Outdoor Laser Shows

[NVision]

I've done indoor laser shows but have been requested to do an outdoor show. I would like to get some ideas from those who have done outdoor shows on all that I need to think about before doing a show.

I'm curious on haze or ideas on what can be used in order to see the beam in an outdoor environment and any and all safety thoughts as well as show thoughts on how to be successful outdoors. Thanks!

[mixedgas]

Are you within 15 miles of a airport, or 7 miles of an airport?. Can you terminate all your beam effects where people cannot access them? Are you in the US, Germany, UK or Canada (Airspace Regulatory concerns)
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This is going to be a long thread, as outdoors can be a whole can of worms. On the other hand, if the beams can be 100% terminated and are not going into airspace, your more worried about it raining and the wind blowing your scaffold and fog around.
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BTW, fog outdoors is a whole new game, too. Usually you need 2-3 fog machines , plastic piping, and some fans to direct the fog.
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Steve

[buffo]

Some important questions first:

Location? If you are in the USA and are not terminating on a solid surface, you will need to file for an FAA letter of non-objection before sending beams into the sky. This is in addition to the normal requirement for a CDRH laser light show variance.

Number of people? a show for 200-300 people is very different from a show for 1500.

Layout of the site? It is very difficult to control fog even in the best situations, but if you are surrounded by trees you can at least count on the wind being less of a factor. That helps.

Ambient light? Are there streetlights, lighted signs, stage lighting, LED walls, or other lighting present? And if so, can you turn them off while the lasers are on? You want it to be as dark as possible.

The bottom line though is that there is no substitute for raw power when doing beam shows outside. A good rule of thumb is to start with a pair of 5 watt RGB projectors and then add 1 watt per projector for every 100 people in the audience. So a show for 500 people would use a minimum of two 10 watt RGB projectors. And even then you might be disappointed, because you don't know what the conditions will be until the night of the show.

You can't count on fog being present unless you plan to rent multiple outdoor fog machines that run off compressed air and are capable of true continuous output. (foggers with heaters will cycle off at exactly the wrong time - murphy's law.) Then too, even with continuous fog, you will still need to contend with wind. Large fans can help, but only to a point. If there is a 10 mph breeze blowing, you're not going to be able to control the fog. And without fog, the only thing that will make the beams more visible is more power.

Outdoor shows are a pain in the ass, and are very expensive. You need *big* power, and multiple projectors, in order to make it look good. You can cheat a little bit by using lots of smaller projectors, but it's not a linear relationship. Example: you don't have any 10 watt units, but you have a bunch of 6-watt RGBs. You might be able to cheat and use 4 or 5 of the smaller units and get a similar effect to the pair of 10 watt units. However, you'll still notice the difference over a long throw. Hopefully you can pack the audience in close in that case...

Adam

[mixedgas]

OH yeah, one more thing. One LED or Metal Halide light fixture, in the right spot, can spoil your evening. You really need to rehearse on site with the actual conditions, unless you have some 35 Watt projectors in your road cases. Never count on snow, or dust in the air, or humidity, and in the winter in North, there is almost NO dust in the air when its cold.
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Steve

[NVision]

Hi Gang,

Thank you very much for this extremely valuable information. I don't have a 10watt laser but I can rent one (I'm out of Orlando, FL so there are no shortage of lasers in this town with Pangolin and others here.) I'm running 3 watt lasers for indoor shows and figured I'd be out powered pretty quickly on outdoor shows.

This is going to be on a golf course, so there should be trees around but being able to see the beam in less than ideal conditions was a concern. So, since I don't have experienced with higher power lasers, I should be able to see the beam on a 10watt laser without fog? I told my client (who is working with the end client) that we would need something to shine the laser on as I'm not sure how far these lasers will shoot if they are not hitting anything, (again I am uneducated in this area as I stick with indoor shows).

I'll find out how far we are from the airport. I'm going to be up in Jacksonville, FL for this show and I know there is a major airport there just not sure how far away I am, I'll figure that part out. If I am projecting onto a building (long as I don't have any bounce off) I shouldn't have any issues with this? Or is it something I still need to register for when doing outdoor? Thanks again for everyone's help.

[mixedgas]

You need at least the FAA Jacksonville " sectional" aeronautical chart, and small airports count, too...
Yes, you NEED fog machines, but the Orlando humidity will help somewhat.
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Without buildings and structure to terminate on, your in a world of hurt. Trees are iffy at best, especially at high power, if you scan thru the leaves.

see:
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasers...viation_safety
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Scroll down to regulation and control, note your NOHD, CZED, SZED etc... That is just a excerpt of the real paperwork for an unterminated event. Do you have a variance or a friend with one? Because unterminated effects require FAA/CDRH/DOD co-ordination, and that requires paperwork which is FREE, but takes some time. You may or may not need a NOTAM and communication with local tower or TRACON.
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This can get so involved that you might wish to subcontract to LSDI etc who are in the area.
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Everything terminated, NO paperwork and little or no problem 95% of the time. Un-terminated, follow the rules and do the paperwork. You should have a variance, anyways. The 5% is where clients want you to do the paperwork, or your right up against an airport.
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Steve

[NVision]

Thanks Steve,

I have a call in earlier today to LSDI and waiting to hear back, I have used Greg and his team for shows in the past and it was because they were not available for one that I purchased my own laser to start doing smaller shows. I certainly agree that this might be way over my head and would be a great learning experience to bring LSDI in on this. I've got plenty of time to figure it out and doing the ground work ahead of time has certainly been a great resource and will allow me to be more knowledgable when it comes to explaining what options we have for something like this. I can now better steer the client in the direction that is going to more practical and a higher chance for success than when I first heard about the event. Very cool. Thank you all for the great thoughts and if there are other thoughts that you all may have, please keep me posted on it as well.