Pangolin's AutoPlay suggestions: post here

[andyf97]

If I recall, you downloads the SDK and autoplay is there in a folder and its well documented and easy to modify to suite. There are some custom controls in there that might give you some trouble as I think to use them in design you need a licence. Best is to remove everything that is not VB or Pangolin.

[Peter]

Hey,

When i bought the LD2000-intro package a few years ago i was, and still am, very disappointed in the capabilities of autoplay.

I do not have livepro; the only thing i want to do is to playback more than one pre-programmed lasershows with the system.
So i had to buy Laserlight Showcontrol to do this, because of the few functions in autoplay. So i had to invest another few hundred dollars for Showcontrol, just to make the system work as a system that can play more than one show right after each other. The latest version of Showcontrol costs about 1,000 Euros, thats about 1,200 dollars, almost the price of a brand new LD2000 package!

I cant follow Bills thoughts about his posts.
Pangolin can even MAKE MONEY out of a better autoplayer, instead of promoting another company. My money went to another company instead of paying (a part of) the salary of Pangolin workers.

Regarding the number of viewers who are following this topic (270 up to today) there must be more people out there who are interested in a better version of autoplay!

LiveController in Showtime is followed by LivePRO, why not a professional version of Autoplay, AutoplayPRO for instance?

For free or even after payment, im one of the first who is willing to use it, because autoplay is out of date for a long time....

Bill, please listen to your users! You also have admit that the LD2000 software is also written for professionals and not only for simple-minded-people.

And last but not least; even a Ferarri has to be tuned every few years. New oil, other tyres, another tail.
Dont look Beyond your software, but review your existing software.

Peter.

[Pangolin]

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the comments. I didn't mention it up until now, but in fact there are new features in AutoPlay for LD2000 version 5.0.

Still and yet -- it is Pangolin users who we are listening to, and users who purcahse a lot of systems for installations in shopping malls, airports, amusement parks, etc. It was those Pangolin Users who have told us not to make AutoPlay too complicated. It was those Pangolin users who told us that they themselves would not purchase something as complex as Laserlight Showcontrol. In any event, I hope you can appreciate that we have been listening to Pangolin users!

For people who need something more sophisticated, there are other options, as I said before. There is Laserlight Showcontrol which you thought enough of to actually buy yourself. And there is yet another player coming which I believe will be more suitable for you.

One point that I will make is that we can't please everyone. Our success in the market means that we have pleased a lot of people, but I admit certainly not everyone can be 100% happy with every feature of Pangolin. But to do so would be impossible. For example, I use the Microsoft Office Suite, and I am pretty happy with it, but I am not 100% happy with every single feature in the package...

Nevertheless, we do offer the capability to extend our programs insomuch as the LD2000 SDK -- an SDK which was the very first in the industry, and also one which is being used right at this very moment by a PL member to make an autoplay alternative -- for free -- just for you.

So, although Pangolin, as a company, can't be all things to all people, hopefully we provide pretty good tool set for most people, and with our SDK we make it possible for people to make tools to fill in the holes.

As a final point, as far as I know, we have the largest number of developers of any laser software company (if I haven't mis-counted, 5 full-time developers and 3 part-time developers), and yet there are never enough hours in the day to work on new software and also improve the existing software. I've reached out in other PL forum posts, but if there are talented programmers out there with free time, I'm sure we can put you to good use!

Best regards,

William Benner

[buffo]

the only thing i want to do is to playback more than one pre-programmed lasershows with the system.
So i had to buy Laserlight Showcontrol to do this, because of the few functions in autoplay.

Which functions, exactly, didn't it have? Because I've used AutoPlay and it works quite well. If all you want to do is playback a bunch of shows, well, that's exactly what AutoPlay does.

There must have been some other feature that you needed - one that Autoplay didn't have. What was it?

Adam

[Peter]

Hi Adam,

During playback at parties, clubs, bars, or even shopping malls, its kind of a death sin to hear no music.
Its an absolutely must to have no loading delays between shows,
specially when you have to load a big ILDA graphic show with lots of MB, the audiance will look around, and at you, if there is something wrong or broken. The show must go on!

This loading-shows-without-delays should be an absolutely must for a autoplayer and Showcontrol has it. This was for me the key function of buying it. Even searching for the right show on your harddisk is much easier then with Autoplay itself. And it has support for projection zones too.

This topic opener pointed out exactly what has to be improved on Autoplay.
But hey, at the end a CEO will decide if something is changing or not, not we.

