ILDA Files Library

The ILDA Files library is a growing collection of 1,000+ original ILDA laser files that you can preview free in your browser before you download them. It includes beat-timed beam shows, mirror and radial beat patterns, dots, tunnels, waves, sweeps, geometry, widgets, space scenes, and Thanksgiving and Christmas animations. Every file is ILDA Format 5. Each file's page shows the smallest scanner it fits, so you know before you download that it will draw cleanly. 42 files download free once you confirm your email for Product updates. Every file is included with Pro (Laser), Bundle and Studio; see Laser Show Files for what a plan includes.

What new laser files have been added?Copy Anchor Link

Open New laser files above the library grid, or see the dated additions on Laser Show Files. The history starts with the library’s first release and separates downloadable files from Laser tools, tutorials and fixes. For all Laser changes, select BT Laser Studio in the changelog.

Where can I get free ILDA files?Copy Anchor Link

Open ILDA Files. It does not need an install or an account. Every cue plays in the browser, and the 42 files tagged FREE download free once you confirm your email for Product updates, the email that announces new files. There is one free file in each family, including Turkey Line Art for Thanksgiving and Spiral Tree for Christmas. To see only those files, set PLAN to FREE.

1. Open ILDA Files from the Laser menu, or click ALL FILES PAGE in the ILDA Viewer.
2. Click any cue in the grid. It plays in the INSPECTOR on the right.
3. If you are signed out, enter your email under Get this file free by email, check Product updates and click EMAIL ME THIS FILE. In the email, click Confirm and download, then Confirm subscription on the page that opens. The file downloads, and that browser can then download every free file. You can click OR SIGN IN TO DOWNLOAD instead.
4. Click SUBSCRIBE AND DOWNLOAD FREE. It subscribes your account email to Product updates and downloads the file. If you already get Product updates, the button reads DOWNLOAD .ILD.

Files tagged PRO play free and download with Pro (Laser), Bundle or Studio. Those plans do not require an email subscription. You can unsubscribe in Account settings or from any email; future free library downloads stop until you explicitly subscribe again, and downloaded files remain yours. Tips & tricks is separate and is not required. If your subscription cannot be checked, try the download again later. Library downloads do not use your monthly clean ILDA exports. See Pricing.

How do I change a pattern's beam color?Copy Anchor Link

Pick a pattern and open BEAM COLOR in the Inspector. Choose a swatch or turn on Rainbow. The preview, OPEN IN ILDA VIEWER, and DOWNLOAD .ILD use that choice. RESET BEAM COLOR restores the selected original colors. Authored blues use a brighter shade so small dots and thin lines are easier to see. Pure Blue remains available in the picker.

Each pattern appears once at each tempo. ORIGINAL COLORS lists the versions that match your filters, including the original pack colors. The SD CARD ZIP uses the matching original version for each pattern.

To find beat-timed dots with irregular spacing, search for Scatter. For musical instruments and displays, filter by Widgets and open a cue such as Bearing Compass or Packet Router. The Inspector shows the cue's BPM and loop length.

How do I choose a character, angle, and beam color?Copy Anchor Link

Under CATEGORY, select Characters. Use CHARACTER to find Male Figure or Female Figure and MOVE TYPE to browse poses, dances, or other moves. Both figures include Clap and Sweep, Breakdance Flip, Breakdance Handstand, and Shuffle Head Turn.

Select a move and use VIEW ANGLE in the INSPECTOR. Choose front, back, either profile, or 45° from either side. Open BEAM COLOR to pick a swatch from the ILDA palette. Cyan is selected by default. Turn on RAINBOW to use a multicolor beam. DOWNLOAD .ILD and OPEN IN ILDA VIEWER use the angle and color you selected.

How do I find a laser file that fits my projector?Copy Anchor Link

Use the FILTERS panel on the left, then read FITS in the INSPECTOR before you download.

In the INSPECTOR, FITS names the smallest scanner that draws the cue: 20K and up means a 20,000 points-per-second scanner or faster. SCAN RATE is the rate the heaviest frame needs at the cue's frame rate. FRAMES gives the length, and HEAVIEST FRAME the most points in any frame. Drawn art such as the holiday animations plays at 20 FPS. Beam and pattern cues play at 30 FPS. Each tile's K figure is the same scan rate in thousands of points per second.

How do I preview a laser file before I download it?Copy Anchor Link

Click the cue. The INSPECTOR plays it in a loop:

• 2D shows the frame as a projector draws it on a wall.
• BEAMS uses the ILDA Viewer's Haze mode. Select the orbit icon to rotate around the beams in 360°, or select it again to return to the fixed view.
• OPEN IN ILDA VIEWER loads the cue into the ILDA Viewer at its own frame rate, for file health, galvo simulation and 3D beams.
• CHOOSE BEAM COLOR opens the pattern in the Inspector. OTHER TEMPOS lists its other BPM versions.

Every cue also has its own page with a still, its numbers and the same download button. Pointing at a tile starts it playing in place.

