Hi Pyro_7100000, There is a reason for this behavior, granted, I fully appreciate that the explanation probably won’t make it any less annoying. Here you go:   The angle convention in Finale 3D is designed to handle not only fireworks, but all types of SFX including moving head lights. Doing this requires three angles, Pan, Tilt, and Spin.   Tilt is the angle from vertical, but tilt is not just left and right. In order for tilt to angle an effect left or right, a 90 pan angle has to be introduced. This is the reason cakes swing around when tilted left or right. The same thing is happening when you angle a comet, mine, shell, and every other type of effect, you’re just only noticing with cakes because they’re not rotationally symmetric. That is, a comet looks essentially the same no matter how it’s rotated but a fanned cake or slice does not.   To counter act the undersired side effect of the 90 degree pan, you need to employ the third angle, Spin. The Spin angle is the rotation around the trajectory of the effect. For example, imagine you had a single shot comet in a holder and you rotated the comet so the label was facing a certain direction without changing the trajectory angle – that’s spin. When you angle a cake left or right, a 90 degree pan is added. To fix the orientation of the cake, add a -90 degree spin.   To learn more, check out: https://finale3d.com/video/mastering-angles-pan-tilt-spin/

Is there and reason that slices rotate themselves 90 when you angle them? By angle I mean manually adjusting the tilt, or using the fan command. Having to go in and change the rotation of them is really annoying every time.

Yes, you can have multiple lines in any of the 4 text boxes in the information panel. The user interface doesn’t make this obvious, but it works. All you need to do is go into Diagram side panel text dialog, select a text box, type the text you want on the first line, then press enter on your keyboard, then type what you want on the next line. Each time you press enter, a ¶ paragraph marker is added to indicate that your starting a new line. The text isn’t displayed on multiple lines when editing but it will appear on multiple lines in the PDF site layout.

OK, I understand the difference between the Legend and side panel. I was wondering if we could add sub-information panel data. Ex: Info Panel says “Fallout Distances” and under that, I want to list the shell size and fallout distance for each. (i.e. 3″- 210 feet)

Hi Bryan, site layout diagrams have an Information Panel (on the right side of the page) and a Legend (on the bottom of the page).   I’m not quite sure if you’re trying to edit the information panel or the legend.   The information panel (on the right side of the page) has fixed set of 4 text boxes that can be edits by clicking the Diagram side panel text option in the upper left corner when viewing the site layout in the racks window.   The legend (on the bottom of the page) is created dynamically based on the items you incorporate into the site layout. For example, if you add an audience icon, an audience item will be added to the legend. If you draw a pin, a legend item will be added for the pin, etc. The text that accompanies each legend item can be edited the same way as the information panel text, by clicking the Diagram side panel text option in the upper left corner of the racks window.

Hi Drew, I just about have this completed. Thanks for the help. I do not understand how to set up the legend panel. I can create/edit the Information Box, but is there a way to add bullets under the Info box title?

Hey Moises Luis Exposito, when an item in the script is replaced with a new effect, all of the parameters of the new effect are added to the script (including the Rack Type). If the new effect does not have a Rack Type Default in the effects window, then the Rack Type in the script will be blank. If you add a Rack Type Default value in the effects window, then that value will be copied to the script when you do the replacement. It’s not possible to preserve a Rack Type in the script when an item is replaced with a new effect; the rack type of the new item will always replace the rack type of the old item.

Normally I use the rack type column to indicate to the company the type of rack. We do this process manually and we have our own system. I do not understand why if I change an effect (for example mine red for mine green) the information in this previously assigned column disappears.    

Hi Bryan, check out Site layout diagrams basic instructions.   Site layouts are only available in the Pro version of Finale 3D. You can have to sets of safety circles on a site layout — effect based safety circles and position based safety circles.   • The effect safety distances are entered in the Safety Distance Meters column of the effects window. The column is hidden by default so you’ll have to unhide it using the blue gear menu.   • The position safety distances are entered in the Safety Distance Meters column of the positions window.   • To view the site layout, go to the racks window and select All Positions from the drop-down list in the upper right. The Window settings option in the upper left corner of the racks window contains the options for how the circles are displayed.

Hello Drew, While we were at Cobra-Con you showed me how to do this, but I am trying to recall how we set than up and edited the effects fallout distances and the position fallout distances. I am looking in Effects, Positions, and rack settings and I cannot find where I can get the site layout. Can you walk me through this again? Sorry for my poor memory.   Thanks bryan