX channel range has its own safety channel as part of the range.   Figure 2 – Create separate positions for flame and pyro and safety (for Explo DMX flames, one safety per flame position).   As explained in Exporting a firing system script for flame systems, there are two ways to setup a DMX flame show, either: 1) each flame unit has its own DMX universe, or 2) each flame has its own range of DMX channels in a shared DMX universe.  The Pyromac firing system is designed to support a single DMX universe that is shared by all the modules, and thus by all the flame units.  So that makes the choice easy for this show: (2) is the only option. After designing the show, you will do the menu item, "Addressing > Address show" to assign firing system addresses and DMX parameters to all the effects in the show; and then you'll do the final step, "File > Export > Export firing system script(s)..." to export a script for your Pyromac firing system.  The addressing functions depend on position DMX properties, which you can edit by right-clicking the positions and selecting "Configure as DMX fixture..." from the context menu.   This menu item is also what will turn the yellow disk (pyro) positions into blue square DMX fixtures, as shown in the Figure 1 and Figure 2.  The menu item brings up the dialog shown in Figure 3.   Figure 3 – Right-click positions and "Configure as DMX fixture..." to set up the flame and safety positions.   From this dialog, you will configure the flame and safety positions in the show as DMX fixtures, following the instructions in Table 1.   Table 1 – Configuration for DMX Fixture positions (flame and safety) Property Instructions Position Type Set to "DMX Fixture (Master)". DMX Universe Set to 1 for Pyromac, though it doesn't really matter what number you set it to because it isn't represented in Pyromac scripts. DMX Channel Base For each flame position, set the DMX Channel Base to whatever the flame unit's physical "Start Address" will be in the real world (previous versions of Finale 3D required subtracting 1, which is no longer correct); set each safety position's DMX Channel Base to be the same as its corresponding flame position (e.g., position flame-01 should have the same DMX Channel Base as safety-01).  In the example show, the DMX Channel Bases are 1,7,13,19,25.  Pyromac only supports channels up to 50, and each Explo X2 Wave Flamer DMX channel range consists of six channels, so the channel bases of 1,7,13,19,25 pack the ranges together back to back. DMX Fixture Type Choose "Explo [001] Wave Flamer". DMX Effect Filter This field fills in automatically when you select the DMX Fixture Type, though you can change it if you want.  The purpose of this field is to support the position's right-click context menu item, "Add compatible DMX effect".  You obviously only want to add Explo effects to an Explo flame projector.  The DMX Effect Filter reduces the list of effects shown in the context menu to those whose descriptions contain DMX Effect Filter text.   Except for the DMX Channel Base field, the fields are the same for all the DMX fixture positions, so you can select all the DMX fixture positions and then right-click on one of them to configure them all as DMX fixtures at the same time.  Then you can open the Positions window and manually type in the DMX Channel Base numbers for the relevant rows, Excel-style, as shown in Figure 4.  Some columns in Figure 4 are hidden (use the blue gear menu in the upper right) to save space.   Figure 4 – It is easiest to set the DMX Channel Base numbers directly in the Positions window by typing them in, Excel-style.   Designing the show To design this example show or other shows with Explo X2 Wave Flamer units, please follow these steps: Add flame effects.  Right-click on the flame positions and do "Add compatible DMX effect" to add effects.  If you insert "Explo DMX X2 Rotatable Flame Shot" effects, you can drag the tops of their trajectories in the 3D view to set their angle, and you can select groups of them and do functions like "Fan" to create interesting patterns. The first four seconds of the example show use only the Explo macro effects.  The remaining flame effects in the show between seconds 5 and 10 are all "Explo DMX X2 Rotatable Flame Shot" effects.  You can use the timing design functions like "Sequence" for any of the effects, but please only drag the trajectory tops to adjust the angles of the "Explo DMX X2 Rotatable Flame Shot" effects. Add pyro effects.  Select the pyro positions you want to add effects to, and then click on the effect icons in the effects window to add effects.  All the scripting functions like "Fan" and "Sequence" are available. Add safety channel effects.  Right-click on the safety positions and do "Add compatible DMX effect" to add "Explo DMX Safety Channel" effects.  Adjust their durations in the script window to cover the spans of time for which you want to arm the flame units.  To see the duration column in the script window, go to the blue gear menu in the upper right of the script window and select the menu item, "Hide or unhide columns > Duration".  In the example show, the flames only last from the beginning of the show to about 9.5 seconds, so the safety channel durations are set to 9.5 in the script to cover that period of time.   Addressing and exporting the script After designing the show, follow these steps to export a script for your Pyromac firing system: Address the show.  The menu item, "Addressing > Address show..." brings up the dialog shown in Figure 5.  In this example you don't need to change much in the dialog at all.  Just select the Pyromac firing system, and choose the module type.  If you want, you can change the assignment order or the constraints, but none of those decisions will affect the DMX fixture positions or the DMX parts of the script.  The configuration from Table 1 is all that matters for DMX. Export the script.  Do the menu item, "File > Export > Export firing system script(s)..."  to generate the script file for your firing system.   Figure 5 – Address the show with "Addressing > Address show..." just as you would for a pyro-only show.     Table 2 – Example files Download link Explanation demo_explo_pyromac_macros_and_rotatable_dmx.fin Example show file demo_explo_pyromac_macros_and_rotatable_dmx.txt Example exported Pyromac DMX script demo_explo_pyromac_plays_on_browser.mp4 Video   Video 1 – Render with water and camera motion [video width="1920" height="1080" mp4="https://finale3d.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/demo_explo_pyromac_plays_on_browser.mp4"][/video]

