FINALE | Fireworks...Creating a Comet FINALE | Fireworks : Firework Design Guide PAGE 8 Begin and...

FINALE | Fireworks™

FIREWORK DESIGN GUIDE

PAGE 2

Contents

1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 4

Opening the Firework Design Menu ................................................................................................ 4

The Rest of This Guide ................................................................................................................... 5

2 Creating a Comet ............................................................................................................................ 6

Firework ...................................................................................................................................... 6

Launch salvo ................................................................................................................................. 6

Shell ............................................................................................................................................ 7

Shell Tip ....................................................................................................................................... 7

Shell Tail ...................................................................................................................................... 8

Shell Burst .................................................................................................................................... 8

Star, Star tip, Star tail, and Report................................................................................................... 8

Cycle and Multicycle...................................................................................................................... 9

Viewing the Comet ........................................................................................................................ 9

3 Comet Variations .......................................................................................................................... 10

Single-shot Candle ...................................................................................................................... 10

Roman Candle ............................................................................................................................ 10

The Fan ...................................................................................................................................... 11

4 Firework Design Reference .......................................................................................................... 12

Firework .................................................................................................................................... 12

Launch salvo ............................................................................................................................... 12

Shell .......................................................................................................................................... 13

Shell tip ...................................................................................................................................... 14

Shell tail ..................................................................................................................................... 15

Shell burst .................................................................................................................................. 16

Star ........................................................................................................................................... 16

Star Tip ...................................................................................................................................... 17

Introduction FINALE | Fireworks™: Firework Design Guide

PAGE 3

Star Tail ...................................................................................................................................... 18

Report ....................................................................................................................................... 18

Cycle .......................................................................................................................................... 19

Multicycle .................................................................................................................................. 20

PAGE 4

1 Introduction

This guide shows you how to use FINALE Fireworks to create new fireworks object that you can drop into a show and

share with other FINALE users. This isn’t a matter of starting from scratch—your creation will be based on a fireworks

template that defines a set of attributes and components that you can quickly and easily modify through the FINALE

Fireworks user interface.

In this edition of the customization guide, we’ll tell you how to create your own fireworks based on a fireworks

template called HBO43. The customization that HBO43 enables is ideal for creating new multishot fireworks, such as

mines and cakes. You can also use HBO43 to create simple single-shot effects, such as comets and aerial shells

(peonies, chrysanthemums, and so on).

The component parts of HBO43 are:

Launch. You can set the caliber of the mortar, the number of projectiles that are launched at a time, and the size of

the arc (or cone) across which the projectiles are distributed. You can also add some randomness to the velocity

with which a group of projectiles are launched.

Projectile. (the HBO43 menus call this the shell). The projectile is the element that’s launched—a particle of

pyrotechnic composition in the case of a mine or comet, or a shell for aerial effects that burst in the sky. The

projectile can leave a tail, it can have a glowing tip, and it can finish in a burst that launches stars and triggers a

report. You can adjust the projectile’s duration (without affecting its velocity), specify the number of stars it

contains (including none) and the intensity of the burst, and you can set the colors of each of its parts (one color

each).

Star. The stars components are like those of the projectile: A star has a tip, a tail, and a report, each with its own

color. The one thing that a star doesn’t have is more stars—you can’t use HBO43 to create a “cascading break”

effect.

Report. You can adjust the color, size, and sound volume of the reports that are attached to projectiles and stars.

Note, however, that all reports use the same settings.

Timing. HBO43 lets you create a “repeated-launch” effect—think of a Roman candle (which we’ll describe in the

tutorial chapters). Now think of a Roman candle that swings as it sprays—you can do that with HBO43.

All of the customization settings and adjustments are applied through a set of sliders, menus, and other controls that

are presented by the FINALE application—there’s no programming or file editing involved. There a lot of parameters,

about 40 altogether, but you’ll rarely need to use them all for a particular effect. Furthermore, FINALE automatically

adjusts most of the firework attributes for you. As you increase the caliber, for example, FINALE knows that all of the

“downstream” components need to be adjusted accordingly.

