Enhance your sim-building experience with an advanced VDL editor designed specifically for building better sims, faster and easier than ever before!
Break free from single-line text boxes and soar into the colorful world of line breaks and syntax highlighting. This isn't your grandma's text editor!
Visual Descriptive Language, Visualized! Advanced color-coding and automatic formatting of the entire set of recognized terms in the official Finale 3D VDL glossary!
Features
VDL Syntax Highlighting: Color-coded syntax highlighting makes it easy to read and understand effects and VDL terms at a glance.
Code Formatting: Elevate your sim building skills with automatic code formatting and visual organization.
Seamless Integration: Work fluidly between the VDL Editor and Finale 3D, enhancing your creative process without interruptions.
Always Ready to Use: Open the editor directly from within Finale 3D with a global shortcut key, or using the system tray menu.
Protractor Overlay
Measure angles with precision using the quick-access transparent protractor overlay! Resize and drag it wherever you need.
Replacing estimates with accuracy is fast and easy when you can see the exact angles of cakes and slices in demo videos in real-time.
There when you need it. Always ready to hide or show with a global shortcut key. Spend less time wondering about angles, and more time perfecting your shows.
Features
Transparent Background: Overlay the protractor on top of any window or application for quick and easy angle measurements. Great for demo videos on YouTube!
Always on Top: Keeps the protractor visible and usable at all times, even when switching between windows. You can always dismiss it with the shortcut key.
Resizable and Draggable: Customize the protractor's size and position to fit your needs. Drag it around the screen to measure angles anywhere.
Fast and Convenient: Quickly show or hide the protractor from anywhere with a global shortcut key, or using the system tray menu. Stays where you left it.
Color Picker
Use default Finale 3D colors in the Effects Editor with the color picker! Click on a color to copy its hex code directly to your clipboard. Paste it where you need it.
Fast and easy color selection anywhere. No more looking through other effects or manually looking up and copy/pasting Finale 3D color codes into custom effects.
Consistency and quality go hand-in-hand. Make quick color adjustments while keeping your colors consistent across effects. No more guessing or approximating.
Features
Hex Color Codes: Copy the hex code of any color in the color picker overlay to your clipboard with a single click, ready to paste into the Effects Editor in Finale 3D.
Finale 3D Colors: The color picker includes all built-in Finale 3D colors, ensuring consistency and quality in your sims, not only within your own effects catalog(s), but compared to Finale 3D's included effects and official Supplier Catalogs.
Always Ready to Use: Open the color picker from anywhere with a global shortcut key or using the system tray menu. Stays where you left it.
Graph Editor
Create and edit effect curves using the graph editor! Click to add points or drag them around to create the perfect curve for any effect! Right click to remove a point.
Fast and easy mouse control makes creating and editing intensity, size, or rate curves easy and intuitive!
Features
Finale-Friendly Format: Copy your newly created curve to your clipboard with a single click, ready to paste into any curve editor in Finale 3D. Or paste existing curve data from Finale 3D into the graph editor and adjust as needed.
Always Ready to Use: Open the graph editor from anywhere with a global shortcut key or using the system tray menu. Resizable and stays where you left it.
BPM Calculator
Calculate BPM intervals on the fly using the BPM calculator! Open the interface, tap the button to the beat of your music, and get easy-to-use results instantly!
Fast and easy to use! No more spending time looking up the BPM of songs, doing calculations manually, or trial-and-error until it's "close enough".
Features
Finale-Friendly Format: Paste time values from the BPM calculator directly to any sequence or time interval field in Finale 3D.
Always Ready to Use: Open the BPM calculator editor from anywhere with a global shortcut key or using the system tray menu. Stays where you put it.
Intelligent BPM Rounding: Use the hammer button to round the calculated value to something that's probably more accurate, automatically!
Pattern Editor
Create custom 2D shell patterns using the pattern editor! Click to fill cells and draw any pattern or image you want! Smiley faces are just the beginning!
Import images and convert to custom patterns! Import icons, clipart, or other images and convert them to custom 2D shell patterns to use in Finale 3D instantly!
Fast and easy mouse control makes creating and editing super fast and easy! Grid size / resolution can be adjusted to fit your needs.
Features
Finale-Friendly Format: Copy your newly created custom 2D pattern to your clipboard with a single click, ready to paste into the "Custom JSON" field of a break pattern in Finale 3D. Or paste existing "Custom JSON" pattern data from Finale 3D into the pattern editor and adjust as needed.
Always Ready to Use: Open the pattern editor from anywhere with a global shortcut key or using the system tray menu. Resizable and stays where you left it.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Maximize your efficiency with these keyboard shortcuts designed for quick and easy use within Finale 3D and FinaleTools.
Esc: Dismiss the splash screen or cancel editing without pasting text back to Finale 3D.
Ctrl + I: Format/beautify/organize the VDL text within the editor.
Ctrl + Shift + X: Open the VDL editor with selected VDL text from a Finale 3D window. Using the same shortcut again closes the editor, applies your edits to the VDL, and updates the effect in Finale 3D seamlessly.
Ctrl + Shift + 4: Toggle the VDL editor's visibility on or off, regardless of application focus. Opens with whatever text is currently on the clipboard.
Ctrl + Shift + 5: Toggle the protractor overlay's visibility on or off, regardless of application focus.
