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Thread: The history of Laser show controllers and software, post your contributions here.

  1. #171
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    I incorporated Projected Imagery, Inc (Pi, Inc) in late 1977 or early 1978 which coincided with my entry into the laser show business in planetariums, corporate trade shows, numerous custom, product photo shoots, rock concerts and more. As I've posted in other posts on this forum, the projector(s) software and control equipment that I've built that were primarily used by myself, but later by a small, unique group of professional laser companies, two which have been long time members of this forum.

    I coined the term AppleDAC but never trademarked it. I see now in this thread that there was another "AppleDAC" product. To me, it was just a dual DAC for my and other's Apple II/IIe's. There were four versions of my AppleDAC, the first had 13 ICs, the last had only 2. I paid a very modest fee (parts and a tiny amount for labor) for my brother and his friend to build and design the first AppleDAC and binary driver. The first images were plotted on 256 x 256 grid paper overlaid on artwork on a light table, and the 8-bit XY coordinate values typed into an Apple II's memory in Hex, then saved as binary files. I could make any image I wanted as long as it only took 128 XY pairs. I paid far more for a software programmer to write some custom software so that I could use the break-through Apple Graphics Tablet to speed up image creation and to re-designed the DAC driver software to add more feature versatility to it including image sizes up to 1024 XY pairs, image blanking, animation, rope-draw of images, adjusting image frame rates in real-time.

    From having and owning all copyright and intellectual property rights to these initial, fundamental and functional software functions I learned to make future modifications and enhancements myself and through collaboration with a close EE engineer friend. The FBL (Final-Before-Last) version of hardware and software was the 4 65C02 co-processor quad DAC board, each with 24KB static RAM and 8KB of EPROM, all controlled under on Apple IIe with a Real-Time Clock, time based interrupt controller, where the principal purpose of the Apple IIe was to read disk data, upload image data to the 4 co-processor boards as needed, load and read text time-based script commands and send co-processor board commands to the 4 boards.
    Update: I forgot to add that the Apple also provided scripted control of 24 projector binary control lines and 24 analog switching control lines in the console for XY summing and/or modulation signal assignment. These same controls functioned in manual mode. Each co-processor DAC board had 16 waveform shape tables and 16 waveform shape scaling tables.

    Since the XY DAC board was the principal and key element for the display of digitized imaging, here are my DAC boards in sequence.

    Version 1
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	20200729_161100s.jpg 
Views:	4 
Size:	995.7 KB 
ID:	57920

    Version2
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	AppleDAC-V2-1s.jpg 
Views:	5 
Size:	480.7 KB 
ID:	57921

    Version3
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	AppleDAC-V3 without TestJumpers-s.jpg 
Views:	4 
Size:	913.6 KB 
ID:	57922

    FBL
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	ALDAC Card-002.jpg 
Views:	5 
Size:	1.68 MB 
ID:	57923

    In 2016, (and retirement) I had dug out my old laser stuff, bought a cheap 20K Chinese RGB projector, RGB diodes and 30K scanners with the intention of doing a DIY 30K projector and started modifying my Version 3 AppleDAC driver and Apple IIe software for RGB blanking and DAC inputting into an ILDA DB-25. I've provided an Apple II/IIe/IIgs enthusiast on this forum (icecruncher) a working set of Version 3 and the new RGB software updates.

    Unfortunately, my co-processor DAC boards could not have it's single hardware blanking channel modified for RGB blanking without creating a new surface mount IC version of the board. (I'm mean hey, I need something to do in my 80's, right?)

    Version 3 was used in quite a few rock concerts, including ZZ Top, Rick James, Triumph, and Michael Jackson's Victor Tour where I was honored to be "driving the two graphics lasers" for his six LA finale shows. photonbeam" posted in 2013 on this forum on how he took the "Woz" to see my Apple IIe laser graphics setup after one of the shows. (and in LA, that meant it was probably 4am in the morning, long after I was, uh, well hey, come on, it was LA in the mid 80's.)

    All I can say is, I am very grateful to Ivan Dryer who brought this art form to my awareness, and to the public forefront and allowed me, as a result, to be a derivative player, playing a small part in this entertainment industry. Rock on, dudes!
    Last edited by lasermaster1977; 05-13-2021 at 14:26.
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  2. #172
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    Quad 6502s is impressive for the time. I did read something about a VR box somebody built at Chapel Hill that had a 6502 for each pixel in the display. They were very serious about latency.

