Planetarium Laser shows can't be found

[laserist]

The best live shows (and I'm talking about shows not a single song, montage, or whatever other definition others have) were almost never entirely live. There's just too much to do. Back in 1973 it took 4 people to do Danube. Somebody designed a digital analog hybred circuit board that when combined with a multiplexer/multiplier board, a multiplier summing board, an offset generator board, a fixed rotation board, and 160 bit automation channel could run by itself. The trick is deciding what should be done meta, what should be done live, and how to design both aspects.

[flecom]

we don't even have a science museum at the moment here in miami, no laser shows in over a year

[Laserchuck]

Here's a few points of perspective to consider...

Yes, planetariums are horrible at marketing...along with a variety of other decisions. Even though there are many other things people are interested in doing, if you get the word out properly, you can still pack the house. It is but one aspect of the equation. I disagree with the idea that people aren't interested in space, the people that are will self select, but they have to know there is something there worth seeing. The fact that planetariums offer so much more than just the night sky (like being able to fly around the whole universe) and so many people don't realize this, is excellent proof that they aren't getting the word out.

In addition to contributing to the performance of a show, the Laserist often had the job of liaison between the company and the facility, helping to smooth over relations and keep everyone happy. They had a vested interest in the success of the operation, and were often a point man for marketing. As a Laserist for AVI, I didn't have to work all the deals with the radio station, but I was expected to perform "hand to hand combat" as they called it, which was to go around town distributing flyers for the shows. If you have lasers in your town, tell me the last time any of you saw a flyer anywhere for a show.

As for the shows themselves, in the mid 90's AVI had the ChromaDepth 3D shows, which like other companies used multiple scanner pairs (4 compared to 5 for LFI). Each set had various FX that could be engaged. The 3D was interesting, but 3D is also a marketing gimmick, which I won't get into now. The Laserist had varying amount of control over the shows. Some had full control over the FX and some image manipulation for assigning scale, offset, joystick, rotation and channel assignments for all that fun mirroring and quadrature stuff, while others only had intensity and colormod. The Laserist could make or break a show. I've seen incredible work, and I've seen performances that were absolute turds. As more things became automated, timing and consistency increased. Eventually things switched to Omniscan, the shows were simply "push play" and the Laserist went away. There were still some limited FX. Instead of any rotating lumia or DG and 6 FX per scan set, there were 2 wheels each with 5 options that could be used in dreadful combinations over 1 scanner pair. Sure, it was big and awesome and covered the whole dome, and I loved producing in that format, but wait...it gets worse. Now when you see a show from AVI, it may be on a SkyLase, which as far as I am aware still has no FX. Some were only red and green, but blue is back for the newer ones. And when I see work that I produced for them and they've not even bothered to go back in and take out the slowly rotating dots near the horizon where static lumia once sat, it is just pathetic...or apathetic I suppose.

There also used to be 3 classically trained animators on staff doing minimum 10fps, 3 digitizers putting all those frames into sequence, and 5 producers each working on their own portion of the show, maybe even a couple people who's sole purpose in life was to patch abstracts. So with all the above, it's really hard to compare much of then to now. I'm not going to go on full rant mode of how bad some content is these days, but it can be a lot better. So can my work. I've got a running list of things that bother me, some technical, some aesthetic, and I'm damn tired of seeing rendered dancing people. Some people take things way too literally, like clutching nuts in Pink Floyd's "Mother" so I guess when mister laserist here says to make the lights dance, someone takes that literally too and we get song after song of 3dsMax dancing people.

[flecom]

someone takes that literally too and we get song after song of 3dsMax dancing people.

shots fired lol

anyway setting the bar high is great, but if there's no shows at all nobody really cares

[absolom7691]

That's like saying DJs make bands obsolete and it isn't true.

But there is a huge difference in talent and pay. ands can play anything whereas DJs can only play what's in their library and any monkey can DJ a party. "Live" Spinning DJs are still a live performance and that takes a bit of talent.

[absolom7691]

The best live shows (and I'm talking about shows not a single song, montage, or whatever other definition others have) were almost never entirely live. There's just too much to do. Back in 1973 it took 4 people to do Danube. Somebody designed a digital analog hybred circuit board that when combined with a multiplexer/multiplier board, a multiplier summing board, an offset generator board, a fixed rotation board, and 160 bit automation channel could run by itself. The trick is deciding what should be done meta, what should be done live, and how to design both aspects.

But even a canned show with live nuances and alterations is far better than someone pressing play and then going to grab a beer until the next show needs to be queued up.

