File problem

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05-06-2018, 09:30
djeimi

1 Attachment(s)

File problem

Hello, everyone. I do not speak English well. I hope you understand me. I want to ask a question about an ILDA file I made myself with iShow.
The image is simple. The number 1 inserted in a circle. The figure is green and the circle is red. The laser, however, writes them white. Where is the problem ?
Attachment 54003Thanks in advance.
Hello, everyone. I do not speak English well. I hope you understand me. I want to ask a question about an ILDA file I made myself with iShow. The image is simple. The number 1 inserted in a circle. The figure is green and the circle is red. The laser, however, writes them white. Where is the problem ? Thanks in advance.
05-06-2018, 09:56
JohnYayas

In my software both the circle and number show up red.
05-06-2018, 11:50
djeimi

Strangely: Confused2:
05-06-2018, 12:12
JohnYayas

I checked into it some more. The file appears to be a valid Format 0 file and it is using colors 2 and 4 from the palette. There are two well known palettes, at least.
In one palette, which I call the default, 2 is (255,32,0) and 4 is (255,64,0) which are both mostly red.
In the other palette, that I call the ILDA palette, 2 is (255,0,0) (RED) and 4 is (0,255,0) GREEN. If I displayed it with the ILDA palette it would look as you say it should.
If the laser is showing them as white then it is because either your software or hardware is messed up. Not sure which it is.
05-06-2018, 20:04
djeimi

Exactly. The software shows them green and red. The hardware painted them white. I'm not sure what's wrong.
05-07-2018, 09:05
buffo

Sounds like you have your projector wired incorrectly. Did you assemble the projector yourself, or did you purchase it at retail?

If it is a home-made projector, check to be sure you have the red, green, and blue modulation signals connected correctly. Red + is on pin 5, Green + is on pin 6, and Blue + is on pin 7. The negative modulation leads from both the ILDA connector and the laser modules can all be tied to your DC ground.

In particular, if you accidentally connected any of your lasers to the intensity signal by accident (pin 3 on the ILDA connector), that will turn the laser on any time something is being displayed, no matter what color it should be.

If you are using a commercial projector, however, then it's unlikely to be a wiring issue in the projector. Rather, the problem must be a configuration issue in your software. Perhaps the Ishow software is set to monochrome when it should be on RGB? I've never used Ishow before, but that's about the only issue I can see that would cause different colors to appear white when projected.

Adam
05-07-2018, 13:04
dkumpula

Is there a line between the bottom of the "1" and the circle? If so, then you likely have a floating voltage problem that is causing all lasers to be stuck on. If so, that can often be fixed by grounding the ground lead of the PSU (assuming it isn't grounded already). Otherwise it might be indicative of a problem with one of the PSUs or other wiring problem.

If there is not a line from the bottom of the 1 and the circle, then I would follow the advice that JohnYayas and Buffo provided.

Finally, no insult intended, but iShow is widely considered a terribly limited and difficult software program by the users on this forum. We have many suggestions for alternatives that range from free to expensive with most in the middle somewhere.

-David
05-08-2018, 01:00
djeimi

Thanks for helping guys. I bought the laser, but it does not prevent me from opening it and looking at what is the state of the cables and how they are connected. Regarding the software, I will try to learn some other iShow program.
05-08-2018, 02:31
JohnYayas

Quote:

Originally Posted by djeimi

Thanks for helping guys. I bought the laser, but it does not prevent me from opening it and looking at what is the state of the cables and how they are connected. Regarding the software, I will try to learn some other iShow program.

Which version of iShow do you have? If you have version 1.3 or 2.3 I can give you a copy of Spaghetti to try out to see if the problem goes away.
05-08-2018, 04:26
djeimi

I dismounted the laser. Inside, everything looks right and properly connected.
05-08-2018, 06:28
djeimi

[QUOTE = JohnYayas; 343946] Коя версия на iShow имате? Ако имате версия 1.3 или 2.3, мога да ви дам копие от спагети, за да изпробвате дали проблемът изчезне. [/ QUOTE]
The iShow version is: 2.31
05-09-2018, 08:06
colouredmirrorball

1 Attachment(s)

In attachment are several ilda files. They're all the same content, but in different formats. They are the letters CMYRGB surrounded by a white rectangle. On a flawless system the letters in all files should have these colours:

C - Cyan (blue/green mix)
M - Magenta (blue/red mix)
Y - Yellow (red/green mix)
R - Red
G - Green
B - Blue
Rectangle - White (red/green/blue mix)

The file might not scan very well as it's generated by my own program and I haven't done much on scanner optimalisation. It should be safe to scan (no large jumps) but the letters might be distorted.

