International Laser Display Association

Last updated

The International Laser Display Association (ILDA) is the worldwide non-profit trade association and is dedicated to advancing the use of laser displays in art, entertainment and education. It was founded in August 1986. ILDA sponsors an annual conference and the annual ILDA Awards for artistic and technical achievement in laser shows and displays. [1]

Contents

While increasing public awareness of laser light shows, the ILDA is also an association that provides a base for laser display companies. The ILDA does not perform laser light shows itself, but its members primarily consist of laser light show hosts or companies that sell equipment and services. [2] Members of the company can work with each other, not as competitors, but as colleagues with whom they can collaborate. [2] Being associated with ILDA, members can have professional backing that will supply information on new technologies regarding safety issues and improved display performance. [2]

ILDA History

ILDA was founded on August 16, 1986, at their first organizational meeting in Lake Tahoe. [3] Those founding members who are still active as of 2006 are Tom Harman of LaserNet, Jim Martin of Peachtree Lase, Walt Meador of Laser Rentals, Inc., Todd Rogers of Beamin’ Lasers, and Tim Walsh of Laser Spectacles. [3] Originally, the meeting was labeled a gathering of Laser Entertainment Professionals. [3] The first topics that were covered at the meeting were ethical business standards, quality shows, CDRH, insurance, standardization, market overview, mission statement, and many more. The first officers were Ron Goldstein as President, Walt Meador as Secretary, and Tim Walsh as Treasurer. [3] At the end of the meeting, each company was able to show off their own laser light creations. The most memorable display was when Laser Media and Image Engineering performed their collaboration to prove that cooperation between laser light companies was possible. [3]

In April 2006, the ILDA lobbied for the rights to sell lasers for informational display and/or entertainment. This requires persuading the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH; www.FDA.gov/cdrh) to update the administrative process and ensure laser light shows and displays are safer for the public.

Whilst ILDA membership is open to laserists from all countries, ILDA is in essence an American organization that adheres to American laws and standards of safety. Laser safety is imperative where and whenever lasers are being used in public, however laser safety laws in countries with overbearing bureaucratic indulgence i.e. The US inhibit laser professionals from using the technology in a creative fashion. [4]

ILDA Image Transfer Format

The International Laser Display Association developed an image format suitable for interchanging image data between laser controllers and laser fixtures. The information may also be stored as frames, which can then be stored on a computer or other controlling device. Companies in charge of the technical committee of ILDA are LaserMedia, Image Engineering, Foresight, and Laser Dream.

Since ILDA's inception in the early 1990s, profit for large laser display companies, which developed the art form from existing technology, have plummeted. This may be because the technology has become more widespread and affordable [1]

ILDA Connector

ILDA specifies a hardware interface used to control laser projectors. ISP-DB25 is a DB-25 connector governing the X/Y servo position, per-color output, safety isolators etc. [5]

ILDA Annual Conference and Award Ceremony

Every year, the ILDA sponsors a conference and award Ceremony since 1988. [6] These conferences give digital media light show artists the opportunity to network, and showcase their most recent work, while the Award Ceremonies are a place for members to advertise and promote their artistic talent. Companies who have won the most awards are LOBO Electronic, Audio Visual Imagineering, LFI/Laser Fantasy International, Laser Images Inc. (“Laserium”) and Laser Medium. [6] Awards include several different Artistic categories and the Fenning Award, which credits technical achievement. But the highest honor of all is the Career Achievement Award, which is based on years of success, innovation, and over all quality of work. [7]

The ILDA Conference started in 1987 and ILDA members and non-members can both participate. The Conference holds the ILDA Awards announcements, the Advanced Technology Workshop, a performance of light shows called the “Lase-off,” and seminar and business meetings. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Planetarium</span> Theatre that presents educational and entertaining shows about astronomy

A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laser lighting display</span> Kind of show made with laser light

A laser lighting display or laser light show involves the use of laser light to entertain an audience. A laser light show may consist only of projected laser beams set to music, or may accompany another form of entertainment, typically musical performances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transparency (projection)</span> Plastic sheet for an overhead projector

A transparency, also known variously as a viewfoil or foil, or viewgraph, is a thin sheet of transparent flexible material, typically polyester, onto which figures can be drawn. These are then placed on an overhead projector for display to an audience. Many companies and small organizations use a system of projectors and transparencies in meetings and other groupings of people, though this system is being largely replaced by video projectors and interactive whiteboards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LCD projector</span> Type of video projector

An LCD projector is a type of video projector for displaying video, images or computer data on a screen or other flat surface. It is a modern equivalent of the slide projector or overhead projector. To display images, LCD projectors typically send light from a metal-halide lamp through a prism or series of dichroic filters that separates light to three polysilicon panels – one each for the red, green and blue components of the video signal. As polarized light passes through the panels, individual pixels can be opened to allow light to pass or closed to block the light. The combination of open and closed pixels can produce a wide range of colors and shades in the projected image.

