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Thread: Mixed Abstract and Graphics for Planetarium

  1. #1
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    Default Mixed Abstract and Graphics for Planetarium

    Greetings,
    I'm new here, so be gentle.
    Is there anyone else here that does planetarium style mixed graphics and abstract shows? Not so much in the way of beam effects - but projected style. Under the dome, we usually do beams with dedicated smaller lasers if we need to do that. The main projector faces the "front" of the dome where most people view. (We call it the "sweet spot".)
    If so, I'd be happy to share some recent creations. For the planetarium, I'm using Pangolin - and if anyone is in NJ, I run the laser shows at RVCC Planetarium in North Branch. We used to run Aura shows (Steve Heminover, anyone?) and they were very helpful in getting us doing "our own thing".
    We're running an older full color system and I swapped the HeNe's and Argon for solid state diodes about a year ago. (The argon was fading and getting unhappy with thermal changes, so we were losing green halfway through a show.) Cambridge scanners and AOMs with lumia and diffraction grating effects run by DMX channels.
    Just tonight I finished up a new module for Pink Floyd's "Take It Back" that we're using this summer in a "Best of Pink Floyd" show.

    -Bill
    Planetarium Laserist at RVCC Planetarium in NJ.

  2. #2
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    Feb 2007
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    Delaware USA
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    Default

    Hi Bill,

    Most of us are using Pangolin in one form or another and also running the show modules that come with it. There are both graphic w/abstracts and beam shows
    that come free with the software. I used to work as a laserist at Fels Planetarium in philadelphia many years ago and miss the old analog control desk we had there. Who
    built the projector your using at RVCC?

    Mark

  3. #3
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    Talking NO WAY!!

    Mark... you worked at the Franklin institude (Fels)!?

    I did some time with Erik Ubanks for awhile there! Do you now him?
    Shame LFI left that location... that was a perfect location.

    Not to long ago I was in Seattle and visited LFI's home planatarium...
    Really made me miss LFI shows at Fels.

    LG

  4. #4
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    Talking

    Bill,

    Do you record to ADAT.... Do you sell modules?

    Someday soon I will have to make the trip up to Somerville.

    I live in South Jersey!

    Do you still have analog aspects to your shows? Live console controlling duty cycles...color modulation...etc...

    When I got behind the console where Mark worked I was in love with the live aspect of laser shows...

    Tunining muldulation...setting up harmonics in the patterns... That truly laserist performance!

    Sean

  5. #5
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    Hey Laserguy,

    I was there for a very short time and worked under Scott Huggins. I still love all those LFI shows and your right, it was a perfect venue for for doing lasershows.
    The projector that was there went to Laser Dome in Lancaster, PA while their projector was being upgraded at LFI.

    Mark

  6. #6
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    Talking

    Not sure if you ever had the pleasure of getting your hands in that projector...

    One afternoon I did and man was that amazing!

    A very elaborate setup! It must have been such an awsome experience because mental images of that setup are in crisp detail in my head.

    The way they did the color seperation through one prism the colimated the seprarated color lines thorugh a second prism.
    Passed those multi colors beams thorugh a cylindrical lens and placed a galvo at the focus to change the direction of the color fan to channel to either of the 4 or 5 scan heads... Actuator pick-offs for the fiber launches... OH MY GOD!!!!!

    AMAZING!!!!!!!!

  7. #7
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    Default

    I've only seen the inside of the projector but, at that time I was very very new to the technology and was quite overwhelmed by what I saw. I wish I could go back
    in time and take another look with the knowledge I have now. We need to get together and do some lasing...

    Mark

  8. #8
    mixedgas's Avatar
    mixedgas is offline Creaky Old Award Winning Bastard Technologist
    Infinitus Excellentia Ion Laser Dominatus
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    Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh still does what you do with mixed live and graphics, only the system is all solid state. They still have the old stuff in storage to do it the old way, but most of the show is live controlled. And some really phenominal stuff too.

    Steve
    Qui habet Christos, habet Vitam!
    I should have rented the space under my name for advertising.
    When I still could have...

  9. #9
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    Default

    Ahh, a lively little discussion I've started.
    At RVCC we're using an old projector made by Aura Technologies/Laser City Studios of Chicago. (Steve Heminover is the head honcho over there - and a really nice guy.) I "upgraded" it to solid state about a year ago because of problems with the argon we had in there. It was getting old and acting up a lot. It was actually more cost effective to switch to the diodes.
    Since it was asked, we used to run off digital video tape (DV) where standard video tape was encoded. We didn't have Pangolin and were "stuck" with Aura shows. About 2 years ago we started getting all the stuff together so we (I) could produce stuff in-house. With Steve's help, we are now using Pangolin, a transcoder, ADAT tape and ADAT HD (Fostex). This allows us to be very flexible. "Final" shows go onto the hard drive in the theater. But we can do quick stuff and dump it onto ADAT tape. What's nice is the transcoder allows us to switch between the ADATs and the old DV system to record old stuff and new stuff. The projector uses an Aura round "umbilical" type cable, so we have a little box that changes the ILDA standard cable into the proper outputs for our scanners, colors and DMX channels. I could upload a picture of the "guts".
    I've done some stuff live, but that's mostly other beam effects as we have another simple scanner that the old argon is now hooked up to.
    If anyone is so inclined, we also have a "fan" facebook page. Just look up RVCC Planetarium.

    -Bill

  10. #10
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by billwx View Post
    I could upload a picture of the "guts".

    -Bill
    I think i can speak for everyone when i say "Please post pics of the guts".

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