FWsim v4: Revolutionary new 3D Interface

[Lukas]

With FWsim v4, planning your pyrotechnic shows is now much faster & easier.

Release Dates

➜ FWsim Basic & Creative Edition (for hobbyists): January 20, 2025 - OUT NOW

(Free upgrade for v3 users)

➜ FWsim Pro (for professionals): February or March 2025

(Free upgrade for subscription users)

Show Editor Improvements

➜ Better display of positions, with 3D cylinders - so you can better see where the positions actually are in 3D space

➜ Put steppers through multiple positions (this allows you, for example, to run a stepper in a circle)

➜ New “Fly Around” camera controls - more efficient & intuitive

➜ Comfortable angle selection in 3D window

➜ Select position first, then add cues

➜ Select multiple positions to add multiple cues

➜ In position setup mode, you can select multiple positions and move them together

➜ Stepper renamed “Sequence”

➜ Toolbox made smaller, so you have more space for your timeline

➜ Now using the CTRL key to select multiple items in the timeline, instead of SHIFT (to match the Windows standard)

➜ When pasting, cues are pasted onto the position that is selected in the 3D window

➜ You can copy shots from a single position, and paste them onto multiple other positions

Effects Improvements

➜ More effects available in each edition

➜ Some old effects, which were of lower quality, are now hidden

➜ New effect components in FWsim Creative Edition & FWsim Pro

➜ Adjust gravity for stars

➜ New types of blinking

➜ More colors available

➜ Can now attach ascent effect components to rockets

Please let us know how it works for you

[zhumengyanhuo]

New Beta is the most epic version till now i’ve beening used.But there is also many things that used to be update and change.

First,about colours,FWsim has already update more colours.That means we can use more choice on colours and design.

Second,the gravity system is on!!!It is the highlight of all the beta version!!!The system could change the gravity of the stars.【MY FAVOURITE!!!】

But,i noticed a thing,and it is AWFUL><><><.
when i use crossette to make white strong strobe(光露),after is done,stars which have colours were strobing stronger than the version before the beta version,It is AUFUL!!!..I hope it have choice,if i choose it it won’t strobe for anymore,opposite,it will strobe.【beside,please correct the crossette chinese name,it is 拉手(la1 shou3)】

@lukas

[HarmonyStarFireworks]

I agree. For me is the easiest way to form mines into letters!

[MrAnonymous]

The New Beta is absolutely awesome Lukas, I love the new gravity feature but another feature I would like to see introduce is a size adjustment scale for stars in the same way it’s done for ascent stars. I think this would help create more realistic effects! However, really good update.

[fy1vo51]

The only thing that we want about the gravity is the drag effect

[ckozel0318]

When can we expect a beta/update for Pro users? Would love to check this update out

[zhumengyanhuo]

Well i’m thinking about if a single peony’s stars could be edited for multiple times.Like if the time bar could appear twice or three times on a single peony’s star with light bar…
I hope it will come true…

[Soek02]

The second bullet from the show editor improvements got me really excited, but I can’t seem to figure out how to do it? So what steps do I need to take to create a stepper in a circle?

[Lukas]

Thanks everyone for the feedback!

when i use crossette to make white strong strobe(光露),after is done,stars which have colours were strobing stronger than the version before the beta version

Thanks for the feedback. Please send me your effects file via private message and I’ll take a look. You can find the file in Windows Explorer under Documents → FW-Sim.

The only thing that we want about the gravity is the drag effect

Can you explain in more detail what you mean by drag?

When can we expect a beta/update for Pro users? Would love to check this update out

Sometime in January or February - we’ll post here when there is an update!

So what steps do I need to take to create a stepper in a circle?

1. Move to the Positions tab
2. Arrange your point positions in a circle by hand
3. Move to the Camera tab (in order to leave Position Edit Mode)
4. hold the CTRL key while you click all the positions in the circle, in the order that you want them
5. Click “Sequence” in the toolbox, select your effect and click on the timeline

Best Regards,
Lukas

[fy1vo51]

@Lukas

Can you explain in more detail what you mean by drag?

Well, without dragging, all stars will fly away lineary, within dragging, the stars will slow down even stopped abruptly then falls down slowly within gravity

[Soek02]

Thanks, this is a really great improvement! To improve this even further, is by letting you change the order of the positions or adding a new one without deleting the original element in the timeline.