Liquid crystal on silicon is a miniaturized reflective active-matrix liquid-crystal display or "microdisplay" using a liquid crystal layer on top of a silicon backplane. It is also known as a spatial light modulator. LCoS initially was developed for projection televisions, but has since found additional uses in wavelength selective switching, structured illumination, near-eye displays and optical pulse shaping.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Video projector</span> Device that projects video onto a surface

A video projector is an image projector that receives a video signal and projects the corresponding image onto a projection screen using a lens system. Video projectors use a very bright ultra-high-performance lamp, Xenon arc lamp, metal halide lamp, LED or solid state blue, RB, RGB or remote fiber-optic RGB lasers to provide the illumination required to project the image. Most modern projectors can correct any curves, blurriness and other inconsistencies through manual settings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital Light Processing</span> Set of chipsets

Digital Light Processing (DLP) is a set of chipsets based on optical micro-electro-mechanical technology that uses a digital micromirror device. It was originally developed in 1987 by Larry Hornbeck of Texas Instruments. While the DLP imaging device was invented by Texas Instruments, the first DLP-based projector was introduced by Digital Projection Ltd in 1997. Digital Projection and Texas Instruments were both awarded Emmy Awards in 1998 for the DLP projector technology. DLP is used in a variety of display applications from traditional static displays to interactive displays and also non-traditional embedded applications including medical, security, and industrial uses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Handheld projector</span> Image projector in a handheld device

A handheld projector is an image projector in a handheld device. It was developed as a computer display device for compact portable devices such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants, and digital cameras, which have sufficient storage capacity to handle presentation materials but are too small to accommodate a display screen that an audience can see easily. Handheld projectors involve miniaturized hardware, and software that can project digital images onto a nearby viewing surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laser pointer</span> Handheld device that emits a laser beam

A laser pointer or laser pen is a small handheld device with a power source and a laser diode emitting a very narrow coherent low-powered laser beam of visible light, intended to be used to highlight something of interest by illuminating it with a small bright spot of colored light.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interactive whiteboard</span> Large interactive display

An interactive whiteboard (IWB), also known as interactive board or smart board, is a large interactive display board in the form factor of a whiteboard. It can either be a standalone touchscreen computer used independently to perform tasks and operations, or a connectable apparatus used as a touchpad to control computers from a projector. They are used in a variety of settings, including classrooms at all levels of education, in corporate board rooms and work groups, in training rooms for professional sports coaching, in broadcasting studios, and others.

Manick Sorcar is an Indian American artist, animator, engineer, and laserist. Sorcar is an artist in various media, including fine arts, cartoons, animations, laser arts, and world-touring stage shows with live action mixed with laser animation. His animated films, all based on children's stories from India, have won prestigious awards at international film festivals and been broadcast on the Public Broadcasting Service for 25 consecutive years. His laser arts and animation in various forms have won global awards from the International Laser Display Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laser harp</span>

A laser harp is an electronic musical user interface and laser lighting display. It projects several laser beams played by the musician by blocking them to produce sounds, visually reminiscent of a harp. It was popularised by Jean-Michel Jarre, and has been a high-profile feature of almost all his concerts since 1981.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Audience scanning</span>

Audience scanning occurs when a laser beam is directed toward the people observing a laser show or display. Although this is preferred for many laser effects such as tunnels, it is potentially dangerous due to the high levels of laser radiation exposed to the eyes of audience members.

Ivan Dryer is generally considered to be the father of the commercial laser light show industry. He is the founder of the world's first continuously running laser entertainment, known as Laserium.

Infitec GmbH is a family-owned company based in Gerstetten that develops, produces and markets products for the projection of 3D content. The registered name INFITEC is an acronym of Interference Filter Technology, which was invented and patented by the founder of the company, Helmut Jorke.

Fulldome refers to immersive dome-based video display environments. The dome, horizontal or tilted, is filled with real-time (interactive) or pre-rendered (linear) computer animations, live capture images, or composited environments.

Laser color television, or laser color video display, is a type of television that utilizes two or more individually modulated optical (laser) rays of different colors to produce a combined spot that is scanned and projected across the image plane by a polygon-mirror system or less effectively by optoelectronic means to produce a color-television display. The systems work either by scanning the entire picture a dot at a time and modulating the laser directly at high frequency, much like the electron beams in a cathode ray tube, or by optically spreading and then modulating the laser and scanning a line at a time, the line itself being modulated in much the same way as with digital light processing (DLP).

Document cameras, also known as visual presenters, visualizers, digital overheads, or docucams, are real-time image capture devices for displaying an object to a large audience. Like an opaque projector, a document camera is able to magnify and project the images of actual, three-dimensional objects, as well as transparencies. They are, in essence, high resolution web cams, mounted on arms so as to facilitate their placement over a page. This allows a teacher, lecturer or presenter to write on a sheet of paper or to display a two or three-dimensional object while the audience watches. Theoretically, all objects can be displayed by a document camera. Most objects are simply placed under the camera. The camera takes the picture which in turn produces a live picture using a projector or monitor. Different types of document camera/visualizer allow great flexibility in terms of placement of objects. Larger objects, for example, can simply be placed in front of the camera and the camera rotated as necessary, or a ceiling mounted document camera can also be used to allow a larger working area to be used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laser projector</span>

A laser projector is a device that projects changing laser beams on a screen to create a moving image for entertainment or professional use. It consists of a housing that contains lasers, mirrors, galvanometer scanners, and other optical components. A laser projector may contain one laser light source for single-color projection or three sources for RGB full color projection.

Optoma is a visual solution provider that specializes in the marketing and sales of large-format displays, including: projectors, interactive flat panels, large all-in-one LED displays, and image processing equipment. It serves a wide variety of market sectors including: home, corporate, education, large venue, entertainment, museums, retail, ⁣and simulation.

References

  1. 1 2 Tim Walsh. "Home Page" . Retrieved 2008-04-28.
  2. 1 2 3 "Our Mission" . Retrieved 2008-04-28.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Tim Walsh. "ILDA Founding Meeting" . Retrieved 2008-04-28.
  4. ↑ "Laser Industry Report". Laser Focus World. 42 (4): 49. April 2006.
  5. ↑ The ILDA Standard Projector (PDF) (Technical report). 1999.[ dead link ]
  6. 1 2 3 "ILDA Conference Over View" . Retrieved 2008-04-28.
  7. ↑ Lytle, David; Kincade, Kathy (February 2004). "ILDA meeting honors creativity". Laser Focus World. 40 (2): 19–24.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.