How do you like to plan your physical layout?

[JmFnG]

Mentally? Pencil & paper? Dark magic? Stone carved heiroglyphics? :p

This year my stash is bigger than ever before, so I started roughing ideas out on paper to get a visual sense of how I might arrange things. It's been fun, clarifying, and quite surprising just how many possibilities exist. Now that I've basically (:rolleyes: ) completed my shopping I can sit down and work on my final draft. I'll be sure to post it here when I get it together in case anyone is interested.

Any other fans of the old-fashioned handwritten approach?

If so, have you learned or developed any shorthand symbols for notation you'd care to share? My career as a musician has instilled in me a great respect for effective notation. I'm curious what more experienced pyro junkies do when it comes to planning out the minutia.

[Bazerk]

I used to first watch all videos of my product to get timing and determine whether or not they were good enough to stand on their own or if they needed help from a second or even a third cake. Because I used to fuse my entire show with one fuse I never had multiple firing locations. Now that I have several cobra modules, that will change. I used to glue mu cakes down on pallets and 4x8ft sheets of plywood in the order they would burn. I love that part of the 4th. Come to think of it, there isnt anything I dont like about the 4th except for maybe the rain which seems to happen every single year but it always clears up for the show.

[ilovecrackle]

I have e-fired from 3-4 locations for the past 5-6 years now.
What I do is once I get all my product purchased, i write my items on its own index card.
Once everything is written down on index cards, I put them all on a table or the floor and start moving things around until I am happy with my show layout. Once i have it looking the way i want, i write the shoot order down on paper with its corresponding cue.
Yeah, its old school compared to the digital and computer world we live in but it works great for me.

[JmFnG]

I hear you, Bazerk. Like you, I really enjoy the process of getting everything ready. Like so many things in life, anticipation is a big part of the overall experience.

crackle - That is a great method! We used a similar approach when planning a home remodel. Graph paper & scaled down cutouts of furniture/appliances/fixtures really put things into focus for us.

[ilovecrackle]

I hear you, Bazerk. Like you, I really enjoy the process of getting everything ready. Like so many things in life, anticipation is a big part of the overall experience.

crackle - That is a great method! We used a similar approach when planning a home remodel. Graph paper & scaled down cutouts of furniture/appliances/fixtures really put things into focus for us.

yeah, the 3X5 index cards are great.
I shot a finale for a fireworks company about a month ago and using this method, i had the order i wanted put together in about 20 minutes.

[Mucko]

I made a grid, listed all of the fireworks i'd bought and how many id bought. then slowly designed something completely overkill by drawing and writing in which cakes are on board 1, 2, 3 etc etc...all the way to 10. With the completion of each board I updated my grid with numbers showing how many cakes/shots/whatever I had left and which I'd used etc as to give a changing effect from board to board. I gradually increased amounts and sizes until it goes from insane to absolutely absurdly ludicrous just like spaceballs concept. Only issue I ran into is I went kinda nuts this year with how much I bought...and I realized my board 10 cannot handle 43 cakes...so now I'm going to split that up into 2 boards and have a 500 shot artillery barrage in between the 2 boards for a real finale from hell.

[ilovecrackle]

I made a grid, listed all of the fireworks i'd bought and how many id bought. then slowly designed something completely overkill by drawing and writing in which cakes are on board 1, 2, 3 etc etc...all the way to 10. With the completion of each board I updated my grid with numbers showing how many cakes/shots/whatever I had left and which I'd used etc as to give a changing effect from board to board. I gradually increased amounts and sizes until it goes from insane to absolutely absurdly ludicrous just like spaceballs concept. Only issue I ran into is I went kinda nuts this year with how much I bought...and I realized my board 10 cannot handle 43 cakes...so now I'm going to split that up into 2 boards and have a 500 shot artillery barrage in between the 2 boards for a real finale from hell.

Ludicrous speed, Go!!! Lol one of my all time favorite movies. :D

[JmFnG]

Ha! Now that is a nice problem to have, Mucko. I'm also finding I'll need a bit more lumber than I initially thought.....and there's still so much time to stumble across even more items I just have to have. :D

[chriskrc]

Watch videos of the products and think and think and think and watch videos again and think some more and more and write it on paper and watch videos and on and on and on. I love it, hell I even dream about it

[JmFnG]

I think we all dream about it, Chris! :) My wife is a good sport, but I'm pretty sure she'd be OK if I never mentioned fireworks again....not gonna happen, though!