Watch Satellite Sweep glide past the porthole with rotating antennas. Open Proximity Sweep to see a red ring close around each contact after the scan crosses it.

How do I share a category or cue?Copy Anchor Link

Choose a CATEGORY, then copy the address from your browser. The link opens that category. To share one file, click its tile before copying the address. Both links show the category artwork when shared.

To preview a beat pattern that closes on each hit, search for Tilt Beat. Choose Up, Down, Left, Right, or Quad, then select the BPM that fits your track.

How do I download several poses in one ZIP?Copy Anchor Link

1. In ILDA Files, select a character pose. Set its VIEW ANGLE and BEAM COLOR, then click ADD TO POSE ZIP in the Inspector.
2. Repeat for each pose. You can add the same pose again with a different angle or color.
3. In POSE ZIP, use the up and down arrows to put the poses in order. Click DOWNLOAD … POSES AS ZIP.
4. Unzip the download and import the numbered Format 5 .ild files into your laser sequencer. Set the timing and transitions on its timeline.

Each file keeps the angle and color you picked when you added it. The ZIP uses the same download access as the individual files. Build a sequence from ILDA poses

How do I put ILDA files on a laser projector's SD card?Copy Anchor Link

The SD CARD section at the bottom of FILTERS zips the cues you are looking at, so you can copy them to the root folder of a projector's SD card.

1. Filter the grid down to the cues you want, for example PACK → Neon or BPM → 128.
2. Choose FORMAT 5 (true color, for most current projectors and software) or FORMAT 0 (indexed color, for older SD-card projectors).
3. Click DOWNLOAD … AS ZIP, then copy the files in the ZIP to the root of the card.

Both formats preserve the cue's drawing size and playback timing. Each file gets a short name that SD-card projectors can show, such as FDRPQGW.ILD, and LIST.TXT in the ZIP lists which name is which cue. Once you confirm your email for Product updates, you can zip the free cues: set PLAN to FREE first. Pro (Laser), Bundle and Studio zip any cues.

Are there free Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukkah laser files?Copy Anchor Link

Yes. Set CATEGORY to Holidays, or PACK to Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year's Eve, Celebrations or Valentine's and Wedding. Each pack has at least 25 files, and we keep adding more. They include turkeys, pumpkins, falling leaves, a Santa that laughs Ho Ho Ho, a snowman, reindeer, a tree that spirals into place, a menorah that lights candle by candle, a spinning dreidel, the Star of David, a countdown from ten, a clock striking midnight, champagne, fireworks, birthday cakes, balloons, milestone ages, beating hearts, linked wedding rings, a rose, and Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year, Happy Birthday and Happy Valentine's Day lettering. Two files in each pack are free: Turkey Line Art and Grateful (Thanksgiving), Spiral Tree and Ho Ho Ho (Christmas), Menorah Lights and Happy Hanukkah (Hanukkah), Fireworks and Happy New Year (New Year's Eve), Birthday Cake and Happy Birthday (Celebrations), and Heart Line Art and Happy Valentine's Day (Valentine's and Wedding). Each pack also has its own page: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year's Eve, Celebrations and Valentine's and Wedding.

Are there animated character laser files?Copy Anchor Link

Yes. Set CATEGORY to Characters. A figure walks, strolls, jogs, sprints, sneaks, swims, dances or holds a spell, drawn as one clean outline with extra lines where an arm or leg crosses the body, so the motion reads on a laser. A woman figure dances twenty-one more looks: Anteater, Breakdance Freezes, Uprock, Twerk, Flair, Horse Dance, Hip Hop, Hip Hop Bounce, Hip Hop Groove, Hip Hop Steps, Shuffle, Snake, Chicken Dance, Running Man, Macarena, YMCA, Swing Step, Pump and Point, Side Swing, Step Hip Hop and Maraschino Step, each a short loop of the dance; Pump and Point runs two bars. Santa and a gingerbread man come in full color, drawn in their own colors (a red coat and white beard, an orange cookie with white icing): each walks, waves or cheers and does the party dances, as one Full color file; every one fits a 30K scanner, and each file's page shows which scanners it fits. Santa and the gingerbread man also do Swing Step, a snowman with a top hat, a red scarf and a carrot nose waves, bounces, sways, cheers and spins, an elf walks, runs, jumps and does every party dance, and a reindeer looks around, walks and trots. They are in the Christmas pack too. The beat-timed party dances loop in one bar at 120 BPM: in the ILDA Viewer, set Beat Sync to 1 Bar and Music BPM to your track's tempo. At 120 BPM the whole dance fits one bar. At a faster tempo Beat Sync restarts it every bar and cuts off its end, and it never slows a dance down for a slower track. To play the whole dance at another tempo, change FPS instead: 24 fps fits 96 BPM and 25 fps fits 100 BPM. Santa, the elf, the gingerbread man and the woman figure share the same dances, timed alike, so several can dance in step. Use BEAM COLOR or Rainbow in the Inspector to recolor a character. Walk in cyan and the full-color Santa YMCA, Elf YMCA and Gingerbread YMCA are free; the rest download with Pro (Laser), Bundle or Studio.

