The LaserBoy Thread

There is a new experimental version of LaserBoy here:

https://laserboy.org/code/LaserBoy_2022_11_23.zip

I have not yet begun the work of documenting all of the new capabilities of this version. This is for those who want to try it out and possibly make comments about its use and functionality.

The major focus of this release is vector font rendering any characters from the Unicode character set from utf8 encoded ascii text files (with specific instructions).

This version introduces a new file type and sub-directory to go with it called utf8.

There are new LaserBoy ascii text directive that facilitate the management of character sets outside of the standard ascii single byte characters from 33 to 127 aka

!"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~

At first I thought of using a utf8 encoded ascii file as an index into a font frame set. I developed the tools necessary to manage that. Then I realized that ilda frames have 8 (ascii) character names for each frame and that 8 characters is exactly the number required to represent any 32 bit hexadecimal value (Unicode character identification) from 00000000 to ffffffff. So now there is a system to examine a block of utf8 text and distill a character set, import character lists to set the Unicode names of every frame in a font, export the character list from the frames of a font, compare one set of Unicode characters to another and generate all of the extended characters that are composed of the regular ascii base letters and diacritic marks used in all kinds of non-English text based on the Latin Alphabet. When a font is used by a LaserBoy text script, the names of each frame are used to identify each glyph. So the order of the frames is no longer relevant. If the frame names are found to not be correctly set to Unicode values, then the default assumption is to index the frame_set as the first 94 glyphs of standard ascii (like it has for over a decade).

I also added a new dxf import option that works with Inkscape. In Inkscape it is possible to drop a text cursor and place truetype font into a CAD drawing. This text can then be converted into a tool path and saved as dxf. LaserBoy can open that dxf and extract each individual glyph to make a font set.

This version comes with a bunch of new fonts in ./LaserBoy/ild/fonts and two new text files, new.txt and compose.txt.

The application has new menu options.

Please check it out and ask questions!

assuming that i'm projecting a single frame in a ping pong style (first point to last point and then last point back to first point) is there a way in laserboy to generate the optimized point sequence between the last and first point?

That's actually part of the optimization process. In LB, I call that wagging (like a dog's tail). There is a setting for the maximum time an image can be drawn this way. Anything over that just gets drawn first to last vertex, then blanked path back to first, etc...

If you want to experiment with this, the backwards pass through the vertices is actually a "bridge" element and can be seen (after optimization) by turning on that visual element in [Tab], menu 1.

But, if a bridge is the whole frame scanned backwards, the only way to see that is by showing the vertex order in the Z axis and rotating the camera view away from straight on into the front of the cube. Then you can clearly see that the frame is scanned forward and backwards. This is also a switch in [Tab] menu 1.

The bridge is saved in wav files as a standard part of optimization. Dean requested the ability to save the bridge with a single ilda frame.

The bridge is an element not typically found in an ilda file. It is the path from the last vertex of a frame back to the first (of the same frame) for the purpose of repeating the frame scan. So the bridge might be just a blanked line or it might be the whole frame backwards.

Let me know if you have questions.

thanks!

so, when i try to parse LB ild files, i get an issue due to the palette entries in the file. how do i save them so they're not using palettes?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by james

That's actually part of the optimization process. In LB, I call that wagging (like a dog's tail). There is a setting for the maximum time an image can be drawn this way. Anything over that just gets drawn first to last vertex, then blanked path back to first, etc...

If you want to experiment with this, the backwards pass through the vertices is actually a "bridge" element and can be seen (after optimization) by turning on that visual element in [Tab], menu 1.

But, if a bridge is the whole frame scanned backwards, the only way to see that is by showing the vertex order in the Z axis and rotating the camera view away from straight on into the front of the cube. Then you can clearly see that the frame is scanned forward and backwards. This is also a switch in [Tab] menu 1.

The bridge is saved in wav files as a standard part of optimization. Dean requested the ability to save the bridge with a single ilda frame.

The bridge is an element not typically found in an ilda file. It is the path from the last vertex of a frame back to the first (of the same frame) for the purpose of repeating the frame scan. So the bridge might be just a blanked line or it might be the whole frame backwards.

Let me know if you have questions.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by swamidog

thanks!

so, when i try to parse LB ild files, i get an issue due to the palette entries in the file. how do i save them so they're not using palettes?

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In menu c you can see the pallet of the current frame (or 24-bit). The pallet to the right of that is the target pallet. You can do a best match to the default pallet of 63 colors. If no other palette is used, the default palette is not saved in an ilda file. The up and down arrow keys change the target pallet. Another option is to chose to save the ilda file as format 4 or 5, that has no pallet.

thank you. changing ilda formats did the trick.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by james

In menu c you can see that pallet of the current frame (or 24-bit). The pallet to the right of that is the target pallet. You can do a best match to the default pallet of 63 colors. The up and down arrow keys change the target pallet. Another option is to chose to save the ilda file as format 4 or 5, that has no pallet.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by swamidog

thank you. changing ilda formats did the trick.

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No problem. I hope you are able to make what you want.

Attachment 59929
Hyperfocus (It's a thing)
James Lehman 2023
48x36 inch acrylic on canvas

Quote:

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Originally Posted by james

Attachment 59929
Hyperfocus (It's a thing)
James Lehman 2023
48x36 inch acrylic on canvas

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That's interesting.

Attachment 60023
Brain Hug
James Lehman 2023
48x36 inch acrylic on canvas