The International Laser Display Association sponsors the "Laserist List" mailing list. A few messages have related to the early history of laser light shows, and are reproduced on this page. Here are the messages and topics:
From: laserist-list-admin@lightspeeddesign.com On
Behalf Of bOB
Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 03:52 PM
To: Laserist List
Subject: Re: [laserist-list]: Story Idea for the Laserist
Richard wrote:
> At 08:45 PM 7/12/2002 -0700, Cory Simpson wrote:
>In 1980 or so Floyd and Bob (and I am sure Steve H. is in the mix) Created and Analog Box the could position an array of 64 x/y coordinates. It was a custom built knob box with 128 pots. Each pair of knobs controlled the X and Y position of a image. Imagine trying to draw a literal image with this!<
> Hey Croy,
> A picture of this thing can be found at: http://laser.shows.org/interact.htm and a picture of the output can be found on the next page at: http://laser.shows.org/drawing.htm
> CU,
> Richard
Wow! Someone else was as desperate for literal images as we were... That's not the one Floyd and I built. The Laser Fantasy (or Coherent Innovations at the time) boxes didn't use sliders - they used rotary potentiometers. Floyd built his first box either in North Dakota around '76 or '77, or in Chicago around '78. It had 32 points (64 pots) I believe. It could write "Laser" or "Fantasy", but not both (Laser Fantasy was the name of a show, not the name of the company at that time). In a noble act of self-sacrifice, I believe the first box donated its parts so the second box could live...
The second box was built in St. Paul around '80, and it had 64 points (128 pots). Like its predecessor, it did not have blanking control, but it had a variable point rate. You just dialed in the look by eye. If you wanted sharp corners you slowed it down. If you wanted smooth curves you sped it up. If you wanted both, you sped it up and lost points to stacking - but with only a finite number of points available you avoided that at all costs. The best looking images were probably scanning at around 20 hz (1300 pps!) and it took a few hours to draw a nice looking one. I remember the most challenging graphic I drew with it was the Sears logo - around the time we first started going after corporate work.
We jammed the potentiometers so close together that each pot had to have its wedge-shaped lead board cut back by hand in order for them to fit side by side. That lead to a new definition of "trim pot" around the shop ;-)
I was hoping Casey had managed to tuck this away in his "museum" collection...but it may be lost.
Late in '81, Steve Heminover brought the latest version of LGRASS into the mix and we started animating with blanking and point-to-point color control (N=001; $A="Trick"; $B=$A+N; GETL $B; N=N+1; $C=$A+N; GETL $C; PUTL $B...) and that was the last "the box" was ever used. It gathered dust for the longest time, and I have no idea what eventually happened to it.
bOB
________________________________________
Robert Mueller
Art Director/Exec VP
Lightspeed Design Group
http://www.LightspeedDesign.com
digital artistry -
V I S U A L C O M M U N I C A T I O N S
From: laserist-list-admin@lightspeeddesign.com On
Behalf Of Jennifer Morris
Sent: Monday, July 15, 2002 12:54 PM
To:
laserist-list@lightspeeddesign.com
Subject: Re: [laserist-list]: Story Idea for the Laserist
If this story is going to be told, I'm in - it's a very big story, but I feel I was a big part of it. Also, I think I still have enough of a network to track back to original GSI, Intermedia Systems, and Boston Hayden planetarium people who can make it complete.
The glory of it really, was that the technical and artistic efforts were so closely inter-related, and we were all trying to explore and develop new territory. The website (and I've yet to discover who's behind it) http://laser.shows.org features images that I programmed and animated, from designs by Linda Von Helfet, and that were photographed by my husband, Walter Gundy.
"Interscan" the joint venture of General Scanning and Intermedia Systems that created the show, also drew on a community of artists and engineers whose accomplishments went back to some of the genuinely original multi-media "happenings" of the early sixties. There is a heritage here that (rave designers take note) is worth exploring. A full list of credits is reproduced at the site above.
