ScannerMax Saturn 1 & DSP Amp Video

Pangolin have just posted a video of the Saturn 1's (3mm mirror) and DSP Amp running at Photonics West.

Highlights are:

1. Saturn 1's have been running at 120K (!) albeit at a very small, probably unusable for most applications, angle.

2. DSP Software screens shot revealed and functions include:

i. Ability to save multiple speed tunings in the software eg 30K, 60k, 90K and switch between them as needed at the click of a mouse

ii. Built in Oscilloscope function

iii. Built in Function Generator

iv. Built in Dynamic Signal Analyser

It also has to be said the displayed text from the laser is amazingly clean and sharp, at least to my eyes. Speed is said to be 60K wide angle.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAlDQnbnMWQ#t=121

I really do think that the way things are going, Pango really is going to make all other scanners obsolete in pretty short order.

FLEM is two weeks away and Bill will be there so, I suspect it's going to be an extremely interesting weekend! Can't wait! :)

I feel like making a 60kpps show right now.

Awesome video. This is great stuff!

I wonder if there will be plans to have a plugin to tune your amps right from Beyond.

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I wonder if there will be plans to have a plugin to tune your amps right from Beyond.

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Or dynamic real time adjustment based on content

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Originally Posted by loopee

Or dynamic real time adjustment based on content

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Even better! The would be great for those who are in the Pango sphere.

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Originally Posted by Bradfo69

I really do think that the way things are going, Pango really is going to make all other scanners obsolete in pretty short order.

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Well the frightening thing about this is if you can control the scanners without a DAC, then whatever price you pay for the scanners, is effectively that price minus the saving you make from not buying the DAC but just the software (I'm assuming there will be a discount, there's a slight chance with Pangolin's free upgrades policy they'll have to maintain pricing). So if eg (complete guess on prices), the scanners cost $1500 and a Beyond 1 projector software only licence costs $500 instead of $600 for the hardware version, then the scanners effectively only cost you $1,400, making them effectively cheaper still!

Multi-projecting just became cheaper and with switch-able tuning, more flexible. Great advance forwards in technology.

What are you on about?

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Originally Posted by White-Light

Well the frightening thing about this is if you can control the scanners without a DAC, then whatever price you pay for the scanners, is effectively that price minus the saving you make from not buying the DAC but just the software (I'm assuming there will be a discount, there's a slight chance with Pangolin's free upgrades policy they'll have to maintain pricing). So if eg (complete guess on prices), the scanners cost $1500 and a Beyond 1 projector software only licence costs $500 instead of $600 for the hardware version, then the scanners effectively only cost you $1,400, making them effectively cheaper still!

Multi-projecting just became cheaper and with switch-able tuning, more flexible. Great advance forwards in technology.

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I think what Al is trying to say is that Bill has intimated (on a thread here) that they're looking at a proprietary digital control system, keeping all control in the digital domain, so you can plug your computer directly to the projector in some way. Obviously it'll need to handle the colour signals too, but its an interesting idea, particularly if it deals with multiple independant 'heads' like DMX.

Yeah thanks Norty.

In another thread Dave, Bill said that the new Digital amp will probably allow the scanners to be connected directly to the software in the future without the need for a DAC.

"And we've already got hooks in there for our FB4 to communicate directly with this."

Hi folks, thanks for the comments!

Regarding "tune from BEYOND", we haven't really thought about that. We have the separate program (shown on that video) for that, and keeping it separate is fine I think.

Regarding "dynamic tuning", we HAVE thought of that and some industrial clients actually do that (for example, one tuning for the raster portion of a logo, and a separate for vector parts when doing laser marking) but I am really hoping that will not be needed. We have nonlinear correction tables built into the software (which are fully editable by the user) and so my hope is that a single tuning will cover substantially all circumstances for a single show scenario.

HOWEVER, there are "multiple show scenarios" where multiple tunings will be handy. For example, I was talking with the folks from AVI who have 20 years worth of older, 30K shows that can't be edited since they are on ADAT tape. Playing them with 60K scanners makes everything look hot-dotty. So our software has four, instantly-accessible tunings. I showed this to Planters. Literally one single click and now you're operating at 30K. (And it really is a completely separate tuning, not just a filter put in front of the 60K scanners as has been done before.)