    Ivan & Charlie took (perhaps unknowingly) what Thomas Wilfred pioneered to reach a new plateau with Laserium. Others have blazed their own trails in Wilfred's universe. But Ivan's initial insight still stands out. No matter if the show is live or memorex it doesn't translate well into other mediums. Laserium was performed live because that was the only option in 1973. In 1974 you would have to write "live" because of the introduction of the 351 data channel. It enabled everything that Laserium was, and set real limitations on what Laserium could become. But as Orson Wells put it, "The lack of limitations is the death of art."
    "There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun." Pablo Picasso

  3. #173
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    Quote Originally Posted by laserist View Post
    Quad 6502s is impressive for the time. I did read something about a VR box somebody built at Chapel Hill that had a 6502 for each pixel in the display. They were very serious about latency.

    Ivan & Charlie took (perhaps unknowingly) what Thomas Wilfred pioneered to reach a new plateau with Laserium. Others have blazed their own trails in Wilfred's universe. But Ivan's initial insight still stands out. No matter if the show is live or memorex it doesn't translate well into other mediums. Laserium was performed live because that was the only option in 1973. In 1974 you would have to write "live" because of the introduction of the 351 data channel. It enabled everything that Laserium was, and set real limitations on what Laserium could become. But as Orson Wells put it, "The lack of limitations is the death of art."
    Are you referring to UNC in Chapel Hill? They were big in VR research. When I was a student they coupled a virtual reality setup to an atomic force microscope so that you could explore the surface of a substrate at the atomic level. It was pretty cool to walk around atoms.

  4. #174
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    Some Wilfred in a modern sense:

    https://youtu.be/gbs3NQ2mf4c

    Yale University Art Gallery did that one...

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  5. #175
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    Quote Originally Posted by laserist View Post
    Quad 6502s is impressive for the time. I did read something about a VR box somebody built at Chapel Hill that had a 6502 for each pixel in the display. They were very serious about latency.

    Ivan & Charlie took (perhaps unknowingly) what Thomas Wilfred pioneered to reach a new plateau with Laserium. Others have blazed their own trails in Wilfred's universe. But Ivan's initial insight still stands out. No matter if the show is live or memorex it doesn't translate well into other mediums. Laserium was performed live because that was the only option in 1973. In 1974 you would have to write "live" because of the introduction of the 351 data channel. It enabled everything that Laserium was, and set real limitations on what Laserium could become. But as Orson Wells put it, "The lack of limitations is the death of art."
    I'd forgotten about Thomas Wilfred's contributions, thanks for mentioning him.

    I started out doing live performances in planetariums using their effects to augment and diversify this "theater in the round" art form. The live performance experience usually brought me to the point of wanting to "dial-in or punch-up" that next graphics effect in time with a musical accent or beat faster than humanly possible. One solution I used was adding two more hands, a co-performer, which was orders of magnitude better than just me, plus recording XY signals on two adjacent tape tracks next to the music tracks took it to an even better level by being able to switch from "live" to tape playback. Adding computer generated graphics was still better. My attraction and desire, however, was always toward doing live performances, interacting with the music and audience's reactions, with augmented manual control interaction to real-time based computer automation.
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  6. #176
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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnYayas View Post
    Are you referring to UNC in Chapel Hill? They were big in VR research. When I was a student they coupled a virtual reality setup to an atomic force microscope so that you could explore the surface of a substrate at the atomic level. It was pretty cool to walk around atoms.
    Yes. I thought concept of having a driving project that you're trying to achieve was simple and cool. To commit to something across department lines and figure out solutions. Instead of just working on the fun parts.
    "There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun." Pablo Picasso

  7. #177
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    I've not visited PL for years, very nice to see your post, I wonder did you share at any point in time your designs and if so can you write with whom you shared them?
    I am not asking you to share them, I wondered what actually became of them.


    Quote Originally Posted by lasermaster1977 View Post
    I incorporated Projected Imagery, Inc (Pi, Inc) in late 1977 or early 1978 which coincided with my entry into the laser show business in planetariums, corporate trade shows, numerous custom, product photo shoots, rock concerts and more. As I've posted in other posts on this forum, the projector(s) software and control equipment that I've built that were primarily used by myself, but later by a small, unique group of professional laser companies, two which have been long time members of this forum.