The trouble you're experiencing stems from the clusterfuck that is the history of storing colours in Ilda files. The old standards use a thing called a palette, which is a set of predefined colours. There are many kinds of palettes but it's easy to use the wrong one, which is probably the cause of your problems.

File overview:

- Format0-DefaultPalette: exported as format 0. This format is the most widely implemented format across all systems and is known to work with SD card projectors and old software. It uses the default 64 colour palette index that most systems agreed on.
- Format0-IldaPalette: again format 0. Same as before but the colour indices now refer to a colour in the Ilda standard 256 colour palette, that all systems should use as standard, but don't. There is no way for systems to know which palette is used for this file so results will be wrong most of the time. Some software asks which palette was used. Most don't and use the default 64 colour palette instead, so the colours in this file will be wrong. Some systems can only handle 64 colours and may even give an error.
- Format0-PaletteIncluded: has the 256 colour palette included in the file so there should be no doubt about which one is correct. I said should again, as most systems have no clue how to parse palettes and will crash on this file. Others might just ignore the palette and still use the default 64 colour palette.
- Format1-IldaPalette: uses the format 1, which is largely the same as format 0 (just 2D). Could be interesting to know if your system can handle these files. Also uses the Ilda standard 256 colour palette.
- Format 4: no palettes here. RGB values are stored for each point. Older systems (and systems written by lazy programmers) will not be able to parse this file. But if it works, this format is what you should use.
- Format 5: same as format 4, but 2D. Just another point of measurement.

Load these in one by one and report back with the results.

Attachment 54042
05-09-2018, 14:15
JohnYayas

Format 2 is the color palette that is included within the file. Format 0 and 1 can use it if specified, otherwise they use whatever the "default" is, which could be anything the developer decided to use.
Format 3 is similar to format 2 and was controversial enough to get people banned from the forum.
Spaghetti supports them all, btw.
05-09-2018, 15:08
james

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnYayas

Format 3 is similar to format 2 and was controversial enough to get people banned from the forum.

............. Really?
05-10-2018, 13:37
buffo

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnYayas

Format 3 is similar to format 2 and was controversial enough to get people banned from the forum.

Quote:

Originally Posted by james

... Really?

Well, for a little while anyway, right? :o

OK, maybe that wasn't the only reason. But you have to admit that Gary's joke was pretty darned funny regardless... *retardo

ColoredmirrorBall is on the right track though. Interested to see the results!

Adam
05-10-2018, 16:03
james

You can open all formats of ILDA in LaserBoy. If a frame is based on a palette as in format 0 or 1, and there is no format 2 preceding it, the default palette of 63 colors is assumed. If this is not correct, the ILDA standard palette of 255 colors in one of the palettes that is already compiled into the application. You can up or down arrow to find this palette and in the palette transforms menu, you can switch to this palette by index. That means that the color indices that are stored in the format 0 or 1 frame are left intact but the palette that the frame uses is swapped, index for index.
05-10-2018, 16:14
JohnYayas

Quote:

Originally Posted by james

You can open all formats of ILDA in LaserBoy. If a frame is based on a palette as in format 0 or 1, and there is no format 2 preceding it, the default palette of 63 colors is assumed. If this is not correct, the ILDA standard palette of 255 colors in one of the palettes that is already compiled into the application. You can up or down arrow to find this palette and in the palette transforms menu, you can switch to this palette by index. That means that the color indices that are stored in the format 0 or 1 frame are left intact but the palette that the frame uses is swapped, index for index.

All formats? You finally fixed your Format 3 implementation? Cool!
05-10-2018, 20:12
james

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnYayas

All formats? You finally fixed your Format 3 implementation? Cool!