Opening the Firework Design Menu

The HBO43 fireworks are catalogued in the Multishot section of the FINALE fireworks inventory. To open the

Firework Design menu, you drop a multishot firework into the scene, select it, and then double-click anywhere on the

selection. The Firework Design menu looks like this:

Introduction FINALE | Fireworks™: Firework Design Guide

PAGE 5

The menu contains a series of tabs that contain the controls that you’ll use to edit the firework that you dropped into

the scene. (You may need to use the slider at the bottom of the menu to reach all of the tabs.) To see the effect that a

setting has on the firework, click the Preview button. To make the changes permanent, click Apply.

You can collapse a tab by clicking the minus sign to the left of its name. The minus will turn into a plus which you can

then use to expand the tab:

The Rest of This Guide

The next few chapters in this guide introduce you to the tabs that are presented in the FINALE Firework Design menu

and step you through the process of designing a variety of firework effects. The final chapter is a reference guide that

provides detailed information about each of the firework design options that you’ll be using.

PAGE 6

2 Creating a Comet

In this chapter we’ll step through some very basic modifications in order to create a simple comet that paints a single

white steak that shoots straight up, reaches its apex, and then dies as it falls. As we create this effect, we’ll introduce

most of the firework customization tabs and define some of the terms that we’ll be working with throughout these

tutorials.

Firework

The Firework tab lets you name your firework, and set its caliber and prefire time:

Name. You can name the firework anything you like, but you mustn’t use accented or other special characters.

Caliber. The larger the caliber, the bigger the effect. You can adjust if you like, but since we’re only creating a

single firework (and so there will be nothing to compare it to), the default is fine.

Prefire is the duration between launch and explosion. We’ll talk about this more later. For now, leave it at its

default setting, 0.0. This tells FINALE to choose a value for you.

Launch salvo

The Launch salvo tab sets the density of the launch—how many projectiles are launched and the distribution of angles

and velocities:

Uncheck the Is mine checkbox. This will configure the firework so that it only launches a single projectile. It also

tells FINALE to ignore the Mine thickness setting (which would otherwise set the number of projectiles that

comprise the firework).

The Cone angle is the angle across which the mortar launches are randomly distributed. (The “cone”, here, refers to

the shape of the distribution—it isn’t a term that identifies some aspect of a firework, such as tip or star.) Since we

want our comet to go straight up, we set the angle to 0.0. (Note that the HBO43 firework template doesn’t let you

Creating a Comet FINALE | Fireworks™: Firework Design Guide

PAGE 7

set a specific launch angle other than straight up, although we’ll modify this proscription a bit when we get to

multishot fireworks.)

Set the Speed Range to 1.0. We’ll discuss this attribute later.

Shell

In pyrotechnic terms, a comet isn’t a shell (and a fountain, which we’ll get to later, even less so). Nonetheless, the term

is useful as way to represent the velocity, angle, density, and other aspects of the projectile part of a firework.

The Shell tab sets the initial characteristics for the firework’s projectiles:

The Longevity slider adjusts the duration of the comet’s travel (without increasing its velocity). A setting of 1.0

tells FINALE to choose a duration based on the mortar caliber and other physical properties such that the comet

dies just as its reaching its peak. We want our comet to fall back to earth a bit, so we’re going to turn Longevity up

to 2.25. This might seem like quite an increase—two-and-a-half times the “natural” duration—but if you consider

that the comet shoots up much faster than it falls down (and spends a fair bit of time at the apex), it’s actually not

that much.

Abridgement adds some randomness to the timing of a multishot firework. Since our comet is single-shot, we’ll set

the parameter to 0.

A report is a bright, violent explosion. We aren’t using a report in our comet, so uncheck the Has report checkbox.

Giving the comet a tip causes the projectile to glow. We’re going to use the tip to simulate the comet’s star, so

make sure Has tip is checked.

Shell Tip

The Shell tip menu sets the tip’s attributes:

Color. In the color picker, reduce the saturation to 0.0 and increase the brightness to 1.0. This will create a bright

white tip, regardless of the hue setting.

Scale. This sets the size of the tip glow. We’ll set the value to 1.0; this denotes the glow’s “natural” size, based on

the mortar caliber and other physical properties that are automatically simulated. .


PAGE 8

Begin and End. These set the tip’s start and end points as positions along the shell’s trajectory. By setting Begin to

0.0 and End to 1.0, we cause the tip to become visible immediately after launch, and endure until the comet’s

pyrotechnic composition is exhausted.

