Archives Home

Laserist Home

 




The Laserist is a
publication of the
International Laser
Display Association
(ILDA).

 

 

 

 

ILDA 2002 Fenning Awards


2002 Fenning Awards for Technical Achievement

This year’s Fenning Awards for Technical Achievement were judged by a three-person panel consisting of Steve Heminover, Aura Technologies; Hugo Bunk, Laserimage B.V.; and
Ante Uglesic, Lasscan. ILDA renamed its award program honoring technology in 1998 to commemorate the late Fred Fenning, who pioneered many laser display developments during his 21-year career in the laser field. No 1st Place awards were made this year. Although the technologies honored were innovative and noteworthy, the judges felt that 1st Place awards should be reserved for landmark technologies the accelerate the grow of the entire laser display industry.

The winners were:

2nd Place: Projection Zones, Pangolin Laser Systems

"The Projection Zones feature of LD2000 software combines the benefits of scanner selection, geometric correction, enhanced laser preview, enhanced scanner safety and additional projector controls into a powerful yet easy to use software feature. The Projection Zones feature provides maximum flexibility for show producers and programmers by allowing once complicated programming techniques to be easily managed, allowing producers to concentrate on the show rather than the equipment."
--From Pangolin's Awards Entry Submission

3rd Place (tie): Utopia Software Suite, Xarrin Advanced Technologies and HB Laserkomponenten

"This software, especially designed for Pangolin's QM 2000 board,consists of two sections, UTOPIA 3D Animator and UTOPIA Cell Editor. They will expand every Pangolin based system to a powerful laser frame creation environment with strong and professional features. Utopia software works with the Pangolin settings and is also able to load Pangolin color palettes."
--HB Laserkomponenten

3rd Place (tie): Dazzler, Pangolin Laser Systems

"The Dazzler is a patented, custom lens/reflector assembly which, when combined with standard X-Y scanners and lasers, creates a Wide Angle, Versatile Laser Projector ... The Dazzler reduces the need for large beam/effects projectors by allowing graphics, effects and beams to be projected anywhere in a 360 degree area ... Unlike standard beam tables, the Dazzler requires no physical/manual adjustments to target beams. All adjustments are made externally via computer software, therefore the adjustments can be made from a safe distance, eliminating the need for operators to put themselves in potentially hazardous situations where direct beam exposures can occur."
--From Pangolin's Awards Entry Submission

Honorable Mention: CineLase, Lightspeed Design Group

"CineLase software renders digitally sampled laser data (usually from ADAT but it could be any playback source) into a sequence of bitmap frames which are then re-output to video or film with a 'laser look and feel.' The process eliminates the artifacts associated with videotaping or filming laser shows - namely the abnormal flicker due to competing refresh rates, the improper capture of color data (noise and colors bleached to white, etc.), and the lack of perfect blacks - and re-creates the perceived 'liquidity' of laser animation by emulating persistence of vision. This allows us to send videotape to clients which shows our laser work as close as possible to the real look of live laser. "
--Bob Mueller, Lightspeed Design Group



Awards Roundup: