Author Topic: This saturday - Pittsburgh PA lasershow mini 'meet' at carnegie panet-arium  (Read 13674 times)

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Offline drlava

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Hey! this sat.  Steve, Me, and probably James and others will be at the carnegie science center planetarium for some laser shows, and a little because it's my b-day.  I'll be there starting at 8:00, but a Beatles show starts at 7:00.  I'll be heading over from Cleveland early in the day, but a carpool could probably be arranged with others..

http://www.carnegiesciencecenter.org/default.aspx?pageId=37

Enjoy!

Offline James

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If Steve is going, then I'm going for sure. I want to get some other peeps there too. I'm trying to twist some arms. I'd like to drag Dean out kicking and screaming. I also asked Mike, whom none of you have ever heard anything about! Maybe Morris, the RC aircraft guy at Akron Basement LEM 2009.

James.  :)

BTW I named one of our Pug pups Marklar.  ;D
« Last Edit: April 09, 2009, 02:19:30 am by James »
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Offline Lazerjock

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So how was it.
I wish I could have gone.

Offline BlinkenLights

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Pictures . .


Offline drlava

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Mixed results I have to say.  It was great to meet the operators and see some 445nm coherence light in real life.  The music and beam shows were great as well as the abstracts.  There were parts when there was a dizzying amount of effects being overlaid with 3 laser projectors, 30 or so raster projectors that covered the dome, fog, and blasting bass music.

That said, they had major problems with either the scanners or the scanner switching matrix bandwidth that caused graphic detail to look like total garbage.  For example for an eagle fly-in, from far away the eagles head looked like a bunch of randomly slashed lines that jumped all over the place (per frame), it didn't resemble a head with beak at all until it was zoomed in significantly.  Most of the time circles looked like 'C's and none of the shapes were closed.  Also there were blanking desynchronisation issues at times so not only do you get garbage detail, but it jumped around in an annoying noisy fashion.  The animation was typically very well done but sometimes the song interpretation bordered on childish. 

It was a good experience, I'm glad I went because it helped solidify what to do and what not to do.  And thanks Steve for the keyswitch!

Photos were not allowed to be taken at the show sorry and you don't just want to see our ugly mugs again  you? ;)

Offline James

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It was cool.

I hate to be super critical.... but there was a tiny time difference between the X and Y signals going to the main graphics scanner.

This has a strange and undesirable effect. For large lines and details, it's not noticeable, but for tight curves and fine details, it's a disaster.

All of the dots were actually little curved lines. Lines that were supposed to be closed shapes did not end up where they began.

If you've seen 2D art stretched in the Z axis and rotated just a tiny bit off of cardinal XYZ you've seen a similar effect.

Other than that, it was cool. The 445 blue was awesome. The sound system was pretty good (I'm spoiled).

The best show was The Beatles!

James.  :)
« Last Edit: April 13, 2009, 04:13:46 pm by James »
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Offline Lazerjock

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Now I'm sort of glad I couldn't make it.
These guys getting paid to do this it should be perfect. I'm not trying to be too critical, but I used to be a professional laser tech. Maybe they had some last minute technical problems. What do I know.  ;D
I have seen the show at my local planetarium and was not impressed either.

Offline James

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No. I hate to say it, but they claimed they knew where the problem was coming from and it still isn't fixed.

I wouldn't put up with that for 10 seconds!

The white balance was different on all three projectors and one of them was out of RGB alignment.

Oh well. It was still a fun road trip and I got to hang out with Steve for a few hours.

James.  :)
LaserBoy is Sofa King Cool!
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