Shell Tail

We want to add a tail to our comet, so we have to set the Shell Tail parameters:

Tail effect. This sets the quality of the tail. We’ll use a Thin tail.

Color. Again, set the saturation to 0.0 and the brightness to 1.0. This will create a bright white tail.

Begin and End. As we did with the tip, we’ll set these to 0.0 and 1.0—we want the tail to be visible along the entire

trajectory.

Shell Burst

The shell burst is the point where the shell explodes and emits stars. To turn off the burst, which is what we want,

make sure the No. of stars parameter is set to 0:

Star, Star tip, Star tail, and Report

Since we don’t have stars (in the sense of an object that’s projected when the shell bursts) or a report, we can skip

these tabs.


PAGE 9

Cycle and Multicycle

A cycle is a series of launch salvos that are spread across time, and a multicycle is a series of cycles. We’re creating a

single-launch effect, so set Cycle > No. of events and Multicycle > No. of cycles to 1. We’ll also set the Cycle > Pattern to

Straight up—we want our comet to be launched straight up into the sky:

Viewing the Comet

We’re done. Click the Preview button and you’ll see the comet (shown here in a single midlife shot, and then in

timelapse):

PAGE 10

3 Comet Variations

In this chapter, we’re going to modify our comet to create a single-shot candle, a Roman candle, and then add motion

to our creation so it fans across the sky.

Single-shot Candle

The candle is shot straight up leaving a tail. Halfway through the candle’s life, the tail ends and a star emerges. To

produce this effect, we need to adjust the tail and tip times.

Go to the Shell tip tab and set the Begin and End sliders to 0.5 and 1.0, respectively: This setting means that the tip will

appear halfway up the trajectory and will continue to the end.

Now set the Begin and End in the Shell tail tab to 0.0 and 0.45. The tail will start from the ground and will disappear just

before the tip emerges, leaving a small gap between the tail and the tip.

To make the effect more visible, we’ll set Shell tail > Tail effect to Thick, and use the Shell tail > Color color picker to set

the tail to gold.

One more thing: We don’t want the candle to droop at the end, so go to the Shell tab and set Longevity back to 1.0.

When you’re done, the candle should look like this (in sequence over time):

Roman Candle

To create a Roman candle, we’ll declare that we want five iterations of our simple candle spaced equally in time. There

are two ways to do this: We can create five “cycles” of a single event, or we can create a single cycle that contains five

events. We’re going to take the second approach.

Go to the Cycle tab, and…

Set the number of events per cycle to 5.

Set the seconds between cycles to 0.5.

Select Straight up from the Pattern menu.

Comet Variations FINALE | Fireworks™: Firework Design Guide

PAGE 11

Open the Multicycle tab and make sure No. of cycles is set to 1:

For this effect, we want to see a bit more of the stars and less of the tail, so we’ll set the tail’s Begin and End to 0.0 and

0.25, and the tip’s Begin and End to 0.25 and 1.0. To vary things a bit, we’ll also set the tip color to bright green, and set

the tail effect to Glitter. A glitter tail is about the same size as the thin tail, but there’s more variation in the size,

brightness, and duration of the sparks.

Our candle will now launch five bright green stars at half-second intervals:

The Fan

Finally, we’re going to modify the Cycle settings so the candle swings from left to right as it produces stars. To create

this effect, we…

Choose Fan left to right from the Pattern menu.

We want more stars for this effect, so we also set the number of events to 15:

We’ll leave the Fan angle as it is (120 degrees).

For variety, we’ll set the Shell tail effect back to Thick and bump the End of the tail to 0.75 in order to produce a more

regular, visible tail. We also change the Shell tip color to red and the Shell tail color to blue

When we view the firework, we see a series of stars launched in half-second intervals starting from 60 degrees left of

center and ending at 60 degrees right of center:

PAGE 12

4 Firework Design Reference

This chapter lists and describes the options that are presented in the Firework Design tabs.

Firework

The Firework tab sets some basic attributes of your firework

Name Control Default Value

Name Text “hbo43”

The name of the firework as it’s displayed to the user. You’ll definitely want to provide your own name—the

default is the name of the underlying template. The name mustn’t contain accented characters or any other

formatting. The text field only accepts simple ASCII strings.

Caliber Menu 3 inch

The caliber of the launching device—the mortar, fountain, mine, and so on. (We’ll use “mortar” as a catchall).