This article contains a complete list of the columns (i.e., fields) that can by synced between Finale 3D and Finale Inventory. Many of the columns have slightly different names between the two applications. Table 1 below shows the corresponding names for all columns and explains what type of information can be stored in each. If you have a Finale Inventory or Shared Company Effects List account connected to Finale 3D, you can add, edit, and delete items directly in the Effects window in Finale 3D. Be careful, because if you select all (Ctrl+A), then delete, and then do "File > Sync with network" you'll wipe everything out. There is a confirmation dialog with a summary of changes when you synch, to guard against accidents.   Table 1 – Complete list of columns for Finale 3D and corresponding names for Finale Inventory Finale 3D English name Finale 3D internal name Finale Inventory name Explanation Part Number partNumber Product ID The unique identifier for the effect, like DOM10001 or LD3CK253.  Description description Description The name as it appears in in the printed catalog, like “Galactic Gladiator” or “30mm Red Peony 75m” or “Bomba Roja Con Aro Azul” or “Синяя в красную хризантему”. Type partType Choreography Tab The physical type of the effect, which determines whether it is a single shot or mortar-based effect or something else (See Why is ‘Type’ so important? What depends on it?). Note that the values are different between Finale Inventory and Finale 3D. When importing effects, use the values recognized by the system you are importing into. The values in Finale 3D are: shell, comet, mine, cake, candle, other_effect, single_shot, ground, rocket, flame, not_an_effect, rack, macro, sfx, and light. The corresponding values in Finale Inventory are: Shells, Comets, Mines, Cakes, Candles, Other, Single Shot, Ground, Rocket, Flame, Not An Effect, Rack, Sfx, Macro, or Light. Finale Inventory also has a special value: Non-Choreographed. Effects with this value are not shown in Finale 3D.  Category category Category A field in Finale Inventory that is restricted to the user's pre-defined, enumerated category names, or blank. For compatibility with Finale 3D, the "Use legacy categories" option must be enabled in Finale Inventory. This setting is found on the "Product" tab of the "Applications settings" page in Finale Inventory. This field can only be updated from Finale Inventory, any value entered in this field in the Finale 3D Effects window will be cleared when you Sync with network. Size size Caliber The caliber of the effect, in inches or millimeters, e.g., 3” or 75mm; or blank. This field determines the size of the visual simulation. Prefire internalDelay Prefire Time The lift time, for shells, or the lift time of the first effect of a cake if it is a shell. The Prefire time should incorporate the fuse delay.  Prefires < 0.5s will delay the simulation and will not affect the lift time of aerial shells.  Prefires >= 0.5s will not delay the simulation and will determine the lift time of aerial shells.  If the column or field is not present in the imported file, Finale 3D will calculate a good default value based on the size and description.  The terms LFT and DLY can be incorporated into the VDL description of an item to override the lift time or delay before first launch implied by the prefire.    Duration duration Duration The lifetime of the stars, for aerial shells, or the duration of the continuous effect for gerbs or flares, or the duration from first launch to last break for cakes.   DMX Fixture Definition dmxFixtureDefinition DMX Fixture Definition Reserved for future features.   E-Matches Default ematches E-Matches Reserved for future features.   Physical Specifications physicalSpecifications Physical Specifications A field containing optional physical specifications of a rack or effect, such as: {[rackRowLengthConsumption 50]} which specifies that an effect consumes 50mm of a single-shot rack row that has a "Max. usable row length" constraint, overriding the default which is that an effect consumes an amount equal to its effect size. Height Meters height Effect Height The height in meters of the trajectory apex of an aerial shell, or of the spark plume for fountains and gerbs. This field determines the height of the visual simulation. In Finale 3D, this field is always meters.  In Finale Inventory, you can set the Distance Unit Of Measure to feet if you want, which applies to all distances including height and safety distance. Finale 3D will convert between feet and meters automatically, if necessary, when it connects to Finale Inventory, but we recommend you use meters, for simplicity. VDL vdl VDL Description The description of the effect in standard pyrotechnics terminology (Visual Description Language). This field defines the visual simulation of the effect, along with a few other specifications like Size, Height Meters, and Duration.  Manufacturer Part Number manufacturerPartNumber Mfg Product Id The manufacturer or supplier part number. Manufacturer manufacturer Manufacturer This is the name of the manufacturer or supplier. Price stdPrice Item Price The price of the item. Finale 3D will display the price of a show based on these values.  For chains, you can decide whether the price means the price of the full chain or whether it means the price per device (i.e., per shell). From within the Finale 3D application, the user can select “File > User settings > Chain price, cost, NEQ, and weight are for entire chain” to make the prices and price summaries display correctly for either meaning. Notes partNotes Notes A user-defined field for the user’s convenience.   EX Number exNumber EX Number A field that is useful to include for US users.  This field can contain single EX numbers or a comma separated list, like 2008040132, 2004110899. This field can only be updated from Finale Inventory, any value entered in this field in the Finale 3D Effects window will be cleared when you Sync with network. CE Number ceNumber CE Number A field that is useful to include for European users. This field can only be updated from Finale Inventory, any value entered in this field in the Finale 3D Effects window will be cleared when you Sync with network. UN Number unNumber Hazardous Material A field that is useful to include for all users.  This number must be in the format: UNXXXX, where XXXX is a four digit number like 0336 or 0337.  Example: UN0337. This field can contain single EX numbers or a comma separated list, like 2008040132, 2004110899. This field can only be updated from Finale Inventory, any value entered in this field in the Finale 3D Effects window will be cleared when you Sync with network. Delay Default fuseDelay Fuse Delay DEPRECATED. An extra delay between the firing system ignition and the first launch that is copied by value (hence the the name "Delay Default") into the Delay field of a script row when it is inserted in the script.  As of February 28, 2020, use of this field is deprecated.  Fuse delay should be incorporated into the Prefire time.  Prefires < 0.5s will delay the simulation and will not affect the lift time of aerial shells.  Prefires >= 0.5s will not delay the simulation and will determine the lift time of aerial shells.   