The Laserist
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International Laser
Display Association
(ILDA).
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- Sentosa Island Laser Showcase
- New Greek Scanners Perform Well
- Ben Franklin Bridge Sees Lasers
- Lasers Come to Lake Las Vegas
- Saudi Arabia Laser Milestone
- Small Venue Hosts Big Show
Island
Park Showcases Laser,
Multimedia Show
By
John Eustance, President,
Laservision Macro-Media
| Singapore’s Sentosa Island resort park has unveiled a major new upgrade by Laservision Macro-Media to what is already one of Asia’s most ambitious attractions. With more than AU$5 million (about US$3.1 million) invested in the upgrade alone, visitors will see 14 Laservision projectors integrated with a multimedia production. The company’s new Sinodial-Series show technology was installed to control vitrually all aspects of the attraction.Sentosa Island, linked to the city-state of Singapore by a causeway, is the nation’s most popular attraction and features parks, aquariums, water slides, discos and a monorail for getting around the 3.25 km-long island. One of the highlights of the resort is Spirits of Sentosa, a 20-minute attraction that features three shimmering Laservision Aqua-Screen water screens |
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| The Merlion, symbol of Singapore, is accented with YAG laser beams. |
The screens host a series of dazzling film and laser effects that are creatively interlaced with architectural and underwater lighting. The shows runs three times nightly and seats as many as 3,000 people for each performance.
The multimedia show, which was written, scripted and produced by Laservision Macro-Media, depicts a cultural myth that focuses on the three natural Spirits of Sentosa. All except one of the major characters in the story are depicted in laser as well as live action video. There are some wonderful transformations from live actors to laser graphics as the spirits move from their human form to their natural fish, flower and butterfly personas. Dragons are seen as both computer-video animations and as laser animations. Computer graphics and laser animation merging is a key visual feature of the composition.
| In one scene, a fearsome laser dragon rises from the pond and extends a giant claw from the depths on the left-hand Aqua-Screen. A second claw emerges from the right-hand screen and the dragon’s head appears in the center. The dragon scanns the audience with a piercing glare. |
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| Water screens play host to laser and video projections at Sentosa Island Park in Singapore. |
He then breathes smoke (fog) and shoots animated laser flames and real water at the audience. The video segment of the show was shot on an aquatic set specially constructed at Laservision’s Sydney studio and stars award-winning Australian and Singaporean actors. Additional computer graphic animation was also produced in Australia and merged with live action and animated laser characters. Film, lighting and laser animation is overlaid on the center Aqua-Screen, with laser animation and theatrical lighting only on the two side screens.
The latest upgrade to the already popular show involved adding two new Aqua-Screens to the site, which in combination with the original screen, provide a shimmering canvas that is 110-meters wide. The water screens are positioned over three large pools, with six laser scanners providing rear-projection animation and effects onto the screens.
White-Light, YAGs Added
In addition to the site’s original Coherent Sabre full-color dual-head laser projector (first installed by Laservision in 1995), Laservision added two new 3.5-watt Coherent mixed-gas lasers equipped with four scan heads to provide additional rear-projected imagery. A 40-watt Laservision Stella-Ray YAG was also added behind the water screens. The YAG is linked with fiberoptic cables to two remote scanner heads that create brilliant aerial beam and atmospheric effects.
Behind the water screens, the skyline is dominated by the 12-story tall Merlion tower, a sculpted building in the form of the half-lion/half-fish mythical creature that is the symbol of Singapore. In Laservision’s 1995 installation at the park, the company placed a dual scan head YAG projector in the tower that remains an important part of the current show. Scanners in both of Merlion’s pupils create a staggering effect as the creature sweeps the night sky with a dazzling emerald green laser stare. Red neon gives the eyes a menacing glow and the beast comes to life with a thunderous roar from internal speakers.
When all eight laser projection heads at the water fountain site are joined by Merlion’s Stella-Ray YAG eyes (and a dual-head front-projection argon laser placed in the rear of the audience area) the effect is awe-inspiring. The final inclusion is a third 40-watt Stella-Ray YAG with dual heads housed in the roof of Sentosa Island’s ferry terminal. This laser contributes to the overall energy of the performance and completes the 14-head experience, focusing all the lasers in an area that measures approximately 1,000 meters from the ferry terminal to the Merlion Tower.
