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Thread: LaserBoy is now Open Source

  1. #21
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    Default

    Yea, very cheap. I tested a USB soundcard to see if you could use it like that it I was able to. Just think, with a cheap modified soundcard and my free laser show software, combined with a cheap DVD burner laser and galvo set you could be up and running with a 30K 300mw red laser laser scanner for under $400! That's a complete package for less than what most guys are selling just their DACs for.

  2. #22
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    Smile LaserBoy does a lot more than make waves!

    Even if you have no intention of using a modified sound card, LaserBoy will offer you features for laser vector art creation that you simply will not find anywhere else.

    Not only is the LaserBoy development environment complete and versital, but, since you also get the code and you have to make it anyway, you can also see how the special effects modules are written in C++ and how they get loaded to be available to apply to your own vector art creations. You can modify these effects just by changing a few numbers and rebuilding the code. Even if you don't know C++, with a little imagination, based on the examples that are already there, you can write your own modules. Probably the most valuable aspect of LaserBoy is the code and the library of capability that it provides. It's not just the variety of industry standard file formats that it reads and writes, it is the quality of the implemetation of those concepts. That is why I finally decided to release it as open source. That is how it will have the greatest value.

    James.

  3. #23
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    What kind of special effects does it provide? It would be cool if you could come up with a list of features that it supports.

  4. #24
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    Default Where to start...

    I'd say you have to see it and use it to really get it.

    There are 2 different kinds of effects. One kind takes a single frame as input and creates a series of frames that make an animation. The other kind starts with a frame set that might already be an animation and applies an effect to some or all of the frames.

    These applied effects are automatically saved as .ild files in the storage space frames/. You can open them into the LaserBoy session by adding them to the begining, curent location, or the end of the current frame set. Or you can replace the whole frame set. Or! You can add the frame sets together by super imposing the frames into each other.

    It is possible to "see" the individual lit segments in a frame and influence them separately.

    Single frames can be made by adding multiple frames together.

    Individual lit segments can be scaled, positioned, rotated, recolored, etc.

    These things can be done either by hand, with the program's user interface or by program as frame or frame set effects applied by name within LaserBoy.

    There are mechanisms in the code to create individual or even whole animated frame sets from arithmetic formulae.

    The ability to control colors and palettes is extraordinary.

    There is no undo functionality in the LaserBoy development environment because all it takes is a keystroke and a file name to save all of your current work as an ILDA file (or DXF, wave, bmp). Typically, projects are made of many different individual files composed together.

    It is also possible to cue up several individual wave files in a row and play each scene consecutively.

    It might seem a bit like having to learn to solve Rubik's Cube, just to make a laser picture. But once you get into it, you'll see. It's not so bad.

    You wouldn't want to do brain surgery with a hammer! Would you?

    James.
    Last edited by James Lehman; 03-27-2008 at 20:35.

  5. #25
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    Question, how do you modify a soundcard for this ? I guess the goal is to pass DC.

  6. #26
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    Yes, the idea is to restore the DC connection from the output of the DAC channels and correct for the fact that those signals will (most likely) be all positive voltage and not enough gain.

    The circuit on my website shows a correction amp. You need one of these for every channel.

    http://www.akrobiz.com/laserboy/p_laserboy_95.html




    But, you might get a multi channel sound system that was designed more for pro audio use; like the Echo Layla 24/96 (what I use now). All you have to do to it is short the output caps. It is already centered over zero volts and has more than enough gain to drive a projector. It's also much more ILDA complient, because it has "ballenced impeadance" outputs; which translates into +signal, GND and -signal. A modified sound card like the one pictured is single ended output only.

    James.
    Last edited by James Lehman; 05-03-2008 at 11:01.

  7. #27
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    Talking New LaserBoy Better Menus!

    Code cleanup
    a couple of little bugs fixed
    more readable menus!

    http://akrobiz.com/laserboy/code/Las...05_03_2008.zip

    or if you go to the (old) LaserBoy page and click on the first word;
    "LaserBoy", that is a link to the most recent version.

    http://akrobiz.com/laserboy/

    If you started reading this thread without knowing anything about LaserBoy, you might want to know that it now runs on anything; all flavors of MS Windows (pre compiled exe, no code build necessary) and Linux. Hopefully, I'll be adding a Mac OSX executable to the distribution soon. There are some other recent posts here where I give some details as to how to use it.

    And, I'd love to hear from YOU about it!

    I'm still waiting to see who comes up with the first LaserBoy generated photos here at PL.

    James.
    Last edited by James Lehman; 05-03-2008 at 11:26.

  8. #28
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    Indiana
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    So, can I use LaserBoy to create shows, then save them to the Showplayer MP12C boards for playback triggered via dmx?

    http://www.jmlaser.com/products_engl...yer_MP12C.html

    Forgive me if this is a foolish question, I am just trying to understand my options.
    Fear Fair - Indiana's Scariest Haunted House
    www.FearFair.com

  9. #29
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    You should get LaserBoy and check it out.

    You might find that it is very useful, even though you are not using its ability to generate waves that are control signals for your laser projector.

    You can still use its abilities to create, edit, manipulate, animate, import, export, etc., etc...

    You just need to save you efforts as ILDA files and put that into your DMX thing.

    James.

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