Brussels, Belgium, January 5, 2004. It was the laser entertainment industry's equivalent of Hollywood's Oscar night: over a dozen companies from five nations were honored for artistic achievement during a gala celebration at the historic Le Plaza Theatre in Brussels last November.
The International Laser Display Association's (ILDA) awards honored a wide spectrum of applications ranging from a citywide festival in Budapest to pulsating beam shows for nightclubs and discotheques. The awards were preceded by an elaborate opening ceremony created by Laser System Europe that included aquatic fountains, dancers, live ice sculpting and, of course, laser effects.
The awards took place as part of the 17th annual ILDA Conference, where attendees were treated to a host of new product introductions and elected a new president, Jim Hardaway of LFI International.
LOBO electronic of Aalen, Germany received the most awards of any single company, taking honors in nine of ILDA's fourteen artistic categories, including four first place awards. The company's three-dimensional beam shows took four awards, with all the shows created through a subscription service that provides clients with a new show each month.
ILDA members and invited guests, forming an audience of about 100, were given a special treat during the awards ceremony when Paris-based magician Theo Dari performed his award-winning "Laserman" show. Dari's unique act combines science fiction with sleight-of-hand, and features an alien-looking magician who uses his bare hands to manipulate laser beams with the speed and deceit of a card shark. The crowd of seasoned laser professionals--no easy group to please--gave Dari a standing ovation.
Additional highlights of the awards included a 1st Place to US-based LFI International for the "Surpraser" stage show in Seoul, South Korea, which combines live actors and dancers with powerful laser effects. Laser System Europe of Belgium, which hosted ILDA's conference, took fist place for the opening ceremony of Moscow's Utah Games. The show synchronized lighting, sound, aquatic fountains and laser displays with live performers. LOBO Electronics' "Mystere" show took 1st Place in the Indoor Show category, and featured the company's new Scanline Laser Video projections used in conjunction with vector laser graphics and atmospheric laser effects.
ILDA's Fenning Awards for Technical Achievement honored a new laser show "player" by Germany's Laser Animation Sollinger that allows laser companies to create a realistic preview of a laser show using a computer monitor. MediaLas, another German company, was honored for the Avatar, a stand-alone laser control system for clubs and discos. A new laser show data conversion and processing system, the Optical Showlink Transcoder by US-based Ravens Systems Design was also honored with a Fenning Award.
The association's annual Advanced Technology Workshop gave members a first-hand look at the laser display equipment, including new galvanometers from Cambridge Technology and a host of new solid-state RGB laser projectors. Cambridge unveiled the latest product developments in the 6200 Series of galvos, the driving hardware technology behind high-speed laser displays. The US company's newest galvos promise even faster performance for entertainment applications, while a new digital amplifier offers a self-tuning capability that optimizes galvo performance.
Several companies demonstrated new solid-state RGB projectors that will give laser show producers a more compact, reliable and efficient means of creating full-color laser shows. Arctos Showlwertechnik of Germany showed its ARC-LB projector, MediaLas demonstrated its "YT" Line of RGB projectors, and at the nearby Audio Visual Creative Fair, ILDA members HB Laserkomponenten offered its news Zeus RGB graphics projector. All the new solid-state projectors offer sufficient power for laser graphics and small beam shows.
In association news, ILDA members elected a new president, Jim Hardaway of LFI International, and launched a new initiative to create a projector safety standard for laser entertainment applications. Members also elected Alberto Kellner, of Laser Entertainment SRL in Milan, Italy, to the association's board of directors.
Photos of award-winning laser displays (including high-res images suitable for print production) can be found at www.laserist.org/conference.htm .
Computer Graphics World