Then add to the above a state-of-the-art digital rear projection video on the center Aqua-Screen and a dazzling 100 meter wide liquid water ballet illuminated by over 600 underwater lights. All effects are choreographed to a thundering eight-channel (30,000 watt) audio system.
Sinodial Control System
The new Sentosa installation is the world’s first major permanent themed laser attraction to use Laservision’s new Sinodial-Series digital show control technology. Essentially, it is a performance integration and synchronization system capable of coordinating lighting, fountains, pyrotechnics, Aqua-Screens, multi-track audio, video and special effects in addition to laser animation.
Sinodial-Series technology
has been developed and manufactured in Australia by Laservision
specifically to overcome the many challenges posed by projects
like Sentosa. In essence, it achieves a simplified operation
with instant recall and replay via touch screen controls.
The 1995 Laservision installation required hundreds of meters
of underground conduits to carry time code, DMX, data signals,
power and water to every corner of the musical fountain, then
all the way to the top of the Merlion tower.
The upgrade to the
Sinodial-Series control architecture has allowed for almost all
the old copper to be replaced with 3.5 km of fiberoptic cable.
An additional 20 km of submersible power cable connects lights
and pumps and 1 km of DMX cable drives architectural lighting,
foggers and other devices. A major benefit of the fiber optic
cable is that it is impervious to heat, moisture and the regular
electrical storms that frequent Singapore.
Singapore’s high humidity and stifling temperatures, while
hard on equipment, also made outdoor work less than comfortable
for the Laservision installation crew. The production and installation
team not only had to cope with the harsh weather but also had
to overcome the major technical challenge of maintaining Sentosa’s
daily shows throughout the upgrade period. This necessitated
a carefully planed series of critical migrations from the old
Spectravision control system to the new Sinodial platform.
The entire project was completed under a highly accelerated schedule. Installation and commissioning of the upgrades was completed only 110 days after contract confirmation and only 100 days after Laservision’s installation teams commenced work on site.
Laservision Macro-Media,
(+62) 29-658-1000;
www.laservision.com.au
New
Scanners Promise Good Performance
By
Bob Ash, President, New Method Lasers
While touring Greece, I came upon a small farm on the side of the road. I could see women in the field bringing in the harvest. What caught my attention were little flashes of light coming from the crops in the field as the rising sun started to bathe the countryside in a warm glow. As I approached, I was astonished at what I saw. There were 30kpps laser graphics scanners growing in the wild! Greek women were in the field harvesting the scanners. The driver cards were dug out of the ground, attached to the roots. It was at that moment ... that I woke up! I guess my search for low cost, high performance scanners was going to my head. As we all know, scanners don’t grow on trees, but what I did find was the next best thing.
| Back to reality. While talking with one of our dealers in England, the conversation digressed to a story about a laserist in Greece who started building his own scanners. Since I have always regarded high speed scanner design to be part magic, I was intrigued. I soon had a conversation with the developer of the EMS 3080 scanners, Tom Kamaras of Athens. He was very excited about his invention. |
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Scanners gowing on trees? Am I dreaming? |
I was a little skeptical at first, but he soon made me a believer. Just think... a scanner designed from the ground up by a laser show producer, just like us!
Tom Kamaras has worked with lasers for over 20 years, and has been producing laser shows since 1993. With a background in electronics and servo systems, it was natural for him to become involved with the science of graphic scanners.
About four years ago, Tom started trying to make cheap stepper motors perform like feedback scanners, using simple position sensors and closed loop amps. It soon became clear that high quality image rendering was going to require a custom motor built from scratch. The development phase was much more difficult than for other engineers living in countries like England, Germany or the United States, because all the materials had to be imported from other countries. There was also a shortage of local engineers familiar with the subject. Many different materials, techniques, and position sensor arrangements had to be experimented with.
Although the standard mathematical techniques provided a starting point, trial and error was the primary method of improvement. In order to make the necessary engineering changes, Tom bought several metalworking systems and learned the art of manufacturing engineering. As a side benefit, virtually all parts can now be made in-house at a substantial reduction in cost.
| During preliminary testing, ball bearings were found to be a major reliability problem. Amazingly enough, the solution turned out to be to eliminate ball bearings altogether! A special type of sintered bronze self-lubricating sleeve bearing was put to the test. Although theoretically it would introduce friction and hysteresis, Tom found that the correct shaft material, size and surface quality allowed the sleeves to perform almost exactly the same as ball bearings, but without the long term degradation. |
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The
ILDA Test Pattern shown at 30k, |
The body of the scanner is all metal, so you won’t have to worry about a stray beam melting plastic. The position sensor is sealed, so fog and haze will not contaminate it. The size is a little larger than we are used to, about 25x25x47mm. The cables are 750mm long. The mirrors are glued into a slot on the shaft, and are high power white light dielectric 5x12mm. “L” bracket type XY mounts are included. The included drive cards are 76x93x36mm and run on +/- 24vdc at about 1.5 amps per axis. As of this writing, the street price is $995 USD per pair, complete. With duties, taxes, and shipping, it brings the price to a little under $1100, not including power supply. The warranty is one year parts and labor.