Devices numDevices Chain Number Of Devices The number of devices in the chain, or 1 if the item is not a chain. Subtype subtype Effect Sub Type A user-defined category, such as 500g Cakes, or Special Shells. DMX Patch dmxPatch DMX Patch A program that defines the DMX signals corresponding to the effect. Hazard Default lockoutDefault Hazard Default A default value for the hazard class or caliber group that show operators may use to selectively prevent effects from firing based on real time conditions.  Custom Part Field customPartField Custom Part Field Anything. Color color Effect Color A single color, which the user can use as a search term. It may contain spaces but not commas. If the effect has multiple colors, this field should contain the most prominent single color that the user is likely to search for. Tubes numTubes Rack Tubes For racks, the number of tubes in the rack. Leave blank for anything other than racks. Rack Type Default rackType Rack Type Default A field that the user an employ to set matching conditions between racks and effects. Suppliers should leave this field blank. Storage Location stdLocation Std bin ID The "standard" location or bin at which an item is stored.  Do not confuse this field with Finale Inventory's concept of "sublocations" or "locations".  Sublocations in Finale Inventory are not communicated to Finale 3D. Locations in Finale Inventory are communicated to Finale 3D, and can be used as filters in "File > Finale Inventory > Selected locations". Cost stdCost Std accounting cost The "standard" cost of an item (not the calculated cost in Finale Inventory).  For chains, you can decide whether the cost means the cost of the full chain or whether it means the cost per device (i.e., per shell). From within the Finale 3D application, the user can select “File > User settings > Chain price, cost, NEQ, and weight are for entire chain” to make the costs and cost summaries display correctly for either meaning. Safety Distance Meters safetyDistance Safety distance The safety distance for the effect. In Finale 3D, this field is always meters.  In Finale Inventory, you can set the Distance Unit Of Measure to feet if you want, which applies to all distances including height and safety distance. Finale 3D will convert between feet and meters automatically, if necessary, when it connects to Finale Inventory, but we recommend you use meters, for simplicity. Weight weight Weight per unit The weight of one device (shell, cake, etc.). If you are synching to Finale Inventory, whatever units you use in Finale Inventory apply (grams, kilograms, etc.). The "Basic Product List" report and other similar reports in Finale 3D will show the total weight for all items in the show.  For chains, you can decide whether the weight means the weight of the full chain or whether it means the price per device (i.e., per shell). From within the Finale 3D application, the user can select “File > User settings > Chain price, cost, NEQ, and weight are for entire chain” to make the weights and weight summaries display correctly for either meaning. NEQ neq NEQ per unit The net explosive quantity of one device (shell, cake, etc.).  The "Basic Product List" report and other similar reports in Finale 3D will show the total NEQ for all items in the show.  For chains, you can decide whether the NEQ means the NEQ of the full chain or whether it means the NEQ per device (i.e., per shell). From within the Finale 3D application, the user can select “File > User settings > Chain price, cost, NEQ, and weight are for entire chain” to make the NEQ and NEQ summaries display correctly for either meaning.   Feet versus meters If you import to a Finale Inventory account by synching from Finale 3D, Finale 3D converts the distance unit of measure from meters in Finale 3D to whatever unit of measure is chosen in your Finale Inventory account, so no special attention is required on your part.  However, if you import directly into Finale Inventory by pasting into the import products page, Finale Inventory defaults to feet as the unit of measure for distances (e.g., effect height, width), regardless of the company's default system of measure chosen in the application settings page. To avoid conversion problems when importing into Finale Inventory directly, please include an extra column called "Distance Unit" with cell values of "Meter" or "Feet" in your imported table to ensure the quantities you are importing are given the correct interpretation.  Without this column, the most common error is that imported heights are about 1/3rd what they ought to be, because quantities intended to mean meters are interpreted as feet.    

To create and export a script for the Megafire firing system, please follow these steps: Address the show ("Addressing > Address show"). Export the script ("File > Export > Export firing scripts"). Step 2 creates the script file, which has the "CSV" extension.  The file format details are described in this section.   Figure 1 – Megafire firing system   Table 1 – File format and encoding File format Extension Text encoding Field delimiter End-of-line Text .CSV UTF-8 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 header file, in Brazilian Portuguese, indicates the meaning of the columns. Time resolution The Megafire system supports millisecond resolution. Special characters The CSV file allows all UTF-8 characters except semicolon and control characters like linefeed and tab, which are filtered out.  There is no escaping or quoting facility. Each row in the script has a number of fields separated by the tab character.  The names of the fields and their descriptions are the following: Table 3 – Specifications of script fields Field name Description Sequência Cue number, starting with 1. Every row is a unique event time / module / pin combination, so every row is a unique cue. The cue numbers thus increment sequentially. If multiple effects are on the same cue, their effect names are combined in the effect name and size column (see below). Tempo de ignição Time of ignition in seconds with three digits of fraction. Duração do efeito Duration of the effect in seconds with three digits of fraction. Tempo para disparo Prefire of the effect in seconds with three digits of fraction. Artefato e calibre Effect name and size. If the cue represents multiple effects, the description begins with the number of effects in parentheses, continues with the first effect name, and ends with elipsis (...) as an indication the row represents more than is being displayed in this single field. Nome da posição Position name. Direção Angle or angles of the shells in the cue, drawn in ASCII art, like |/. Distribuidor Module number, starting with 1. Canal Pin number, starting with 1. ID do artefato Part number. Preço do artefato Price per device. An example script containing twelve (12) shells across nine (9) firing rows is shown in Figure 1 and included for download in Table 4. Sequência;Tempo de ignição;Duração do efeito;Tempo para disparo;Artefato e calibre;Nome da posição;Direção;Distribuidor;Canal;ID do artefato;Preço do artefato 1;2.760;1.020;2.240;White Chrysanthemum 2";Pos-01;|;1;1;G2SH1001;1.45 2;2.860;1.020;2.240;White Chrysanthemum 2";Pos-02;|;2;1;G2SH1001;1.45 3;2.960;1.020;2.240;White Chrysanthemum 2";Pos-03;|;3;1;G2SH1001;1.45 4;3.060;1.020;2.240;White Chrysanthemum 2";Pos-04;|;4;1;G2SH1001;1.45 5;3.160;1.020;2.240;White Chrysanthemum 2";Pos-05;|;5;1;G2SH1001;1.45 6;3.260;1.020;2.240;White Chrysanthemum 2";Pos-06;|;6;1;G2SH1001;1.45 7;3.360;1.020;2.240;White Chrysanthemum 2";Pos-07;|;7;1;G2SH1001;1.45 8;3.460;1.020;2.240;White Chrysanthemum 2";Pos-08;|;8;1;G2SH1001;1.45 9;3.560;1.020;2.240;White Chrysanthemum 2";Pos-09;|;9;1;G2SH1001;1.45 10;11.446;1.110;0.000;Green Mine 2";Pos-04;;4;2;G2XX1018;1.45 11;11.446;1.110;0.000;Green Mine 2";Pos-05;|;5;2;G2XX1018;1.45 12;11.446;1.110;0.000;Green Mine 2";Pos-06;/;6;2;G2XX1018;1.45 Figure 1 – Example Megafire script   Table 4 – Example files Download link Explanation test_megafire.fix Example show file test_megafire.csv Example exported file (TXT)

