Product Discussion
This is the official forum for the FINALE feature requests. Please post a one line summary of the features you would like listed here and I will add it to this master list.
They are currently not in order of importance.
Will has put me in charge of keeping track of new features that are being asked for by the Finale users and ranking them in order of importance based on feedback from the end users. I will keep track of all of the requests as they come through so new users can look up requests without having to read through all of the forums. Please keep this list to FINALE features, not effects as the effects request list is already huge. This is only for the functionality of FINALE, if you have a cool feature you would like added, please let me know.
Derrick
1. Pop up inventory of launch positions on mouse over.
2. Aerial view of field
3. Fireworks GUI editor.
4. Effects Favorites List
5. User Profile for effects available to them.
6. Video Output
7. Printed output of above view of pod loading
8. Printed output of field setup
9. User adjustable burn times.
10. Current Version information in the help menu. Also add a Finale splash screen at startup.
11. Voice over audio cue.
12. Distribute effects on timeline button. (select multiple effects on the timeline, have a button to distribute evenly from first effect to last)
13. Search and Sort function, based on effects in a personal inventory.
The fountains make the sound as if they are shooting shells when they should be more like a "whooooosh" sound.
The star mines make it look like the coloured stars are leaving a tail behind them when in reality coloured stars dont leave a trail behind them.
With the program so far, there seems like everything has "colour to strobe" it seems like all the shells have "to strobe" there needs to be more just normal shells and more shells with out pistels.
There needs to be more glitters. thats just my thought.
There needs to be the colour "pink" as I cant find it.
Also, when there is a colour change it should be straight away, because in the program it seems to take its time before the stars change colour.
I think the shells need a restircted hight because in reality you cant change the hieght of a 3" unless you make it your self or there needs to be somthing like when you drag the shell hiegher it should say how high you put it and what the reconmende hight is.
I think when the next download comes out there will be an option so that you can make your own shells, that is a good idea, just make so it is something simple with some nice options I guess.
Also, an easy to understand user interface for making fireworks"! (could you add that?)
I am no programer, so it would be nice if you could just punch in the size, colour, hight and stuff like that.
It would be helpful to know what version of Finale you have installed and are running on your PC. When the program first starts up, it would be helpful to know what version you are running. Also, the Help, About menu takes you to the Finale Fireworks website's About us page....can you add an About Finale menu entry that would display all system/version information about the installed version of Finale?
Ok, this is for the DIYer's and the Manual fire crowd:
Add a CUE VOICEOVER TOOL. This tool would take the selected audio track, merge the left and right audio channels and move them to the right channel of a .wav file, then take a pre-recorded sound byte of a "3, 2, 1, Fire!" or just a tone track of "beep, beep, beep, BEEEEEEEEP!", and dub it onto the LEFT channel of the .wav file, at the correct pre-fire interval for the corresponding firework effect that has been scripted. This would then all be saved out to one .wav or .mp3 file for use with a PA or portable headphones.... Now the manual fire pyro's can play the Right CHANNEL of audio through the PA or FM transmitter, and listen to the left channel audio in their headphones and manually fire to the countdown ques. This would all this FINALE software to be used BY ANYONE, with or without firing equipment. Pinch me...again.... :)
BUT, in a 'hand fired show' you also need some time to have the hand light fuse with flare make it to the lift. These are not consistent. OR, the shooters can do what we call 'light the paper'. That means they light the fuse just next to the paper so that the shell is shot out of the mortar approximately 1/2 second after the torch touches the bare match at the paper. One had better be an experienced shooter, wearing a very good face shield, turn-out coat and always crouching down NOT perpendicular to the rack(s).
Of course none of this banter has to do with FINALE. THIS IS WHY I say work on that way down the road because there is no perfect and safe way to hand light a pyro-musical. One can only get close a small percentage of the time.
Hi Neopyro and Mike.
A Voice Over Cue would be good also for those who do not have a fully computerised type of systems that can handle the xls output etc.
Voice over is not necessarily just for "port fire type hand firing".
In Australia a lot of shows are fired electronically with a cue sheet etc or a voice over cue type system, i.e. "hit the button: on FIRE, FIRE etc. no delay as electronically matched.
So, yes another VOTE for VOICE OVER CUE :-))
The pop up inventory is what we had talked about in september so when we mouse over a launch position, it will give us a list of what's in it, how many firing positions are left on the slats so we know how many more effects can be dropped onto it. I haven't downloaded the new version yet so I'm not sure if this has been added, but we needed a quick way to know how full a launch position was so we don't keep dropping things onto it. We would also like to see a right click option to give us an actual inventory of what is where for that launch position.
The popup feature #1 that derrickm refers to would be extremely helpfull. But if the birds eye view can be toggled to showing the same information which 'I thought' Will said he was working towards, would that be a repeat of the same inoformation?
