Hi Bill,
Could this be support for direct import of existing open vector formats such as 2D SVG and 3D X3D? With such quality drawing tools available for free (e.g. Inkscape 2D and Blender 3D), it makes no sense to reinvent the wheel with restrictive LASER-specific drawing tools or to require expensive "converter" add-ons for specific packages any more. We are developing show software without any drawing tools at all!I will say that we have some brand new concepts which use a VERY DIFFERENT format and data concept, when compared with what people have been doing up until now.
Proprietary formats will always be necessary for users who are creating and modifying shows using proprietary software. Of course converting from Pangolin->ILDA->Pangolin formats will lose any Pangolin-specific show features. However this does not alleviate the need for an open interchange format! The existing ILDA format already meets this need, this is really just a proposal for a revision, because the format is very outdated.And this is the second reason we are not very interested in "universal" formats -- because we don't want to dumb-down our new technology, to the lowest common denominator, and to the point where it would be compatible with what everyone else is doing.
Kind regards,
sonaluma