Help Laser show software Medialas or laserworld ?

[futurevisulas]

Hi im looking to buy some laser show software.

Any veiws on MediaLas Mamba Black or Laserworld Showeditor 2007

Not sure if the Mamba is worth the extra £300 as showeditor goes on ebay for bids of around £200 mamba is £499



any help would be great

regards
Adam

[decix]

"Laserw****d Showeditor 2007" is the same as HE-Laserscan and it's free for testing (1 track).
For other licenses contact the author.

[stanwax]

Hi Adam
Personally I favour Mamba - but I dont know the other software so cant comment. Mamba has a very simple and intuitive interface and though has one or two issues at present development of it is going on at a feverish pace. It is improving all the time and there will be some new features arriving when version 2.0 hits us. We are on V1.9 at present and all updates are free. There is a wealth of knowledge available for Mamba here on PL and if you wanted to see whet Mamba is like I will be running a free mamba workshop at the UKLEM in leicester next Sunday if you can attend. Then you can see it in action and truly judge its power and potential. I would be happy to give you a demo of it.
I am guessing the price you are quoting for Mamba is with hardware as it used to be E299, and this is something that needs consideration, Mamba is designed to work with many hardware solutions. You can do as I did when I first had it and build your own Parallel Port DAC or you can buy one of several other hardware solutions. I use JM laser Easlase USB.

Hope this helps

Rob

[Alsone]

I downloaded the trial of Laserworld Showeditor sometime ago but found it very difficult to use. That doesn't necessarily mean its bad, only that there's a learning curve. However, if you want something easy straight out of the box, it may not be your best option. Thats said I'm not sure Mamba is that easy either. I seem to remember having tried that and not been impressed either by its immediate usability.

Only pogram I've seen that seemed easy was Pangolin but then again this isn't an option for most amateurs.

[highvolt]

i'm an amateur, and the software that comes with the PANGOLIN FB3 kicks ass (LAStudio + Livequick) . Drawing frames, abstractions, synchronize to music... etc.. it's all there. My laser is personal use only.
Some think it's expensive, some say it's cheap.. it all depends from your personal standpoint.. I'd say it's a fair price.

[Steve Milani]

Hi!
I have Showeditor 2008 (last edition).
Surelly at the beginning Showeditor is more, more difficult to understand and to use than Mamba. Mamba is more "intuitive", more easy to learn.
But Showeditor can give you much more than Mamba: for example it has "trace it" function, it has also its own DMX interface (so you don't need anymore a DMX control console).

I think you need at least 20 days of hard work for to learn enough well Showeditor (I needed more than two months.... and I am still not a good user...). Usually I record my show by keyboard of pc. Assigning one key each figure created, I can play my show like... a midi keyboard!

I have had also "Showeditor" (the very first version): It was a 100% clone of Mamba Black. After a couple of weeks I changed it with Showeditor 2007, and now I use version 2008.
I repeat: Mamba is easier, but Showeditor2008 is more completed and much more powerful.

You decide.

All the best
"Uncle" Steve

[Alsone]

Steve I bow to you on this as I haven't used Pangolin, I've just watched this video which made it seem very easy and logical to me:

http://www.pangolin.com/_Videos/DVD_Ch9_640x480.wmv

[buffo]

Alsone;

The video you watched was for Showtime. Showtime is part of the software that comes with the Pangolin LD-2000 system. It is designed to work with the QM-2000 board only.

Pangolin also has another controller: the Flashback 3. This controller uses different software (namely the LA Studio suite). It's considerably cheaper than the LD-2000 package, and is aimed at the hobbyist and embedded controller markets.

In LA Studio, there are several different software tools. The tool that you use to create a laser show is called Showrider. It looks different than Showtime does.

Here is a link to the Pangolin website where they talk about the features of the LA Studio software that comes with the FB3. Note that if you have the LD-2000 package, you can run either the normal Pangolin software *or* the LA Studio software, but if you have the FB3 you can only run the LA Studio software.

LA Studio comes with a 3D object modeler, an abstract generator, a live player, and a que-list player so you can schedule multiple shows to play back-to-back. Some of the features of the 3D object modeling software include a raster text generator, an effects generator, and advanced wrapping fuctions, to name just a few.

And just like Showtime for the QM-2000, Showrider for the FB3 is more difficult to learn how to use when compared to Mamba Black for the EasyLase USB controller. (For the record, I own *all three* software packages.)

