Hey folks this is John with Laser Ninja.
Bringing you another one of my awesome Pangolin tutorials.
Now I'm out in Miami Florida this weekend, working with the Miami dolphins, doing the
laser show for their halftime.
I get to work with Pangolin BEYOND 4.0.
And use the FB4 to try out some of the new features that are being introduced.
Pangolin 4.0 brings all new capabilities for exporting graphics to the FB4.
The export wizard allows you to take Cues and graphics.
And go ahead and export them into a format that the Pangolin FB4 automatically understands.
This includes copying to directories for working with things like DMX and autoplay.
Now for autoplay, there's a new feature that's being introduced, that allows you to schedule
Cues to play at particular times.
This is great for things like conventions and conferences, where you want to remind
attendees that a particular event, keynote or speaker is coming up.
So that attendees don't miss this.
This can be done in a marquee and a graphic in a lot of different ways.
This is also good for bars and clubs, if you need to go ahead and schedule a message at
a particular time to remind patrons that.
Maybe a band is going to be playing in the near future or even something as simple as
that magic hour were cut off happens is quickly approaching.
New features such as the ability to do geometric correction and apply them to exports, so that
you can do all of your safety zones and adjustments in Pangolin BEYOND.
And when you export to the projector, it'll automatically apply them.
So a lot of new features and new capabilities are in Pangolin BEYOND 4.0.
So let's take a look at some of these tutorials and see them in action.
In this tutorial we're going to take a look at the various functions of exporting to the
FB4 and working with the FB4 controller in Pangolin BEYOND.
First we will do a quick show of updating the firmware, when running BEYOND for the
first time.
The remaining tutorial will be dedicated to working with the new export menus in BEYOND 4.0.
Exploring how to export basic use, auto play, laser test patterns and DMX control.
Then we will take a look at scheduling Cues.
Finally we will take a look at the settings dialog for the FB4 and working with the FB4 navigator.
One of the first things that will happen when opening BEYOND 4.0 with FB4 hardware, is the
user will be prompted to update the firmware.
This is accomplished by a simple wizard.
The dialog will inform you that there is an FB4 that needs updating.
Click on the continue button.
The next dialog will allow the user to update individual FB4s or update all FB4s simultaneously.
For simplicity say, you could just click on update all controllers.
Once completed the FB4 will restart.
If Pangolin BEYOND does not detect this, you could safely click on the close button.
From there you can go into the laser and emulaser control hardware menu and see the updated FB4.
All of the FB4 menus will be located under the file menu in Pangolin BEYOND.
The menus include the export dialog, the FB4 browser.
FB4 settings and the FB4 file viewer.
For this section we'll click on the FB4 settings menu.
The FB4 settings menu has a lot of information and settings about all the FB4 systems that
Pangolin BEYOND can see.
From here we can see the IP addresses, firmware versions, serial numbers and if the system
is active.
We can also change settings from this menu.
Let's take a look at some of the items in the quick settings menu.
Quick settings operate on all FB4s in Pangolin BEYOND.
From here we can synchronize all internal clocks to Pangolin BEYONDs PC clock.
This is important for auto-playing scheduled shows.
We can also switch to any of the various modes on all FB4s.
Such as the BEYOND QuickShow mode for playback of Cues in BEYOND.
Switch to an external ILDA input, so we can receive something input from something like
an oscillating abstract generator.
We can switch to DMX mode or ArtNet mode to allow control from a lighting desk.
We can switch to auto play mode for scheduled playback or automatic Cue or list playback.
And finally we can switch a test mode for display test patterns.
Each of these modes can be set individually from the mode buttons in the center of the dialog.
Using the accordeon panel on the right hand side, we can see each of the individual settings
for the FB4.
Such as setting IP addresses, master size and position, color balance, DMX and ArtNet
addresses and geometric correction.
So to keep things in line, I will go ahead and click on quick settings and choose PC clock.
At the dialog I will hit ok.
This will synchronize all FB4s in the system to my PC.
Next I want to go ahead and give my FB4 a unique name.
I will go ahead and click on the set label button.
I will give my FB4 unique name so that it's easy to work with in a list of FB4s.
Individual FB4 modes can also be set from the menu in the center of the dialog.
By default the BEYOND QuickShow mode is active.
It is important to note that this mode is required in order to upload content into the FB4.
Next we can set the ilda input mode in order to receive input from external devices, that
adhere to the ilda standard, using an ilda connector.
DMX and ArtNet are both for receiving input from lighting desks.
Autoplay will automatically playback content on the SD card in the FB4.
This can be individual Cues such as logos, a list of Cues or a Cue to be played back
at a particular time.
And finally test mode for displaying laser test patterns.
It is interesting to note that the Cue being displayed can be controlled from this menu.
If we open the IP address submenu, we can see that we can set the IP address to auto
retrieve IP addresses, from a DHCP service or manually input a fixed ip address.
In those cases DHCP will work.
However there are cases where a DHCP service is not available, to auto assign IP addresses.
In which case, you can manually enter a fixed IP address.
Once I input an IP address and click on set fixed, I can verify that this IP address is
working, using standard tools such as ping.
Working with the master settings, allows the operator to set master values on the projector itself.
Brightness and size can be set on the FB4.
And this will restrict these settings on the laser further than what the projector or brightness
settings are set to and BEYOND.
The last few menus I will look at, are for setting color correction, DMX and ArtNet settings
and geometric correction.
Color correction will allow for basic color balance on the FB4.
This is a great thing if you utilize the color circle test patterns for achieving an optimum
white balance.
Since this is set on the projector, it does not require BEYOND in order to have accurate
color balance.
The DMX and ArtNet settings are fairly straightforward.
Set a channel for the FB4 DMX profile to start on, for DMX and the universe for ArtNet.
And lighting desks such as the Grand MA, HOG and ChamSys can communicate with the FB4 directly.
The last menu of interest is the geometric correction menu.
This will allow for basic geometric correction for non flat surfaces.