    I coined the term AppleDAC but never trademarked it. I see now in this thread that there was another "AppleDAC" product. To me, it was just a dual DAC for my and other's Apple II/IIe's. There were four versions of my AppleDAC, the first had 13 ICs, the last had only 2. I paid a very modest fee (parts and a tiny amount for labor) for my brother and his friend to build and design the first AppleDAC and binary driver. The first images were plotted on 256 x 256 grid paper overlaid on artwork on a light table, and the 8-bit XY coordinate values typed into an Apple II's memory in Hex, then saved as binary files. I could make any image I wanted as long as it only took 128 XY pairs. I paid far more for a software programmer to write some custom software so that I could use the break-through Apple Graphics Tablet to speed up image creation and to re-designed the DAC driver software to add more feature versatility to it including image sizes up to 1024 XY pairs, image blanking, animation, rope-draw of images, adjusting image frame rates in real-time.

    From having and owning all copyright and intellectual property rights to these initial, fundamental and functional software functions I learned to make future modifications and enhancements myself and through collaboration with a close EE engineer friend. The FBL (Final-Before-Last) version of hardware and software was the 4 65C02 co-processor quad DAC board, each with 24KB static RAM and 8KB of EPROM, all controlled under on Apple IIe with a Real-Time Clock, time based interrupt controller, where the principal purpose of the Apple IIe was to read disk data, upload image data to the 4 co-processor boards as needed, load and read text time-based script commands and send co-processor board commands to the 4 boards.
    Update: I forgot to add that the Apple also provided scripted control of 24 projector binary control lines and 24 analog switching control lines in the console for XY summing and/or modulation signal assignment. These same controls functioned in manual mode. Each co-processor DAC board had 16 waveform shape tables and 16 waveform shape scaling tables.

    Since the XY DAC board was the principal and key element for the display of digitized imaging, here are my DAC boards in sequence.

    Version 1
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	20200729_161100s.jpg 
Views:	4 
Size:	995.7 KB 
ID:	57920

    Version2
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	AppleDAC-V2-1s.jpg 
Views:	5 
Size:	480.7 KB 
ID:	57921

    Version3
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	AppleDAC-V3 without TestJumpers-s.jpg 
Views:	4 
Size:	913.6 KB 
ID:	57922

    FBL
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	ALDAC Card-002.jpg 
Views:	5 
Size:	1.68 MB 
ID:	57923

    In 2016, (and retirement) I had dug out my old laser stuff, bought a cheap 20K Chinese RGB projector, RGB diodes and 30K scanners with the intention of doing a DIY 30K projector and started modifying my Version 3 AppleDAC driver and Apple IIe software for RGB blanking and DAC inputting into an ILDA DB-25. I've provided an Apple II/IIe/IIgs enthusiast on this forum (icecruncher) a working set of Version 3 and the new RGB software updates.

    Unfortunately, my co-processor DAC boards could not have it's single hardware blanking channel modified for RGB blanking without creating a new surface mount IC version of the board. (I'm mean hey, I need something to do in my 80's, right?)

    Version 3 was used in quite a few rock concerts, including ZZ Top, Rick James, Triumph, and Michael Jackson's Victor Tour where I was honored to be "driving the two graphics lasers" for his six LA finale shows. photonbeam" posted in 2013 on this forum on how he took the "Woz" to see my Apple IIe laser graphics setup after one of the shows. (and in LA, that meant it was probably 4am in the morning, long after I was, uh, well hey, come on, it was LA in the mid 80's.)

    All I can say is, I am very grateful to Ivan Dryer who brought this art form to my awareness, and to the public forefront and allowed me, as a result, to be a derivative player, playing a small part in this entertainment industry. Rock on, dudes!

  8. #178
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    Quote Originally Posted by andyf97 View Post
    I've not visited PL for years, very nice to see your post, I wonder did you share at any point in time your designs and if so can you write with whom you shared them?
    I am not asking you to share them, I wondered what actually became of them.
    Hi andyf97, welcome back to PL and thank you for your comments and interest. There is a wealth of knowledge and sharing here.

    I've not shared the schematic details with anyone on this forum ( or other places, that I can remember ;-) ), just the photos and their descriptions. I had gifted/traded one of my later AppleDAC board designs with someone on this forum who had expressed intense interest in wanting one since he was an Apple II/laser enthusiast.

    Only the first pictured board, and the first DAC board I used with an Apple II Rev. 0 computer was designed by two other people (I believe I mentioned this in this thread). All the rest I was the co-designer.

    I still have these functional interface boards and their documentation as well as still use the later versions with an Apple IIe and/or a IIgs.

    Feel free to ask questions as I'm usually willing to share a lot by way of answers.
    ________________________________
    Everything depends on everything else

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