The menu provides options that let you choose from among a dozen industry-standard sizes, from 1 inch to 10

inches.

Caliber affects (or influences) almost all aspects of a firework—it’s size, velocity, and duration, in particular. It

also indirectly influences the velocity of the stars that a shell produces. The two things that caliber doesn’t affect

are star tip size and report size. These are set by, respectively, Star tip > Scale and Report > Scale (only). As you

select bigger or smaller Caliber settings, you may also want to increase or decrease the scale of the star tips and the

report.

Prefire Slider [0.0, 10.0] 0.0 (automatic)

Prefire is the amount of time, in seconds, between the launch and the burst of a firework. The value you set here is

used to place the “blip” that represents, on the timeline, the firework’s burst; it doesn’t affect the firework’s

composition or visual effect.

If you set Prefire to 0.0, FINALE will compute the prefire time for you, based on the firework’s caliber, duration,

and type. For fireworks created from HBO43, the computed prefire time is (always) about a third of a second,

even if the firework that you’re creating contains stars.

Launch salvo

The Launch salvo parameters define the attributes of the firework’s launch, such as the number of projectiles (shells,

sparks, stars) that are launched at a time, their velocities, and the breadth of their distribution.

Firework Design Reference FINALE | Fireworks™: Firework Design Guide

PAGE 13


Is mine Checkbox checked

If this checkbox is checked, the firework behaves like a mine in that it can launch more than one projectile. The

number of projectiles is controlled by the Mine thickness slider.

If the checkbox is unchecked, the firework will only launch one projectile, regardless of the Mine thickness

setting.

Mine thickness Slider [0.0, 5.0] 1.0

If Is mine is checked, this slider controls the number of projectiles that are launched during a single launch event.

If you want a single projectile, set the slider to 0.0. Greater values increase the count. The maximum value

produces about 200 projectiles per event.

If Is mine is unchecked, the Mine thickness slider is ignored and the firework launches a single projectile.

Cone angle Slider [0.0, 45.0] 20.0

The cone angle is the angle across which the projectiles in a single launch event are randomly distributed. By

default, the center of the angle is straight up.

If you’re using a fan pattern in a multishot firework, you’ll probably want to drastically reduce the cone angle so

that you don’t spoil the effect of the pattern.

Speed range Slider [0.0, 1.0] 1.0 (automatic)

By default, the velocity with which a projectile is launched is set by its mortar’s caliber (and some other physical

properties). The Speed range slider lets you add some randomness to this default velocity. As you increase the

value the range of velocities widens, but it’s always less than the default velocity. For example, let’s say you’re

using a 10” mortar that creates a default (initial) velocity of 400 ft/sec. If you set the Speed range to 0.0, all

projectiles will emerge with the same initial velocity (400 ft/sec), and will travel the same distance. If you set the

Speed range to 0.5, each projectile will emerge with an initial velocity that’s somewhere between 200 and 400

ft/sec, with similarly shortened paths.

The default slider value, 1.0, is special: It tells the program to select a physically reasonable—but fairly small—

range of velocities.

Shell

The Shell parameters define the basic attributes of a firework, such as its duration, and whether it’s accompanied by a

report. More detailed attributes are provided through the Shell burst, Shell tip, Shell tail, and Report tabs.

Strictly speaking, some fireworks, such as fountains and gerbs, don’t have shells. Nonetheless, the parameters you set

here apply to all projectiles.


PAGE 14


Longevity Slider [0.0, 5.0] 1.0

Sets the amount of time between the shell’s launch and its burst (or, more accurately, the point at which it has

exhaused its composition). The slider value isn’t an amount of time in seconds: It’s a scaler on the firework’s

“natural” duration, which is determined by its caliber, speed, and other factors. Thus, if you set the slider to 0.5,

the duration for a given shell will be half as long as the duration for the same type of shell with the slider set to

1.0. The natural duration causes the shell to burst right about the time it has reached its apex. If you want it to

burst while it’s still travelling up, decrease the longevity. If you want it to start to fall back to earth, decrease it.

