Perfect, Thanks Drew! Now I understand what "chain" means in application...that was a very helpful couple of paragraphs.   Also...for future readers...Script>Sequence, Script>Duplicate, Script>Align, (etc...lots of functions in the "Script" header) contain powerful "copy/paste" and "array" type tools that are WAAAAY faster than MANUALLY editing individual effects and CTRL-C/CTRL-V 50 or 60 times.   Cheers, -Russ

Hi! I have questions regarding to some effects from the catalog.   1. Is PSS93 (Blue Tiger Tail w/ Red Strobe Mine) sub type correct? it looks like a comet w/ mine to me, currently it is listed on the ss mine subtype. 2. Seems like JY4-0123 (Brocade Crown to Lemon) simulation is incorrect? current simulation looks like a brocade crown to multicolor. Thanks

Hi AviatorRuss, welcome to the Finale 3D community and thanks for posting on the forum!   For only being a few days into your Finale 3D journey, you're doing quite well!   You are absolutely correct; you cannot create a cake from chains. Not to worry, there's no need to start over. You can simply un-chain the items on your timeline and then combine them into a cake. First, select the relevant items on the timeline, then go to Script > Chains > Break apart chain (or press Ctrl+Shift+H on your keyboard). Then, you can go straight to making the shots into a cake by going to Effects > Combine as cake effect (or press Ctrl+P).   For future reference — best practice is to only chain together individual items in Finale 3D when you plan to do the same thing in real life. In other words, chain items in Finale 3D when you plan to connect the items together using a single fuse in real life. When building cakes, try using Groups instead. Groups is an option in the Script menu that allows you to visually consolidate and organize sets of items on the timeline and in the script window.

To all competitors:   We discovered an issue with the break heights for the various calibers of the Red Strobe Willow shells. The heights have been corrected in the PyroJam catalog.   You can refresh the PyroJam catalog by going to File > Sync with network   If your show already contains Red Strobe Willow shells, refresh the catalog and then refresh your show following these steps: 1) Make sure the PyroJam catalog is open in the effects window 2) Go to Effects > Update Per-show effects > Current

  PYROCREA wrote: I’ve a question about the music frame, my wav file is 9:17 for time but when I’m in the final 3D, I see that there is a lot of blank until 9:59 min and when I open my .FIN file all the time the cursor on music part begin at 0:05 by default (my show need to be start at 00:00 because first comets begin at 00:02). is it a bug? is it a problem for judge? thanks, Nicolas FERET (PYROCREA)   Hi PYROCREA, everything in your show is completely normal and working properly.   — When a show is opened in Finale 3D, the play head on the timeline is always placed at 00:05.000, which is perfectly normal. To move the play head to the beginning of the timeline, simply click the yellow rewind button.   — The PyroJam show design template is pre-configured with a show duration of 10 minutes, adding a soundtrack that is less than 10 minutes does not automatically adjust the length of the timeline. There is nothing wrong with the timeline being longer than your soundtrack. However, if you would like to shorten your timeline, you can go to Show > Set show duration.

Hi,   I've only been using Finale3D a few days...but I ran into this problem that would have been good to find in the forum search. There is some serious vertical learning going on here! To have an "official" answer from someone knowledgeable would be great.   End result: I want to create a 20m high, large, white, random with +/-15deg from vertical, strobing, comet cake that lasts for ~30sec.   Sooo...I created a vertical comet effect using VDL, got the single shot look that I wanted, then copy/paste that 10times, and advanced each with a .2sec offset. So know I have 11 comets that shoot straight up, separated by .2sec. Then I changed the tilt by 3deg on each so now I have my +/-15deg. Then I "chained" that effect for 55x and that gave me about 30". It was exactly the look I wanted.   The problem...I tried to make a cake out of that entire chain...and I kept getting an error box that said something like, you don't have an effect selected, select your effect and try again. But I most certainly had the entire chain selected.   So...I think...You can either create a CHAIN or a CAKE from your effects, but you cannot create a CAKE from a CHAIN?    (BTW...I'm certain I'm not using the scripting commands available to me correctly...like Duplicate/Sequence/Reorder, etc. I'm pretty sure there is "a couple clicks...." way to do what I'm trying to do vs copy/paste 60times!)

  JBlay312 wrote: Tim, When judging the submissions is the “trajectory drift randomness” selected or deselected? If you wouldn’t mind I’d love to see a screen shot of the render settings your judges will be using (if that’s standardized). Thanks!   Yes, for added realism, the 'trajectory drift randomness' and all other randomness settings will be enabled for judging. These settings will also be enabled when videos of the top three shows are rendered. Finale 3D render settings are show specific, which means they are saved in each show file. To see the PyroJam render settings configuration, simply download the Show Design Template and go to File > Render settings.

Hi!  My name is Jason.  I shot my first consumer show with a buddy of mine in 2004.  I remember together we spent $500.  We thought we were big time then!  We continued to do our personal show for several years and it grew to the point we had to move to a friends farm.  I shoot professional shows (mine are on the smaller end for sure) with a local display company.

Tim,   When judging the submissions is the "trajectory drift randomness" selected or deselected?  If you wouldn't mind I'd love to see a screen shot of the render settings your judges will be using (if that's standardized).   Thanks!

Hi Jonathan S., try enabling one of the options Show > Show settings > Show pin counts...   Once enabled, the pin counts will be appended to the position names in the design layout.