LACON®
LACON® is considered the most powerful real-time laser workstation on the market.
It was designed for demanding multi-projector setups and mixed-media applications.
Its sophisticated hardware layout, its unmatched expansion capabilities, its supreme performance and its powerful user interface make LACON-5® the logical choice for professional users. As the only one of its kind, the LACON® series has received the Innovation Award of the State Ministry, the TiLE Award, the ILDA Award as well as the Golden Eye Multimedia Award for its innovative features.
Modular System Architecture
LACON-5® is based on a new hardware approach, as can be found in professional high-end controllers and routing systems. In contrast to conventional PCs, this solution is open to almost unlimited expansion, thus allowing an easy scaling of the system without bottlenecks. LACON-5® thus adapts and grows in accordance with its requirements.
Real-time UNIX Operating Systems
LACON-5® works with a UNIX operating system optimized for real-time applications, as is also used in safety-critical applications such as ATMs or spacecraft. "Blue screens" and unpredictable performance disruptions of commercially available PCs are a thing of the past.
Market-leading Realtime-Rendering Subsystems
Thanks to the industry-leading performance of LACON®´s rendering subsystems, you can solve such tasks as full-resolution masking with clipping, high-resolution scanline video output, automated hidden line removal, bitmap overlays, complex geometrical distortion corrections and much more, with ease.
Up to 128 independent projectors
Both software as well as hardware of LACON-5® can easily handle large numbers of projectors. As a cost-efficient alternative to fully equipped output modules with maximum point rate and computing power, LACON-5® and LACON-5® compact support output extension with point rates of the usual market standard.
Digital Data Link DDL-2®
LOBO’s new generation of the ILDA-awarded optical data transmission system provides a system-inherent safety logic and extensive remote-configuration functions for DDL-2® devices. By means of the devices of the DEMUX® series, DDL-2® can also be used to transport other control signals and sound to any place within the DDL® network.
Integrated Audio Hard Disk Recorder
An integrated hard disk recorder with balanced analog and digital ports (S/PDIF, AES/EBU) gives you the freedom to arrange the soundtrack directly in your show creation environment supported by a waveform display. Simply add sound effects in perfect sync with your show or change the timing of audio at any point of the production process.
Connectivity
Thanks to its UNIX operating system, LACON-5® comes with an unmatched platform-independent connectivity via Ethernet. With their standard Ethernet port, LACON-5® workstations easily share data with any other computer platform.
Multimedia Control
LACON-5® has also been designed as a media control center providing expansion modules, an open driver structure and a user interface which allows the programming of systems controlable by DMX, MIDI, RS-232, digital channels or time code. Hence, for most applications, LACON-5® has everything you need to run multimedia shows.
TriDome® Full Dome Laser Projections
For planetariums and domes, LOBO´s TriDome® technology creates stunning full-dome 3D animations as well as three-dimensional beam sculptures in the audience. Combining multiple projectors, this new approach completely covers spherical surfaces with crisp and bright laser images at projection angles up to 360° x 270°.
Premium Support
LACON-5® users receive dedicated support right from the start: comprehensive individual training at the LOBO facilities, detailed printed documentation as well as telephone support by our developers ensure the best possible use of the system. With LOBO's HelpLink, our specialists even assist you directly in your own LACON-5® environment.
Album
All data necessary for laser and multimedia shows, such as graphics, sound files, bitmaps, setup information and much more are saved in so-called albums. As most people work in fundamentally different ways, the graphical user interface of the album and all editors can be customized with settings according to your personal working style.
Graphics Editor
The integrated graphics editor is the perfect environment for creating 3-D laser objects in a time-saving vector format. Bitmaps can be used as a background, to color graphics or to sculpt 3D objects. In addition to laser-optimized fonts, you can also use standard TrueType fonts to create text. More than 1.000 different fonts are already included.
Import
Import filters for the most commonly used laser show file formats allow you to use laser graphics from foreign platforms. The included WindowsTM-based LACON® File Converter transforms standard vector graphics on your PC into LACON® laser graphics. The optional 3-D Converter even transforms conventional 3-D animations into laser.