[chriskrc]

I think we all dream about it, Chris! :) My wife is a good sport, but I'm pretty sure she'd be OK if I never mentioned fireworks again....not gonna happen, though!

+1 on that

[Mucko]

Yea, I have to admit I dream about it as well. I bought myself a case of ghetto fireworks to hold me over till my show. I don't even want to part with them. I have some issues.

[JmFnG]

I started goofing off in MS Paint to explore some possible arrangements. I'm really liking the drag and drop convenience. The chicken scratch drawings were piling up... So now I'm making digital chicken scratch. :)

Here's one idea I'm considering for our finale:

1047

Cue 1 (28sec) = Pyro Junkie 12-shot 500g's paired with Red, White & Boom, Emerald City.

Cue 2 (28sec) = Doubles of Pyro Junkie Colors Series 9-shot 500g's paired with July 4th Jubilation.

Cue 3 (25sec) = Pyro Junkie Pyro Pro Series 25-shot 500g's paired with Proud and some 61-shot noise makers

Cue 4 (30sec) = 75 mortars - Goliath & Excalibur.


The 3 stations will be spaced roughly 50-75 apart, each with a 4-cue module. (I only have 24 total cues, so I'm saving the other dozen for the body of the show.)

For time differences on paired cakes, I'll use fuse to delay where needed.....or grab some more 200g's with durations more closely matched to the 500g's. :rolleyes:

[zzzybil]

i use cobra script creator - labeled cakes & racks by mod & cue . load them into trailer last 1st and 1st last...........comes out the trailer hook'm ..........some thought into ''crossfire'' items . REALLY EASY,

[PGHBoom]

This year will be my first BIG show (18-20 minutes) and I have access to a CAD program to lay out the product on 4x8 sheets of plywood. I like to have the physical dimensions of the product so I know how much I can fit on each sheet. I agree that watching videos can help you determine if an item can be shot off individually, in multiples or in combination with different items. Many of the retailer sites have nice videos but the quality usually isn't the greatest and it's typically one product alone. Do a YouTube search and hopefully you can find a video that is labeled with product you typically purchase. Good luck and have fun.

[3 Fingers]

Excel spreadsheets for inventory, racks, stations, cues...then Cobra Show Creator to arrange the show and produce the script. Prefer a STEP script which gives some control over the timing during the show.

[JmFnG]

I look forward to upping my game in the future and delving into the Cobra world. Man, what a surprisingly addictive hobby.

Here's my latest draft for this year's show. (sorry if this is nonsense or just plain boring to y'all...I am just too excited about doing my first organized shoot.)

1048

The ?'s represent 16 200g's I haven't picked up yet.

[3 Fingers]

Google Maps was a great resource for measuring distances from afar of the shoot site.
Paid a physical visit as well but the Google Map measurements ended up being spot on!

[chriskrc]

I look forward to upping my game in the future and delving into the Cobra world. Man, what a surprisingly addictive hobby.

Here's my latest draft for this year's show. (sorry if this is nonsense or just plain boring to y'all...I am just too excited about doing my first organized shoot.)

1048

The ?'s represent 16 200g's I haven't picked up yet.

Nothing there is either nonsense or boring, nothing wrong with a good plan. It actually looks really cool

[Mucko]

re-reading all of this stuff has me already re-thinking my boards. damn you all! :)

[JmFnG]

re-reading all of this stuff has me already re-thinking my boards. damn you all! :)

Ha! What's the fun of shopping early if you can't obsess over the details for months? :)

[chriskrc]

re-reading all of this stuff has me already re-thinking my boards. damn you all! :)

Glad we could help lol. I will Obsess about my shows until they are done and even then wonder if I should have changed something. God I love this hobby.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

1051 I watch video after video after video of what I have in my stash, and I try to rank the cakes from worst to best. That determines the show order.

I create an Excel spreadsheet with the show order listed top to bottom, including the "time to fire" for each cake. Then I dry fit the cakes on the 2'X8' platforms I built. I annotate the spreadsheet with what cakes go on what board. I also use a sharpie and write the firing time on top of each cake so when I'm fusing them later on, I know which type of fuse to use and how much fuse I need between each cake. Then it's just a matter of building the boards and fusing everything up. I have the first 3 boards of this years show built so far (not fused though!).