Don't get too worked up sparky. LaserBoy reads all formats from 0 to 5 including both format 3 with the 16 byte header and with the 32 byte header (same header as all the other format headers). It also writes all formats from 0 to 5. It writes format 3 with the 32 byte header. Not that it matters, because ILDA abandoned format 3 all together.

LB has been this way ever since there ever was a format 3 of any kind.

As far as frames in format 0 or 1 are concerned, not only can it swap palettes from one to another index to index, it can also swap palettes based on a best match of color. So if you have a frame or a set of frames that use the ILDA Standard 255 color palette and you want to switch them over to the Default palette of 63 colors, you can open the file, switch the frame(s) to the ILDA Standard palette by index and then switch back to the Default 63 color palette by best color match. Now all of your frames will open in any software that reads formats 0 or 1 that assumes if no palette is defined within the file that the Default palette of 63 colors is to be used, and it will look right.
05-11-2018, 02:04
JohnYayas

Quote:

Originally Posted by james

Don't get too worked up sparky. LaserBoy reads all formats from 0 to 5 including both format 3 with the 16 byte header and with the 32 byte header (same header as all the other format headers). It also writes all formats from 0 to 5. It writes format 3 with the 32 byte header. Not that it matters, because ILDA abandoned format 3 all together.

LB has been this way ever since there ever was a format 3 of any kind.

As far as frames in format 0 or 1 are concerned, not only can it swap palettes from one to another index to index, it can also swap palettes based on a best match of color. So if you have a frame or a set of frames that use the ILDA Standard 255 color palette and you want to switch them over to the Default palette of 63 colors, you can open the file, switch the frame(s) to the ILDA Standard palette by index and then switch back to the Default 63 color palette by best color match. Now all of your frames will open in any software that reads formats 0 or 1 that assumes if no palette is defined within the file that the Default palette of 63 colors is to be used, and it will look right.

I don't know what you said but it seems cool!
05-11-2018, 05:27
djeimi

I did the color test. The laser works correctly only with the file "Format0-DefaultPalette"
05-11-2018, 11:28
colouredmirrorball

Can you find a way to change the palette in iShow? You'll have to set the program so it uses the 64 colour palette (looks like this: https://www.photonlexicon.com/forums...1407929413.png) instead of the 256 colour one (https://www.photonlexicon.com/forums...2&d=1407929413)

I don't own iShow so I can't help.

If you can't find the settings, I'll show you how to do it in IldaViewer. Quite a simple fix, but an extra step, and you'll need to go through the headache that is IldaViewer.
05-13-2018, 07:29
djeimi

I was unable to find settings for 64 colors in iShow. I'll have to try with IldaViewer. Where can I download IldaViewer?
05-13-2018, 07:33
djeimi

Ready. I found and downloaded IldaViewer. I will try to convert the files to it.
05-13-2018, 07:51
djeimi

How do I choose a conversion palette? There are three varieties. When I start to convert it, it saves the files in SCN format
05-13-2018, 09:53
colouredmirrorball

Opened IldaViewer again for the first time in, what, a year? and noticed the fix isn't really straightforward, so I made a video tutorial. See this post: https://www.photonlexicon.com/forums...061#post344061
(I also like to show off its abilities - the program itself is clunky and badly written but I still believe in the concept)

Also, I polished the program a bit (read: hid the features that aren't finished) and uploaded a new version. I don't know what version you have downloaded but the version that got the most downloads had an embarrassing bug in its file export section... You'd better redownload it from the first post in that topic (I updated the links).

EDIT: I noticed there's an error in the video. Here's the steps required to do the fix:

* Drag and drop the file "256 ilda.png" into the Palette Editor
* Load in the faulty Ilda frame. If the palette that was used in creating the frame is active in Palette editor, it will automatically use the correct colours. If not, select the correct palette and click Recolour Frames
* In the Palette Editor, select the default 64Ilda.png palette (I skipped this step in the tutorial)
* In Sequence Editor, select all frames and click Fit RGB to Palette
* In Export to File, export as format 0, don't include palette
05-16-2018, 00:09
djeimi

Thanks for the help