Most effects in Finale 3D have a constant duration, even most of the flame effects in the Generic Effects collection.   The reasoning is: you can easily create multiple versions of the effects with different part numbers for the different durations, and then when you are building your show, you can simply click on the effect that has the duration you want.  This reasoning is also supported by the fact that some of the flame systems have predefined durations (example the flame macros in the Explo X2 Wave Flamer), so in those cases you wouldn't have a choice.  However, it is also quite reasonable to want to edit durations duration in the script, so Finale 3D supports both methods. The "Type" of the effect (see the detailed explanation here: Why is ‘Type’ so important? What depends on it?) determines the functionalities of the effect, such as whether it requires a rack in the rack layout view, or whether it requires an e-match, etc.  One of these functionalities is: does the effect have a variable duration?  If the answer is NO, then the duration defined by the effect definition in the effects window defines the duration for all instances of the effect in the script, by reference.  If the answer is YES, then the duration defined by the effect definition is the default duration that gets copied into the script row when you insert the effect, but the script row durations do not remain linked to the effect definition, and you can edit them directly in the script. If you want to change a flame effect definition from having a constant duration to having a variable duration, you can just change its Type from "flame" to "sfx".  The "flame" and "sfx" Type values define whether the effect has constant duration ("flame") or variable duration ("sfx") and are the same with respect to all other functionalities. Most of the provided flame effects in Generic Effects have constant duration (Type = "flame"), but Generic Effects also includes three effects that already have Type = "sfx" so you can edit their durations in the script: GFX1005 -- "SFX Flame" GFX1006 -- "SFX Cryo" GFX1007 -- "SFX Stadium Shot" You can find these effects in Generic Effects by searching for "sfx" in the search bar, as shown in Figure 1.   Figure 1 – Type "sfx" in the search bar to find the effects with variable duration.   You can also create your own variable duration versions of existing effects by copy/pasting the existing effect row in the effect window into your "My effects" collection, and changing its Type to "sfx". After finding or creating a variable duration effect and inserting it into your show, you will need to unhide the "Duration" column in the script window to change the durations.  The blue gear menu in the upper right of the window has a menu item, "Hide or unhide column", from which you can unhide the Duration column, as shown in Figure 2.   Figure 2 – Unhide the "Duration" column from the blue gear menu in the upper right of the script window.   Having unhid the Duration column in the script window, you can edit the effect durations directly in the script, as shown in Figure 3.   Figure 3 – If the effect's Type is "sfx" then you can edit its Duration directly in the script.   Figure 4 shows five flame effects having the same Part Number, shot at the same time.  The center one has a longer Duration, so it lasts longer, as you can see in the simulation and on the timeline. Figure 4 – The middle flame has a longer duration than the others, but they are all the same effect (same Part Number)   The Duration value in the script may be exported as part of the firing system script, depending on the type of firing system (some firing systems have a duration field; other's don't).  It also may be a parameter in an exported DMX script, which depends on the "DMX patch" field of the effect and depends on the firing system.  For more information on flames and special effects using DMX, see Exporting a firing system script for flame systems). Figure 5 shows an example of a variable duration effect and fixed duration effect that are exactly the same except for their Type field, with is "sfx" in the variable case and "flame" in the fixed duration case.  The top window contains the two effect definitions.  Notice that both effect definitions have a duration of 0.11.  The bottom window shows the script.  Notice that the variable duration effect, with type = "sfx", has a duration of 1.0 in the script, which is different from the definition of the effect in the window above.  That would not be possible with the other effect -- its duration column in the script window is read-only.   Figure 5 – Effects with Type = "sfx" can have a different duration value in the effect window and the script window.   The exported script of Figure 5 is shown in Figure 6 for the Pyromac firing system.  The Explo flame system requires five or six DMX channels to represent each effect, so the exported script isn't as simple as two rows and is hard for a human to understand, but you can see the durations of the two effects at the end of line 6 and line 9. Pyromac firing system Cue;Time;Delay;Address (Mod,Pins);"Note";Duration 0001;00,00,00.00;00,00,00.00;901,128;"Explo Macro FIXED DURATION";00,00,30.00 0001;00,00,00.00;00,00,00.00;902,255;"Explo Macro FIXED DURATION";00,00,00.43 0001;00,00,00.00;00,00,00.00;903,000;"Explo Macro FIXED DURATION";00,00,00.32 0001;00,00,00.00;00,00,00.00;904,000;"Explo Macro FIXED DURATION";00,00,00.43 0001;00,00,00.00;00,00,00.00;905,022;"Explo Macro FIXED DURATION";00,00,00.43 0002;00,00,00.32;00,00,00.00;903,255;"Explo Macro FIXED DURATION";00,00,00.11 0003;00,00,04.62;00,00,00.00;902,255;"Explo Macro VARIABLE DURATION";00,00,01.34 0003;00,00,04.62;00,00,00.00;905,022;"Explo Macro VARIABLE DURATION";00,00,01.34 0004;00,00,04.96;00,00,00.00;903,255;"Explo Macro VARIABLE DURATION";00,00,01.00 end Figure 6 – The script exported to Pyromac, with 0.11 duration for one effect (line 6) and 1.00 duration for the other (line 9).   Table 1 – Example files Download link Explanation demo_explo_pyromac_duration.fin Example show file from Figure 5 demo_explo_pyromac_duration.txt Example exported file, same as Figure 6 (TXT)    

