Need help choosing Pangolin upgrade

[logsquared]

I kind of lost track of the beyond thread. Maybe someone can help me figure out my best option?

Currently I have LD2000 basic and 2 FB3 boxes. I don't own livePro. I wanted livePro but I bought QS when it came out and was very happy because it did things that I always wanted in LD2000. Never got around to getting livePro.

Here is my wish list (not necessarily in order of importance):

Always wanted 3D extrusion capabilities. And 3d programming in general.

More live control.

The ability to control multiple projectors independently. (originally I thought that the FB3 boxes would work with LD2000 but was mistaken)

So, I could get the holiday special:

Upgrade from LD2000 Basic to PRO - $1,250
*Package Includes:
Upgrade from LD2000 Basic to PRO
BEYOND Special Launch Edition and the 3-D animation program.
BEYOND Ultimate Software (when BEYOND 2.0 is released)

Or, buy another QS package and livePro and phase out the LD2000 for live use and relegate it to programming.

Or, buy FB3 with Beyond and don't get the livePro and phase out the LD2000 for live use and relegate it to programming.

I should note: I mostly do Club/ DJ type shows with some corporate work. Someday possibly would like to get into public displays for municipalities etc where buying canned LD2000 shows would be beneficial.

TIA

[wondertwnz]

I just got Beyond specifically for the Live interface like QS and the ability to use my two QM2000 board and my FB3 controllers with the same software. Did a show on NYE with three projectors, two on QM boards and one on a FB3 and it worked great. With some advance set up you can use all of the projectors independently by setting them up on there own zones and then setting cues to only play to those zones. I set up a page of stuff for each projector separately and then a few with them combined. It worked really well . I asked pangolin about making this a bit easier by adding the ability to change the zone settings of say a whole page of cues at one time so you could do it quickly and they seemed like they would work on adding that.

As far as the 3D stuff I do not know but the editor in Beyond looks amazing so far for 3D capability.

I would say just do the upgrade.
Larry

[masterpj]

Do it.
With special launch edition you also gain the BEYOND 3D program.
The 3D things in beyond itself also make it worth it.

And the ability to use both the QM and fb3 also is a big +

[White-Light]

Personally I'd do the LD to Pro upgrade provided you get the top version of Beyond also when released.

Understand, Beyond and QS do not have the same level of live playback control as Live Pro. Live control is more powerful in Beyond than QS though through features I can't mention. However, I doubt it will ever be Live Pro level because of the philosophy of keeping it easy to use. There's a general trend towards ease of use in software.

However, Beyond has very good Live control if similar to QS, a few advanced features apart, and it's easy to use. Live Pro is more powerful for live playback but takes a lot of learning although Insanity has produced a set of tutorial DVD's which can be purchased.

Beyond has much more powerful cue and show creation controls though than QS and obviously trumps Live Pro in this area.

I can't comment on 3D although PJ has already done that. All I can say is that I believe the aim of the 3D module was to render the necessity for 3DS Max obsolete for laser work in Pangolin software. So I think you can safely presume some power there.

Overall, I'd favour the LD to Pro / Ultimate Version of Beyond upgrade provided the latter is what you get at v2.0 when it separates out.

On the stock show side, I believe it has been said that the LD shows will made playable in Beyond giving you pretty much the same library.

[masterpj]

Almost correct about the 3D part yes White-light

No the thing is that by purchasing LC-max you would also need to purchase 3ds max, 3ds max is VERY expensive and has a ton of features, so many features in fact that it gets confusing for beginners or even fairly experienced users.
Most beginners shouldn't touch 70% of all features included, that are really ment for the professional user side.

So BEYOND 3D is focussing on being: 1. easier to use.
2. Alternative to buying 3ds max (Since this is much cheaper then buying 3ds max and lc-max

Will it be better then 3ds max? I can't tell, but feature wise 3ds max will always win.
Not surprising if you look at the huge team autodesk has and the amount of years and stages 3ds max has gone through

[Foxtrot7]

I'm currently using QS with two midi controllers...one padKontrol and one keyboard. Works great for live control. Never used anything else, but I think for club/dj stuff this is the easiest and least expensive route. But im still a noob, so take what I say for what it is.