ILDA Format BS

[heroic]

You can tell a QM2K to go vector, and compute what it thinks is the best image from a given ilda frame.

I was waiting for someone to bring up the QM2k. The QM2k plus the CT digital scan amps basically equals what I was talking about- except in my world, you'd remove the analogue link between the (digital) scan amps and the (digital) QM2k, and feed the galvo feedback sensors right back into the QM2k. Then, you make the QM2k really really small (easy to do nowadays- the Pangolin hardware designs are pretty old by microcontroller standards) and build it into the scanner amp. Preferably, you'd also have closed-loop control of your laser drivers or modulators too. I don't really care whether it's analogue or digital at that point since their response is so much simpler than galvos.

At this point it makes sense to start describing things in terms of visual elements- and we are not talking about a complex description here, just saying circles, curves, lines and dots- rather than as line segments, because if the system knows which lines are supposed to approximate curves and which are supposed to approximate straight lines, it can make better optimizations.

I don't see what the big problem with doing this is. I remember there being similar arguments made against compact discs and even colour TV.

[mixedgas]

[QUOTE=heroic;78133]I was waiting for someone to bring up the QM2k. The QM2k plus the CT digital scan amps basically equals what I was talking about- except in my world, you'd remove the analogue link between the (digital) scan amps and the (digital) QM2k, an

end quote.

All the QM2K has on board is a Coldfire processor, and its memory mapping is a application note you can find on line,published jointly by Bill Benner and Motorola. Bill uses some neat tricks like one Dac driving the reference input of other dacs for scaling etc.------

Another way to do it:

The guys at the Fraunhoffer institute in germany wanted to improve the cell phone mems projectors, as the two mirror XY ones scan lissajous patterns, not rasters. They fed the scanners random noise, and then only turn on the beams when the scanner feedback signals hit a given point in a lookup table. This makes for a much better image as it fills in the gaps. So as long as your noise is random enough, you eventually evenly scan all the points in the image, without trying to interpolate where you are on the lissajous pattern.

Thats brilliant, if your doing a raster. They patented it of course.

Steve

[mixedgas]

Alesis will sell the lightpipe encoders/decoders.

Steve

[heroic]

All the QM2K has on board is a Coldfire processor, and its memory mapping is a application note you can find on line,published jointly by Bill Benner and Motorola. Bill uses some neat tricks like one Dac driving the reference input of other dacs for scaling etc.

No wonder Bill is so paranoid about people cloning his stuff.

[Stuka]

Just curious - do any of you guys (and gals) ever just make some laser graphics JUST because it's fun and looks cool

[carmangary]

Just curious - do any of you guys (and gals) ever just make some laser graphics JUST because it's fun and looks cool

Good question. I actually find the technical aspects and the challenges of learning and creating my stuff much more fascinating that drawing squiggles or watching laser shows. It would be great if we could get a big group of non-techies here who are more interested in making and watching shows. Hardware and software still costs too much, though. Maybe some day.

[heroic]

Good question. I actually find the technical aspects and the challenges of learning and creating my stuff much more fascinating that drawing squiggles or watching laser shows.

Think of it this way, without those of us pushing the technology, everyone would still be watching Laserium abstracts and we wouldn't have outstanding graphic shows at all!

Without the tuners, the tweakers, the kids playing with broken mirrors and walkman headphones, the optics students wanting to try something really crazy with that Transamerica building, this field wouldn't exist at all. Don't be afraid to try something just because it might not work!

[mixedgas]

No wonder Bill is so paranoid about people cloning his stuff.

Its got some serious layers of encryption, and some boot up magic in FPGA, so I'm told, I think he can sleep at night. I would not want to have to hack it.

Steve

[keeperx]

i like pretty colors, and heated debate... i guess lasers is just the right hobby

[mixedgas]

Just curious - do any of you guys (and gals) ever just make some laser graphics JUST because it's fun and looks cool

I see shows in my head when I listen to music, I had the theme to Hawaii 5-0 on my stereo and was envisioning a girl dancing in a pink bikini as two pink beam arrays, her hands as another two yellow ones, and in the part near the end of the title when they zoom in on the cop car beacon that oscillates back and forth as a pair of red and blue vertical flat scans moving back and forth. When the breakers roll over the reef, that was going to be blue, violet, light blue and pastel green little circles following rolling paths, with a white foamy sparkle scan above them. Does that answer your question?

Steve