Select “Single Shot” in the toolbox, select your effect and click on the timeline

I think this part isn’t quite right tho, since you need to click on the stepper instead of the single shot in the toolbox, otherwise you’ll end up with multiple single shot elements in the timeline.

[ckozel0318]

Much like the great “equal spacing” button for cues, do you think there’ll be a capability to have a “equal spacing” button/option for positions?

[Lukas]

@fy1vo51

Well, without dragging, all stars will fly away lineary, within dragging, the stars will slow down even stopped abruptly then falls down slowly within gravity

Thanks for the clarification. I still don’t quite understand what you mean. How do stars currently behave in FWsim, and how specifically would you like this behaviour to change?
Perhaps you can share an image that illustrates this idea?

@Soek02

Select “Single Shot” in the toolbox, select your effect and click on the timeline

I think this part isn’t quite right tho, since you need to click on the stepper instead of the single shot in the toolbox, otherwise you’ll end up with multiple single shot elements in the timeline.

You are right, it is better to click “Stepper” (now called “Sequence”).

However, you could also make a “stepper out of single shots”: For those who are using FWsim Pro, you could click on “Single Shot”. Then you would have several shots firing at the same time. To make those fire one after the other, you could drag the white rectangle that appears around selected cues in the timeline. This “multi adjust rectangle” is only available in FWsim Pro.

@ckozel0318

Much like the great “equal spacing” button for cues, do you think there’ll be a capability to have a “equal spacing” button/option for positions?

Thanks for the input!

[fy1vo51]

@Lukas

Thanks for the clarification. I still don’t quite understand what you mean. How do stars currently behave in FWsim, and how specifically would you like this behaviour to change?
Perhaps you can share an image that illustrates this idea?

[Lukas]

Thanks for the clarification on drag. In some situations (especially with long-burning stars) FWsim does not show realistic drag, as you correctly note. This is not on our list for this update, but perhaps we will be able to fix this in a future update.

[Mangmod]

I would like to second @fy1vo51 on the drag matter. Even if not a priority it would be an interesting feature to have. I believe it can also be referred to as “wind friction” - It is something I never paid attention to, unless as of recently by re-watching videos of fireworks and in some video games/software as well. - The impression I got was that fireworks explode fast and then slow down - almost abruptly sometimes. I am not a physics expert but it would be interesting to research more about this matter

[baalduru]

Drag is a force that acts opposite the direction of movement, whereas gravity only ever works downwards. The drag used in simulations are meant to represent any resistance or friction.

I think this is easier to understand if you think about it like throwing a stone and throwing a balloon. The stone is heavy and will not be affected much by air resistance. This translates to low drag. The balloon will slow down very quickly no matter how hard you throw it. This translates to high drag. The same is true for stars. The stars in small calibre peonies might not be bigger than a grain of rice. Like the balloon they will move fast, but slow down quick. Large calibre shells may have stars the size of golf balls. So, they will have a much steadier trajectory.

So, it is not that FWsim does not have realistic drag. There just should be a slider for drag because it varies.

[fy1vo51]

The ascent effect on rocket didn’t attached to the ascent star:

e

[HarmonyStarFireworks]

As we all know that version 4 is now released, but I have some one of many suggestions in this community forum that they need to add more effects and shape distributions this year. With this latest version, here are some requests for additional effects:

MOTOR MINES

APPROPRIATE ATTACHMENT OF STARS AND SHELL OF SHELLS (Screenshot by @kkfire)

The checkmark on the left and on the middle shows an appropriate way of the attached stars and shell of shells, while on the right side is not appropriate.

STACKED RINGS (LIMIT UP TO 5 RINGS AND MULTIPLE RINGS TO MAKE A PEONY)

HOWLING WOLF

MALTESE/ITALIAN CYLINDRICAL RING

CLUSTER SHAPE DISTRIBUTION (LIMIT UP TO 8 TO 30 ARMS IN ONE SINGLE EFFECT)

GHOST PEONY (LIMIT UP TO 5 TO 10 STACKS IN 1 SINGLE EFFECT)

QUARTER PEONY

OTHER EFFECTS (WITHOUT SCREENSHOTS)
• Hummers
• Screaming Whistles
• Editable Farfalles, Whistles, and Tourbillions (depends on how duration and shorter tails of the stars)

That’s all we need to know. Hope it will be added in the next few months!