Our first prototype pair came to us with a little note attached that read: “Try to break these”. We applied signals that were too big and too fast, and could not damage them. We did not blow any fuses, because there are no fuses to blow. They did not overheat, because they use huge wire on the coils that don’t need heat-sinking.
We ran the ILDA test pattern, reached in and grabbed the mirrors with our fingers, and the scanners simply started right back up when we let go. If you grab the mirrors and force them back and forth while projecting, an “electronic fuse” kicks in, and resets when you cycle the power off and on.
At 7 degrees, we could tune the ILDA test pattern to as high as 35kpps. We could not measure any perceptible hysteresis or long term drift whatsoever, so beam targeting is near-perfect. The maximum scan angle is 54°. Although our first test units did not perform as well as Cambridge 6210’s or Pangolin’s 6800 True K 50 modification, the ILDA test pattern was more than acceptable, and looked great with ADAT playback of several high quality shows using complex graphics from Lightspeed Design Group. They were visually superior to other low cost scanners we have tested in the past.All I can say is, if this is Tom Kamaras’ first try at laser graphics scanners, I can’t wait to see what improvements may come in the future!
For
moreinformation, contact NML, which distributes the scanners:
(+1) 727-545-0376;
www.Laser-Light-Show.com
Lighting
Up The Ben Franklin Bridge
Benjamin Franklin
may have seen a few sparks fly in his day, but nothing would
have prepared him for the spectacular laser display that took
place recently on the Philadelphia bridge named in his honor.
To celebrate a flotilla
of tall ships sailing into Philadelphia as part of an East-cost
tour that included a July 4th docking in New York City, TTL,
Inc. of Paramas, N.J., created a laser show that spanned both
sides of the Delaware River. With an estimated 100,000 people
watching on the Camden and Philadelphia sides of the river, TTL
used two Infinity YAG lasers from Images in Illuminations to
bounce a moving array of laser beams off the bridge’s towers
and through the night sky.
The show may have been the first-ever use of DMX radio signals
to control a laser show. The two laser projectors were positioned
on opposite sides of the river, some 2,000 feet apart, with no
easy way to connect them and ensure the displays were synchronized.
TTL’s Mark Reilly said his search for a control solution
soon turned up Radio DMX technology, which has a 3,500 foot line-of-sight
range. DMX, widely used for theatrical lighting, typically uses
wire cables to transmit control signals to remote devices. For
the recent laser show,
TTL used a pair of
Radio DMX transceivers manufactured by Interactive Technologies
to synchronize five actuators on each of the two laser projectors.
Four of the actuators controlled stationery beam effects that
could be rapidly sequenced through different chase patterns.
The beams from each projector rose from the banks of the river
and were reflected off mirrors positioned on the bridge itself.
TTL commissioned RM Machining to fabricate the 18-inch bounce
mirrors that were hung on the bridge. The mirrors needed to be
large, said Reilly, to accommodate a YAG beam projected from
over 500 feet away.
In addition to skipping beams off the bridge from one side of the river to the other, the two projectors also featured a pair of X/Y scanners that projected moving atmospheric effects. Controlling X/Y scanners with DMX can be a complicated task, and Reilly’s company developed a unique solution to the problem. To begin with, each projector was equipped with an ADAT machine loaded with preprogrammed show material for the scanners. The two ADAT tapes were started at the same time (synchronized by two live operators linked by telephone). To complete the setup, an on/off shutter actuator controlled the final output of each scanner. The on/off shutter was under DMX control, allowing the show operator to open the shutter and project the scanned effects as needed.
