Fb3 worth it?

[White-Light]

Dig deep Chris and you'll find things to surprise you like attenuation mapping for 32 individual projectors.

It looks very simple but has a very complex underbelly.

First time I saw it I felt underwhelmed but when I dug deeper, I started to find the hidden features which really took it ot another level.

[Pangolin]

I'm guessing it's either a common thing used across all FB3 software whicvh means potential changes to each software product or something native to the hardware itself, so perhaps rectified (if possible) via a firmware update.

The problem has nothing to do with hardware. It's only software. We've done an experiment to prove it...

This will realy take only a minor software change, but aside from a handful of people on PL, the rest of the thousands of FB3 users are not complaining... So we have to prioritize our efforts.

Up until now, we've concentrated our efforts on something that would appease the rest of the thousands of users. That's what QuickShow is all about. In the mean time, we have done tests and had internal discussions about what software changes will be needed in order to improve "brightness". We'll be getting to that, but there are still a few parts of QuickShow that we'd like to shore up first. There is also continued work being done on the workspace itself.

Bill

[JoJo]

Bill mentioned the reason for this: Chinese laser drivers that allow the laser to run at full intensity if the modulation input is unconnected. That modulation line should not float. But on a lot of Chinese drivers (especially TTL drivers) it does float, thus with no signal applied the laser is ON.

This is in violation of the ILDA spec. It's not Pangolin's fault. (Note that the same thing will happen if you yank the USB cable out of an Easylase USB controller.)

Just a small correction (Sorry but I haven't read this earlier):
If you yank the USB cable out of an Easylase USB controller, the actual frame will be repeated endless.
If your SOFTWARE outputs a static beam, yes, this beam will be output endless.
(EasyLase 1 will not ask what pattern you output).

If you yank the USB cable out of the new EasyLase II, outputs will shut down.
After reconnect, output will continue.

Naturally, every hardware or software may lock up due to different reasons.
But this is not the normal operating condition.

Joachim

[buffo]

This is interesting... Has this always been the case, Joachim? Because I've seen a static beam coming out of an Easylase USB controller after the USB cable was removed at a Laser Enthusiast's Meeting back in 2007. The scanners stopped moving, but the lasers stayed on at full power.

Adam

[drlava]

This is interesting... Has this always been the case, Joachim? Because I've seen a static beam coming out of an Easylase USB controller after the ILDA cable was removed at a Laser Enthusiast's Meeting back in 2007. The scanners stopped moving, but the lasers stayed on at full power.

Adam

Yes, I can confirm what Joachim says. But this does not conflict with what you saw "I've seen a static beam coming out of an Easylase USB controller after the ILDA cable was removed" while that IS pretty amazing, I'll assume it's coming out of the projector and in that case it's the lasers fault for defaulting hot on an open circuit. the same thing would happen if the ilda cable was unplugged from a QM2000 with the same projector.

[buffo]

Sorry Andrew, I meant to say the USB cable was unplugged, not the ILDA cable. (Original post edited to reflect this.)

Adam

[Pangolin]

Just a few dumb points here:

1. When you physically unplug the USB cable from an FB3, most often you are also physically removing power from the FB3 as well. If you continue to get light out of the projector after physically removing power, then it is the fault of the laser (i.e. TTL lasers that float high) not the FB3.

2. For those FB3s that are powered separately from the USB cable, if you physically remove the USB cable, laser output will be terminated immediately, because -- unlike all other USB laser controllers we are aware of -- the FB3 doesn't have any native memory. It requires a constant stream of points coming from the PC in order to generate laser output. The moment that the constant stream stops, laser output also stops.

Best regards,

William Benner

[JoJo]

Adam, this should be not the normal case.
I think that the EasyLase hang up in the moment you have unplugged USB.
Normally, EasyLase should repeat the complete last frame.
The new EasyLase II can be powered from the USB cable also. So power will be off when USB cable is removed. External powersupply is only necessary if USB power is not enough, for example when using the opto isolated DMX interface of EasyLase II.

Hot plugging should never be done with laser equipment, while all is powered on.
Different power and ground levels at PC, interface and projectors can cause strange effects.
I remember the day when I blew the blanking line of an old QM32 just by connecting the ILDA cable.
From that time, I always tell everybody NOT to connect a 50m ILDA-cable from a running projector to an interface - what kind of interface ever.

The only way to get rid of all such problems is to use network, for example mount our Netlase card directly into the projector.

Joachim

[norty303]

Dig deep Chris and you'll find things to surprise you like attenuation mapping for 32 individual projectors.

But to be fair, they don't actually work yet.

[Pangolin]

But to be fair, they don't actually work yet.

That's not a very nice Jab Norty... Your comment really didn't add anything to the conversation as to whether FB3 is "worth it" or not...

By the way, BAMs do work -- they just don't work on the version you are using right now.

We do have a newer version that has much higher power output for beams (high enough to burn holes in walls according to one customer), faster loading and saving, better ability to work in "tight" computers with barely enough memory, and saving of MIDI parameters (a bugaboo Norty forgot to mention in his post above) among other improvements.

If anyone is interested, contact us directly through email and we'll get you a pre-release.

Bill