Finale Inventory (finaleinventory.com) is a top-ranked inventory management system used by e-commerce companies, fireworks display, retail, wholesale, and manufacturing companies, and other businesses ranging from "Mom and Pop" size businesses with a few orders per month to some of the largest companies in the world, with over a million transactions per month. While today Finale Inventory is used by all kinds of companies, it was originally developed specifically for fireworks display companies, so from its very early stages it has always had specialized inventory management features that fireworks companies need, like ATF-compliant "Daily Summary of Magazine Transactions" (DSMT reports), management of packed shows, and user interface design options that are suited for fireworks companies that may have dozens or even hundreds of items in their sales orders. Finale Inventory is a separate software service from Finale 3D, but they are seamlessly integrated with each other to facilitate designing shows with real-time access to your inventory quantities on hand, or available, optionally taking into consideration reservations or unreceived orders.  You can create sale orders in Finale Inventory and then design shows in Finale 3D filtered to the exact items in the sale order.  You can design a show in Finale 3D and update a Finale Inventory sale order based on the items you've used in your show design.  Or you can go back and forth. The integration with Finale Inventory also enables you to share your Finale Inventory inventory list with other employees or contractors through their own Finale 3D licenses; and you can control permissions like hiding prices or enabling/preventing making changes. You can find out about Finale Inventory from finaleinventory.com, but when you buy a license for it you'll want to buy one of the "Pyro" service plans that has the Finale 3D integration.  The available plans and their prices are described in Table 1.   Table 1 – Finale Inventory prices and features Finale Inventory Plan Price Users Storage Containers / Magazines Barcode Scanner Support Software Integrations Pyro Basic $99/month 2 users 2 No Finale 3D Pyro Small $199/month 4 users 10 No Finale 3D Pyro Medium $349/month 6 users 20 Yes, up to 2 barcode scanners Finale 3D, and up to 4 others (Quickbooks, Shipping, POS, etc.) Pyro Large $449/month 8 users 30 Yes, up to 4 barcode scanners Finale 3D, and up to 8 others (Quickbooks, Shipping, POS, etc.) Pyro Custom $649/month 12 users (more available at additional cost) Unlimited Yes, up to 8 barcode scanners Finale 3D, and unlimited others (Quickbooks, Shipping, POS, etc.), and API Access for your own custom integrations   Table 2 – Files Download link Explanation letter_of_determination.pdf Letter of Determination from ATF

The effect window in Finale 3D and the effect palette in the upper right of the design view are the two ways of viewing your effects.  Both the window and the palette show one specific "Collection" of effects at a time, which you can select from the blue selector of the effect window or from a link at the bottom of the effect palette.  The collections are, "Generic effects", "Per-show effects", "My effects", plus any effect databases that you've created as local files, plus any Finale Inventory accounts that you are connected to (see Account setup) . The Generic effects are the 6,000 or so default effects included with the application as a starting point.  They are read-only effects.  The Per-show effects is the collection of effects that is saved with the current show being edited.  When you insert an effect into a show from any collection, the effect definition is copied into the Per-show effects so that the show is self-contained, without any references to external effects lists.  The My effects is your personal effects collection, saved in the cloud. Figure 1 – The effect window shows one collection of effects at a time.   To create new effects, use the menu item "Effects > Create new effect..." which brings up the dialog shown in Figure 2.  In this dialog enter a full description of the effect into the Input description field, and then look at the green fields below, which show how Finale 3D interprets your input description.  Your input description should always include the caliber/size of the effect.  Depending on the how much detail you want to provide, you can also provide the duration, height, and prefire, as well as timing and firing pattern information for cakes.  Instructions for typing in the input description are given in the "VDL" section, "finale3d.com > Documentation > VDL documentation".  VDL, which stands for "Visual Description Language", is the pyrotechnics language in which you can define arbitrary effects.   Notably, the input description in this dialog is not a search box.  The software will actually construct a new simulation based your description as a recipe.  Try typing something complicated like "50mm red to blue to green chrysanthemum with strobing pink pistil with gold tail" to see how your description is interpreted! Figure 2 – Enter a full description, including caliber, into the input description field   The easiest way to edit effects is to right click on them in the effect window, and then to select "Edit this effect simulation or rack..." in the context menu, as shown in Figure 3.   Figure 3 – Right click on an effect row and select "Edit this effect simulation or rack..." to edit effects.   The rows in the effect window are effect definitions themselves, comprising about 30 attributes that are shown in the columns.  Most of the columns are hidden by default to make the information manageable.  From the blue gear menu in the upper right of the effects window, select "Hide or unhide columns" to look at the available columns, and unhide any that you are interested in.   Figure 4 – From the blue gear menu in the upper right, select "Edit this effect simulation or rack..." to edit effects.   There are a few special columns in the effect window that are not attributes -- "Line Number", "Icon", "Used", "Quota", "On Hand", and "Available".  The Icon is automatically generated based on the other column values.  The Used, Quota, and other quantity columns are described in Inventory management basic instructions.  All the rest of the columns are the attributes that define the effect itself.   Their meanings are defined in Effects table columns. To import effects from a CSV file (see Importing inventory) , you simply need to have the columns in your CSV file that you want to import, and one row per effect.  The only required column is "Part Number" because the part number is the identifier for each effect.  Depending on your language setting ("File > Languages"), the column names may not be in English.  When you import, your CSV file column headers should match what you see in the effect window in your selected language -- or, to create a language independent CSV file, you can use the Finale 3D internal column names in your CSV file (column 2 in Table 1, below), which will always work no matter what language you have selected.