But in many ways, Lovelight represented a departure from the live-performance artistry established by Laserium - the benefits of which were so eloquently described by Brian Wirthlin in a recent posting. The programming and automation features of the system ensured consistency, and perhaps extended the range of techniques at a designer's disposal... but never provided the thrill of live performance, either for audience or operator. (That part was left to the Zeiss star projector, I suppose). The shows I was able to do later, with the consoles Fred Fenning developed at Image Engineering, were much more satisfying on that level.
But... capturing history is time-consuming. And I still have to hold down this job.
Regards to all -
Jen
From: laserist-list-admin@lightspeeddesign.com
On Behalf Of William Benner
Sent: Saturday, July 13, 2002 09:39 PM
To: The Laserist Online Mailing List
Subject: Re: [laserist-list]: Story Idea for the Laserist
From: Mark ReillySent: Saturday, July 13, 2002 7:52 PMSubject: Re: [laserist-list]: Story Idea for the Laserist
We own the original Lovelight Laser Show hardware. unfortunately the original FM encoded tapes seem to be lost. It is an amazing system for the late 1970's. Four AOMS with an early RGBY Spectra 168 laser. We haven't tried to fire up the laser but we assume the tube is dead. We have all the original blueprints and variance application for the system also. We originally bought it for parts, but I have kept it intact. Maybe we will bring it to ILDA if someone wants to donate some booth space at the trade show.MarkTTLFrom: William BennerSent: Saturday, July 13, 2002 2:50 AMSubject: RE: [laserist-list]: Story Idea for the Laserist
Hi All,Let's not forget about Lovelight. Having seen the show with my own eyes, it was loaded with real digital images, produced by real digital means. I don't know the history of everyone else in the industry, but as far as I can tell, Lovelight pre-dated the developments of all of the people who remain in the industry today. The Lovelight show was done in early 1977. General Scanning's Jean Mantagu also did cloud writing in 1975, again using real digital means.Some of the Lovelight folks are still around (such as Jean Montagu, Bruce Rohr, Jennifer Morris and others) who would certainly be able to comment about thisBill
From: laserist-list-admin@lightspeeddesign.com On Behalf Of Cory Simpson
Sent: Friday, July 12, 2002 11:46 PM
To: David Lytle; Multiple recipients of list laserist-list
Subject: [laserist-list]: Story Idea for the Laserist
Hi David Lytle,Bob Mueller and I were shooting the breeze while our newest Hi-Tech computers "Digitized/Created" laser images for our 4 new laser song modules.In my amazement of this new technology I asked the question: Hey Bob? What was the "first" Digital Image you ever made?In 1980 or so Floyd and Bob (and I am sure Steve H. is in the mix) Created and Analog Box the could position an array of 64 x/y coordinates. It was a custom built knob box with 128 pots. Each pair of knobs controlled the X and Y position of a image. Imagine trying to draw a literal image with this!Wow, what a story that only Bob, Steve and Floyd could tell. I think it would be cool if the Laserist did a retro-spective on the industry and it's early pioneers.Let's get the international achievements as well!Would you be interested in creating a feature article about this in the next Laserist issue? And maybe even an ongoing "Living History" of our Industry's roots. Stories and what not.I would also love to read a 1-on-1 with you and Ivan Dryer! (about the state of the industry now and then)Best regards.Cory
| In addition to this letter, Brian has written about projector hardware at the Laserium page on this website. |
From: laserist-list-admin@lightspeeddesign.com On Behalf Of
Brian Wirthlin
Sent: Tuesday, July 09, 2002 09:06 AM
To:
laserist-list@lightspeeddesign.com
Subject: [laserist-list]: Re: Laser Graphics
Thanks Cory,
I do special projects for a military manufacturer specializing in optical fire control equipment. (155mm Howitzers are a pretty big stick.) A little hardware, software, R&D, etc. I intended to relocate to Orlando last year, but the shock 9/11 had on the job market has left the move only half complete.
