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Why use lasers?

	An article in the April 2007 LiveDesign magazine gives a good overview of recent advances making lasers become easier to use. Click here for the article online, or here for a PDF of the article in the magazine.
	Simulated laser show by Peter Jakubek, LaserAnimation Sollinger. To see a larger version of this animation, click here.      For a demonstration of a real laser show, find an ILDA member near you in the Company FInder section.

There's no light like it. The most vivid, saturated color palette available. A contrast ratio unsurpassed by the best film and video technologies. The ability to reach out in three dimensions and shower an audience with cascades of beams or embrace them in waves of moving light.

• It's about enchanting an audience with dreamlike visions. 

• It's about exciting crowds with visual effects that move faster than any other light-form.

• It's about engaging clients and customers with captivating images that move with a liquid-smooth animation style.

Today's laser displays are creating visions that others only dream of.

Laser history and applications

One of the very first display applications was the well-known “Laserium^®” show presented in planetariums. In 1973, filmmaker Ivan Dryer had tried to capture the ethereal beauty of laser light in a movie. But the film stock could not adequately record the glittering coherent light and its saturated colors. He decided to bring lasers into a darkened environment – the planetarium – and to set the colors swirling to music and a star background.

Laserium, as he dubbed the result, was an instant hit. In fact, it became the longest-running theatrical attraction in Los Angeles, marking almost three decades from 1973 until the Griffith Observatory was closed in 2002 for a three-year renovation.

Dryer and others soon developed other entertainment uses for lasers. These include:

• Lasers as attractions at amusement parks, casinos and cruise ships
• Lasers as a special effect in concerts
• Laser entertainment and advertising at sporting events, especially world-class events such as major championships and the Olympics
• Laser displays at conventions and other corporate theater
• Laser lighting in discos and nightclubs
   

The advantage of laser light

The primary advantage of laser light is that it truly is a unique high-tech lighting source, not normally seen by the average person. This makes lasers perfect for special applications and events.

There are two main types of laser displays: beams and graphics.

• For beam shows, the laser light is seen in mid-air, either as glowing beams or scanned to create simple shapes such as cones and planes of light.
       What makes beam shows especially effective is the tiny beam. When used with theatrical fog, a plane of laser light literally cuts through a 1 cm cross-section of the fog, creating a sharp, eerie pattern of light and dark swirls. From just one laser projector, beams can be targeted to dozens of mirrors, producing a “Star Wars” effect of laser beams shooting throughout the room in different directions. (Photo credit: LaserNet)
   
• In contrast, laser graphics are projected onto a wall or other surface. The tiny dot made by the laser beam is moved quickly by computer-controlled mirrors, to draw out images, text and logos. (Photo credit: Lightspeed Design Group)
       Because the laser is so powerful, the graphics can be projected onto even the largest of surfaces such as a dam or mountain.
       There are a number of different ways to make the laser graphics:

Of course, both beams and graphics can be used simultaneously. A popular configuration for corporate shows is to have a central screen where graphics are front- or rear-projected. Flanking the screen on either side is a beam projector, used to send beam patterns out, over – and even into – the audience.
 

The most thrilling use of lasers

The most spectacular laser effect is direct audience scanning. This is a beam show where the laser patterns are scanned into the audience area. The fact that the beams are scanned, and the power is monitored, helps make these shows safe to view. (In the 30-year history of worldwide laser shows viewed by millions, there have been less than a dozen reported incidents of claimed eye damage. This is a far better safety record than amusement park rides or even slipping on the bathroom rug!)

What does direct audience scanning look like? All around you are moving beams and shapes of light. At times it can be like having a Star Wars battle break out, with beams shooting in too many directions to count. (Photo credit: HB Laserkomponenten)

At other times, shapes of light surround you. For example, a single plane of light spanning the width of the audience may have 10 to 100 different colored sections, thanks to precise computer control of the color modulation. Of course, these beams and shapes all move in time to the music, whether slow and subtle or fast and furious. The result has been compared to being inside a fireworks show as it goes off.

This unique effect, which can’t be duplicated by conventional lighting, is probably the most popular use of lasers worldwide. Unlike most other media, which occur far from the audience and are passively enjoyed, audience scanning beams actually reach out and touch the audience. This provides a much stronger emotional link between artist and audience.