[mjbland05]

i watch a ton of video on the product i bought & keep everything listed in excel. i love the 3x5 card idea, but i'm a huge nerd so this year i did it in visio. I made individual icons for each product i have and made larger squares for each board and then dragged the pieces around essentially like 3x5 cards. This way i know how much i've used and what gaps i have, and it allows me to obsess continuously over the board layouts from now until the 4th.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

In Visio?! Lol.. OMG. That's too funny.

[mjbland05]

it's completely ridiculous, but it turns out to work great :cool:. I have my remaining inventory in the upper left, different shapes for each item, etc1061.

[JmFnG]

It really IS a lot of fun to play with different possibilities. Here's my latest draft...a dozen 200g cakes off to the side haven't been placed in the lineup, yet.

1062

[mjbland05]

nice. stealing the idea for timing annotations.

[JmFnG]

nice. stealing the idea for timing annotations.

By all means! Glad you found something useful in my hieroglyphics.

The individual cake times are on the left, and the timing for each cue (on the right) will decide how much overlap there is between cakes sharing a cue...i.e. the RWB (red, White & Boom) trio at the beginning will be fused so that the single cake starts about 12 seconds prior to the *v* pair behind it. Thereby extending a trio of 18sec cakes into a 30sec cue with a decent spread.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

it's completely ridiculous, but it turns out to work great :cool:. I have my remaining inventory in the upper left, different shapes for each item, etc1061.

Lol... That's awesome! I might give that a shot next year.

Where did you get the dimensions for the cakes? Did you measure each one?

[Rick_In_Tampa]

By all means! Glad you found something useful in my hieroglyphics.

The individual cake times are on the left, and the timing for each cue (on the right) will decide how much overlap there is between cakes sharing a cue...i.e. the RWB (red, White & Boom) trio at the beginning will be fused so that the single cake starts about 12 seconds prior to the *v* pair behind it. Thereby extending a trio of 18sec cakes into a 30sec cue with a decent spread.

It was my understanding when I started this pyro life that there would be no math involved! Boy was I wrong!!

[mjbland05]

Lol... That's awesome! I might give that a shot next year.

Where did you get the dimensions for the cakes? Did you measure each one?

nothing so specific. just relative general size based on category - 200 gram cakes are the smaller ones, 500 gram are the bigger ones. i do the shoot at my brother's house so i have to play nice within their constraints so my boards have enough space that i don't have to be super accurate with the sizes. I did roughly eyeball the size of the boards relative to a standard 500gram cake based on my photos from last year, but didn't get any more accurate than that.

[mjbland05]

By all means! Glad you found something useful in my hieroglyphics.

The individual cake times are on the left, and the timing for each cue (on the right) will decide how much overlap there is between cakes sharing a cue...i.e. the RWB (red, White & Boom) trio at the beginning will be fused so that the single cake starts about 12 seconds prior to the *v* pair behind it. Thereby extending a trio of 18sec cakes into a 30sec cue with a decent spread.

makes perfect sense. getting the timing right is so important. so i live in philly and do the shoot at my brother's house in michigan & all the boards are there. We're going to do the shoot on Sunday this year so my physical prep time is going to be pretty tight so getting all the timings down in advance will be a huge timesaver.

[PGHBoom]

1065
This how I set up my show using a CAD program. May be overkill but it is a good way to relax during lunch at work.

[JmFnG]

1065
This how I set up my show using a CAD program. May be overkill but it is a good way to relax during lunch at work.

Nicely done! Nothing like a solid plan to ease the prep process. Plus, it's a great excuse to *think* about fireworks for awhile. :)

[Rick_In_Tampa]

1065
This how I set up my show using a CAD program. May be overkill but it is a good way to relax during lunch at work.

You Sir are out of control! lol... Love it.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Finally got my boards all finished. Still need to fuse them, but everything is set and glued down.

Now I need to load and fuse the mortar crates, and I'm all done!!

Here's what I have so far.

1068

The 4 black milk crates in the background hold 25 HDPE tubes each, and the 36 shot rack in front will all serve as the finale this year.


I'm getting there! I'll be a full grown pyro one day. Still working on it.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Still having a heck of a time getting pictures to show up right. I apologize for the multiple posts. Here's the rest of the pics.

1073 1074

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Still can't get the pictures right. Sorry...

[JmFnG]

With the big day approaching, I've been going over all the details repeatedly. Feeling good with how my layout has been coming along. Just when I think it's complete, something jumps out at me and I do another draft...this is probably #10! I'm pretty sure I'll still be 'editing' it when I watch the video after the fact. :)

Still not placed in the lineup are:

- half a dozen 61's
- some candle racks
- a 3rd 'W' rack
- the comets depicted in the artillery area will be spread throughout the show to act as punctuation (15 5-way fans)

Psyched!

