Fiesta.NET - new laser show controller by Showtacle
Hello everyone,
Just want to inform you about our latest product called Fiesta.NET. It is an Ethernet version of Fiesta! 2 software with some additional features. Here is the device:
Fiesta.NET device
We’ve done quite a lot of laser show events in the past and we developed Fiesta while doing these shows. That’s why there are mainly features we’ve required to make live and also preprogrammed shows. And we love to work with Fiesta. In our opinion it is one of the easiest software currently available, because we're sure, there is no time for complicated features when doing some event.
Anyway, there was always one big problem – and that was USB output. The output was never entirely smooth and also the laser usually has not run on full power (usual problem by almost all USB devices). These issues are completely fixed by Fiesta.NET now. The output is perfectly smooth all the time, the animations are simply beautiful. And the laser output brightness –I will just quote one of our friends, who’s testing Fiesta.NET already: “My green and RGY lasers just seems to be a bit brighter, but mij RGB lasers look amazing! I see colors coming out i could never make before!”.
There are some additional benefits using Fiesta.NET- there is DMX output and input integrated. You can even control almost all Fiesta software features using any DMX controller now.
What’s also highly appreciated is the possibility to work over Wi-Fi. Of course you need to make sure the stream is good enough (one Fiesta.NET maximal stream is 1MByte/s). We’ve been doing one large event in the biggest city in the west of Slovakia last year. The organizer required the people could walk everywhere. That’s why we couldn’t use cables at all. Fiesta.NET was still in testing version, but we’ve decided to use it anyway. We’ve used good Wi-Fi antennas from control center to place of lasers. Like this we were able to control fantastic 50W laser from Kvant company in real time without any problems (with additional 8W green lasers and another 10W color).
50W Kvant laser over city Kosice, controlled with Fiesta.NET over Wi-Fi
And when you are asking, what happens, when the Wi-Fi signal is lost – Fiesta.NET will turn off the laser and continue work after the signal is restored. No software restart or turn off/on procedure is required.
This is of course not good enough for important events. So if you need to use 100% reliable solution, you always will have to use Ethernet cables (cheaper and more common than ILDA). But these installations are also easier with Fiesta.NET. You need to use only one Ethernet cable from control centre to stage. Put one switch on the stage and you can connect more lasers with more Fiesta.NETs there. And if you need to control even more lasers, you can use LaserMatrix – scheme example:
Fiesta.NET with LaserMatrix
It is important to notice, you have to use only one Ethernet cable from control centre to stage. And you can even use your notebook to handle complicated installations.
What’s also important for our past customers is that there is no more hardware key required for Fiesta.NET software.
Here are also some technical parameters:
Maximal scan rate: 100 000 pps
Frames Per Second: 35
Axes X and Y: +/- 5V, balanced, 16 bit
Color output: 6 channels, 0-5V unbalanced
DMX: Integrated In/Out, 512 channels
IP address range 192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.254
Input power: 12 V DC, 170 mA
Weight: < 1 kg
Dimensions: 128 x 125 x 58 mm
The bottom line – Fiesta.NET is in our opinion a perfect way to control your lasers. We’ve been using it for our events a lot already and it’s simply amazing. Saves a lot of work and lot of trouble. You can also find more information at Showtacle page: http://www.showtacle.com/FiestaNET.php. It is also possible to download and test demo version for free.
P.S.:
I remember now one show we made for our client. It was with Fiesta.NET already. We used 4 lasers. The customer was a bit complicated – changed his mind quite often. First we had to play graphic part of the show together with beam show. After he decided to play only graphic part and after about 2 hours the beam part. Then he wanted to make the graphic part shorter. And finally 5 minutes before the event started he decided to play whole graphic part and 2 hours later beam part (all these changes in the day of the event). So quite a mix of requests ...
When the event started, I’ve started the graphic part. And when it was in the middle, I just scrolled the show in Fiesta to see when it ends. And suddenly I noticed - the music is going to finish sooner than the laser show events! So by all these changes we made a mistake – we’ve used short music for long graphic part.. I started to sweat, what I should do now? There was a president of the Slovakia and most of the government there. The show was very important. And the customer was really serious and demanding. And the show was already running! So there was no other choice – I started WinAmp and moved the long song somewhere in the middle. Then I waited till the music of the show comes to an end and started the rest from WinAmp with low volume and make it higher after start… let me remind you, all this happened in about one minute, so you can imagine how nervous I was.
I know this might sound a bit (a lot?) unprofessional. But these things happen while doing events (I’m sure most of the honest laser show guys will confirm)… and we know that, that’s what we try to achieve with Fiesta – to allow the user to have everything on the control all the time and to fix most of the mistakes immediately. Fiesta really saved my ass back then...
Reply With Quote
Karl Dawson and Banthai lasers are members of the International Laser Display Association
my webpage
Originally Posted by pelosh