Philadelphia Op Sail coordinated the three day celebration honoring the tall ships, which included fireworks and music. On the final day, a fire boat anchored near the bridge turned its water hoses skyward to enhance the scanned laser effects. Reilly said the show was also challenging because so many regulatory authorities were involved. Local bridge officials, for example, monitored the show to ensure traffic did not back up on the Ben Franklin Bridge. Because of the show’s location near the Philadelphia airport, TTL also worked closely with the Federal Aviation Administration to make sure the unterminated laser beams did not interfere with air traffic.
TTL, Inc: (+1) 800-452-7374;
www.TTL-lasershows.com
Bringing Lasers
(and Water) to Las Vegas
It may have been the desert, but there was no shortage of water
when Lasertainment Productions helped celebrate the grand opening
of the Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas.
| An outdoor laser, video and fireworks show was centered around the hotel’s lagoon, with Lasertainment creating a 75-foot wide water screen to serve as a projection screen for both laser and video images. In what may have been a water screen first, Lasertainment President Robert Teorey said his crew used three 75- horsepower pumps arranged in-line to drive the single water nozzle. A 10-watt white light laser rear-projected from behind the lagoon onto the screen, while three 40-watt YAG lasers created atmospheric effects for the crowd of 1,500 VIPs. |
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| Lasers, fireworks and video open new Hyatt Regency in Lake Las Vega, Nevada. |
Lasertainment Productions:
(+1) 651-633-8000;
http://www.lasertainment.com
Saudi Arabian
Laser Show
Powered by Germany’s LOBO
By Alex Hennig, LOBO electronic
| The 1st of June marked a very special day in Saudi Arabia—a large scale public entertainment event in the city of Medina that featured laser displays by LOBO electronic of Aalen, Germany. Medina is a holy city for Moslems. It is almost as important as Mecca and nonbelievers are barred from visiting the central city (because the arena was located outside the holy district, non-Moslems were allowed to work on the show). LOBO, which has been active in Arabian countries for more than 10 years, was entrusted with creating a stunning laser spectacle for the general public. |
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| Lobo's laser show breaks new ground in Saudi Arabia. |
With only two weeks
of preparation and with temperatures in Medina ranging between
40°C and 50° C, the project was an extreme challenge
for the installation crew. LOBO’s show designers were challenged
by the cultural differences between Western nations and Saudi
Arabia, an important consideration because of the many religious
images in the laser show.
LOBO installed a rectangular 30-meter water screen in the middle
of the arena, a complicated task because Medina is located in
the heart of the desert.
The precious 150,000 liters of water to fill the custom-made steel pool was transported by several trucks from a water depot. Two laser systems, each with 11-watts of white light, projected onto the water screen. Two additional systems (equipped with a 5-watt and 10-watt Coherent Viper) created beam effects and projections onto a mountain in the background stadium.
The Medina show may be the opening event for a series of public shows to be held throughout the country. There was live television coverage of the event and the response from the crowd of approximately 20,000 (and the Royal Family) was very enthusiastic.
LOBO: (+49) 7361-9687-30;
www.lobo.de
Small Show Delivers Top Quality
As laser shows become
more widespread and easier to use, they are appearing
in smaller and smaller venues. A team of top laserists recently
collaborated for a 230-person charity fashion show given by the
“Heathrow Women’s Club” in Heathrow, Florida.
Karen Benner, wife
of ILDA Technical Committee Chairman William Benner,
created the story board for the three-minute show and drew the
artwork, which was then digitized by Terrence Green of International
Laser Productions in Indonesia. Doug McCullough and Jeff Hwang
of Laser Show Design produced the show which consisted of a custom
jazz soundtrack and full-color graphics as well as overhead scanned
beam effects. William Benner, of Pangolin Laser Systems, provided
a portable 100mW white-light projector for graphics, while Greg
Makhov of Lighting systems Design Inc provided a 3-watt MicroBeam
YAG and two fiber-fed remote scan heads for beam effects.
Said Makhov, who stage managed the show, “This was one of
the smallest shows we’ve ever done, yet it still had the
same professional production qualities
we provide for theme parks and corporate clients.” Makhov
also pointed out
that equipment is getting easier to use: “Everything we
used was plug-in-the-wall [120 VAC] and was transported to the
site in the back of a pickup. I only wish we had equipment like
this 20 years ago when I started.”
Audience members, who were well outside the typical laser demographic,
were awed by their first laser show. Karen Benner reported that
for weeks
afterwards, attendees continued to talk about the display. The
evening was a financial success as well, garnering over $25,000
for charities. Event organizers have already booked lasers for
next year’s charity show.