Hi, I just started working with the laser machine at a local planetarium. They haven't done much with the laser there in the past, and I'm completely new to it. When I look at a frame in LD, it looks nice and solid, but if i use a simple animate only in ST, when i play the show, it looks all flickery, like its coming on and off. Is this due to framerates or...? Is there a way to prevent it? Thanks.
ld2000 frames flicker in showtime
- Thread starter greves
- Start date
Pangolin
Staff member
Can you tell me if this is LD/QM32 or LD2000? It will tell you in the ABOUT box or on the title bar.
I suspect that there may be some settings that are not quite right. If you can send me a frame file, show file, and your LD.INI file (or LD2000.INI if you have an LD2000 system), I will take a look and let you know what is wrong. Please call +1-407-299-2088 for the email address if you don't have it already.
Bill
I suspect that there may be some settings that are not quite right. If you can send me a frame file, show file, and your LD.INI file (or LD2000.INI if you have an LD2000 system), I will take a look and let you know what is wrong. Please call +1-407-299-2088 for the email address if you don't have it already.
Bill
It is LD2000. You understand exactly what the problem is? I don't mean its a bad flicker, like every second or something, I just mean that it looks choppy, for example playing a video at 5 or 10 frames per second, rather than at 50 frames per second (if I just open and look at a frame in LD2000, it looks solid, as if it was played at the 50 frames per second).
I'm not sure if I can get the frame/show/LD.INI file, because the computer isn't on the internet and I don't believe it has a burner or anything. I might be able to get it onto a USB drive, but in the mean time if you have any suggestions of what settings to check, or to make sure that my show is indeed set up properly/incorrectly, please let me know.
Also, one other problem now that I am thinking about it, I have a morph set up in one show, and when the object starts to morph, for just a few frames, you can see all of the points of the object and there are straight lines connecting them. I.E. it is not round and smooth as it should be, although it is just for a very short time (.5 seconds or thereabouts). I plan to buy the tutorial DVD soon that will hopefully clear up some issues. Thanks!
~~Edward Greve
I'm not sure if I can get the frame/show/LD.INI file, because the computer isn't on the internet and I don't believe it has a burner or anything. I might be able to get it onto a USB drive, but in the mean time if you have any suggestions of what settings to check, or to make sure that my show is indeed set up properly/incorrectly, please let me know.
Also, one other problem now that I am thinking about it, I have a morph set up in one show, and when the object starts to morph, for just a few frames, you can see all of the points of the object and there are straight lines connecting them. I.E. it is not round and smooth as it should be, although it is just for a very short time (.5 seconds or thereabouts). I plan to buy the tutorial DVD soon that will hopefully clear up some issues. Thanks!
~~Edward Greve
Pangolin
Staff member
Hi Edward,
Thanks for the post. John Tilp coined a phrase a long time ago which I love. He said "talking about art is like dancing about architecture". Really I find that talking about any visual phenomenon is very difficult. It is hard for me to understand what you mean by flicker or choppy. These are things that I will need to see for myself in order to experience and understand. Likewise, this "straight lines during morph" problem that you mention does not ring any bells, and probably will not until I see it with my own eyes. Please see what you can do about getting those files to me, so that I can see, experience, understand, and finally solve this problem for you.
Bill
Thanks for the post. John Tilp coined a phrase a long time ago which I love. He said "talking about art is like dancing about architecture". Really I find that talking about any visual phenomenon is very difficult. It is hard for me to understand what you mean by flicker or choppy. These are things that I will need to see for myself in order to experience and understand. Likewise, this "straight lines during morph" problem that you mention does not ring any bells, and probably will not until I see it with my own eyes. Please see what you can do about getting those files to me, so that I can see, experience, understand, and finally solve this problem for you.
Bill
Bill, I hope you got my email OK. I sent it from my boss's computer at work, so you can mail him back and I'll read it there, or you can email me directly at edward.greve@gmail.com . I sent the frame andshowtime files, and some other file that shared the same name. The frame that I have the biggest problem with is the "no food or drink" symbol. In LD2000 it looks great, but in the showtime scene it looks terrible.
Apophis2036
New Member
Re: Test
Did anyone ever find out the answer to this question; I'm having the same problem with it flickering.
It seems like to me that the laser works in a scanning back and forth motion to make the lines come out solid. If there are too many lines on screen it came scan back and forth fast enough to make it look solid. However, for me, I have shows that have a lot of lines that look fine, but in other shows I have not so many lines that will flicker. So, obviously, this perplexes me.
Did anyone ever find out the answer to this question; I'm having the same problem with it flickering.
It seems like to me that the laser works in a scanning back and forth motion to make the lines come out solid. If there are too many lines on screen it came scan back and forth fast enough to make it look solid. However, for me, I have shows that have a lot of lines that look fine, but in other shows I have not so many lines that will flicker. So, obviously, this perplexes me.
Pangolin
Staff member
Re: Test
Hi Edward,
A few points. First, no I didn't receive any emails. Note that for the first contact, all people should use our Contact form at: http://www.pangolin.com/contact. You can't send a file through the Contact form, but you can establish initial contact, and then use regular email from that point forward.
Second, it occurs to me that maybe this "flicker" is being caused by the combination of a crappy video board in the computer, and the Enhanced Reality Preview being turned on. You can test this theory by playing a show with the Preview window closed. Try that and let me know if it solves the problem. If it does, then you can disable Enhanced Reality Preview or get a better video board in the computer.
Best regards,
William Benner
Hi Edward,
A few points. First, no I didn't receive any emails. Note that for the first contact, all people should use our Contact form at: http://www.pangolin.com/contact. You can't send a file through the Contact form, but you can establish initial contact, and then use regular email from that point forward.
Second, it occurs to me that maybe this "flicker" is being caused by the combination of a crappy video board in the computer, and the Enhanced Reality Preview being turned on. You can test this theory by playing a show with the Preview window closed. Try that and let me know if it solves the problem. If it does, then you can disable Enhanced Reality Preview or get a better video board in the computer.
Best regards,
William Benner
Hi greves!
I've already encountered such problem.
It seems to me, that your laser device (projector) can't handle the numer of point you've given it in your animation.
To solve this, try to make less complex frames. Though you can always remake frmes in showtime, reducing points number, you can rarely get a proper result.
While i was drawing a logo, i decided to display the entire frame with logo and 2 lines of text. But after getting crappy flickering, i broke the sequence into three parts - each one for one element.
PS
If Pangolin officials DO know how to reduce points number in *.swf converter for the whole animation, i would greately appreciate such help
I've already encountered such problem.
It seems to me, that your laser device (projector) can't handle the numer of point you've given it in your animation.
To solve this, try to make less complex frames. Though you can always remake frmes in showtime, reducing points number, you can rarely get a proper result.
While i was drawing a logo, i decided to display the entire frame with logo and 2 lines of text. But after getting crappy flickering, i broke the sequence into three parts - each one for one element.
PS
If Pangolin officials DO know how to reduce points number in *.swf converter for the whole animation, i would greately appreciate such help