Up and Down arrow keys: Resize the protractor overlay when the protractor is visible and has focus.
Ctrl + Shift + 6: Toggle the color picker window's visibility on or off, regardless of application focus.
Ctrl + Shift + 7: Toggle the graph editor window's visibility on or off, regardless of application focus.
R: Reduce the number of points in the graph editor curve by half (to reduce the resolution of overly complex curves to make them more easily editable).
Ctrl + Shift + 8: Toggle the BPM calculator window's visibility on or off, regardless of application focus.
Ctrl + Shift + 9: Toggle the pattern editor window's visibility on or off, regardless of application focus.
Space: Counts as "tapping" when the "Tap to the Beat" button is focused on the BPM calculator window (the same as clicking/tapping the button).
Launch FinaleTools and dismiss the splash screen by pressing Esc, clicking outside the FinaleTools window, or clicking the close button.
Right click the FinaleTools icon in the system tray to access the FinaleTools launch menu, where you can quickly open (or close) any of the included tools or features (and see their keyboard shortcut keys). Check out the FinaleTools Settings to customize your experience and configure optional settings.
Use Finale 3D as you would normally. When you're focused on a VDL editor window and have the complete VDL text highlighted, press Ctrl + Shift + X to open the FinaleTools VDL Editor to enhance your editing experience.
When you've finished creating or editing your sim, press Ctrl + Shift + X again to save your changes and close the editor, and watch as your changes are seamlessly applied to the effect in Finale 3D.
When you need to measure angles in a photo or video, press Ctrl + Shift + 5 to open the protractor overlay. Drag it to where you need so you can measure angles with precision. Press the shortcut again to hide the protractor.
If you're working with custom effects in the Effects Editor and need to change colors, but want to use Finale's default, built-in colors (like "Red", "Blue", etc), you need to use hex color codes that correspond to those color names. Press Ctrl + Shift + 6 to open the color picker window. Click on the color you want and its hex code will be copied to your clipboard for you to paste into the Effect Editor in Finale 3D. Press the shortcut again to hide the color picker when you aren't using it.
If you're working on an effect where you need some kind of custom curve (for example, maybe you need to create a slowly dimming star that suddenly gets bright just before going dark), press Ctrl + Shift + 7 to open the graph editor window. Create your desired curve by clicking in the graph editor to place and adjust points. When you're ready to use your new curve data in Finale 3D, click the "Copy" button to copy the curve data to your clipboard, then paste it into the graph editor in Finale 3D. Press the keyboard shortcut again to hide the graph editor when you aren't using it.
When you need to know how to spread your shots on the timeline to match your music, you need to know the BPM and time between notes. Press Ctrl + Shift + 8 to open the BPM calculator window. Play your music, press the start button on the BPM calculator window, then tap the button or press Space in time with the music to calculate the BPM. The window will show you the BPM and the time between various note intervals. Click the hammer button to intelligently round the calculated value. Finally, click any time value shown to copy it to your clipboard automatically, ready to paste into Finale 3D. Press the shortcut again to hide the BPM calculator when you aren't using it.
If you want to create a custom 2D shell effect like a smiley face, spiral, heart, or other custom pattern, press Ctrl + Shift + 9 to open the pattern editor window. Click on cells to fill them in, or click and drag to fill in multiple cells at once. Right click to remove filled cells. Adjust the grid size as needed to get the level of detail you want. You can also import an image to convert to a custom 2D pattern by clicking the "Import Image" button. When you're ready to use your new pattern in Finale 3D, click the "Copy" button to copy the pattern data to your clipboard, then paste it into the "Custom JSON" field of a break pattern in Finale 3D. Press the keyboard shortcut again to hide the pattern editor when you aren't using it.
Enjoy building better sims faster and easier than ever before!
Privacy Policy
FinaleTools respects your privacy and operates solely to enhance your Finale 3D experience. It uses the system clipboard to facilitate a smooth workflow between Finale 3D and FinaleTools, and automation scripting that mimics mouse and keyboard inputs, but no personal data is used or transmitted anywhere, ensuring your creative process remains private and secure. The software connects to a remote server to retrieve configuration information and check for updates upon launch, but no personal information is used or collected for this. No information of any kind is collected or used for anything except to provide the described and expected functionality of the software.
This site uses Google Analytics to track and analyze page views and interactions to help improve the website and your experience. No personally identifiable information is collected for this. See Google's Privacy Policies for more information.
Legal Disclaimer
Warranty Disclaimer: FinaleTools is provided on an "AS IS" basis without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. The user assumes all risk associated with the use of the software.
Limitation of Liability: In no event shall the developer(s) be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages arising out of or in connection with the use of this software.
Affiliation: FinaleTools is not affiliated with, endorsed by, nor in any way officially connected with Finale 3D or Finale Fireworks. This software is a standalone, independent project that operates on its own.
Usage: Designed for experimental, educational, and personal use. The software is meant to enhance the user experience of Finale 3D, but performance and reliability are not warranted or guaranteed.
Updates: The developer(s) reserve the right to update, modify, or discontinue the software at any time without notice.
Third-Party Inclusions: This software uses AutoHotKey for some functionality, which is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2. A copy of the GPL can be found at GPL License. The source code for AutoHotKey can be found at AutoHotKey.com.
Support
For any inquiries, concerns, or questions related to FinaleTools, please reach out to the developer.
