One of the hottest technologies in the current visual toolkit is one that has been around for a while in our business — lasers. Lasers make a huge impact on productions, with beams of light dancing over the audience that cannot be produced by any other sort of light source on the market. Lasers are available in a wide range of offerings, from simple DJ effects to elaborate systems that require their own programmer and/or operator. For years, lighting designers have been at the mercy of translating their vision of what they want lasers to do to the laser programmer. The LD handled the lighting rig while a separate controller operated the lasers.
In 2012, Image Engineering introduced a way for lighting designers to gain more control of lasers, potentially allowing for a more seamless interplay of laser and lighting effects. Called Beam Composer, it can be thought of as a media server-type “middleman” between the lighting desk and the laser projection system.
How it Works
Almost all professional-grade laser systems currently on the market use the industry standard ILDA protocol, with a 25-pin connection between the laser and an external controller. Beam Composer is a 1U rack mountable controller that receives Art-Net via an Ethernet connection from the lighting desk and then translates that into the protocol to tell the lasers what to do.
At the heart of Beam Composer are the various laser beam manipulation patches that control the laser in a multitude of ways. The software assigns each creative attribute of the laser to a DMX address transmitted via Art-Net, which is ultimately controlled and manipulated by the lighting desk.
Overall setup and limitation boundaries are set through a simple GUI interface, which LDs can also use to set the physical ranges of a laser scanner to ensure that the laser show complies with legally mandated safety requirements.
LD-Friendly Control
With the overall goal of giving the LD total creative control of the lasers through the lighting desk, Beam Controller promises more than just the ability to fire off pre-designed laser looks via a DMX trigger. The product is designed to make laser control as simple as setting up a custom fixture profile, with parameters that match the capabilities of the particular laser system being used.
LDs and lighting programmers, for example, would have total control over the RGB color mixing capabilities on a full color laser, much as they can control the mix on an RGB LED fixture now. And just as they can use other parameters to control any type of moving head, Beam Composer can help them with pan, tilt, strobe and any other effects that the laser projectors might allow.
As with lighting system presets, once an LD or programmer are happy with the laser effect or looks that they create, they can then easily bring back the same effect or look with a preset or a cue directly in the console.
Already on the Road
Beam Composer has hit the ground running. LD Greg Shipley used a number of lasers controlled by Beam Composer for Guns N’ Roses at The Joint in Las Vegas. Tours have begun to see the benefits as well. LD David Hauss took Beam Composer on the road for a three-month tour with dubstep producer and DJ Jeff Abel, a.k.a. Excision, using Beam Composer with a grandMA console for seamless lighting and laser control.
At a Glance
Giving LDs More Control over Laser Looks
Described as a media server-type “middleman” between the lighting desk and laser controls, 1U rack mountable Beam Composer controllers promise to give LDs and lighting programmers control over laser effects for a seamless blend of lighting and laser nuances. The control is via Art-Net, directly from the console, which gives LDs direct access to the output of the lasers themselves via an LD-friendly graphic user interface.
Beam Composer from Image Engineering
Pros: Gives LDs and lighting programmers more control over laser looks, allows for a potentially more seamless and visually integrated show, eliminates the need for laser programmers, artists or arcane laser control software.
Cons: Potentially bad news if you’re a laser programmer, artist or someone who makes their living creating arcane laser control software.
How Much: $3,995 (MSRP)
Manufacturer: Image Engineering
More Info: www.beamcomposer.com and www.imageengineering.com
For rental info, contact PRG (www.prg.com)