In my opinion, Mamba Black is the easiest software to learn, but both Showrider and Showtime are able to do *much* more. And when you consider that Showrider (part of the LA Studio package, remember) is *cheaper* than Mamba Black, I believe it offers the best value for the budding hobbyist.

Adam

[Alsone]

Hi Buffo,

I know it was for Showtime which is why I said it was beyond most hobbyists pockets. Does seem very straightforward though.

I've seen the Flashback controller specs but not the software. My only concern persoanlly with the flashback is the lack of IDLA control. Putting a display onto flash memory is fine in principle, but all of a sudden you find yourself needing many cards to keep different displays and also on a long display eg. If you were having a BBQ come party that might go for 6 or 7 hours, then the immediate concern is would the flash card store enough? Its hardly easy or convenient to get a ladder out to the projector half way through an event. I believe it uses XD. Unfortunately XD seems to be limited to 2Gb max.

Pity Pangolin don't equip it SDHC cards as these are still ridiculously small but have now reached 32 GB capacity, with a Class 6 16GB card available for a very reasonable £34 if you shop around.

Also, flashback is only of use if you're an OEM builder isn't it - I thought it had to be built into the projector itself.

As for the easiest to use, I can't argue with you on that one as you have all 3 packages so know through experience.

[buffo]

My only concern persoanlly with the flashback is the lack of IDLA control.

Your concern is unfounded. There is no lack of ILDA control. (Note: it's ILDA, not IDLA.) You have some pretty big misconceptions about controllers in general, and the FB3 in particular. Let's see if I can explain...

Putting a display onto flash memory is fine in principle, but all of a sudden you find yourself needing many cards to keep different displays and also on a long display eg. If you were having a BBQ come party that might go for 6 or 7 hours, then the immediate concern is would the flash card store enough?

No, no, and no. The FB3 *can* run in stand-alone mode, where you have everything loaded on a flash card. In that mode you can either trigger the effects via a DMX control panel, or have them automatically cycle through the list on the card when you power it up. But this is *not* the normal mode of operation for most users.

The normal way to use the FB3 is just like you would with any other controller. You connect a computer to it via the USB cable and then use the LA Studio software to play shows. The frames are sent to the FB3 in real time via the USB cable. The FB3 converts the digital data to analog signals and sends them on to the projector (via the ILDA output port) in real time, just like every other controller on the market.

Note that the LA Studio software also includes a live player, so you can set up hotkeys on your keyboard and play along with whatever music happens to be playing.

I'm thinking that you sized on the additional feature that the FB3 offers (namely: stand-alone operation, which is unique among controllers) and then assumed that this was the only way it would work. But that's absolutely not true. It is first and foremost a DAC, just like every other controller out there. It just happens to *also* work in stand-alone mode.

Its hardly easy or convenient to get a ladder out to the projector half way through an event.

Yes, that would be a pain, *IF* it were required. It's not. (Seriously, do you really think that so many people would be singing the praises of the FB3 if that's the only way they worked? I'd *hate* to have to change cards like that!)

I believe it uses XD. Unfortunately XD seems to be limited to 2Gb max.

It uses Compact Flash, but it might *also* use XD; I'm not sure about the latest revision of the controller. (There was some talk about adding XD support a while back - not sure what happened though.)

But all this is irrelevant. You don't need to store any frames on the flash card. They can sit on your hard drive until you're ready to trigger them. You can run the FB3 with a blank card inserted - or no card inserted even - and it will still work fine. Just connect it to your laptop via a USB cable and you're golden.

Also, flashback is only of use if you're an OEM builder isn't it - I thought it had to be built into the projector itself.

No, not at all. Have a look in the forums... There are several posts right here on PhotonLexicon where folks are talking about how they've mounted their FB3 in various external enclosures. (Some with pictures even.) In fact, mounting the FB3 inside the projector is generally the exception here, rather than the rule. You certainly *can* include it inside your projector if you want, but you don't *have* to.

True, it was originally aimed at the OEM market, but since hobbyists typically like to do things for themselves, it made sense to sell the controller as a bare board to the hobbyists as well, so people could mount it however they wanted. It's like buying the EasyLase USB OEM controller. It's a bare board with a USB connector, a power plug, and an ILDA port. You supply the case. Same thing with the FB3.

I don't know if Pangolin has an option to pay extra to purchase the FB3 already mounted in a case or not. (My guess is, not.) But even so, that seems like a rather trivial point to base a purchasing decision on, no?

Adam