Abridgment Slider [0.0, 1.0] 0.0

Abridgment adds a bit of randomness to the shell’s duration. By default (with a setting of 0.0), there’s no

randomness—all shells that are fired in a single event will burst at (approximately) the same time (as set through

the Longevity slider). As you increase the Abridgment value, you reduce the duration range. A setting of 0.1 means

that a shell may burst at any time after 9/10ths of the shell’s duration has expired.

The Abrigment setting never increases a shell’s duration so that it lasts longer than the Longevity setting—it can

only decrease it.

Has tip Checkbox checked

Has report Checkbox unchecked

These two checkboxes determine whether or not the firework has a tip and a report, respectively. The tip and

report attributes are set in the Shell tip and Report tabs. Note that shells and stars use the same Report settings.

Shell tip

The tip of a shell is its leading edge. The tip can begin “glowing” as soon as the shell is launched and can continue

through the shell’s duration, ending at the burst point. You make the tip visible by checking the Shell > Has tip

checkbox. You then set the tip’s attributes through the parameters in this tab.

A starburst filter is applied to the tip’s glow.


Color Color picker Bright white

Sets the tip’s color.

Scale Slider [0.0, 5.0] 1.0

Sets the size or magnitude of the tip’s glow. The default value, 1.0, is the “natural” magnitude, based on the

Fireworks > Caliber setting. Other values act as scalers on this magnitude: 0.5 makes the tip half as large; 2.0 makes

it twice as large.


PAGE 15


Begin Slider [0.0, 1.0] 0.0

End Slider [0.0, 1.0] 1.0

These two sliders determine the points, along the shell’s trajectory, at which the tip starts and stops glowing. The

default settings mean that the tip starts glowing as soon as the shell is launched, and it disappears when the shell

bursts. Settings of 0.25 and 0.75 (for example) would start the glow a quarter of the way along the trajectory and

extinguish it a quarter of the way from the burst.

The End value must be greater than the Begin value; if it isn’t, the tip won’t appear.

Shell tail

A shell’s tail is the trail of glowing particles that it leaves behind after it’s launched and lasting until it bursts. You

make the tail visible by setting the Tail effect, below, to something other than No tail. You can then set the tail’s other

attributes through the rest of the parameters.


Tail effect Menu No tail

Lets you choose the type of tail you want the shell to display:

No tail. Use this effect to turn off the tail.

Thin. The particles are equally-spaced along the trajectory, and are of the same brightness and duration

(although with some randomness thrown in). The particles stay fairly close to the path of the trajectory.

Thick. This is the same as Thin but there are more particles, and they trace a wider path.

Glitter. The glitter tail is like the Thick tail, but with the randomness turned up. The increased variation in

particle and brightness gives the tail a glittery or twinkling effect.

Color Color picker White

Sets the tail’s color.


End Slider [0.0, 1.0] 1.0

These two sliders determine the points, along the shell’s entire trajectory, at which the tail starts and stops. The

default settings mean that the tail is drawn from the moment the shell is launched until itbursts. Settings of 0.25

and 0.75 (for example) would draw a tail that lasts from a quarter of the way along the trajectory to a quarter of the

way from the burst.

The End value must be greater than the Begin value; if it isn’t, the tail won’t appear.


PAGE 16

Shell burst

The Shell burst parameters set some basic attributes of the stars that emerge when the shell bursts (or “breaks”).

Further star attributes are set in the Star, Star tip, and Star tail tabs.


No. of Stars Slider [0, 100] 0

The number of stars that each shell contains. When the shell bursts, the stars are thrown in random directions

away from the shell, creating a peony effect. If you set No. of stars to 0, the shell won’t throw any stars, and the

Star tabs, mentioned above, won’t have any effect.

Burst scale Slider [0.0, 2.0] 1.0

The power with which the stars break from the shell. 1.0 is the shell’s “natural” burst power, based on the caliber

of the shell and other physical properties. Other values are applied as scalers on the natural power: 0.5 means the

stars are thrown half has hard; 2.0 means they’re thrown twice as hard. A setting of 0.0 means that there’s virtually

no power—the stars fall out of the break with very little outward momentum.

Note that the Burst scale setting affects the sound volume of the report. If you want to create a weak shell with a

loud report, you have to increase the Report > Loudness setting.

Star

A star is created when particles of pyrotechnic composition material are ignited and emitted by a bursting shell. The

Star parameters define the basic attributes of a star, such as its duration, and whether it’s accompanied by a report.

