Buying A 1w Laser But Dmx?

[Techen 0]

I had to do some reasearch buying somewhat new to this, I found out that DMX is very very very limited in terms of what it can and can't do. Now the laser am buying is a 1W Blue laser with 9 channel DMX.

 

My question is, is DMX that bad? Anyway to overcome just having to use what it has stored, I'd love to make my own images and texts but as I research, DMX won't really allow it.

 

BTW : Am pretty new to the forum so if am posting at the wrong page then shout at me :)

[fester 0]

If you are wanting to create your own animations then DMX isn't going to help you.

 

You need a laser that has an ILDA port and use software to program it. I'm no expert but I believe pangolin is the best, although it's expensive.

[spid3r1987 0]

If you are wanting to create your own animations then DMX isn't going to help you.

 

You need a laser that has an ILDA port and use software to program it. I'm no expert but I believe pangolin is the best, although it's expensive.

you can get some DMX lights that you can change the gobo in it. you have to make your own gobo's

or like Fester said

ILDA Port OR

and i know alot of ppl will be against me showing you this but iv ordered stuff from them before and never had ANY problems...

http://www.chinavasion.com/china/wholesale...Laser_Projector

 

i dont take any responsability for this light....just merely sharing a link....

yes it is from china, but tbh they are good with quality control and iv never had any problems with their products.

[Megasong 0]

Interesting topic.

 

The link provides access to a very basic, but cheap, entry into colour animation. My guess however is that you won't be happy for long with a laser like this.

 

The blue is at 405nM which is almost UV and not very visible. You should always look for blue in the 450nM area.

 

The ability to use ILDA shows is useful, but since you are downloading it onto a card rather than using an ILDA interface means you won't be able to set dead zones or have much flexibility during an event. With a laser of this power there is no real issue as it's unlikely to cause any harm but on a more powerful laser the ability to configure at the venue is pretty much essential.

 

iShow is a great cheap entry into ILDA programming, giving you a good interface and a mass of ILDA stuff for about £50 it is unbeatable. Pangolin is fantastic and what we mostly use, but it costs just shy of £1000 so you may not be able to justify it although you can get some versions for a lot less.

 

In summary get a proper ILDA controlled laser with 450nM blue. Make sure it has a pair of 25pin d connectors for the ILDA and that it has at least 500mW total power for ANY chance of a versatile show. You also need to know how many pps (Points Per Second) its scanners can handle and at how many degrees. 90KPPS at 6deg is about as good as you'll ever need for most things 30KPPS at 4deg is still pretty capable. Analogue will allow you to mix colours TTL normally wont other than combining two or three to give you a net result of 7 colours including white.

 

It's a big subject. Don't forget safety and the laws concerning interlocks, warnings and blanking either.

 

If there's a need for a full screed I could write one but it'd be useful to know what information people would like.