Show Editor
A new hierarchical Timeline Editor for thousands of tracks and a laser preview allows efficient programming with an optimal overview, even in complex shows for many projectors. Underneath the audio waveform display you place laser animations, Scanline® videos, beam and mirror effects as well as commands for media and periphery control.
Open Plug-in Effect Library
LACON-5® comes with a large plug-in library of realtime special effects which can be added to your animations just by drag & drop. An easy-to-use interface allows you to modify existing effects or to create completely new effects within just a few minutes.
Live Play
The embedded Live Play software has been designed to create perfectly-synchronized atmospheric beam effects as well as screen projections to any given music on a high level of quality. Live Play can be automated thanks to its sophisticated audio processor. Live Play can also be operated by two MIDI keyboards using the optional MIDI/Live module.
Software Toolbox for Windows"TM"
The ProLine software provides a WindowsTM-based software package including not only the LACON® File Converter, but also a bitmap viewer, a file browser and a video editing suite to generate Scanline® Laser Videos. As an option the 3-D Converter and software for a complete remote control of LACON-5® from any PC are available.
Scanline® Laser Video
LOBO’s awarded Scanline® Laser Video function allows you to project video-like images and MPEG videos with your conventional laser projector in unsurpassed resolution. It is thus possible for the first time to display perfect solid text over the full projection angle.
LACON® Show Library
No other laser company has received as many awards in recent years for its shows as LOBO. With LACON-5®, you get access to probably the best and largest show library within the industry. In the form of LOBO’s software contract, you receive 12 shows per year on a subscription basis at a very attractive price.
LACON-5
LOBO's award winning flagship: LACON-5 stets new standards in the field of laser and multimedia controlling. Designed for multimedia applications from the very beginning, the unique modular set-up of LACON-5 allows for a flexible adjustment to any application and for affordable extension at any time - or even for adaptations to the current state of the art. Thanks to its hierarchical timline user interface, programming is as quick and simple as one knows from modern audio or video software. Anybody can start a show with just one click of a mouse.
LACON-5 – additional input devices
For particularly challenging tasks in an optically sensitive environment, additional design-optimized input devices, such as the "Interactive Show Creation Environment" ISCE-5 or the "Visual Intuitive Parameter Editor" VIPE-5 are available. With the pen-based ISCE-5 even laymen are able to intuitively and quickly program complex multimedia sequences. Neither a mouse nor a touchscreen are necessary to create impressive shows. Working with the TFT tablet is as simple as with a piece of paper: with a pressure-sensitive pen, you can draw over imported graphics; therefore, digitalization of drawings or creation of complex show sequences only takes a fraction of the previously required time. The 3D puck with 6 degrees of freedom allows for a natural navigation in the third dimension. With VIPE-5, the user has direct and interactive control over the most important system parameters during programming and live presentations. Four graphic LCD displays with backlight assign different functions to soft keys and sliders.
LACON-5 – Soft Keys
In the soft key section of the Visual Intuitive Parameter Editor, users can indivudally asign functions.
LACON-5 – Endless Belt Fader
The lit Endless Beld Faders are particularly user-friendly in dark environments and allow for comfortable adjustment of both relative and absolute values.
LACON-5 – Back Panel
At the back panel of LACON-5, the modular set-up of the controller is clearly visible. A multitude of different expansion modules is available for this purpose. Hence, LACON-5 will always meet the specific requirements of each project and can be adjusted to changing requirements with minimal investment costs.
LACON-5 – TimeLine Editor
In contrast to conventional TimeLine approaches, an innovative hierarchical TimeLine editor allows for efficient programming with optimal transparency, even for complex multimedia shows. Below the waveform display of the audio signal, laser graphics, video and image elements, beams and mirror effects as well as commands for media and peripheral control can be easily placed in different tracks.
