LD 2000 4.1 ILDA export

There was a possibility to export whole show to ild file in version 3.5. There is the same possibility in 4.1, but some of the frames are marked as "not authorized". Is this feature already disabled?
 
Dear Mystery 123,

That's a good question. Let me see if I can completely explain the situation.

As part of the LD2000 system, we provide over 100 complete laser shows (24 of which are international award winners) and over 300,000 frames. These collectively are worth well over $100,000 if purchased individually, from the original show creators. Pangolin has made special arrangements with the original show creators and copyright holders of this material so that we can provide it at no additional cost to our users. Also, it is not obvious, but as part of the special arrangements we have with the original creators, we have obligations on how this material may be used, and to whom it may be distributed.

So in other words, if a client purchases an LD2000 system -- even an Intro system for the measly amount of $1,495 (US List) -- in return they get over $100,000 worth of frames and shows, in addition to the great software and hardware. BUT!! It should be understand that these are not "free frames and shows". These are "free to use by licensed users of LD2000".

One thing to understand that, as one of the terms of our license agreement, our users agree that they will not use "Pangolin Provided Show Elements" (PPSEs) on non-Pangolin software and hardware.

Over the past several years, people have abused the frames and shows that we provide, and also there have been abuses recently on other software platforms, such as Lasergraph DSP and Tarm show collections. Certain people, and even companies, have basically taken some frames and shows and distributed them, either as part of their software, or just given them to friends.

Laser shows, just like other forms of intellectual property, are protected by international copyright laws, and also by contractual agreements (an example of which is our license agreement). Over the past two years, legal action has been taken against six companies that we know of. Fortunately for the laser show creators, in all six cases that we know of, the legal actions were successful, and in some cases, the offenders had to pay court costs, attorney's fees and damages for the unauthorized distribution of frames and shows.

As a partial result of this flurry of activity, even ILDA has taken a stand on intellectual property abuse. You can see ILDA's position here:
http://www.laserist.org/intellectual-property.htm


But let me get back to the ILDA Export thing... Again, as part of our license agreement, users agree that they will not use Pangolin Provided Show Elements on non-Pangolin software and hardware. To help enforce this provision of our license agreement (thus, helping to prevent infringements -- either innocent or otherwise), we prevent most of the Pangolin Provided Show Elements from being exported to formats other than the Pangolin format. For frames and shows that users create -- no problem. They can export to ILDA all day long. But for things that Pangolin has paid well over $100,000 for, and things that we have agreements with our providers for, well, users agree that they will only use these on Pangolin software and hardware.

If you think about it, the only real purpose in exporting to ILDA in the first place, is to use the frames and shows on non-Pangolin platforms. All Pangolin platforms already understand our native file formats, so there is no need to export these to ILDA if you only want to use them on a Pangolin platform. I will also note that the ILDA format is grossely inferior to the native Pangolin formats, so any export to ILDA will no doubt lead to loss of information
 
Hmm, but is it a real change in Showtime software?
I do not think so. You cannot export to ILDA, because frame security options have been set by the show creator. Load your framefile into LD open "advanced" frame properties, and click on frame type security info. In case of spectrabeam Everybody show for example, frames are secured to level 3 for all cards, which means enabled preview, output, edit but NO export.

John
 
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