Regarding "direct connect", this is something I am still contemplating. With the amp itself being connectable to a PC via USB port (or via high speed serial port to another processor), it means that there is really no strict need for a QM2000, FB3, FB4 or anything else. You can just send data directly to the amp and it will scan the data. I think initially we will use this for test patterns and custom waveforms, but there will certainly come a time when people will take advantage of this direct, digital connection and bypass the D/A -> A/D process.

Bill

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Originally Posted by Pangolin

it means that there is really no strict need for a QM2000, FB3, FB4 or anything else. You can just send data directly to the amp and it will scan the data. I think initially we will use this for test patterns and custom waveforms, but there will certainly come a time when people will take advantage of this direct, digital connection and bypass the D/A -> A/D process.

Bill

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Maybe that's easily imaginable for the scanner control but we were wondering about laser color signals?
As I believe it won't be anytime soon that all laser drivers will have a direct digital modulation input instead of the analog one... and if that happens, it would be mandatory to use a single standard for that control. That's no problem for scanners as you are manufacturing both amp and software, but there is plenty of laser manufacturers "out of control".

Good question! Our Mach DSP amp has six analog outputs too, fed from an on-board D/A which is synchronized with the sample outputs going to the current amplifiers. Right now those six analog outputs can select six separate "scope test points", so internal states and values within the algorithm can be output and monitored by an oscilloscope. But in the scenario where data is being directly fed to the amp, those can be used for color outputs. There are also two optically isolated inputs and outputs. One of the outputs can be used as the shutter output, so just this one single amp could, one day, serve as both the laser controller and servo driver for the scanners.

Bill

As simple as it can be ;) Great one! Future seems exciting. Can't wait PLS Frankfurt to discuss about this and see a real demonstration of the existing setup.

Also the must would be some network connectivity to directly control the amp+color outputs, i.e. a ethernet/digital converter...

And out of interest, what is the timing resolution of the onboard D/A?

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Originally Posted by loopee

Or dynamic real time adjustment based on content

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Dont think this would be a good option personally. It will cripple the majority of shows that aren't ment to be exactly looking as their on display illustration.
On top of this it would require recognition of sorts where to ramp up gain and where not. Could be resolved If the drawings are exactly made with a lot of points so the system can easly translate that but you'd severly cripple show programming techniques (aka not good).

Bill if you are going to implement this feature please do give the option to turn dynamic tuning off.
The Dynamic tuning however would be favourable when switching from pure raster to none raster.
Perhaps just implement a seperate setup tab for raster and then in BEYOND that you can mark a frame block as a raster (which then lets it pick that particular tuning for that particular frame block during a show).

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Originally Posted by masterpj

Dont think this would be a good option personally. It will cripple the majority of shows that aren't ment to be exactly looking as their on display illustration.

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It seems to me the best way to implement this would be a manual speed setting in the cue itself. That way if you have a cue that needs to be scanned faster or slower, you can set it in the cues setting and it applies irrespective of whether it's used in Live Play or time line playback.

The only issue I see with this is there needs to be a safety system whereby the cue cannot override the maximum scan speed setting in the master scan speed control found in the Beyond Projector settings menu.

Maybe what's needed is another setting slider in the settings menu so you have a normal scan speed and a maximum scan speed setting. This would ensure cues normally ran at the normal scan speed setting unless the cue was set to a different speed, in which case it would run at the different speed up to the max setting in the master control ie. If the cue had 60K set but the max control in the projector settings menu was 40K, it would be capped at 40K. That way you could stop shared cues / shows etc from damaging scanners, well at least if the angles used were reasonable. Obviously if scanners were at max angle at the default speed, then no amount of speed cap would prevent over driving, but the operator has to assume some responsibility somewhere. The advice would have to be always set your scanners to their maximum angle at the max speed not the default speed.

Another thing that could be done to minimise issues, is to actually have the ability to turn the dynamic system off in the Projector settings - so Max speed slider greyed out and cues non dynamic unless system specifically enabled via a check box. I would suggest the default state would be "off" although any change in setting would have permanence.

It would also be useful if the cue itself actually had a set speed indicator on it (maybe eg a small 60, 50, 40 ,30 etc in the top corner)?

I don't know if this can be done but the enhanced reality view could also mimic the scanning speed so you actually see how much flicker a frame has. It would be based on parameters set by the type of scanner you have.

Looking majorly to getting my hands on these drivers!

BTW: Bill you've outdone yourself on this one!