Hi Guys,
Although I was not welcomed to this forum as James was, I hope you will not mind me rendering an opinion, especially when it concerns our product.
For those who do not know me, my name is William Benner and I am President of Pangolin Laser Systems. Pangolin has been in the business of laser display since 1986 (20 years) and we have worked within ILDA towards the creation of several industry standards, including the projector standard and data interchange file format (the so-called ILDA format).
I sometimes hate to disagree with people, at the risk of seeming like a know-it-all. But I hope my comments will be taken seriously, even if there is disagreement by some.
First let me say that what Spec wrote about standards is not entirely true. There ARE standards. There is a standard for how to build a projector, and that is called the ISP, which stands for ILDA Standard Projector. There is a standard regarding how image data can be stored and interchanged between various software systems, and that is called the ILDA Image Data Interchange Format, or simply the ILDA format for short. And there are standards about how data would be recorded and played back from various recording means (such as ADAT) as well as DMX Channel Assignment standards. As far as I know, all of these are published, and available on the ILDA web site at www.laserist.org.
Second, I hope Spec doesn't mind me continually disagreeing with him but I don't think Pangolin's "DACs" suck. I think they are quite good, and apparently so do many other laserists around the world. We have laser products at almost all price ranges, including a price that a hobbiest can afford ($599) and this includes a VERY capable laser controller board (much more than just a "DAC") and creation/live control software. I already wrote a bit about that product here:
http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...pic.php?p=3074
(scroll near the bottom of the page)
Third, once again, hating to disagree with Spec, but our "LDB/LDA" format is niether new, nor a "jacked up version of Macromedia FLASH". FYI: LDA is our acronym for "Lasershow Designer for the Amiga" and it was devised by us in 1986 -- long before FLASH was a gleam in anyone's eye. LDB is our acronym for "Lasershow Designer for IBM" and was devised by us in 1992 -- again, long before FLASH. These formats are specifically conceived from the ground up as laser-only formats. Our newest and most powerful format conceived in 1999 is what we call the LDS format, for "Lasershow Designer Secure". In addition to point data, this format includes a lot of advanced frame information including preferred scan rate, preferred projection area, preferred color palette, clip art category, frame type, and even some laser safety information. Prior to the development of our Lasershow Converter FLASH product, we never even looked at the FLASH file format. But I can tell you that the FLASH file format is really convoluted and not really appropriate for laser display data.
I could continue to disagree with Spec, but let me turn my attention to Yaddatrance for the moment First let me say that I agree with what Yaddatrace wrote -- that "Pangolin works". Of course, I am biased I will slightly disagree with what Yadda wrote about DMX. Actually, as of version 4.0, we support both DMX Input and DMX Output. Our DMX Output support is very unique and non-classical. As such, at first glance it might seem strange. But it does work and it does get the job done. It is being used by clients all over the world to control not only lasers, but also moving lights, water fountains, slide projectors and all kind of other things. I will say again that it is a unique and non-classical approach, but it is the only approach that allows laserists to think about lights and fountains and fog machines and slide projectors and other things exactly in the same way as they do regular laser frames. For that reason, once setup, you can make a show with lights, foggers, fountains, slide projectors and other DMX-controlled items in the same way as you make a laser show. Also, to the best of my knowledge, it is the most comprehensive support for DMX Output of any laser software product.
Regarding YaddaTrance's comments about "forget doing any revolutionary mindblowing shows".... oh, I don't know. I would say that, since most ILDA Award Winning laser shows are done with Pangolin software, at least the artistic judges felt that they were at least a tiny bit revolutionary or mindblowing from time to time... I certainly invite anyone to come to the office at Pangolin and we will show you our software or the nearly 100 shows that currently are distributed with our software (many of which are award-winning), and if this South Eastern meeting of laser enthusiasts comes to pass, I will certainly be there, and will be happy to show anyone interested our software, how it works, as well as many laser shows that, at least some of which I personally would consider to be revolutionary and mindblowing...
Also, YaddaTrance made another mistake in his posting. Although Pangolin acquired LAStudio (which we have since distributed for free oh-by-the-way), we have not acquired Utopia and we have no plans to do so. Nor do we plan on acquiring anyone else. Actually, the acquisition of LAStudio was only a side-effect of having hired the two main programmers who worked on that project. When we find someone smart, we try to hire them, or otherwise engage in a consulting relationship. The guys who created LAStudio believed in our vision and so they came on board. In fact, at this time, we have programmers working with us from Slovenia, Ukraine, Germany, Poland and the US. I believe we have a true world-class team dedicated only to the creation of laser and display-related software. This only benefits you -- the end-user, because we have the benefit of some very smart people, from diverse parts of the world who thus contribute diverse thinking. What results is a well-rounded product.
Anyway, getting back to standards, there are standards and there are free software (including some from Pangolin). There are open-source projects and there are proprietary projects. Really there is more than enough to go around and keep people busy.
Best regards,
William Benner
Pangolin Laser Systems