Other star attributes are provided through the Star tip, Star tail, and Report tabs. Note that a star’s velocity (but not its

duration) is affected by the Star burst > Burst scale setting.

The parameters in the Star tabs are similar, in name and function, to those in the Shell tabs. Note, however, that unlike

for shells, there’s no “burst” tab for stars (i.e., there’s no “Star burst” tab). The stars that are defined by HBO43 can’t

burst into other stars. Also, an HBO43 star has only one color.


Longevity Slider [0.0, 5.0] 1.0

Sets the amount of time between the star’s emergence from the bursting shell and the time that its composition

material is exhausted. The Longevity setting is a scalar on the star’s “natural” duration, which is determined by the

shell’s caliber and other built-in physical simulated factors. Thus, if you set the slider to 0.5, the duration for a

given star will be half as long as the duration for the same type of star with the slider set to 1.0.

When we looked at the Shell burst > Longevity setting, we pointed out that the “natural” duration is approximately

the time that the shell reaches its apex. The same is analogously true of a star’s longevity—the natural duration is

about the time gravity kicks in. But it’s only true if the shell’s burst scale (the Shell > Burst scale parameter) is set

to 1.0. For example, if the shell burst scale is decreased, the stars will “droop” even if Longevity is set to 1.0.


PAGE 17


Abridgment Slider [0.0, 1.0] 0.0

Abridgment adds a bit of randomness to the star’s duration. By default (with a setting of 0.0), there’s no

randomness—all stars that are fired in a single event will burn out at (approximately) the same time (as set

through the Longevity slider). As you increase the Abridgment value, you reduce the duration range. A setting of

0.1 means that a star may die out at any time after 9/10ths of its duration has expired.

The Abrigment setting never increases a star’s duration so that it lasts longer than the Longevity setting—it can

only decrease it.

Has tip Checkbox unchecked

Has report Checkbox unchecked

These two checkboxes determine whether or not the firework has a tip and a report, respectively. The tip and

report attributes are set in the Star tip and Report tabs. Note that shells and stars use the same Report settings.

Star Tip

The tip of a star is its leading edge as it burst from a shell. The tip can begin “glowing” as soon as the star emerges and

can continue through the star’s duration. You make the tip visible by checking the Star > Has tip checkbox. You then

set the tip’s attributes through the parameters in this tab.

A starburst filter is applied to the tip’s glow.


Color Color picker White

Sets the tip’s color.


Sets the size or magnitude of the tip’s glow. Unlike a shell tip, a star tip doesn’t have a “natural” size that’s based

on the Fireworks > Caliber setting. As you select larger or smaller caliber settings, you’ll probably want to increase

or decrease the value of this parameter.


End Slider [0.0, 1.0] 1.0

These two sliders determine the points, along the star’s trajectory, at which the tip starts and stops glowing. The

default settings mean that the tip starts glowing as soon as the star emerges from the shell, and it disappears when

the star dies. Settings of 0.25 and 0.75 (for example) would start the glow a quarter of the way along the trajectory

and extinguish it a quarter of the way from the burst.



PAGE 18

Star Tail

A star’s tail is the trail of glowing particles that it leaves behind after it’s emerged from its shell, and lasting until it

dies. You make the tail visible by setting the Tail effect, below, to something other than No tail. You can then set the

tail’s other attributes through the rest of the parameters.


Tail effect Menu No tail

Lets you choose the type of tail you want the shell to display:

No tail. Use this effect to turn off the tail.

Thin. The particles are equally-spaced along the trajectory, and are of the same brightness and duration

(although with some randomness thrown in). The particles stay fairly close to the path of the trajectory.

Thick. This is the same as Thin but there are more particles, and they trace a wider path.

Glitter. The glitter tail is like the Thick tail, but with the randomness turned up. The increased variation in

particle and brightness gives the tail a glittery or twinkling effect.

Color Color picker Red

Sets the tail’s color.


End Slider [0.0, 1.0] 1.0

These two sliders determine the points, along the star’s trajectory, at which the tip starts and stops glowing. The

default settings mean that the tip starts glowing as soon as the star emerges from the shell, and it disappears when

the star dies. Settings of 0.25 and 0.75 (for example) would start the glow a quarter of the way along the trajectory

and extinguish it a quarter of the way from the burst.


