Laser & Lighting Software HELP!

Sam Cash

Member
Hi,

Does anyone know if you can program a animation laser through Dmx or does it have to be through ILDA. Also what would be a good software to run lasers and some moving heads. Thanks
 
You can do basic "programming" of most animation lasers through DMX, but it's very basic. You can only have control over whatever in-built effects the laser has, beam shows etc - which can be decent but what I've found especially with inexpensive lasers is that the onboard controller is not very smooth - so while you can do basic beams and whatever animations are "in the box," they won't necessarily look great or smooth. There are a lot of relatively inexpensive open-source controllers available but to be honest - how much time do you want to spend messing with things to cobble them together and hope they work? At a certain point I listed out all the costs and benefits of doing open-source vs. a known controller, and it's really not worth the hassle. I got a pangolin quick show FB3 - one of the only cheap laser controllers to support modern windows among other things. Their support is great, and even driving cheap lasers its VERY smooth and the software actually makes sense. It's also DMX controllable through the enttec open usb (or others) - so if you want to run your laser shows you can do all the custom work and "gobos" etc from the quick show software and slave it to your board. Very robust software and very robust usb D/A box. As for moving heads - I am not versed in too many systems but I've used MA and Chamsys and I own a Chamsys PC Wing - big big fan of the chamsys world, and it just keeps getting better. I think buck for buck its as good as it gets, and on a "cost no object" comparison, I'd say it's just a little behind MA. Regardless - you can actually USE the chamsys stuff for free so if you don't like it well you're not invested! Hope that helps?
 
Hi,

Does anyone know if you can program a animation laser through Dmx or does it have to be through ILDA. Also what would be a good software to run lasers and some moving heads. Thanks

Are you in the US? and if so, do you have a variance to operate the laser? Lasers are heavily regulated, and if you are asking these questions it seems as if you havent passed the required training to use a laser here in the USA...
 

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