I think there's room for animated graphics in laser shows, but they're not a silver bullet. Anyone who's done laser shows knows the audience will respond to the unexpected. Unexpected is not the same as good. The sudden darkness associated with a laser shutting down can trigger applause, but I doubt I'd want to work it into the show. But sometimes the expected is good. I remember seeing a show by AVI that revealed digital images of various celebrities to the Natalie/Nat King Cole version of Unforgettable. The format was obvious from the beginning, but it was...perfect. Unfortunately it also rendered every other use of digital graphics in the show trivial by comparison. And there was a ton of other digital graphics.
Toward the end of my career as a laserist I had a chance to see Fantasia for the first time. I was shocked. Numerous people had compared Laserium and Fantasia favorably. The individual segments in Fantasia were wonderful, but the pacing sucked. Everyone I've ever talked to agreed that they were more than ready to leave for popcorn half way through the movie. I think it finally broke even sometime in the 90's. Disney made the same mistakes in 2000. (IMHO) I'm guessing they spent 100 million+.
Back in the bad old days Laserium had a 160 bits of automation encoded on the forth audio track that repeated 30 times a second. They were basically subdivided into 20, 8 bit words. (I think the term byte was still evolving) The first 10 words were x & y axis gains for red, yel, grn, blu, and master x & y gain. The next 6 (bytes) were other gains and/or course frequency controls. The remaining 32 bits were used to switch between the two image busses, beam kills, diode logic (for background effects), spiral reset, rotation modes, et. al. The shows were hard to do. The Laserist controlled most imagery, all joystick, all beam modulation, all fine rate control, and after the Mark VI projector (introduced with Laserium II) had override of almost everything else. You couldn't train some monkeys to do them at all. But some learned and actually got a little better every show they watched or performed.
It took me years to recognize some of the things Laserium did right way back when. Doing live shows was an obvious advantage. Less obvious was sending a Laserist around to teach each new show. Huge advantages.
1. You saw a REALLY good Laserist perform his best shows in front of your audience. And heard their response! He saw yours, and you both stole shamelessly from the other. The audience is the measure of a good laser show. The goal should not be to get them to buy a ticket to see the show. After they see the show they should want to get right back in line!
2. The best licks from all over the country were disseminated.
3. You saw the changes to the show you had been told should be performed "just this way" the last go around. (Damn! You told me.../So, listen - the audience loves it!/Yah, but I wanted to do it that way 6 months ago/So why didn't you?/Because you told me not to!/Are you saying I should have listened to you, or that you shouldn't have listened to me?/Are you saying I can do anything as long as the audience loves it and gets back in line after the show?/Pretty much!)
4. We worked our asses off. At the very least Glen would do a good premiere and the main laserist had better be up to snuff by the time he left.
5. We competed with each other. Main against backup, and everyone against Glen. Evolution in action.
Any one of these was worth the expense, but there was almost always a desire to eliminate the cost of show training, and the lead time required to train a good laserist. I don't think anyone realized the cost of what they would save.
Around 1983 or so we began putting a "teach track" on the 3rd track. This made it much easier to perform the show. You really didn't have to think about what was coming up, just follow instructions on the head set. Shortly (i.e. the very next show) the training was only via the "teach track". I recorded a "teach track" for a new laserist in St. Louis shortly before moving to L.A. He was amazed that without listening to it I was doing everything in time to the recorded instructions he was hearing over the headphones. Six months later my show would have evolved away from that lockstep, but I suspect he would have still had the headphones on doing exactly the same show. Evolution slowed...stopped? I guess that completely canned shows have been the norm for years. I know what I like, but the important thing is what the audience likes!
We didn’t do everything right. For example some of us sucked. I'm talking Hoover (tm). One gentle soul spent a year and a half and closed three cities. He started out a pathetic laserist, and with consistent effort managed to maintain that same level of excellence, but he almost made up for it with a truly spectacular technical incompetence. (His in-house name was the Avocado. Because he was green on the inside, green on the outside, and there was a nut in the center.) For all that he was a nice guy. Visualize Rev. Jim without that whole flux capacitor thing going on. I, on the other hand, was probably his worst nightmare.
