Controlling multiple lasers

QuickShow allows you to control up to nine* separate FB3 laser controllers connected to the computer via USB (normally using one or more powered USB hubs). Simply connect multiple FB3s to the computer, and QuickShow will automatically recognize them, and place an icon in the status bar portion of the program.

(* Note that the number of FB3 that QuickShow can control depends strongly on the horsepower of your computer. The more FB3s you connect to a single computer, the faster your computer will need to be since QuickShow computes the output for all laser systems using the PC processor.)

Once you have connected more than one FB3 to your computer, you should do the following:

1. Ordered List ItemAdjust the Projector Settings for each FB3 in order to optimize the settings for each projector.
2. Unordered List ItemAdjust the Geometric Correction, and perhaps other parameters using the Projection Zones dialog box.

Once you have setup the projector settings and geometric correction for each projector, you can now direct QuickShow cues to the individual lasers using one of two methods:

1. Ordered List ItemSpecify which laser to use within the cue properties of each cue.
2. Use “zone hot keys” to indicate where to send cues.

You can access the properties of each cue by right-clicking on that cue and choosing Cue Properties.

The Destination tab controls the destination of the cue (i.e. where the cue will be routed once it is triggered). Note that you can specify that the cue be directed to more than one zone (i.e. laser) simultaneously, so if you check both the “Zone 1” and “Zone 2” boxes above, the cue will be directed to both lasers simultaneously.

You may go through each cue in the workspace and specify which zone (i.e. laser) you want to use for that cue. For certain applications, this makes sense, but greater flexibility is afforded by using “Zone hot keys”.

You may split the Laser Preview window into nine separate zones by right-clicking in the Preview Window and selecting “Show 9 zones”.

Once the Laser Preview window is split into nine zones, you may click the left mouse button on one of the zones, and, from that point forward, most laser cues will be directed to the zone you selected.

Note that the layout of the nine zones is exactly like that of the numeric keypad on your computer keyboard. Therefore what you can do is use your right hand to press a numeric key to specify the zone, and use your left hand to press letter keys and trigger individual cues.

When you press the zero-key on the numeric keypad (or click the “Use cue-preferred zones” button above), no zone hot-key override will take place and instead, the cue will be directed to the place where it normally is, in accordance with the cue properties.

The right-hand control on the numeric keypad only works when the Numeric Lock is enabled. See the picture below for a full explanation of the keys.

Certain cues will not be routed using zone hot-keys. These include shows made with the QuickTimeline tool, as well as QuickCaptures and cues which specifically indicated that they did not want to be rerouted.

See Also

• Projector Settings
• Projection Zones
• Cue properties
• Laser Preview window
• Keyboard Equivalents

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