And, it would not hurt if both features were implemented if it is not a lot of trouble. But, the birds eye view would give so much more information plus be zoom scaleable making it even more useful with additional information over what derrickm is asking for.
Right, thanks for the re-explanation. I am also working towards the Bird's Eye View but now I'm remembering Derrick's explanation that it would be nice to be able to glance at the launch position quickly to know what's in it and how full it is.
I'd like for it to search through names of the items available. You already have the nice feature of sorting through colors, but if I'm looking for "salute" or "falling leaves" etc. I want to be able to find it quickly. Another reason would be if I know I want something that has a strobing pistil at a key moment, I can search for that.
Another idea would be to be able to customize the list of effects shown. Therefore, if I don't buy any shells with silver tails from my supplier, then that minimizes the number of effects I have to weed through to find what I want.
does your software,,, keep track of rack counts for you,for example,, v pair racks, and W racks for my chained shells,, I dont store my racks in v pairs or w shape,,I just put them togethor that way in the field with plywood,,,for each show that I shoot,,,, it would be nice if the software could have some logic that kept track oh how many racks you need per field position and at what angle,V or W or I for straight up...../ for angled right and \ for angled left,,,,,, some people have differient numbers of mortars in their racks,, so maybe it could also ask you to input your rack count ,,,Ex,, size of mortar, number of mortars in each rack,, and how many racks total you have,,, I have some racks of 4 inch with 8 mortars in each rack and some with 6 and some with 4... ,,,If your software does this or could do this and print these reports per field position,,, YOu WOULD be A FIREWORKS GOD,,,,,, this is the most time comsuming pain in the but,, I mean pain in the but part of setting up a show,,
This is a good subject/point....This topic of racks will have a big relation to the Birds Eye View(BEV) we have been discussing before. I think it would be very beneficial if not critical, to have this type of information/configurability in Finale. I think it will enable Finale to create those POD sheets and Shoot site layout reports that we have been asking for. If Finale had a "Equipment" inventory/configuration tool, that each user could list the Basic configurations of their equipment, like 3" mortars = 10 tubes per rack, and they have 44 racks of those, then 3" mortars - 8 tubes per rack, and they have 10 of those, and so, on, then Finale would have the smarts to allow you to DRAG-n-Drop those racks to the postions, then in turn, keep up with rack capacities, and how many remaining shots you can place in a given Launch position before you have to add another rack to it....and keep up with the angles you are setting up....etc. This would be the ultimate.
pyroshawn & nepyro above are DEAD ON about every point in the previous 2 comments here. These features will make FINALE 'THE' program most desireable and the 'defacto' program for the pro pyro industry, PERIOD. It would also make any user less than the pro version want the pro version to have all the features, IMO.
Just look at what people spend on Wii, Xbox and other toys... This lets even the non-pro people go nuts for that small cost of 'painting the night sky with beautiful flowers' just for fun. Maybe this program should be named something like;
'Painting the night sky with flowers has never been easier'
'Happiness is a sky in bloom' (don't recall who may already uses this)
'Fireworks display mechanics made easy'
'Fireworks Scripting, Choreography, Layout FOR DUMMIES'
To further expand on this Rack inventory topic....
Nearly all the OTHER scripting programs on the market suffer from a few critical aspects: NOT EASY TO USE, TO COMPLEX, AND DO NOT prevent you from scripting something that you CANNOT setup, given YOUR specific equipment configurations and cables, etc. This is where Finale could OWN the market. If Finale could take the Drag-n-Drop interface and extend this to the shoot site layout, you would then have a tool, unmatched in usability. The last thing you what to hear as a show designer from a setup crew member is "we can't do this...we don't have the racks or cables to pull this off" or worse, "we can't hook this up this way, it won't fire....there is not enough power to do this..." Designing Finale to be "aware" of the equipment it is going to be using in any given show, will help keep the choreographer out of trouble...and free up his time and focus on the artistry of the display...rather than the technicality of the setup.
How do you do this? Show profiles, Equipment profiles, etc. You set them up once, and re-use them...import/export/share them from show to show... These profile will serve as a guideline and framework for the Drag-n-drop GUI of the Sky Field screen and BEV screen. You could also have this feature be able to be turn on/off if you didn't want any limitations... Simple things like cabling...Each firing system requires a certain type of cable to connect between modules and slats. This does not change very often. What does change is the shoot sites and display designs. If Finale was AWARE of the availability of cables an operator had, it could help create EXPERT diagrams for Lead Shooter to setup and hookup equipment. You could turn this feature on or off...