LACON-5 – Graphics Editor
In the 3D graphic editor, graphics and 3D objects can be created easily and intuitivly. Laser graphics can even be created with the pen of a graphic tablet. LACON-5 autonomously performs optimal placement of individual support points.
LACON-5 – Live Play System
With the Live Play System, you are able to create impressive multi-projector show performances live and in synch with any music on the screen or with connected MIDI devices, such as keyboards. New, multi-layered effects, including beam effects, effect mirrors and projections can simply be created "on the fly" or be prepared as pre-sets. Additionally, Live Play includes an intelligent sound-to-light alogrithm with manual bridging.
LACON-5 – Scanline® Laser Video
In addition to conventional vector graphics and beam effects, LACON-5 opens up new creative possibilities with practically full-surface projections of bitmaps and videos. LOBO's Scanline® laser video process reaches a higher resolution than any other system available on the market. This turns neat "special effects" into high-performance and versatile stylistic devices. In no small part due to the freely definable color correction, videos can be displayed with natural brillance and surprising sharpness of detail with regular laser projections of the AMP-5/6 series.
LACON-5 – Text Editor
A text editor with unicode support allows for quick input and amendment of static texts and scrolling texts. For writing texts, you can choose between laser-optimized fonts or commonly used TrueType fonts. Theoretically, thousands of fonts can be used with this system. As a particular highlight, optional further, colored fonts of the type L5-CF are also available. For this purpose, 10 laser-optiimized fonts are colored in a way that gives the impression of being lit from the top left.
LACON-5 – TriDome®
The 360° Full Dome laser projection named TriDome® as shown in the picture is a process developed by LOBO, allowing for the projection of laser graphics onto a complete dome, such as in planetariums. As can be discerned from the name, these are fully automatically composed from at least 3 or even 4 individual images of the projectors. By using the laser and multimedia workstation LACON-5, it is possible to have several laser projectors act as one single Full Dome 360° dome projector. More concretely, this means that laser effects can be placed freely within the dome, without the user having to worry about assignment to different projectors or the size of projector fields – LACON-5 calculates them autonomously and fully automatically.
LACON-5 – Awards
Immediately after being introduced to the market, LACON-5 was already awarded with a "Fenning Award" at the annual ILDA conference in Amsterdam. Three years later, it received another ILDA Award in the category "Technical Achievement". At "TiLE", an international conference and exhibition for entertainment attractions and theme parks in France, the laser and multimedia workstation LACON-5 was honored as "Product of the Year" by the jury for its innovative user interface as well as its extraordinary multimedia capabilities and was awarded with the "TiLE Award of Excellence". Last but not least, it was awarded the "Golden Eyes Award" in the category "Best Multimedia" at the ACF - an international trade fair in the fields of audio/visual and multimedia - in Brussels.
LACON-5 – Application Example Permanent Installation Theme Park
With its reliable UNIX operating system and an almost infinite number of interfaces, the laser and multimedia workstation LACON-5 is not only optimally suited for laser projections, but also for the control of full and sometimes quite complex media-based attractions, such as in museums and theme parks. In addition to numerous other theme parks, such as Habtoorland in Beirut, Mines Wonderland in Kuala Lumpur or the Family Park in Cairo, LACON-5 is also used in the Historama of the Europa-Park in Rust. Here, a single LACON-5 not only fully automatically controls 9 laser projectors, but also 28 digital video projectors, Moving Lights, special effects, as well as numerous screen systems, water fountains, lifting platforms and the drive of the attraction.
LACON-5 – Application Example Temporary Events
LACON-5 is perfectly suited as master controller for all kinds of events - no matter if indoor or outdoor, only with laser or with full multimedia: the reliability of a non-WindowsTM-based system has significant advantages to guarantee that a show can be started at the exactly right moment. Optical data transfer from the controller to the projectors via a single fiber optic cable does not only have the advantage of significantly reduced cabling; problems with electromagnetic interference, as are common with temporary events, are 100 percent eliminated. Accordingly, LACON-5 has already successfully served as a multimedia controller for the entire show at a large number of events.