If you have a manual firing system, or a do-it-yourself firing system, or some other firing system that is not directly supported by Finale 3D, you can still use Finale 3D to design and export a script for your firing system by creating custom module specifications.  In fact, even if your firing system is directly supported by Finale 3D, you may find it useful to create custom module specifications in order to add virtual slats or reserve some pins for other uses (common examples are limiting a module to use only 30 pins of 32 or 15 of 16).  The menu item, "Addressing > Addressing settings > Set custom module specification..." is the first step. The custom module specification dialog shown in the figure below enables you to define the format of the firing system addresses, including, Are the addresses two part addresses (module + pin) or three part addresses (module + slat + pin)? If addresses have three parts, how many slats per module? How many pins per slat or module? Are addresses numeric, or letters? If numeric, do addresses start with 1 or 0? If numeric, are addresses in decimal (normal) or hexadecimal (Pyrodigital-like)? You can specify the answers to all of these question by filling in the "Rail Address Template" field of the custom module specification dialog.   Figure 1 – The rail address template in the custom module specification dialog defines the format of addresses.   The rail address template is a two-part or three part formula, with the parts separated by dashes.  There are no spaces in the formula.  If the formula has two parts, the address format will contain a module number and pin number, no slat.  If the formula has three parts, then addresses include a slat. Each part of the rail address template can be a number or a letter.  If the slat or pin part is a number, it indicates the maximum number of slats-per-module, or pins-per-slat-or-module.  There's no maximum number of modules, so the number for the module part doesn't matter, except that it does set the minimum number of digits of the formatted number (example: 999 or 111 or any 3-digit number = 3 digits, 9 or 1 or any one digit number = 1 digit). If the part is a letter, the letter indicates the maximum number according to what letter in the alphabet is used, e.g., the letter "D" for the slat part means four slats, A, B, C, and D.  If the template part is a number, then it optionally can be preceded by a pound sign (#), which indicates that the counting sequence begins with 1 instead of 0.  Also, if the template part is a number, then it optionally can be preceded by a dollar sign ($), after the pound sign if the pound sign exists, to indicate the number is in hexadecimal, for Pyrodigital-like firing system addresses as in #$FF-$F for modules beginning with 01, going up to FF, each module having pins 0-F. Looking at the example rail address template in Figure 1, the custom module specifications indicate, 3-digit module numbers, starting with module 1 Four slats per module, A, B, C, and D 12 pins per slat, starting with 1. Based on this specification, the "Rail" column in the script window will contain two part addresses identifying both the module and slat, as shown in Figure 2.  The "Pin" column always contains a single number or letter, in this case a number from 1 to 12. Figure 2 – The Rail column in the script has the module number, or the module number AND slat number if the addresses include slats.   The top field in the custom module specifications dialog shown in Figure 1 indicates the firing system for which this custom module is being defined.  If you are creating module specifications for a firing system that is not directly supported by Finale 3D, then please select "CSV" for the firing system.   That will produce scripts as CSV text files that you can open in Excel or a text editor to format with the exact fields and syntax that your firing system requires.  If the firing system is directly supported by Finale 3D, then please select it in this field. When you assign firing system addresses using the menu item, "Addressing > Address show..." or any of the other addressing menu items, you select the firing system and module type in the addressing dialog, as shown in Figure 3.  Please select "Custom Module" for the module type to use the custom module specifications that you defined in the "Addressing > Addressing settings..." dialog.   Figure 3 – Specify the firing system and Custom Module in the addressing dialog.   For some firing systems, the module type specifies a time unit, such as 30 fps versus 25 fps or 29.97 SMPTE DF.  If you have selected this kind of firing system, then the "Time Unit" field of the custom module specifications dialog in Figure 1 provides options for you to select the time unit for your custom specifications; otherwise just use the "Firing system default", which is the default value. Returning to the uses mentioned in the introduction, if your firing system is not directly supported by Finale 3D, then it's obvious why you are creating custom module specifications -- you need to!  But if your firing system is directly supported by Finale 3D, then you are probably considering custom module specifications for a specific purpose.  The most common special purpose is simply creating specifications with fewer pins than actually exist to make modules match up better with racks or label sheets or simply to leave some extra pins for the operator's own purposes.  But one other special purpose deserves attention for its advanced uses -- virtual slats.   Virtual slats Even if a firing system does not include slats in its address format, it is often possible for people to divide the number of pins on the module into different slats.  For example, if a FireOne module has 32 pins, you may have the hardware to divide those 32 pins into four slats of 8 pins each.  Doing so may allow you to pre-wire or pre-attach the slats to rack configurations prior to setting up the show, or may allow you to use a single module to serve multiple launch positions at different locations in an orderly manner, with one slat at each location instead of e-matches stretching between the positions. Finale 3D has phenomenal addressing features to support these uses of slats (please see Slats, virtual slats, and splitter boxes), but in order to take advantage of the the addressing features you need to use address formats that include slats.  So what are you to do if your firing system's address format doesn't include slats? The answer is to create a custom module specification with "Virtual Slats" that partition the module's total number of pins into some number of slats.  In the FireOne example of 32 pins, you can create virtual slats of 8-pins each by specifying the rail address template, #999-D-#8.  If you use this custom module specification instead of the standard module, then your addresses will appear in the script window and on reports and labels including a slat field -- A, B, C, or D -- for each module; and each slat will have 8 pins, 1 through 8.  However, when the FireOne script file is exported in its FIR format, the addresses will automatically be converted back to pins 1-32 per module, without any mention of slats.  In this manner, you can use virtual slats to convert your firing system from a module-pin based address format to a module-slat-pin based address format.  

Before you launch into complex topics like importing your inventory or defining racks, let's get started by putting together a little show.  We'll layout some launch positions, add a few effects, do some scripting functions like fans and sequences, and make a quick video so you have something to show for it.  This short exercise will prepare you for addressing and exporting a script for your firing system in the next step (see Creating and exporting a script for your firing system).  Our getting acquainted plan boils down to: Layout positions Insert effects Create a fan and a sequence Create a video   Layout positions After launching the product, click the padlock icon in the lower right to unlock the positions, as shown in Figure 1.  Try dragging the positions around on the grass.  The circular blue buttons at the bottom of the simulation view are the navigation buttons: to orbit the scene around to see it from different angles; to translate the scene in the ground plane, and to drag a selection rectangle for selecting positions or effects.   Figure 1 – The padlock unlocks the positions.   The camera icons on the right side of the screen are camera view shortcut buttons to view the scene from different views, like above, front, etc.  If you click the green plus sign, that will create a new shortcut button for the current view.  You can then click on the new button's name to rename it to something you can remember.  