Here the link with the other functions:
http://www.laserlight.de/software/sh...l/info_eb.html

And here (right side):
(Please read the line in the gray area that has the '!' sign at the end, im not the only one.)
http://www.laserlight.de/software/sh...rol/index.html

And the link for download of an old version:
http://www.laserlight.de/software/sh....html#Download



P.

[Pangolin]

As I wrote, version 5.0 of autoplay does have some differences.

the Laser Preview Window is never enabled automatically during startup of AutoPlay. It would be nice if this setting is stored is some INI file.

OK, this is done in the latest version.

The time of output of the next show is depending of the loading time of that next show. This because it's loading a show right after the previous one. Is it possible to load the up coming show already, during playback of the current one? This will eliminate nasty pause moments between shows.

Similar to what Peter wrote below.

This loading-shows-without-delays should be an absolutely must for a autoplayer and Showcontrol has it.

OK, I am working on that now. Please send me a private email so that I can send you a version to test. I think it will be different from Laserlight Showcontrol. But in fact, with changes made in 4.50 and now 5.0, AutoPlay has most of the nice features that Laserlight Showcontrol has (while still trying to keep it simple).

Bill

[decix]

How about 2 modes? Novice and expert.
Switching to expert mode requires password.
This way you could incorporate feature requests from all users, less experienced and professionals.

[allthatwhichis]

I must make a comment...

I love AutoPlay. It is perfect for loading a series of shows and just watching. All you have to do is load the shows and be sure to check the "link to next show" box and hit play. Be sure to have your beverage made and a comfortable seat. I use AutoPlay daily if I am not actively making a show. One of the best features of the LD2000 package in my opinion.

Don't pay to put more features into AutoPlay; pay someone to make more shows.

[Pangolin]

I must make a comment...

I love AutoPlay. It is perfect for loading a series of shows and just watching. All you have to do is load the shows and be sure to check the "link to next show" box and hit play. Be sure to have your beverage made and a comfortable seat. I use AutoPlay daily if I am not actively making a show. One of the best features of the LD2000 package in my opinion.

Hi Allthat,

Thanks for the comment. In general, we agree. We have gotten a lot lot lot of positive feedback about Autoplay being a simple program with simple concepts, and only a few complaints that it isn't powerful enough.

Over the years, we have added power to it. I think there was a big leap forward in 4.50 (or was it in between 4.5 and 5.0, I can't remember) and taking more steps forward with 5.0, and yet still keeping it simple.

Don't pay to put more features into AutoPlay; pay someone to make more shows.

Well, exactly. That's what's been missing from this discussion. Do we stop what we are doing and implement so-called professional features in AutoPlay, only to hide those features with passwords and other layers, or do we spend our time on other things, such as shows, show portals, and improvements in other areas where we know will make a bigger impact?

Decix, take a look at your logo. Remember the software that you used to create it? What if LC4D didn't exist? Would you rather trade LC4D for the AutoPlay of your dreams?

We need to balance our efforts and spend time where it seems to have the greatest impact for the greatest number of people. We receive literally over 100 emails per day from clients telling us what they want. Aside from this thread, I honestly can't even remember the last email that came in with an AutoPlay request...

To me, it's not bad to have "options", and that's what LD2000 users have... One option is Laserlight ShowControl. Another option will be coming soon from a PL member. And yet another option is a kind of do-it-yourself option of molding AutoPlay as anyone sees fit using our SDK. These are three great options!

I think there's nothing wrong with helping other people to create their own show players and software add-ons rather than us trying to be all things to all people. In fact, that's what we did with Patrick Dietzel. WE HELPED HIM CREATE LASERLIGHT SHOWCONTROL!! We're also helping another PL member to create another player. In the end it's good for the whole community. People are working on what interests them, and in the mean time, we continue to work on areas that satisfy the 100 emails per day...

At SELEM we'll bring our latest and greatest and then everyone will see where we've been spending the bulk of our time .

In any event Autoplay is progressing with 5.0... Thanks to everyone for the feedback.

Bill

[mccarrot]

Originally Posted by Peter This loading-shows-without-delays should be an absolutely must for a autoplayer and Showcontrol has it.

OK, I am working on that now. Please send me a private email so that I can send you a version to test. I think it will be different from Laserlight Showcontrol. But in fact, with changes made in 4.50 and now 5.0, AutoPlay has most of the nice features that Laserlight Showcontrol has (while still trying to keep it simple).l

GREAT!, I'm willing to wait "just an extra week" for this