1110

[apellet]

I'm going the 3X5 route as well, once I get that far. Right now, I'm obsessively watching videos and making a spreadsheet of durations, impressiveness, and which I might want to layer. Oh, and I'm totally thinking of crashing Mucko's party that night :)

[Crab107]

I think we all dream about it, Chris! :) My wife is a good sport, but I'm pretty sure she'd be OK if I never mentioned fireworks again....not gonna happen, though!

Thats funny. My girl has been a good sport about all my stuff this year. On the way home from dinner she said "Im gonna find a movie to watch so you can play with your fuses".

[Crab107]

And i have to say..after reading about what all you have planned and how you have it planned, im feeling severly inadequate here fellas..i mean WOW!!! Racks of motars, cakes..its impressive. So you guys start planning pretty early for your shows. Ive realized it does require thinking. I thought i was being OCD about it because i would just sit and stare at my tubes and try to figure out firing sequences...granted i only have 14 tubes theres only so many ways to you run them.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

And i have to say..after reading about what all you have planned and how you have it planned, im feeling severly inadequate here fellas..i mean WOW!!! Racks of motars, cakes..its impressive. So you guys start planning pretty early for your shows. Ive realized it does require thinking. I thought i was being OCD about it because i would just sit and stare at my tubes and try to figure out firing sequences...granted i only have 14 tubes theres only so many ways to you run them.

Don't look at it as being inadequate. Consider it motivation!! Nothing that time and a few $K can't fix! Lol...

Seriously though... I've been shooting off fireworks for decades. I still remember being able to buy M-80's for 25 cents each as a kid and scaring the snot out of the neighbors with them. Last weekend was the first time in my life when I actually helped MAKE some fireworks for a charity shoot next month. Talk about feeling inadequate. These guys were talking about mixing chemicals I've never even heard of. When it comes to pyro, I'm finding that the more I think I know, the further I am from learning all there is to know. So don't get down on yourself!! Baby steps is the key. You'll get there. :)

[Bazerk]

This is how I setup for this year. I saved all of the videos of all of the fireworks that I purchased and then used the timings to make my script. Then used the cue list to generate the labels that will be stuck on each cake so the people helping me cant really screw up, lol.
11131114

[JmFnG]

This is how I setup for this year. I saved all of the videos of all of the fireworks that I purchased and then used the timings to make my script. Then used the cue list to generate the labels that will be stuck on each cake so the people helping me cant really screw up, lol.
11131114

That's gonna be one helluva show!!

[Bazerk]

That's gonna be one helluva show!!

This isnt even all of it. This is only 14 minutes ad the wife asked me to make it 20 so I will be picking up more goodies and then I will have to add them to that sequence. I may actually cheat and add all of the new stuff to fire prior to the first que in this list and then start the last after they are done. I dont want to manually change all of the times because I added new stuff in the middle, lol. Im being lazy. I did, however, put that suggestion into Cobra so hopefully that happens in a future version. I should be able to add a que in the middle of the script and have the software auto correct all of the times thereafter.

[JmFnG]

This isnt even all of it. This is only 14 minutes ad the wife asked me to make it 20 so I will be picking up more goodies and then I will have to add them to that sequence. I may actually cheat and add all of the new stuff to fire prior to the first que in this list and then start the last after they are done. I dont want to manually change all of the times because I added new stuff in the middle, lol. Im being lazy. I did, however, put that suggestion into Cobra so hopefully that happens in a future version. I should be able to add a que in the middle of the script and have the software auto correct all of the times thereafter.

Dude, she's a keeper. :D

I'm at 10 minutes for this year's show. 60 cakes and 86 mortars (plus extra shells for loading the racks to do a test run).

[mjbland05]

With the big day approaching, I've been going over all the details repeatedly. Feeling good with how my layout has been coming along. Just when I think it's complete, something jumps out at me and I do another draft...this is probably #10! I'm pretty sure I'll still be 'editing' it when I watch the video after the fact. :)


Hah, i just reopened mine and did the same thing. only thing is, i'm not sure if i'm actually making it better, or if i just love thinking about fireworks :)

[JmFnG]

Hah, i just reopened mine and did the same thing. only thing is, i'm not sure if i'm actually making it better, or if i just love thinking about fireworks :)

Ha! Both can be true.