Generating laser images

[donkeykong]

Hi everyone, firstly I am a total newbie to lasers but I have done alot of research before posting this message so be nice

I want to use a laser in an interactive art installation. I would be using an xbox kinect or some other motion detectors and then creating images with the laser based on detected movement. The motion tracking would be done in Openframeworks and then I would send a signal through osc to something that can generate laser images.

I have looked at different options to achieve this.

1) Using Pangolin QuickShow and triggering things in it through midi or osc
2) Using VVVV and the minilumax (http://www.lumax.de/)

Option 2 seems like it would be better but I can't find anywhere to by the minilumax online, I have emailed the company and waiting to hear back.

So I guess my question is are there any other options to achieve what I want or is there any other advice someone can give me?

[donkeykong]

Also I should have added that I a fairly experienced C++ and Java programmer so happy to hear any programming based solutions

[Picasso]

EtherDream supports OSC native on the hardware. You can load up the SD card with ILDA files and call them. Maybe you can tie it into the onboard abstract generator? Have not even attempted abstracts with it so it might not be complete. https://github.com/j4cbo/j4cDAC

[drlava]

Donkeykong, you should also consider LSX control software. With it, you can use MIDI or OSC inputs to not only trigger but control any aspect of the art and frames. Also, you can type in any formula to manipulate your frames in 3D space, and move,warp,and color them according to motions that you pick up.

you can check it out here:
http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...ames-Much-More

Especially as a programmer you should be able to take full advantage of the deeper capability of this software. Some of its more advanced features are written exactly for artists like you. Also it works with EtherDream and other open DACs. Feel free to PM any questions!

[laserist]

If you really want to do something real time - you're going to need real time hardware - it's not as if it's expensive "now a days" - silicon labs has a nice little development kit with two dac outputs for $99. i could give you a couple of software hints...

[donkeykong]

Thanks for the replies, i'll investigate some of those options. I think i'm going to try the VVVV + lumax option first. It looks like using osc to control something like pangolin won't give me the freedom that I need.

[Harryality]

Hi DonkeyKong, have you had any luck with vvvv and Lumax yet?

This interactive art installation area is something I am also interested in, again as a newbie here and coming from a New Media background I'm really interested in flexible software solutions such as vvvv or Quartz or MAX MSP which we are more familiar with.

I work with a new media collective in New Zealand. We aren't laser people but I have played around with some laser projectors recently and would like to be able to have laser as a light output to incorporate them into future productions alongside LED lighting and video projection.

I'd hope to be able to use it in a project we did like this where we used laser to project onto a gauze covered stage. (scrub through to the later half of the video to see the laser) And in this project where we would ad a laser to project onto certain parts of the structure perhaps like this.

On these projects I was frustrated with the software I was using (Pangolin Quick Show) and first got interested in the OpenLase stuff Hector Martin has done as an alternative.

But since we are mostly familiar with video it seems best to look for some software to give us the ability to do real time laser projection using video as the data source for the laser output. I have now discovered LaserCam software that looks like it could work well. And also as Dr Lava said the LSX control software looks good for some of our generative works. I wander what kind of maths can be input into LSX? Is there any detailed info on this I can show our code guys so we might be able to port some code out of this project for example.

Many thanks.
Harry.
interrupt.co.nz

[White-Light]

Harry I could see how it could be done in QS - using Beam Attenuation Mapping and Different Projection zones to map out different areas you wish to light individually, and visible points keying to achieve the fade as in the grid projection. However, I can equally see how a custom solution might be better suited if you want absolute control.

[colouredmirrorball]

In LSX you can use math for almost everything. For example you could have a line, then have a MoveY event applied to that line with an expression like 'sin(idx*2*pi+phase)' which would move each point of the line up or down a distance of the sine of the index of that point (index = idx is always a number between 0 and 1 in this software). It works in real time as well, you could for example multiply the sine wave to change its amplitude with a real time input like mouse position, a MIDI control parameter, intensity of music being played, OSC, DMX, sliders, etc. A change in any of these parameters have an immediate effect on the sine wave.
Just a basic example. You can use these kind of expressions for changing the X/Y/Z coordinate of a point, intensity, RGB values, rotation over X/Y/Z axis, etc.

We're writing a manual for LSX: http://furikuri.kirril.com/Private/l...vingManual.pdf, but it's far from finished, and the section about expressions isn't completed yet. But there's a help button in the software with a list of all expressions and what they do, so once you know how to use expressions you can figure them out yourself pretty easily.

Lasercam would work, but unfortunately it's not included in LSX...

[Harryality]

Harry I could see how it could be done in QS - using Beam Attenuation Mapping and Different Projection zones to map out different areas you wish to light individually, and visible points keying to achieve the fade as in the grid projection. However, I can equally see how a custom solution might be better suited if you want absolute control.

Yes I achieved what I required using QS but to take it further a more custom solution would be preferred. I want to be able to create and modify laser frames on the fly. The easiest way to do this seems to convert video as the content since we already have experience in this field.