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Thread: DMX starter Laser?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
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    2

    Default DMX starter Laser?

    Hi. Im very new to lasers or lets say i want to start with them.

    i had an idea for a project. in this project i would like to use a laser to peoject a "picture" or drawing.
    i would like to use a software like vvvv or processing to calculate some lines like type
    and show them with a laser. Maybe there are other software tools for that.

    how can i start? can i use every dmx laser or are there special types?
    i read somewhere that i have to look for e.g. the kbps.

    i would like to start a bit cheaper so it has not to be a 3 color laser or so...
    am i thinking to easy or what would you recommend?


    greetings

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
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    My momentum is too precisely determined :S
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    Default

    Everything depends on your budget, your engineering skills and the time you're willing to spend on this.

    You can buy a DMX laser for pretty cheap but then you're limited to the preprogrammed patterns.
    The alternative is ILDA: with this you can control the laser projector very precisely and create your own patterns and everything you want, but these tend to be more expensive. On this forum we encourage members to build projectors theirselves, so if you have some decent electrical and engineering skills you can get good results relatively cheap (relatively, because nothing is cheap here).

    In a laser projector there are usually lasers, scanners and a control unit.
    You can go as powerful as you want with the actual laser modules. The more powerful the expensiver. As you are just a starter I recommend to start with not very powerful lasers. Much depends on your application too. A 50 mW laser is great for indoors with some fog in a dark room. If you want to use lasers in a small to medium club or party you might want 250-500 mW. 1-2 W for big events and at at least 5+ W for big outdoor events.
    As of now blue (445 nm) is the most cheapest colour. You can buy a diode, put it into an Aixiz module and hook it up to a Flexmod, and you have a working 500 mW to 1 W laser for $150. Similar for some types of reds, though these can only go up to about 200 mW. Of course buying a laser module from a manufacturer is a much more reliable solution.

    The scanners depend on your application too. Generally the rule is 20 kpps (kilo-points per seconds) for beam shows and 30 kpps for graphics. If that's too expensive you can go with 12 kpps scanners but you'll regret it afterwards. And stay away from the 5 kpps stepper motors. The more kpps the expensiver, but the better your images will look: if you scan too slow the images will start to flicker.

    Next there is the DAC, the Digital to Analog Convertor. This device converts the digital signals from the computer (generally with USB or Ethernet) and sends analog signals to the different components of the projector. The cheapest are about $100 - $150. If you're on a budget and your application is purely as a hobbyist you could use a sound card DAC. Basically you use an 8 channel external sound card as a DAC and send "music" to it. But a real DAC tends to be more reliable and comes with software.

    Now for software. There are some free programs out there that can do cool stuff but I haven't seen one that is good at just simple frame creating.
    Most paying software allows you to draw things, project text and offer basic animations and morphings for the frames.

    Personally I recommend LSX with the Riya DAC. I think that combination offers the most possibilities for the best price. With LSX you can project ILDA files you find on the internet, scroll text, draw stuff free hand with real time output etc. You can also create laser shows on a timeline that are synchronised to music, or create a live show. There are also lots of other cool features you will discover, such as the ability to use heavy math and draw functions.
    The biggest downside in my opinion is that it is rather cluttered (if that's a word) and a bit hard to use. But once you get over how things are done you'll love it. There's a steep learning curve but we're writing a manual to make things easier.

    An alternative is Spaghetti. It's cheaper, easier to use but very limited. As of now there isn't a frame creator tool to draw your own frames, but rumour has it it will be implemented soon.

    Last but not least is safety. A laser is not a toy obviously. If you're in the US don't even think about audience scanning. Every laser with a power above 1 mW can and will damage your eyes. Always threat your lasers with respect. It's a good idea to buy safety goggles.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    2

    Default

    Wow, thank you, thats a lot of good information... no, wait, thats a newbie guide :-) Thank you, that will help.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
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    UK
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    5,704

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    I recommend the Pangolin FB3-QS DAC / Software Package for control if you have an ILDA laser, but like everything laser related, its not overly cheap at around £475.

    That said it comes with a huge selection of pre-drawn frames and animations, abstracts and atmospheric effects for beam shows, and has a built in tracing programme and a simple drawing programme.

    http://www.pangolin.com/QS/screensho...inscreen1.html

    On the laser front, you tend to get what you pay for. If you want to display graphics then you really want good scanners and good scanners cost! As Coloured mirrorball said, you ideally want 30K scanners minimum and from a good brand if graphics is your thing.

    Also, you mention displaying a picture or drawing but be aware that lasers can only display relatively simple drawings. As you'll see from the screen shot I posted they tend to be outlines although some have more complex detail. There is however limitations on the detail as too much detail and the scanners can't cope. Text is particularly tricky to display.

    DMX lasers tend to be very limiting as you're usually stuck with the inbuilt graphics unless you have one with a memory card that allows you to load your own frames. However, these can be suffer from compatibility problems.

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