Imagine, after setting up/listing all your equipment, while scripting the show, you drag-n-drop racks into Launch positions, Finale would also let you drag-n-drop modules, and would know based on that positions relation to another module/position, how long of cable it would need for that connection, and assign it to that position, decrease availability in equip. inv, and move on...it could also warn you, you can't put that position there...you do not have a long enough cable in your inventory to get there. "Do you wish to order one?" Bingo!!! Scripting for Dummies! :)
Simple!... I am an Official Card Carrying Member of The Dammit Club!
http://www.pyrouniverse.com/gallery2/data/500/medium/DSC03716.JPG
Oh, I had a good teacher too!....I forgot that %@$*#'s name... :)
Holy smokes nepro,,,, what you just said about putting finale software in charge of your equipment inventory,racks,, fireing system modules,, how many modules you have, how many cues per module,, how many cables you have,, and what length are each of your cables,, this would be just the CATS MEOW,,,, hits the nail right on the head,, I mean right on the head,,, In the past I have spent countless hours wasting time on stuff that could be automated by some programming software,, and I believe that with out a doubt that the quality of my show's creativity have been hindered,,, without a doubt...because a human only has so many man hours in a day to get things done...
pyroshawn;
YES !!! nepyro DOES HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD.
I wonder if there is a way for all readers of the forum to search the forum for posts by nepyro as he has been (and I hope with some of my help also) leading the authors of this already cool package FINALE to be 'heaven' for the pro fireworks people, PERIOD.
You, pyroshawn, I can see you also see this vision now. I see there are others on the forum that see the same. I encourage you all to also input all your thoughts of the utopian display fireworks scripting, choreography, cuing, layout, AND EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT tool that these guys at FINALE are so capable of producing with our collective input.
In invision some huge wall of flowcharts or a cool computer program at the FINALE office that is a full time job for someone keeping track of all the goodies from our collective heads. Geeze, that is almost scary if you think about it :-)
Will and crew; go go go go go go go. Are we stressing you out with all this? :-)
Not at all! Guys if we ever make any money on this we'll have to give you all royalties. :-) I like this vision of drag and drop field layout and equipment management. It feels like it is fleshing out the BEV idea from a feature into a comprehensive solution. Let's keep developing the idea over the next two months. This may be what we start the year implementing in January. BTW, just so you know, the simulation actually does take place in real time 3D, though it is projected onto the 2D screen so you can't really tell. That means that the ability to rotate the camera around and see the show from different angles is technically possible, if anybody cares about that. Mentioning in case it is relevant to any of these lines of discussion so you don't assume that something couldn't be done.
I dont know if its been suggested already but how about having it so that you tell the software how many commands you want and have it keep a running total for you.You then could take it farther by telling it how many of certain size shells you want and when you reach that you get a pop-up saying you reached your limit
I like the Idea of keeping a running total,,, and a running total budget,,, we could get the pricing from Mike at advanced technique fireworks,,,, though some people may use other companies to buy product,, we could use mike as a average price,, and maybe mike could give everyone using finale a discount,, since he would increase his volume...
pyroshawn,
I like all those features and ideas also. And, when the time comes for this feature wihtin FINALE I would be glad to supply my inventory with prices as a database of something to start with IF FINALE folks want it.
The discount? Hmmmm, I will consider that BUT, without turning this forum into and ATF commercial there is one thing to consider; ATF has about the lowest wholesale direct imported prices on 1.3g already. Further discounts? Maybe, just MAYBE IF a user can validate he uses FINALE Pro AND has an ATF digital firing system, a discount on 1.3g 'could be' considered. Let me think it over...
It might help the decision if I got some indication of interests or requests here on this forum,
I shoot with smartfire system from pyromate,,, a friend of mine shoots with your digital system,, and several other guys that I know shoot with your pin fire system... I really like your slats that you made up,, with the springs and screw method,,, I feel that your spring system is superior to the speaker terminals that smartfire uses..
I am excited about this new finale software,,, especially the pricing,, and the ease of use,,,I downloaded and tried to use the showsim software,,,and I spent several hours messing with it and still could not figure out how easily use it very well,,,,, after downloading the finale software,, I was using it within minutes,,,,and I feel if these guys can get the bugs out of the software and add some of the features that we have talked about,, you me and nepyro,, this software will work great for us next year,,, the problem is just getting the product when you need it... I noticed they dont have nishiki kamaru shells or chains,,, we use chains alot in our shows to create scene's,,, also they dont have falling leaves yet,, but I am sure they will get them in soon....
