A different way to make shows: Improvements in 3D rendering

[Pangolin]

Hi Dr, LAVA,

I can see that you are REALLY interested in seeing what we have , insomuch as doing so much research on the web.

Those web pages you pointed to haven't been updated since around 2001, when they were first created. That's why all of them tend to discuss LC-MAX and LC4D as a "new product". They were new in 2001, but not new by today's standards...

Aside from little old me, we don't really have a webmaster at Pangolin. So all of us at Pangolin have a choice. We can choose for me to spend my time updating the web pages, or we can choose to spend my time creating new technologies that benefit the laser world at large. In general, we choose the latter...

The PDF file I pointed to has been our LC-MAX literature for several years and the scene you see there with the textured pyramid, and shaded sphere with shadow cast by the pyramid was our very demo of the capability in September of 2002. That scene is, in fact, animated, and I have shown it along with the real time capability at past Photon Lexicon meetings. I am sure Buffo and others will back me up on it...

As for object or sub-object, no problem. Our LC-MAX plug-in has a modifier with which the user can assign various properties to sub-objects. You can choose any shading scheme for sub-objects, just like you can for whole objects or the whole scene if you wish. But obviously once you figure out the math do to a whole scene, it's easy to apply this to a sub-object or vice-versa.

As for demo ILDA files, I barely see the point. It seems that they would only be used to reverse-engineer our technique rather than prove that we have a capability. People at Photon Lexicon have seen our LC-MAX plug-in with shading, shadows and textures in the past, working in real time, so they can verify for you that yes, indeed, we have it, and it works.

As for any other use of "demo ILDA frames", I really feel like we have nothing to prove. You can either choose to believe that we have this capability, or not. It's really your choice. Or you can come to a Photon Lexicon meeting and see it working for yourself. Or I suppose, lastly, you could simply buy an LD2000 system and -- how about this -- I will give you the BEYOND Solid Modeling program for free . I had considered releasing this to LD2000 users pretty soon anyway.

Bill

[Stuka]

.....

Or I suppose, lastly, you could simply buy an LD2000 system and -- how about this -- I will give you the BEYOND Solid Modeling program for free . I had considered releasing this to LD2000 users pretty soon anyway.

Bill

Where do we sign up?

[decix]

That's great news Bill!
Btw... I've been busy trying out all the features of my newly acquired LD2000 Basic system.
Here's a video of an animation created with the C4D-Renderer. No shading used but the possibilities are endless. Great stuff!

Regards... Andreas

[Pangolin]

@decix: Nice work! By the way, shading is just a single mouse click away. You will find a drop down list box in the "color" section that allows you to choose "Light shading" for the whole scene, or you can add what C4D calls a "Tag" plug-in and control it on an object-by-object basis. It's all pretty easy...

Others: Note that the C4D plug-in that decix is talking about is FREE with the BASIC or PRO version of LD2000.

Bill

[drlava]

Bill, from my previous post I think you can see where I was coming from, and why it appeared things were in this state from your site. EDIT: also, I'm surprised none of the people who went to SELEM and saw your demo and posted in this thread corrected this.

I doubt posting an ild, raw points, would allow reverse engineering of your rendering technique, but it would help to show, to those that don't have your soft and haven't been able to attend a SELEM, what your max converter can do. Again, the lack of such examples are one of the things that led to the original conclusion.

If anything I hope this thread helps those using anyone's software to see some more benefit in shading and colorizing objects using light. After all, better lasershows are what we are all after right!

[James Lehman]

Hey drlava,

How does it feel to make something nice for everyone and see it turned into yet another Pangolin advertisement?

You know, if you were cool and part of the "in crowd", you'd know that you shouldn't waste your time being creative or thinking for yourself.

James.

[drlava]

I started this based partly on their outdated website, so I take the blame if it seems like an ad now

It IS impressive how many things they have worked on, but that doesn't mean us little guys with little pockets can't have fun as well. That's the point of this, the audio DAC, laserboy, spaghetti, LFI Player, Zoof's games, etc to me! Having fun while lowering barriers to entry.

[thesk8nmidget]

and i applaud all who have been a part of making it possible!

[James Lehman]

I know a little bit of the how-to in drlava's approach to getting 24-bit color into his 3D CAD renderings and I still think it is a revolutionary idea that must have useful applications in other places as well.

No matter what, he has added something original and significant to the art of laser display.

James.

[Pangolin]

How does it feel to make something nice for everyone and see it turned into yet another Pangolin advertisement?

You know, if you were cool and part of the "in crowd", you'd know that you shouldn't waste your time being creative or thinking for yourself.

I actually appreciate Dr. Lava's approach in saying "to my knowledge, this is the first". In the past, I have seen people simply assume that they were the first and make a blatent and non-qualified statements to the point, and then, when they were proven wrong, make a zillion posts to defend why they were actually right all along.

Pangolin has been in this field for a long time, and we have some of the brightest people on our staff. When it comes to controlling a laser beam, there isn't much that we haven't done or explored ourselves, but we will never claim that we know everything, or that there is nothing new to invent (as was actually claimed by another ILDA Career Achievement Award receipient in the past)... As a point, I will say that in fact, Yadda has done some interesting things in the past which we have not yet explored. I am sure there are others, and I am sure there will be others to come.

I applaud anyone doing their best and contributing to this field. It has nothing to do with the "in-crowd" as, apparently, James thinks...

@Dr. Lava, since Buffo has not yet posted in this forum, I assume it is simply because he is too busy or something like that. I have shown our system at several PL gatherings, and it could be that my posting here will be a reminder to them, and that they will now pipe-up about it...

Bill