This chapter contains step-by-step guides for specific show design techniques. Each section demonstrates how to combine different FWsim features to achieve a particular result.
Ground waterfalls are lines of individual fountains that create a cascading waterfall effect. They are a popular element in pyromusicals. FWsim does not have a dedicated ground waterfall effect — instead, you build one from multiple fountains placed on a line position.
In the Show Editor, open the “Positions” tab and click “Add”. Name the position (e.g. “Ground Waterfall”) and set the type to “Line”. In the 3D view, drag the start and end points to place the line where you want the waterfall — for example, along a bridge or building edge. The start and end points automatically adjust to the height of the 3D world.
Click the “Sequence” button to open the effects library. Navigate to “Ground Effects” and find a suitable fountain. In the FWsim Collection, there are ready-made golden and silver ground waterfall fountains. Double-click the desired effect, then click in the timeline to place the sequence.
The individual fountains are distributed evenly along the line position. To change the number of fountains, select the cue and switch to “Edit Cue” to adjust the count.
If you want the entire waterfall to be triggered by a single channel on your firing system, open the Export sidebar and set the sequence export mode to “One Channel”.
By default, the waterfall sits at ground level. If you want to elevate it — for example, to have it rain down from a bridge — select the position and activate “Set Height”. Use the slider to raise the waterfall to the desired elevation.
A 360° head is a circular set piece, often elevated on a tower, with shots arranged in a full circle. Here is how to set one up in FWsim.
Create a new position and set it to the desired height (e.g. 25 m). Then add single shots at various angles — for example 0°, 90° and 180°.
To create a sequence that goes around the circle, add a stepper and set the angle range. For a half-circle from left to right, use -90° to +90°. For a full circle from bottom to bottom, use -180° to +180°.
To make a stepper go around in the opposite direction, enter values outside the -180 to +180 range in the text box. For example, instead of -90°, enter 270° — both represent the same angle, but the stepper will travel the other way around.
For easier wiring, you may want to assign different pin ranges depending on the shot angle. In the sidebar, select your module and configure it for the 360° head position. At the bottom, set up rules for pin usage — for example:
After running Auto-Assign Channels, the pins will be distributed according to these angle-based rules. If a cue uses an angle that is not covered by any rule, FWsim will show an error message.