color palette with trace it raster mode

F

franck

Member
Hi all :)
after video tracing problem i have another with color palette.
when trace it convert a video to a raster ilda file the color palette is 256 colors in standard ilda file.
the result is good when i use insight software to open it but
if i use pangolin palette the colors of the trace it rendered ilda file are wrong or lost.
here is the problem:
my laser software use 64 color palette.
do you know a solution to convert 256 color ilda palette created by tracit to a 64 colors (like pangolin palette) without lost or wrong color?
thanks
franck.
 
Dear Franck,

I have spoken to Alexey about this since he is the person who wrote TraceIT and thus, the person with the most expertise on this product. Alexey's questions and comments are below:

Alexey wrote:
I can say that TraceIT works with 24bit color all the time. So, if a QM2000 is connected, then there will be 24bit color. Otherwise, TraceIt has 2 predefined color palettes - ILDA (perhaps 256 colors) and Pangolin (64 colors). The current version of TraceIT does not allow you to change these palettes.

Franck wrote:
if i use pangolin palette the colors of the trace it rendered ilda file are wrong or lost.

Alexey responds:
It depends on how you are doing it, where you have opened the file, etc. But as far as color output, the code is the same for all palettes...

Franck wrote:
here is the problem: my laser software use 64 color palette.

Alexey and Bill respond:
Can you please tell us what software you are running? We are aware of certain software out there that uses absolutelly crazy implementation of ILDA files...

Please let me know if you have any questions and we will be glad to help. It would be good to know more about the problem, there may be many aspects...

William Benner and Alexey Sinitsyn
 
thanks for your reply :)
about the software i use LDS (laser show designer) and lascad.
for more informations about the problem i will try to make some screen shots and ilda files tomorrow.
greetings
franck.
 
Hi all :)
i have make some tests and here are the files :)

i have use the pangolin 15 seconds video for tracing in raster mode

here are the file in ilda standard palette:
http://thequark.free.fr/laser/problem/video_ilda_pal.ild

and in pangolin palette
http://thequark.free.fr/laser/problem/video_pangolin_pal.ild

the colors are wrong if i use the pangolin palette to read the file in using pangolin palette

but if i use the laserillusions palette fo red the ilda standard palette file all is good

here is the laser illusions palette:
http://thequark.free.fr/laser/problem/laserill.pal

do you know solution to read the ilda file with 64 color palette?

thanks
greetings
franck.
 
Hi Franck,

I guess the answer is that you are using LASCAD as I understand. You said you are using LDS, but that is not our software. I think if you were using LD2000 and rendering using TraceIT through the QM2000, you would not be having this problem, since LD2000 supports native 24-bit color with zero color palettes (i.e. essentially unlimited colors).

I don't know for sure, but I think LASCAD may have a limited color palette and maybe this is where your limitation of 64 colors is coming into play, but LD2000 really does not have this limitation. We did away with palettes like this around 6 years ago, and even when we had palettes, our palettes were 256 colors, not just 64.

Another factor is the ILDA File Format itself, which is froth with color palette problems and incompatibility. Some software natively uses the ILDA file format, but we developed our own file format which can support the virtually unlimited number of colors that raster frames require.

I think if you tried TraceIT with an LD2000 system, and with 24-bit color mode selected, you would find that you do not have any color limitations.

As for the Pangolin 15 second ID, that was created with our Lasershow Converter MAX plug-in, which gives superior tracing results. You can download a file which shows the results here:
http://www.pangolin.com/projects/pang_id/index.html


I hope this helps... but bottom line, I think if you use our tools all together, as a collection, you should not have any problems.

Bill
 
Hi Franck,

We essentially discontinued the non-QM version of TraceIT. Essentially, nobody (with the possible exception of you) purchased this. Also, it is available for free with LD2000 (and is included as part of the LD2000 version 4.0 install).

Best regards,

William Benner
 
:( bad new :( because i would like to know if there is an USB dongle because the new computers use USB instead of the parallel connector. i think the answer is no :( i try with a USB to parallel adapter but without success.
i'm disappointed because this is a usefull software and when you make laser art for hobby you not have money/utility to buy a qm2000 board :(
thanks Bill.
greetings
franck.
 
Hi Franck,

We really have stopped supporting the old TraceIT that worked with a dongle. We don't have any more parallel port dongles in stock, and don't want to migrate this program to USB.

People who know me will know that I absolutely hate dongles for a lot of reasons. You won't find them on Pangolin software... Instead, we do have a version of TraceIT that will work with a CPU-specific license file. This is a technique we have been using with our SMS software for the last few years with good success.

Please contact me by email if you are interested in getting a CPU-specific version of TraceIT.

Still and yet, I just strongly recommend that people just get a copy of our LD2000 software. TraceIT and the entire LAStudio suite is available free with LD2000, and it doesn't require a dongle or even a license file...

Best regards,

William Benner
 
Hello William i hope you're fine.
i've the opportunity to buy a pangolin intro system with QM2000.net.
now i can see the difference between the other brand systems and softwares ^ ^.
i've started to use LD2000 software suite and the included Trace it but i found a difference between my version (with dongle) and the LD2000 one. i can't open GIF picture in the 4.10.0.488 from the LD2000 package. this is normal? it's caused by the intro limitation?
thank you for your help.
greetings from France
 
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Dear Franck,

Thanks for your comments. And yes, sometimes it is hard to understand the difference between Pangolin products and competitors, until you experience it for yourself.

By the way, if you have any ideas about how we can better communicate the differences, let us know. I see our competitors using really fancy words in their advertisements. Sometimes their system looks very good "on paper", but when you start using it you can see that things are not "as advertised"...

Regarding your question, I am not aware of any limitation. There certainly should not be any, and so far nobody else has contacted us about this issue. I would like to receive the file that you are trying to open so that we can try it for ourselves and see if the problem is related to your file or something else.

Please contact us using the contact form on our web site (www.pangolin.com/contact) and we will arrange to receive the file. It might also help us if you could include a picture (screen shot) helping to communicate the problem you are experiencing, and the difference you see between the TraceIT that is included with LD2000 and the one you used before.

Best regards,

William Benner
 
Thank you William.
about other softwares there's lot differences and i was tired to pay each year a new version to have bugs fixed.
i'm waiting since at least 5 years to have the money and a good offer to buy a pangolin system :)
i contact you by the contact form.
greetings
 
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