The term Laserist used to bother me. Laser Artist, how pretentious can you be? It was just technology - wasn't it? I loved Laserium, but it wasn't Art. I mean Art is...well of course I mean Real Art, not some modern self indulgent crap...but on the other hand, I've seen self indulgent crappy Laser Shows...They definitely weren't Art...Of course the first Laserium Show's technology was lightyears (pardon the pun) behind even Laserium II, but I'd travel to see it again...Hell what is Art anyway?...Well, I know what I like...I've seen shows with a glimmer of something...They almost had it...or had part of it...So what is it? Maybe that's what Art is...What was I thinking after my first laser show?...Oh yes, I remember. I just couldn't wait to tell everybody I knew about 'it'.
please pardon my ramblings,
Brian
From: owner-laserist-list@LightspeedDesign.com On Behalf Of
CaseyStack@aol.com
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2001 11:47 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list laserist-list
Subject: Re: [laserist-list]: Earth Wind and Fire animation
jennifer morris wrote:
> Just as a point of curiosity: how many list subscribers have a memory of the laser biz that goes back to the 70s? Mine gets a little fuzzy (or maybe I'm just misting up) but I don't think this concert could have taken place much before 1978, because graphic systems were just being developed around that time.<
Eric Eisac, whom, if I have the story right, was involved in laser display even before Fred Fenning joined him and well before Image Engineering was founded...? was generating digitally controlled representational graphics with PD100s as early as 1972-73.
Jennifer may be able to shed a little more light on the early schedule of events. I don't have all the details but Eric did indicate that he was doing is in roughly '73. This is the earliest I have been able to date digital vector graphics as part of entertainment.. although I'm sure it may go back further if we dig deep enough.
-Casey Stack
From: owner-laserist-list@LightspeedDesign.com On Behalf Of
Bob Mueller
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2001 09:50 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list laserist-list
Subject: Re: [laserist-list]: Earth Wind and Fire animation
jennifer morris wrote:
> Just as a point of curiosity: how many list subscribers have a memory of the laser biz that goes back to the 70s? Mine gets a little fuzzy (or maybe I'm just misting up) but I don't think this concert could have taken place much before 1978, because graphic systems were just being developed around that time.<
I would agree, Jennifer. I know Steve Heminover, Floyd Rollefstad and I didn't really start seriously animating with LGRASS until 1981. Before that, while LGRASS was drawing digital "still" images, and could spin them, draw/undraw them, etc., our world was still mostly analog. Floyd even went so far as to design a 64 point analog sequencer to produce logo graphics (1980 - boy, I remember soldering that thing together...), and a 32 point sequencer before that ('78/'79). Each point in the image had its own X,Y potentiometers!
Around 1980 or so, I recall seeing a brochure for Eye See the Light. They were doing digital laser graphics as well. But to my knowledge they were manipulating stills, too. I didn't personally see digital animation in Laserium shows until the early 80's.
And as I recall, AVI shows were still all analog as late as 1979.
I'm not sure when Laser Media started to animate their laser graphics, but if I were to hazard a guess, it would be that the eagle (if it animated) was done by Laser Media in the early eighties.
If the concert mentioned absolutely occurred in the 70's, I'd bet it wasn't really an animation, but a manipulation of a still rame. Either way, since Media dominated the rock-and-roll touring market, I would guess that they were responsible for this eagle.
bOB
________________________________________
Robert Mueller
Art Director/Exec VP
Lightspeed Design Group
http://www.LightspeedDesign.com
digital artistry -
V I S U A L C O M M U N I C A T I O N S
Laser Displays Inc.
Laserium
Patrick Murphy (pre-Pangolin)
Laserist List histories
Links to other lasershow history websites