It is common to set up a dozen or so of these camera shortcut buttons to view the scene quickly from useful angles when scripting. The flower-like buttons on the left are position group shortcut buttons.  Clicking these buttons selects a group of positions.  When scripting, it is common to insert effects into a group of selected positions all at once, like the "front" positions, or "shells", or "left-side", "every-other", etc., so it is useful to create position group shortcut buttons for the common groups.  Just like the camera view shortcut buttons on the right, you can click on the names of these buttons and give them useful names or delete them. Once you feel comfortable moving positions around, you can try the functions in the Positions menu.  Try inserting 50 positions and arranging them into a circle!  If you feel adventuresome, add a model of a stadium or tower to the scene from the Scenery menu, and then try moving the positions around on the model.  Notice that the positions automatically attach to the surface of the model and slide to whatever you are pointing to.  If you need to move the model, right click on it, and unlock the model from the context menu; then lock it again when you are done moving it. The positions have arrows on the top of them, which should point to your point of reference.  Usually the point of reference is the audience, but it may be the center of the circle for a circle of positions, or other point for other situations.  Right click on a position and select "Rotate (heading)" from the context menu.  Notice as shown in Figure 2 that you can now rotate the position by dragging the red arrow.  If you extend the red arrow to be long, then you can drag in individual degrees; if you make the red arrow short, the rotation snaps to 5 or 22.5 degree intervals.  If you select multiple positions, and then right click one of them to rotate, the full set of selected positions will rotate around the position you clicked on.   Figure 2 – Rotation widget snaps to 1 or 5 or 22.5 degrees.   You'll find there are other useful functions in the Positions menu and the context menu from right clicking on positions or on the ground, such as "Aim positions at this point".   Insert effects Insert effects by clicking on the icons in the Effects window.  If you click and release on the icon, the effect will be inserted into the currently selected positions, at the current timeline time as indicated by the playhead on the timeline (the split white vertical lines on the timeline).  If you click and hold down on the effect icon and drag-and-drop it to the timeline or to a position, that will insert the effect at that indicated point on the timeline or just the indicated position.  After inserting some effects, move the playhead to the left of them on the timeline or press the rewind button in the lower left of the design view, and then press the play button in the lower left of the design view or press the space bar to start the show playing.  Take a look at your effects! The Effects window contains multiple collections of effects which you can switch between using the blue collections selector near the upper right corner of the Effects window. The set of available effect collections includes Generic effects, Per-show effects, My effects, and (optionally) supplier catalogs and Finale Inventory accounts.  Generic effects is the built-in collection of effects so that you have something to get started with.  Per-show effects are the effects that are used in the current show and saved along with the show file.  Whenever you insert an effect into the show from any collection, the effect definition is copied into Per-show effects so the show doesn't have any external references.  This way, you can send your show file to a friend, and you don't have to worry about your friend needing the same effect collections that you have; the show file is stand-alone. My effects is your own private collection of effects that is stored in the cloud.  Supplier catalogs and Finale Inventory accounts are shared collections, which you can learn about here: Account setup.  You can also import and load/save collections of effects as database files (.fdb format) stored locally on your computer. You can create new effects simply by typing in an English description into the dialog from the menu item "Effects > Create effect...".   The software will create a simulation automatically based on your description, which is pretty amazing to see.  It doesn't understand proper names of consumer cakes, but it does understand the full language of pyrotechnics (called "VDL"), so you can type things like: "50mm Red To Blue Chrys w/ Crackle Core w/ Green Mine" or "49 Shot 10s 50mm Red Comet + Blue Tail Z-Shape Cake" and you'll get good simulations!  To learn more about creating simulations, check out the Visual Descriptive Language (VDL) documentation.  When you create a new effect, you can give it a part number to identify it and you can choose what collection to put it in.  By default, it usually goes into My effects. After adding effects to My effects, be sure to save you work by going to "File > Sync with network" Choreographers of pyromusicals often listen to the soundtrack and insert empty cues at important points in the music while the music is playing. You can do that in Finale 3D by pressing space or the play button to start the show playing, and then pressing the "i" key for insert.  If you prefer using the space bar to insert empty cues you can swap the "i" and space bar in the "File > User settings" menu.  Of course, you need a soundtrack to listen to, so go to the Music menu and add an MP3 or WAV to the timeline.   Create a fan and a sequence Once you've inserted some effects in the show, you can drag them on the timeline to move them forward or backward in time.  You can also select them in the script window or in the design view.  In the design view you can click on the trajectories to drag them from position to position, or you can click on the doughnut at the top of the trajectories to angle them.  If multiple effects are selected when you angle them, you will tilt all of them together.  Try inserting 50 positions, then arrange them into a circle, insert a comet into all of them (clicking on an effect icon when all 50 positions are selected), and then drag the doughnut at the top of one of the trajectories while they all are selected, as shown in Figure 3.  Angling the effects when viewing from different points of view will angle them on different axes.   Figure 3 – Grab the doughnut at the top of the trajectory to angle effects.   Having angled all the comets in the circle, try playing it through once by pressing the space bar.   Impressive, but wouldn't this be an ideal point to create a sequence?  Select all 50 comets on the timeline, and do the menu item "Script > Sequences > Make into sequence...".   Choose the duration for the full sequence or the interval, press OK, and look at the chase around the circle!  Try experimenting with the other sequence functions  in the Script menu, such as accelerating sequences or slow-in, slow-out sequences.  In general, all the scripting commands in Finale 3D apply to the currently selected set of effects, analogous to the way the "Positions > Arrange into pattern" commands apply to the selected set of positions. It should not be surprising, then, that the "Make into fan..." command in the "Script > Angles" menu also operates on the selected set of effects.  The circle isn't a great setting for a fan, so try inserting 10 new positions ("Positions > Add> Multiple positions...") and arranging them into a line ("Positions > Arrange into pattern > Into a line...").  To differentiate these positions from the circle positions, right-click on one of the new line positions while all of the line positions are selected, and select "Rename" from the context menu and rename them "Line".  Notice how all the selected positions get renamed, with numbers added automatically.  At this point you may want to click on the padlock in the lower right in order to drag the line of positions to avoid interfering with the circle.  Then click on the padlock again to lock the positions. The line is a good starting point for creating a single fan, and some fancy patterns involving multiple fans.  To begin with, insert a comet into all 10 positions of the line by selecting the positions and clicking a comet effect icon.  At this moment, all 10 comets are at the same time on the timeline, and aim straight up.  Leaving them selected, do the menu item, "Script > Angles > Make into fan...".  Choose 90 degrees or some other angle spread, click OK, and admire your fan in Figure 4.   Figure 4 – "Script > Angles > Make into fan..." operates on all selected effects.   Now let's get fancier and create some patterns involving multiple fans.  Press Ctrl+Z to undo your fan, returning to the 10 straight-up comets.  The undo and redo commands are also available from the Edit menu.  