Starting to be a little disheartened with Pangolin Quick Show

[tsteele93]

I hope this is just my newness and ignorance. But I am starting to feel very fenced in... Hopefully one of the Pangolin fans or reps can show me where I am going wrong... And it is very possible that is the case.

I downloaded some ild files from the forum tonight. Including badger's cartoon graphic files. My 5 year-old son loves Robin from Batman & Robin so I was excited to find an ild file of Robin!

I loaded it into Quick Show as a cue. (Maybe this is where I am going wrong?) Next I loaded it into the frame / animation editor. As the readme file from badger suggested, it needed coloring in and I also wanted to make a few small changes to try and improve my fps by dumbing it down in the hair and a couple of other spots.

All went well, although I was cursing the kludginess of the editor in some spots, the way you choose and move points is just abysmal. Having to lasso a point, then go all the way to the left to choose MOVE (which is what you are gonna be doing 90% of the time anyway) then move it and then there is no way to select the next point to move (I was changing the shape of Robin's glove) except to move the cursor back to lasso, try to lasso the correct point with a SQUARE lasso, and then move back over and choose move... Wow.

Anyway, after slowly making the changes I wanted, I went to save the ild file... Nope.

All I see is the option to save is a qfm (or qfn?) file.

Maybe I am doing it wrong, but is there no way to take a file that I create (or have modified from an ild file - in other words, I'm not trying to distribute one of their graphics) and save it as a universal file for others to use?

I was going to make it available (yeah, I know... You are all clamoring for a touched-up Robin graphic for your shows!) for others in an effort to offer something back and not just leach off the forum. I figure even if I just clean up some files and share them, that is useful, right?

Except I am starting to think that Pangolin may be tying my hands in a misguided attempt to be sure that I don't share one of their flying pelican animations with one of you who hasn't paid for a license!

Hopefully I am mistaken and I am just doing something wrong...

If not, then what is my best bet for software to import or create an ILD file, edit it and share it with others? Because what is the fun in spending all that time and not being able to...

Share it with others;
Get input on how to make it better or do a better job?

Thanks,
Tom

[Picasso]

Hence some of us no longer care for Pangolin.....It's fast becoming a walled garden you can only move the plants around in.

[dzodzo]

just a tip - with QS you probably get faster response if you post directly on the forums for QuickShow http://www.pangolin.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=19

[tsteele93]

Thanks, I did not see that forum, although I doubt they would care for the second half of my post there... I guess that I see where they are coming from but like most attempts at digital copyright management type stuff, it has so many unintended side effects that it just turns people off.

So what is my best bet? Pangolin seems to have had the only game in town, is that changing? I know LSX is there, and I am trying to understand it (I have the demo, it is hard to play with since I only have the FB3 right now.)

I guess FB3 and QS could still be playback for me...

Really disappointed in Pangolin though. Imagine buying a video editing package and finding it wouldn't save to avi, dvd or some universal standard video format...

[dzodzo]

there was no option to save to ILD even in Moncha and Moncha has limited capabilities too, that's why i went for LSX, it's priced around hobby software (moncha with dac was 490E, LSX+EtherDream was around $680 that is roughly 530E) but offers you professional possibilities (and drlava is still adding some new features)

now i use moncha on events for simple live control while learning LSX to have live control with MIDI, then i'll be able to replace moncha entirely

[White-Light]

..and Fiesta is the same from memory.

Most professional companies packages protect their content nowadays by using proprietary file formats to prevent file sharing of their material.

Only the open source hobbyist developed packages tend to allow the export of files to .ild.

As for point lassoing, it take practice. Zoom is your friend here. Zooming in makes point selection much easier.

Laser editing is not the same as drawing program editing as it's complicated by blanking paths as well which may mean that deleting one point automatically unravels something elsewhere.

So far as re-colouring goes, laser software recolours on the basis of points so when you pass over a point it recolours the line ahead of it up to the next point. Bear that in mind and you'll find re-colouring becomes much easier as you start to aim for the points and not the lines. Once again zoom is your friend if points or lines are close together.

I guess once again it's all about practice. As someone with zero actual drawing skills I rely heavily on editing and tracing. I'm sure Master PJ could give you more artistic pointers if you're of the more creative nature.

[Stuka]

Just an observation -

For someone who just got their first projector, you seem to be "maxing out" your software experience awfully quick!
Before you start spending more $$$ for THE software package that does everything you want it to do, you might want to spend a lot of quality time with the software you have and really learn it, inside-out.

If graphics shows is all you are interested in, keep in mind that NONE of the software packages out there are going to turn you into an instant, quick graphics artist
Also, if all you have been watching is cues shot on a wall, you are missing a HUGE part of the laser viewing experience -

you need to run a smoke machine in your "laser room", aim the projector overhead & towards you, and see what "beam shows" are all about!!

As far as your disappointment with Pangolin -

Again, you seem to be getting there awfully quick!
I think you'll find that on this forum anyway, the Pangolin FB3 has a VERY big following, and for good reason!
There a very big community here that would be very happy to help and share in your creative efforts.

Have you checked out the Pangolin Shows portal?
Plenty of opportunity there to share cues & shows!!

I wouldn't be too concerned about the ILD export limitation ~
There are many reasons Pangolin doesn't export that format, and trust me when I say the user base really does NOT suffer because of it!
Also, keep in mind that the FB3 card does open you up to the possibility of using 'Beyond' sometime down the road, which is a whole new ballgame...

Couple of things to keep in mind when learning about this laser craziness (passed down from the school of "been there, done that"):
1. You get what you pay for!
2. Patience is a virtue...

[Shawnb]

editing of frames is a lot easier that using the lasso there is a locked move option that just requires clicking moving and clicking. and you can export to ilda via quick show. take your time and explore the software its all there although it may not be obvious at first glance. trial and error is your friend!

[flecom]

pretty sure the reason most of these apps don't export to ILD files is the ILD format kind of sucks

[swamidog]

suck or not, it's still the industry standard and necessary for interoperability.

pretty sure the reason most of these apps don't export to ILD files is the ILD format kind of sucks