Hi Blackbat, pulling the show name from the Finale 3D show information into the fireTEK V4 script header sounds like a nice improvement. Looping in my colleague Will (who does the software development for firing systems) to get his insight.   Will, what do you think?

DrewFinale I found this information and the video helpful, but either I’m doing something wrong or the Rack Type is not functioning for Hobbyist – which I understand it is supposed to. If I assign Rack Types to my effects, The addressing does not seem to recognize it to restrict slats to each Rack Type.     Attached is a image of my addressing constraints and the script.  If I understand the constraints properly, Rows 3,4,5, & 6 should be on a different rail than Rows 1 and 2.    

The first row in the most recent v4 format of the fireTEK csv script should contain “##<show name>”, so that the name of the show being fired is displayed on the firing controller screen. When Finale3D exports a csv script file for fireTEK, rather than using the show name from the show information dialogue it appears to use the saved script file name. As the file normally has to be called “script.csv” , the first line in the script ends up being “##scriptcsv” when exported from FInale3D. I was wondering if this is by design, or whether it is a small bug in the script creation for fireTEK exports. It can be manually changed after the csv is exported, but it would be nice if it used the “show name” parameter from the show information dialogue.

Hi Halestorm, welcome to the Finale 3D community!   The best VDL phrase for add rising (bursting) effects to a shell is ” w/ Rising Flowers”. For example, a decent starting VDL for your first shell would be 5″ Multi-Color Peony w/ Red & White Rising Flowers   Admittedly, it’s not perfect. One shortcoming is that ‘Rising Flowers’ currently always implies three rising effects. This works well for your 6″ shells but not great for your 5″ shells. Another shortcoming is that you can’t really get good control of the individual rising effects using VDL. We’ll certainly be making more and more VDL improvements over time. But in the meantime, if you want ultimate control, use VDL as a starting point, and use the effect editor (right click on effect and select ‘edit in effect editor…). In the effect editor, you’ll be able to precisely control pretty much all aspects of the rising effect including, size, quantity, type of stars, etc. Just keep in mind, once you edit an effect in the effect editor, it becomes a custom simulation which is no longer represented by VDL. To make changes to a custom sim, you have to go back into the editor. So, it’s a bit of a trade off. VDL is quick but doesn’t quite hit the mark with rising effects. On the other hand, the effect editor will give you incredible control over all aspects of the simulation, but typically at the expense of a bit more time.

I’ve been working on my smoke mine effects to make them look as real as possible, trying out different techniques and materials.     https://youtu.be/QAH1eNLptAc?si=cDS9o4Bb25mMpsQ9

Hi TN Pyro, welcome to the Finale 3D community! Here’s a post that addresses the MP3 issue: https://finale3d.com/groups/english/forum/topic/mp3-audio-issues-popping-clicking-static-when-importing-songs-into-finale-3d/

was wondering if there was a suitable way to create an effect with rising shells. i cannot figure out the command, and i cant cue them into a single chain. the shells are weird i have included their descriptions and links below. any help would be appreciated. 5” Union Display Shells with 2 rising effects per shell (2 of each) Four color peony, red & white rising flowers; Silver glittering willow with blue pistil, silver & blue rising; Multi-salute, salute & salute rising; Gold bowtie in red & silver double rings, gold & red rising; Side color ring, crackle reports rising; Coco & thousands of thunder lightning, silver & gold rising; Dancing dragons, silver & blue rising; Ring with bowtie with crackling pistil, gold & gold rising; Tri-ti salute, salute & salute rising; Wave to lemon with blue pistil, lemon & blue rising; Silver spider strobe, silvers rising; Red flowers with green leaves, red & green rising   6” Union Display Shells with Three Rising Effects per shell (1 of each) 3 Rising brocades to brocade rising; 3 salutes to 5 times Salute; Rising flower red, white, blue to red gamboge to blue to silver; Silver, gold, blue rising flowers to silver Dragon w/blue; 3 rising silver brocades to silver Thundering Dragon; 3 dragon eggs rising flowers to green willow flower time rain; White, blue, gold rising flowers to blue & golden w/reports; 3 Rising brocades thousands brocade crown w/blue tail; Red, white, blue rising flowers to Thousands Flashing Salute; Red, white, blue rising flowers to Silver Brocade

I am new to Finale 3D and have question.  I have the Lite version; when I upload my soundtrack, edited in Audacity, there is a little split-second ‘blip’ in the music when it goes from one track to the next.  It sounds like a little, split-second record scratch.  I am not able to edit this since I don’t have Hobbyist version.  Anybody else run into this too?  I tried searching the Help center but could not find what I was looking for.  Thanks!

There isn’t currently any online repository for sharing effects, but you’re not alone in wanting something like that. I hope we can eventually have a place where we can share our effects like that, but for now, one way to share effects is just to copy/paste the full VDL text. Alternatively, you can export your My Effects or Per-Show Effects list to send to others, but admittedly, neither of those options offers much in terms of organization or convenience.

Excellent, that was exactly what I was looking for. We may need to reach out closer to the 4th for some assistance.   Thanks, Derrick