newb alert

[Bradfo69]

I really like the Mobile Beat Mirage and have my sights set on one in the near future, mainly for home use because it is an all single mode diode projector which means that it has really, really thin beams. I sat in X-Lasers studio about 6 weeks ago and watched some shows with them and I'm starting to appreciate single mode diode projectors even more now. It's not particularly powerful and most single mode projectors aren't but, for watching graphics shows, I think it's going to be very pleasurable.

[swamidog]

the two projectors we were using in the selem auditorium for graphics and graphics were both single mode diode projectors doubled with pbs cubes and 60k scanners.

I really like the Mobile Beat Mirage and have my sights set on one in the near future, mainly for home use because it is an all single mode diode projector which means that it has really, really thin beams. I sat in X-Lasers studio about 6 weeks ago and watched some shows with them and I'm starting to appreciate single mode diode projectors even more now. It's not particularly powerful and most single mode projectors aren't but, for watching graphics shows, I think it's going to be very pleasurable.

[dkumpula]

the two projectors we were using in the selem auditorium for graphics and graphics were both single mode diode projectors doubled with pbs cubes and 60k scanners.

And both bespoke builds by yours truly! (My shameless plug!).

If your intent is to build a robust home show environment we should talk as many of your stated goals are implemented in my home environment including at last count 14 laser projectors, some of which do double duty as Lumina or other specialty projectors. All of mine are single mode builds. To further Ryan’s plug, I will also say that Pangolin’s scanners are the best you can buy.

I have several videos of the home environment on YouTube and Vimeo, but this is the last one I posted.


Have fun shopping!

David

[stephenhazel]

HOLY SMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKES !!!!!!!!!!

That is freakin' amazing, David. I am not gonna go nearly as hog wild as that. But I hope to do some of it. SOME.

Wow I came to the right place that's fer sher.

[kecked]

May I interject. Start simple and build up. You can do a lot with little. You seem capable so try combining a set of s7ngle mode diodes and add a set of scanners. Pickup an inexpensive dac and then for affordable bliss try lsx. It a deep program to learn but with your background a good choice. You can get a nice proj3ctor for under 2k. Maybe even 1k these days? Don’t get caught up in the end product. The journey is 80% of the fun to me.

Last try lumia. I dismissed them for years. Having an outrageous blast with them.

seeing your location. You should be able to meet up with the lsx main man Andrew Kibler.

[stephenhazel]

Ok I'm a software guy. Not a hardware guy (or driver guy). I could maybe do some embedded cpu programming in C.

So i'm guessing a scanner is the motor powered mirrors + steppers that scoot the laser in 2 dimensions?

And I'm guessing a DAC is an embedded cpu that feeds the project ILDA frames and DMX to sequence them?
What does DAC stand for ??

So LSX is maybe a program that draws awesome frames or somethin? To give to the dac?

Still tryna get a handle on these acronyms.

So also, if you got LINKS i could use links. Like links to LSX and to this lumia device?

So far I'm still thinkin X-Laser Mobile Beat Mirage and that DAC that's been mentioned a couple times up therez.

[Bradfo69]

