Pangolin User Meeting Results (and more Free Laser Shows)

[andy_con]

bill will the new software enable fb3 users to control more than one fb3 at once? like LD2000 users can?

[cruch]

bill will the new software enable fb3 users to control more than one fb3 at once? like LD2000 users can?

You can controll up to 6 FB3 at once!

[andy_con]

really?

using the fb3 version of livepro?

[cruch]

Yes, no problem!

[andy_con]

ahh i really didnt know that!!!

many thanks

so i could buy the bog standard fb3 and use my existing livepro to control it?

[cruch]

yes..should be no problem at all!
It is plain easy

[buffo]

I think that the perceived lack of sharing is mainly due to the lack of people creating many of them. Also, maybe people don't think their shows are good enough to share.

Hey Gary;

I think you're right on that mark. I was afraid to share my shows for a long time, because I knew that I was an amateur and I felt that people wouldn't want to waste their time with my lame attempts at creating a show.

Turns out, however, that a show is a show - even if it's simple. People still like to see something different - even if it's not a masterpiece by the likes of Michael Dunn or Peter Heyt. So yeah, I'd encourage *everyone* to make a show or two and start sharing them. Don't worry if you don't think it's worthy or not... Just do it!

But another issue is the copyrighted audio files that need to go with them.

That's a good point, but if you at least include the Artist, Album, and track info for the music you used, it makes it easy for people to look it up on I-tunes and purchase the track for themselves.

Adam

[carmangary]

Another reason is that their is no common format... well, there is ILDA but many of the popular software packages don't export to ILDA format.

[dave]

ahh i really didnt know that!!!

many thanks

so i could buy the bog standard fb3 and use my existing livepro to control it?

Yes Andy, that is correct. As long as one of the FB3's has a license, you are set.. Personally, we have had 5 running off the one computer for a show

[Pangolin]

Another reason is that their is no common format... well, there is ILDA but many of the popular software packages don't export to ILDA format.

I can't speak to the other software packages, because I just don't know them. LD2000 absolutely allows you to export ILDA and in fact, it is my opinion that the best shows available on MAMBA and LaserWorld software was made by LD2000 and exported to them in the form of ILDA shows. That's why you see the same shows from spectrabeam.de offered for LD2000, MAMBA, Phoenix and LaserWorld -- because they were all made on LD2000 and then exported to those platforms. (I am not sure about MAMBA, LDS, Phoenix, or any others' ability to export ILDA. It could be that they are trying to lock people in...)

In any event, I am really talking about something kinda different. Open Source or free software ability to create laser shows (in whatever format), and then people creating shows in that format and sharing them. As I am thinking about it, I just haven't seen it. I mean, I can show you an Excel Spreadsheet from this guy who stopped by our tradeshow booth in Germany, which demonstrates he was able to acquire 350 laser shows in LD2000 format, basically just by (legally) trading them with buddies. LD2000 is a commercial (and some claim expensive) software package. My point is, if open source, or free software was really the answer, we would expect to see at least this many shows or more -- of any quality level -- on some other open source or free software platform. But I just haven't seen this, even on LAStudio which is quite a capable software package!

So it makes me wonder. I mean, intuitively you would think "free is better". At least that's what a lot of people claim. But in the end, I haven't seen it work out that way.

As I wrote before, I don't want to take this thread off topic, and I think this is a great discussion for another thread. But acquiring and then posting a message about the latest shows available from Pangolin just made me think about these things...

Bill