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TouchDesigner and Lasers

This page is about how to use TouchDesigner to create shapes for lasers, colour them with powerful tools, and ultimately send the produced data from the Laser CHOP to multiple lasers using the AVB protocol throught the Audio Device Out CHOP.

 

PLEASE ALWAYS BE AWARE:
LASERS ARE DANGEROUS - DAMAGE TO YOUR OR THE AUDIENCE'S EYE SIGHT IS A VERY REAL RISK

If you plan to use lasers:
Understand all the laws and regulations for laser operation in your area. Become a certified Laser Safety Officer (this is required by law in some areas). Courses are available from ILDA directly: ILDA Laser Safety Courses
Make sure an emergency stop button is close to you at all times. Do not let anyone enter the laser projection area unless all precautions have been taken to limit the output. Make sure there are no reflective surfaces in the projection area that might cause the beam to reflect unintendedly.

 

I made three tutorial videos covering the specific aspects of this topic. 

  1. General Setup - Which Software, drivers and basic operators in TD are needed
  2. The Laser CHOP - How does it work, what to take care of in the parameters
  3. Mutiple Lasers - What hardware do I need, how to setup your patch and system

 

1. General Setup

 

Part I of this tutorial covers the general setup, i.e. which Software you need, which drivers, and which are the essential elements needed for a first laser "Hello World".

 

2. The Laser CHOP
 

 

Part 2 of this tutorial is dealing in more detail with the Laser CHOP. The essential CHOP in TouchDesigner to create the values necessary for sending to the lasers.

 

3. Connecting Multiple Lasers
 

 

Part III of this tutorial is specifically on how to connect to multiple lasers, and how to generate and distribute the data accordingly in TouchDesigner.

 

The github with the most updated files can be found here:
Laser Control

Hopefully this is helpful for someone here :-) Let me know if you have some more questions, its not always possible to cover all aspects.

 

Daniel

 

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