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Thread: LaserBoy on Saturday the 14th!

  1. #1
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    Talking LaserBoy on Saturday the 14th!

    IT WORKS !!! IT WORKS !!! IT WORKS !!! IT WORKS !!! IT WORKS !!!


    http://hacylon.case.edu/laser/LaserB...06_14_2008.zip

    James.

  2. #2
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    I hate to admit it, as I have been a computer nerd since the early 80's and used to believe that real computers didn't have mice... but, I suppose I have gone soft, assimilated by the MicroBorg...

    I really wish Laserboy had a GUI... Any chance you'll go that direction, I am sure there are many others such as myself that would be converts if you did.
    Fear Fair - Indiana's Scariest Haunted House
    www.FearFair.com

  3. #3
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    It most definitely has a "Graphical User Interface"!
    It's 24 bit color and whatever resolution you want.
    It just does not have mouse control.
    There's nothing wrong with that.
    Once you learn a few keys, you can fly through it!
    You'll find that you can do things with LaserBoy
    (without a mouse) that you can not do with any
    other laser application.

    It's free. Just try it. You'll like it.
    Double your money back if you're not completely satisfied!

    James.

  4. #4
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    I also don't quite understand the handling (and purpose) of this program yet.
    But in german keyboard layout the characters 'y' and 'z' are swapped.
    When I want to quit I always have to press 'z'. Maybe you could change that. Thx!

  5. #5
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    I know my own purpose for this program. DXF to ILDA
    And yes I do like ..nix interface. It's sooooo fast. Maybe it's because of one of my professions - Sysadmin and yes I can edit a document in VI)))
    I hired an Italian guy to do my wires. Now they look like spaghetti!

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dr Laser View Post
    and yes I can edit a document in VI)))
    Editing a document in VI...Yuk

    I am just used to such niceties as being able to browse for a file to open. Unless I am missing something, you can only open a file that happens to be in the frames subdirectory. When you select to open an ild file and it lists them in the side column, why couldn't you use the arrow keys up and down to select the file you want to open, then hit enter to open the same?

    I know this kind of stuff isn't absolutely necessary, but it sure is nice. Sort of like using Microsoft Word to edit a document as opposed to VI.
    Last edited by fearfair; 06-15-2008 at 05:17.
    Fear Fair - Indiana's Scariest Haunted House
    www.FearFair.com

  7. #7
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    Talking

    OMG you use vi !!!

    I don't even do that! Thank God for joe!

    I agree with the idea of scrolling menus! I just haven't gotten to that yet. Remember, this program was a Linux console application for years. It's only been a couple of months that it works in Windows at all!

    One of the more time consuming aspects of this is the fact that I have nothing but a pointer to the first pixel in the display window. That's it! Every time something changes in the display, LaserBoy puts together a 32bit image of the screen and copies it to the display address; ...everything you see, including the font! It is not a smart console at all. I have to provide all of the prompts, echoes and responses. I don't even have cout and cin! I have to read the keyboard one key at a time and put it together into strings. The font is rendered a pixel at a time from it's ASCII value in an array if bit patterns.

    I also have to be able to reliably find and deal with files in any OS and file system. There's your mouse action! Just use it to drag and drop files into the LaserBoy sorted folders!

    The purpose of the program is to be a full featured laser vector art workstation and projection system. If it doesn't do what you want it to do, just tell me!

    The more feedback I get from the people who are really using it, the better it all gets for everyone!

    BTW Dr Laser, your enthusiasm for LaserBoy has made it a lot more fun for me to work on. Thank you!

    As far as that 'y', 'z' swap thing goes, are there any other keyboard differences I should know about?

    James.
    Last edited by James Lehman; 06-15-2008 at 18:32.

  8. #8
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    Hey I said I CAN edit in VI. I didn't say I like it.
    I hired an Italian guy to do my wires. Now they look like spaghetti!

  9. #9
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    Talking

    Oooops! I just found a BIG bug! If you hit 'p' to go into palette transforms, all hell breaks loose.

    http://hacylon.case.edu/laser/LaserB...14_2008_v2.zip


    James.

    PS We just got a 52" LCD 1920 by 1080 LaserBoy display!

    Neato!
    Last edited by James Lehman; 06-15-2008 at 18:33.

  10. #10
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    Have a read over here:
    http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...7&postcount=23

    I use laserboy for conversion processes mostly because it is efficient at it. Probably won't be drawing anything directly with it, but for converting from dxf, etc it's great. So, what I would like to see improved is its optimizing capability. I'd like it to be able to take some horrendously vectorized image and determine, based on a # of points target, what lines can be drawn and in what way. Take, for instance, the attached dxf. Lots of overlapping lines, tiny point-eating squiggles and triangles that should dissappear, and doubled-up lines that should be merged into one.
    Currently tweaking parameters does not result in a workable image.

    This is a tall order, and maybe isn't possible, but it would be awesome if you could implement an algorithm that could:

    -have a minimum segment size deletion step that deletes tiny useless 'fill-in' segments less than a certain length (even if they are attached to the next segment with a sharp angle).
    -searches for near-parallel running segments and merges them
    -has a settable minimum 'closed feature' area that deletes segments of closed shapes under a certain area if the segments aren't part of a larger arc
    Attached Files Attached Files

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