Report

A report is an explosive device that creates a bright flash and a loud bang. A starburst filter is applied to the report’s

visual effect.


Color Color picker Bright white

Sets the color of the report’s flash.


Sets the size or magnitude of the report’s flash. Unlike other object, a report doesn’t have a “natural” size that’s

based on the Fireworks > Caliber setting. As you select larger or smaller caliber settings, you’ll probably want to

increase or decrease the value of this parameter.


PAGE 19


Loudness Slider [0.0, 1.0] 1.0

Sets the volume of the report’s bang. The default setting, 1.0, creates a sound that’s considerably louder than the

sounds associated with launches and bursts.

Cycle

A cycle is a series of events that can be distributed in a pattern in the sky. Each event is a single performance of the

effect that’s defined by the previous tabs. The Cycle tab lets you set the number of events in a cycle, the amount of

time between events, and the pattern that the cycle of events creates. The next tab, Multicycle, lets you create a series of

cycles.

The entire performance, from the first launch until the moment of the last launch (including multicycle repetitions),

can last no more than 45 seconds. Because of this, the number of events and cycles that you can ask for may be less

than the maximum values that are proclaimed by the “number of X” sliders. The effect of the last event can stretch

beyond the 45-second barrier—it just has to be launched within 45 seconds of the first event’s launch.


Events per cycle Slider [1, 100] 1

Seconds per event Slider [0.05, 5.0] 0.2

These two parameters set the number of events in a single cycle, and the amount of time, in seconds, between the

start times of successive events. By multiplying the seconds-per-event by the events-per-cycle (minus 1), you get

the duration of a single cycle.


PAGE 20


Pattern Menu Curtain open

Fan angle Slider [0.0, 180.0] 120.0

These two parameters work together to create a “fan” effect over time by changing the angle of the launch of

successive events. The range or “pie wedge” of the fan is set by the Fan angle; the fan effect is defined by the

Pattern selection. There are nine effects:

Straight up. This turns off the fan pattern. All events are projected straight up. Note, however, that the Shell >

Cone angle is still applied; individual projectiles in an event are distributed randomly within the cone angle.

Fan left to right. In this pattern, the first event is fired at an angle that’s half of the Fan angle to the left of

center, and successive events move in equal steps to the right, reaching the far right side of the Fan angle at

the last event. Again, the cone angle is applied around each step. If you’re using this pattern—or any of the

following patterns—you may want to set the Launch salvo > Cone angle value to 0.0 (or very close) so that

you don’t spoil the effect.

Fan right to left. This is the same as the above but moves right-to-left.

Fan left to right to left. The events move twice as fast, from the left edge to the right edge and back again in a

single cycle.

Fan right to left to right. This is the same as the above, but from right-to-left and back again.

Curtain open. In the curtain pattern, pairs of events are fired at the same time, one on the far left edge of the

Fan angle, and the other on the far right side. Successive events close the gap, and the final events are fired

(nearly) straight up. When you use a curtain pattern, you effectively double the Events per cycle setting.

Curtain close. The same as the above, but the curtain opensfrom the center to the extremes.

Curtain open and close. Events move twice as fast, opening and then closing the curtain.

Curtain close and open. The same as the above, but the curtain closes and then opens.

Keep in mind that in order to see the effect of the pattern, you must have multiple events within a cycle.

Multicycle

The Multicycle tab lets you declare the number of times you want to repeat the effect defined by the Cycle tab. It also

lets you impose a time delay between each cycle...


No. of cycles Slider [1, 100] 1

Sets the number of cycles. Note that the upper limit, imposed by FINALE, may be less than 100—it depends on

the number and the timing of the events that you’ve requested in the Cycle tab, and the time between cycles that

you request by setting the next parameter. See the Cycle tab specification for more information.

Seconds between Slider [0.0, 30.0] 0.0

The amount of time, in seconds, between the end of one cycle and the beginning of the next.


PAGE 21


Seconds before first Slider [0.0, 30.0] 0.0

An initial delay that’s imposed before the first cycle. Be aware that this delay does eat into the 45-second limit.

Date post:	17-May-2020
Category:	Documents
Upload:	others
View:	3 times
Download:	0 times

FINALE | Fireworks...Creating a Comet FINALE | Fireworks : Firework Design Guide PAGE 8 Begin and...

Documents