The Christmas pack also has full-length routines for Santa, the gingerbread man, and the elf, including Clap and Sweep, Breakdance Flip, and The Wave. The same nine routines are available for the male and female outline figures in Characters, in cyan, green, yellow, and rainbow. These cues play at 20 FPS to preserve the original speed. Leave Beat Sync off to see the whole routine.

To trace a figure of your own, or another animation, use the 3D MODEL panel in the ILDA Viewer: open a rigged .glb, pick an animation and a view angle, and click TRACE TO ILDA.

How do I open library files in the ILDA Viewer?Copy Anchor Link

The ILDA Viewer has an ILDA FILES panel under TEST SUITE in its left sidebar. Click a category chip or search, then click a file. It loads into the preview the same way a dropped .ild file does, so every analysis tool works on it. The small download button beside each file is the same download as the library page.

BROWSE opens the whole library with live previews in a window, and ALL FILES PAGE opens the library page.

ILDA Files questionsCopy Anchor Link

Are the ILDA files free?Copy Anchor Link

Previewing every file is free, with no account. 42 files, at least one from each family of looks, download free once you confirm your email for Product updates, including Turkey Line Art and Grateful for Thanksgiving, Spiral Tree, Ho Ho Ho and Santa, the elf and the gingerbread man dancing the YMCA for Christmas, Menorah Lights and Happy Hanukkah for Hanukkah, Fireworks and Happy New Year for New Year's Eve, Birthday Cake and Happy Birthday for Celebrations, and Heart Line Art and Happy Valentine's Day for Valentine's and Wedding. Enter your email on a free file and the download link comes in the confirmation email, or sign in with an account that gets Product updates. Pro (Laser), Bundle and Studio download every file without an email subscription.

Which plan downloads every ILDA file?Copy Anchor Link

Pro with Laser as your app, Bundle or Studio. If your Pro plan is set to another app, switch your Pro app to Laser (you can change it once per billing cycle) or choose Bundle.

Is there a limit on ILDA file downloads?Copy Anchor Link

No. Library downloads have no monthly limit and do not use your clean ILDA exports. Exporting a file again from the ILDA Viewer with EXPORT ILDA counts as an export.

Do I keep the ILDA files if my subscription ends?Copy Anchor Link

Yes. Files you downloaded are yours to keep. After your plan ends you can still preview every file. Free files require a confirmed email with an active Product updates subscription; premium files require Pro (Laser), Bundle or Studio. Unsubscribing stops future free library downloads until you explicitly subscribe again, but does not remove files you already downloaded.

Can I use the ILDA files in paid shows?Copy Anchor Link

Yes. You can use any file you download from the ILDA Files library, free files included, in your shows, events, videos and client work, on any plan. You cannot resell the files or include them in other file packs or collections, free or paid.

Which laser software do the ILDA files work with?Copy Anchor Link

Any laser software or SD-card laser that reads ILDA (.ild) files, the standard laser show file format. That includes Pangolin QuickShow and Beyond, LaserCube LaserOS, Laserworld Showeditor and Showcontroller, and MadMapper MadLaser. ILDA files do not store a frame rate, so play each file at the frame rate shown on its page.

Tip: download a free file first and play it in your laser software or on your projector to check it works before you buy.

Which ILDA format are the files?Copy Anchor Link

ILDA Format 5 (2D true color), which current laser software reads. The SD CARD ZIP can also save Format 0, the indexed-color format many older SD-card projectors need.

Can I see the files before I download them?Copy Anchor Link

Yes. Every file plays in your browser in 2D or as beams in haze, and opens in the free BeamTracer ILDA Viewer, with no account and no download.

How do I find out when new ILDA files are released?Copy Anchor Link

Enter your email under Get an email when new ILDA files are added, on any pack or file page or in the ILDA Files inspector, and tick Product updates. New ILDA files, features and improvements are announced in those emails. Tips & tricks is separate and is not required for downloads.

Can I download a whole pack at once?Copy Anchor Link

Yes. In the ILDA Files library, filter to a pack and use SD CARD to download the files as one ZIP, in Format 5 or Format 0. Once you confirm your email for Product updates, you can zip the free files; Pro (Laser), Bundle and Studio zip any files without an email subscription.

Every cue loops without a jump, and beat cues are timed to whole bars, so they stay in step when you loop them to music at their BPM.

Where do the Spacewalk, Orbit Stride, and Explorer Robot models come from?Copy Anchor Link

Spacewalk and Orbit Stride adapt Cute Astronaut by haefu. Explorer Robot adapts Futuristic flying animated Robot – Low Poly by Shayan. Both source models are licensed under CC BY 4.0. BeamTracer adapts the poses, timing, and colors for 2D laser playback.