I heard from a user that printing out labels is another thing that takes time. Currently he takes the smart show csv file and pulls out the effect name, module and pin numbers from the fields, then imports that into a label making program and prints on mailing labels that information. Prior to the show he can attach a label to the shell, cake, mine, etc. which gives him the location where it needs to be connected in the field. This feature may fit in with the comprehensive field layout solution we are describing. [we should probably pull out the high level topic to a separate thread so it doesn't overwhelm this feature request thread; perhaps the next major post on the subject should begin a new thead]
Will,,,
Having Labels printed out would be awesome,,, Currently I just use a black marker,,, but sticky lables would help alot,, As long as we put all the information on the lable,,,that needed to be there,, stuff like,,, / for angled right,,,\for angled left,,V for V Pairs,, W for W chains,, and Mod Number and Cue Number,,,and field position
This is the way I build my pyromusical shows now,,, We pull all product and lable each shell, and then we put all the product in boxes for each Field module,,, It may take 5 differient boxes per module,, so we lable all 5 boxes,, for example Mod 1,,,,
I am reposting this request here to get more visibility to it.
Many of us have requested that when the music is playing and you press a "KEY" or "click" the mouse to place an effect, that the EFFECT BURST TIME be indexed at that precise moment, NOT the LAUNCH time. I know this has been discussed. Just trying to get it consolidated.
see:
http://www.finalefireworks.com/node/1001537
http://www.finalefireworks.com/node/1003690
I know there have been others request this and discussed in other threads.
I could see how complicated this might be...Since what we are asking for is to place the actual effect in TIME NOW, but it's LAUNCH time index has already passed, and the PLAY HEAD is beyond that point, so, this might be the need for the "blank" effect place holder, which we later go back and assign what we want.
Cheers,
Mike
Yes, nepyro correctly identifies the technical challenge. Inserting the shell at burst while playing means inserting its launch back in time and then simulating it forward to catch up. I am confident we can work around this problem, though. Yet another forums post (from khaled) appeared on this exact issue last night, so given the number of times it has appeared I interpret it to be relatively high priority.
something else I would like to note,,,when you allow us to put shells in at a angle,,,maybe your software could SNAP to a specific ANGLE,,
Just LIke AUTOCAD software allows you to snap to a grid,,,your software could allow you to snap to a specific angle,,,,which you could put in,, say,, 10 degrees,,20 degrees, and 30 degrees,,,,,,
I think that the snap feature is a must,,,and a person should not even be allowed to turn the snap off... otherwise how are we supposed to keep track of our rack angles,,,and shell angles when we go to pull inventory for a show,,,
This option would keep show designers from designing shows that are COMPLETLEY unrealistic,,,,,and will allow you to keep track of the angles for your loading reports,,,your rack inventory reports,which tell you how many racks at what position and at what angle... and your export to smartfire reports,,,
Will,
Low priority but...
What would really be a nice effect is the ability to add applause. You would only need a couple of .wav files, say one for a false finale and another for the finale that is over the top. You could add them as a "shell" choice just for the sound.
PLEASE can a 'New Show' option be added to the 'File' drop-down (like you get in Microsoft Word). This should replace the current show with a new, blank screen to start work on something else.
At the moment after checking saved shows/finishing designing one I have to log out and log back in again, including entering username/password each time. Gets annoying after a while! Can we also have a 'keep logged in for today' check-box like you get on eBay please?
Is it possible to add a 'make public' check-box to the 'create firework' page? This would allow users who create or add fireworks to allow ALL users to use them rather than keeping them for personal use. Or is it the case that any fireworks added are already available to all? If so, is is possible to have a 'keep private' box. This could be really important for Pro users.
I agree it is pretty annoying we don't have basic things like new show and stay logged in for the day. I'm doing some work on authentication right now so I'll try to get the stay logged in feature available in a release for early December. The new show feature is probably going to happen a bit later, around year end.
In terms of fireworks being public or private: right now new fireworks do not appear in the inventory panel for other users. We expect to make it possible for users to mark fireworks as public in the future. However, we don't plan on adding that feature until we add more firework inventory search, filter and organization features (otherwise every time anyone marked a firework public it would appear in every one's inventory which would be too overwhelming). We are committed to doing work in this area over the next couple months to support Dominator Fireworks (announcement here) and others creating libraries of effects.
Chris
In the Loading Report there is info about how far away from spectators (a good thing). Is it possible to add a 'distance from centre' box too? Currently if the Loading Report is given to a firing team it's up to them to guess where firing positions should be placed along the x-axis. Most people like a nice symmetrical show, so if the show designer can specify how far apart the firing points are, and the crew can read it on-site on the same paperwork then the fireworks in the sky should look as they did on-screen.
Can a 'Save Changes' and an 'Add as New' button be added to the editing interface please? The 'Save Changes' should adjust the chosen edited firework permanently. The 'Add as New' should copy the changes into a new firework. I suggest a warning is added between stages to ensure users haven't simply clicked the wrong button and have to confirm changes.
Chris/Will:
In Firing View window is it possible to give a us more lines, or to make it so that we can drag to increase number of lines showing? At the moment it is difficult to follow if there are a bunch of bursts at, or about, the same time.