[Laserchuck]

shots fired lol

anyway setting the bar high is great, but if there's no shows at all nobody really cares

A lot of things changed at the same time, the marketing models changed but the marketing didn't adapt. The shows, technology, staffing, responsibilities, style and complexity, music choices and more. Yes, we can argue all day long about who made the best buggy whips back in the day. But there are people actively employed in the field, selling equipment and shows. There are planetariums running these shows. If the audience isn't satisfied, they won't come back or bring their friends. In fact, the online culture of our times seems to thrive on people bitching more than actually contributing. So the likely hood of a cynical comment between friends is even greater than promoting something as cool. So if the show isn't worth seeing again or bringing friends, the attendance goes down and eventually not worth the facility having. Marketing is hard, but when they (typically) don't do any, it's even harder to keep an operation going.

[Laserchuck]

Another challenge is something I experienced close to (and I can't believe I'm saying this) 20 years ago in Kansas City. I was there to do some work in their planetarium, we were getting comp tickets to some Elvira 3D show. A nearby couple was considering what to see and I heard the young woman say something about not wanting to see the laser show.

So I went up to them and said "Hey, you guys know anything about the laser shows? Are they cool or what?"
Her: "I heard they weren't any good."
Me: "Oh have you seen them here?"
Her: "No, a friend of mine saw one in Branson and said it sucked."

My first thought was "my ILDA award winning shows were being judged based on what someone's friend saw in Branson, that bastion of entertainment." I did fess up to who I was / why I was there and suggest they give the laser shows a try for themselves. If I would have had passes I would have given them out. I don't know if they ever did.

When someone does a bad laser show it can affect the whole of the industry. For some reason people can make the distinction with film, and not pass on seeing Avatar because they didn't like Leonard Part 6. Don't know that one? Maybe I should pick a newer movie or even within the same theme, deciding to not watch the original Star Wars because their friend saw Flight of the Navigator and thought it sucked. Damn, still an old movie. Well, you get the idea. If not, go watch those movies and decide for yourself...at some point I enjoyed them.

If you want to keep with the pole vault metaphor, I'm really not even talking about setting the bar high. There is a whole spectrum of failures along the way that prevent even making it over the lower rungs. Tripping on the untied laces, not spiking the pole properly or even holding on to it. The availability and proliferation of low cost/quality technology allowing people to do shows where I've actually seen them on here in years past asking for help digitizing a logo because they had a gig that weekend...It made me scream because they were actually taking someone's money and reducing the overall quality of the medium. Bitching about the cost of $40 diode drivers, accepting the anything but linear blanking that these systems now offer, and the reuse of frames from obvious other sources. (are people still passing around the frames from The Traveler?)

And truly, for the hobbyists...I'm not here to rain on someone's interests. In a professional capacity, there is a lot to be learned from the mistakes and successes of the past. There were those who have done such bad jobs that the client swore off ever having lasers again. It isn't about just getting the technology or the art or the marketing right, it's all of it. You might be great at rebuilding that projector every time a new diode comes out. Personally, I just want it to work, I don't want to have to fight it to get it there. Several years ago at LDI I was absolutely thrilled to see the first 20W projectors at big booths with lots of photons. Finally real power and able to fit in the overhead compartment. I wanted to see what glorious imagery was possible, so what did I see? No joke, that old 3-frame hand shake was in the loop of crap playing. And yes, I heard comments about the art from non laser attendees who were used to having better quality animations in video. They looked at the poor attempts to do it in laser and shake their heads, probably thinking that was all it could do. It really doesn't take much to hire an animator. They are out there and probably needs some work.

So yes, there are some higher rungs and great possibilities, but there is a lot to get right just to make it to the lower bar at the first rung. The world will not lower its expectations to ensure your success.

[laserist]

But even a canned show with live nuances and alterations is far better than someone pressing play and then going to grab a beer until the next show needs to be queued up.

Oh don't get me wrong - I think the advantages of having a talented performer are huge if the system really supports live interaction, but most shows other than Laserium that I saw down through the years that claimed to be live either weren't or the "laserist" couldn't be bothered. A live show can go from crap to wonderful with a little or a lot of effort. A prerecorded crap show will be crap forever.

[absolom7691]

Oh don't get me wrong - I think the advantages of having a talented performer are huge if the system really supports live interaction, but most shows other than Laserium that I saw down through the years that claimed to be live either weren't or the "laserist" couldn't be bothered. A live show can go from crap to wonderful with a little or a lot of effort. A prerecorded crap show will be crap forever.

Exactly. If your canned show is not holding your audience, there is very that can be done. I would also think most laserists would find it a blast to perform a live show and if something went awry, not to fear, the autopilot will bring the stick back to center. It would have to be more fun than just clicking start.

Most of the shows I am working on in Beyond are canned/timeline based but a good portion of those pre-assembled abstract "frames" have live attributes applied and mapped to my midi console. FM, AM, and color mods can be manipulated live and change the image drastically while still within the harmonic bliss zone. Most of the modern canned abstract shows look decent enough but they would be way more unique if the laserist could make live changes. Outside of Laserium, I think if have only seen Blue Fang do live changes with his Maxwell synth software and he was just screwing around to show proof of concept. It looked great though.