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?