Yes, a scanner in most cases is two motors built into a block to hold them in place with mirrors arranged in such a way to move the beam to the various X and Y coordinates.
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I'm not actually sure a DAC contains a CPU since I'm not an electronics geek but DAC is Digital Analog Converter. Usually a box or card of some sort that connects your computer to the laser projector and takes the information from the computer either via USB or Ethernet and breaks it up into the various parts the laser needs to know - red, green, and blue modulation as well as X and Y signals.
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LSX (Laser Show Express) is a software program for creating/programming what you are going to send to the laser projector. There are a number of good commercial software packages that do this that you will read about here. Most popular being the offerings from Pangolin called Quickshow and Beyond. There are a number of other commercial programs on the market such as Moncha, ShowEditor, M3, as well as a number of hobbyist offerings such as Spaghetti, Maxwell, Laserboy, and a number of others. All have their charms and things they do well and things that make them unique. LSX has a bit of a cult following on here, particularly for those that like abstracts although many do beam shows with it as well such as Davids home disco video. I think it takes a certain type of aptitude since some jump right in and find it very easy and many, like myself, want to try and figure it out but, the eyes sort of glaze over and go off into a mental la la land every time I try to fire it up and figure anything out. Chris Short (Swamidog on the forum) is regarded as a master with LSX but, truthfully his mastery isn't something you can learn - it's the artist within and, LSX is merely his tool of choice to express that artistry. SaltyRobot and Coloredmirrorball on the forum are also very talented with LSX, and obviously David has harnessed the power of large scale combinations of projectors, video, DMX lighting and such using LSX. Dr. Lava (Andrew Kibler mentioned above), took the base code for LSX several years ago and refined it into what it is today.
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The obvious other advantage to LSX is a less expensive point of entry than some other offerings. Somewhere in the low $300's gets you in the game.
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I can try and add links later but, it's been a 14 hour day at work and time to head home.

[stephenhazel]

Ok thanks Bradfo69 !!

That makes things a LOT more clear. And I'm good with the links.
I can google em up a lot easier now that I have more of an idea of what the heck

One last question (sorry) ... well actually I can google whether a DAC sends out both DMX and ILDA for the projector.
(Which has the scanner built into it I think - at least that one I'm lookin at must)

Ok thanks agaaain

[Bradfo69]

Don't know that there is a DAC that does. X-Laser is revealing a new method of controlling lasers with DMX this weekend at LDI so, maybe that's on the horizon but, in the interim, a company called Enttec makes a box that goes between the laptop and your dmx devices that can be used to control that side of things. This is the one most of us use:
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...RoCdBEQAvD_BwE
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Dr Lava's website: https://innolasers.com/shop/index.php
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Etherdream: https://ether-dream.com/
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https://www.showtacle.com/ (and I stand corrected - Moncha.box controls DMX as well.)
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http://pangolin.com/
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https://www.showeditor.com/en (also has an adapter for DMX and, now that I think about it, so does a QM2000 and an FB4 so, I shouldn't answer questions before finishing the first cup of coffee in the morning. I probably don't know what I'm talking about until at least lunch.)

[colouredmirrorball]

That is freakin' amazing, David. I am not gonna go nearly as hog wild as that.

May I quote you on that in five years?


Anyway...


The good news is: the industry is transitioning into network controlled devices, which are much easier to program. No platform specific USB drivers required, only network packages to worry about. That's why the Etherdream is being recommended: it has an open API so you can easily write your own programs for it.

I glanced over the specs of that X-Laser projector. It doesn't look like it has advanced optical effects like lumia, gratings or bounce mirrors, which are typicaly DMX controlled. So it should be possible to control it entirely with ILDA, no DMX required. And if you discover you still need DMX, the Etherdream has an expansion board for DMX output.

I'm an LSX head myself. If you're a programmer, you'll probably going to like the scripting features it has. You can control every aspect of the laser output by expressions - mathematical code. For example you can start with a line, then type sin(x*2*pi) in the appropriate place and then that line turns into a sine wave. These expressions accept live input signals such as midi and mouse input. Same for colour modulation. This way you can program your own effects. Downside is it's a bit less plug and play than Pangolin for example.

Another thing that makes LSX appealing, for me, is that you can send your own laser frames to it over the OSC network protocol. So you can make a program in your favorite programming language, create a frame, format it appropriately and send it over OSC to LSX. Most programming languages have an OSC library so this is super easy to get working. The main benefit of this is that LSX will then apply optimisation settings and communicate with the DAC so that technical part is abstracted for you. Especially for a beginner: it is actually possible to damage the scanner motors if you send too rapidly fluctuating signals.

Let me know if you need help with OSC to LSX.