There are three versions of Lasershow Designer 2000. Each includes a QM2000 hardware board, a 50-page illustrated manual, and an Installation CD/DVD with programs, help files, clipart frames, free shows and even royalty-free music.
Here are brief descriptions of the three levels:
· LD2000 Professional is the top version, for those doing laser shows full-time. It includes all features, including the ability to create 3D objects. When making a show, you can have up to 32 objects (tracks) simultaneously.
An LD2000 Pro system can create or edit a show with up to 30 projectors, in the same computer or over an Ethernet network, provided that you have a QM2000 for each projector.
· LD2000 Basic is mid-level. You can make flat, 2D drawings but not 3D objects. The abstract generator has two oscillators, instead of Pro's three. When making a show, there are 16 tracks available.
· LD2000 Intro is the lowest-cost, yet it still has a lot of power. You can create frames and shows with Intro. However, the frames will be flat (2D), and the Abstract Generator has only one oscillator. When making a show, you can only work with 8 tracks, and there are fewer effects such as morphing. Still, for many simple uses, Intro is more than capable of doing high-quality shows.
Intro systems are often used as "slaves" for running multiple scanner heads. Intro systems also are ideal for playback-only applications, since they can play back any show created on any version: Pro, Basic or Intro.
All three versions can playback any LD2000 show, with full effects. This means that even LD2000 Intro can play an LD2000 Pro show, with all of its advanced features. Thus, if you just want to play back shows, your best buy is LD2000 Intro.
Not only can you play back shows, but you can edit them. For example, you could replace the show's logo with your own. However, you can only use the editing features available in the particular program. This means that in Intro, you can edit just the first eight tracks of a show. In Intro and Basic, you can edit a frame's X and Y coordinates, but not the Z coordinates (since these programs are 2D only). So if you need extensive editing of a show, consider Pro or Basic instead of Intro.
All three versions act as "slaves" for each other, in a multi-scanner projector. For example, you can put a Pro and Intro into a computer; the Intro will act as a slave to the Pro (including all Pro tracks and features) so you can run a two-scanner-head show.
The table below gives more details about the differences between the three versions, as of LD2000 release 4.50.
Computer requirements: The minimum computer requirement is any PC (IBM-compatible) with at least one PCI slot, and which can run Windows 95/98 or Windows 2000). Because LD2000 comes with its own computer, the QM2000 board, your Lasershow Designer 2000 system will run at the same speed no matter how fast or slow your computer runs. However, for creating shows we highly recommend a fast computer with multimedia (CD-ROM or DVD-ROM, sound card), and extra memory. This is because Windows itself can be slow; the extra speed will make windows and graphics draw much faster. LD2000's minimum video requirements are SVGA (800 x 600) with at least 16-bit "high" color (32,000 colors). Be sure to select your video driver's "Small fonts" option. Using large fonts changes the text spacing in LD's windows. Hard drive space The current version of LD2000 takes up roughly 80,000,000 bytes (80 megabytes). Because each file requires additional hard drive overhead space, systems using Windows 95/98 may actually require 100 MB or more to store this data. As you use LD2000, you'll need additional space to accommodate your work. Very roughly, you can assume about 2 Mb for every five minutes of show time.