You can undo all the way back to the beginning of your session and redo all the way back.  The undo/redo functionality is important for visual scripting, because it enables you to try things out, see how they look, and repeat with variations until you get the design you want.   So, with the 10 straight-up comets selected, do the menu item, "Script > Duplicate > Duplicate into flights..." and choose 5 shots per flight, separated by 30 degree intervals.  Since this scripting command operates on all 10 selected effects, each of the 10 selected effects gets duplicated into a fanned out flight of 5, for a total of 50 comets, as shown in Figure 5.   Figure 5 – "Duplicate into flights..." duplicates every selected event into a fanned flight!   Leaving all these 50 comets selected, once again do the command, "Script > Sequences > Make into sequence..." but this time select "Center to outside" as the pattern, and select 0.5 seconds interval, and check the "grouping" checkbox.   With the grouping flag on, the sequence will apply to the natural groups of the effects instead of to the effects individually.  In this scenario, each flight on each position is a natural group, so with the grouping flag on, the sequence operation sequences the entire flights relative to each other, leaving the the shots within each flight as a same-time fan.  The result is shown in Figure 6.  To cement your understanding of the "grouping" checkbox, press Ctrl+Z to undo and repeat the operation without checking the checkbox, and notice the difference.   Figure 6 – The Grouping checkbox preserves each flight, sequencing them relative to each other.   This pretty pattern of 50 comets in cascading flights of five may be nice to repeat a few times in the show.  Using Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V to copy/paste selected effects is a quick way to build up a show in sections.  When you press Ctrl+C, whatever is selected is copied into the copy buffer, including positions and effects.  When you press Ctrl+V, what gets pasted depends on what's in the copy buffer and what is currently selected.  If you copy effects across multiple positions, and then paste, the copied effects will be duplicated at the current timeline position indicated by the playhead, on the same positions as the effects were copied from.  If you copy one or more effects from a single position, and then paste, the copied effects will be duplicated on every selected position.  So, for example, if you select the entire 50 comet pattern on the timeline (try this now!), and then move the playhead to a later point on the timeline, and then paste, you get a clone of the entire 50 comet pattern at the later time.  However if you copy just one of the flights of 5 comets from a single position, and then paste with, say, two of the positions selected, then the flight of 5 comets will be duplicated at each of the two selected positions.   Create a video The set of scripting functions described in the last sections -- effect icons that insert at the selected positions, menu items that operate on the selected items, the undo/redo hot keys, and the copy/paste hot keys are the foundation of scripting in Finale 3D.  These user interface paradigms work together to create a visual scripting environment in which you design a show interactively until every detail looks exactly the way you want. The exercises in the previous sections leave you with a little show, of some sort.  To create a video of the show, just go to "File > Create photo or video > Create video..." and modify the start/end times in the dialog to cover the time range you'd like to see, as shown in Figure 7.  If you are using the Hobbyist version of Finale 3D, the resolution limit is 720p.  If you are using the Pro version, maybe start with 1080p, though later you could experiment with 4K resolution or ultra-high frame rate for ultra-high quality.  The video will just take a few minutes to render per minute of show time.  It renders locally on your computer, using your GPU.  It is saved as an MP4.  When the video is done rendering, it will appear in your computer's video player.   Figure 7 – Creating a video just takes a few minutes, using your own computer's GPU.   If you want to explore making videos, try adding some reflective water from the Scenery menu, and read Camera animation for instructions to put the camera on a motion path to make an impressive fly-by!

The Pro and Hobbyist and Trial versions of Finale 3D are all the same download. When you login to the application with your login email, the features that are available to you depend on the licenses that you've bought or that your company has bought and assigned to your login email from the "finale3d.com > My Account > Assign Licenses to Other People" page. You can verify what licenses you have from the "finale3d.com > My Account > Machine Activations" page, which is also the page you go to if you need to transfer your license to another machine.   Download page The "finale3d.com > Download" page includes links to all recent versions of the software. The top download link is the most current, and is the version we recommend downloading. Download the software to your hard drive and install to the default location. Sometimes when you launch the installer, the installer dialog appears behind other windows, leaving you to wonder what is going on. If you launch the installer and nothing seems to happen, hide other windows to see if the installer dialog is hidden underneath. If you are installing an update, make sure to exit the application first, before attempting to reinstall.   Virus protection programs Anti-virus programs sometimes flag downloads as suspicious or dangerous even when they are not. Occasionally, some anti-virus programs flag the Finale 3D download as suspicious and prevent the download or execution. If this problem occurs for you, please check the download with some other virus protection services to determine if the problem is a false positive or is a legitimate issue. The free website, www.virustotal.com will check a file or URL against 30 or so virus services to test if any of them recognizes a threat. To use this service, download the Finale 3D installer onto your hard drive, then go to www.virustotal.com and choose the "File" option and select the Finale 3D installer file. In just a minute or two, you will see a summary of the findings from the anti-virus services. If any of the findings indicate a threat, please contact service@finalefireworks.com to report the issue.

To create and export a script for the ActionBase firing system, please follow these steps: Address the show ("Addressing > Address show"). Export the script ("File > Export > Export firing scripts"). Step 2 creates the script file, which is a standard format CSV file with a "CSV" extension.  The file format details are described in this section.   Figure 1 – ActionBase firing system   Table 1 – File format and encoding File format Extension Text encoding Field delimiter End-of-line Text .TXT Code Page 1252 Tab 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, then by module number, then by pin number. 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 file does not contain a header. Time resolution The ActionBase system supports hundredth of a second resolution. Special characters The TXT file allows all Code Page 1252 characters except control characters like linefeed and tab, which are filtered out.  There is no escaping or quoting facility. Each row in the script has a number of fields separated by the tab character.  The names of the fields and their descriptions are the following: Table 3 – Specifications of script fields Field name Description Event Time Time of ignition in the format H:MM:SS.DD. Module Number Module number, starting with 1. Pin Number Pin number, starting with 1. Size Size. Description Description.  If the row represents multiple effects, the description begins with the number of effects in parentheses, continues with the first effect name, and ends with elipsis (...) as an indication the row represents more than is being displayed in this single field. An example script containing six (11) shells across nine (9) firing rows is shown in Figure 1 and included for download in Table 4.  In this script, the last two rows each represent two effects ignited from the same pin. 0:00:02.76 1 1 2" Green Chrysanthemum 0:00:02.86 2 1 2" Green Chrysanthemum 0:00:02.96 3 1 2" Green Chrysanthemum 0:00:03.06 4 1 2" Green Chrysanthemum 0:00:03.16 5 1 2" Green Chrysanthemum 0:00:03.26 6 1 2" Green Chrysanthemum 0:00:03.36 7 1 2" Green Chrysanthemum 0:00:03.46 8 1 2" (2) Green Chrysanthemum ... 0:00:03.56 9 1 2" (2) Green Chrysanthemum ... Figure 1 – Example ActionBase script   Table 4 – Example files Download link Explanation test_actionbase.fin Example show file test_actionbase.txt Example exported file (TXT)