Laser DAC Output

Every BeamTracer app that can drive a laser uses the same Laser Output panel: OSC-1, Text to Laser, SVG to Laser, Video to Laser, AI Beam Creator, Animation Studio, and the ILDA Viewer. The controls, the safety behavior, and the settings you calibrate are identical everywhere — set your projector up once and every tool respects it.

This page is the detailed reference for that panel. Each app's own page covers what it sends to the laser; this covers the output itself.

Supported hardware

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Use Chrome or Edge on the secure BeamTracer site. Direct Helios output needs WebUSB, which no other browser implements — see Browser Compatibility.

The panel

The Laser Output panel always presents the same zones in the same order:

• DEVICE — pick the target, connect, and see what is attached
• OUTPUT — the controls you reach for most: point rate, power, and the per-app framing controls
• ADVANCED — set-once calibration, collapsed by default
• SAFETY — ARM, status, BLACKOUT and START

A control that does not apply to the app you are in is not shown, rather than shown grayed out.

Connecting

Helios (recommended)

1. Plug the Helios in over USB.
2. Select HELIOS in the DEVICE zone, then click CONNECT HELIOS.
3. The browser shows its own USB picker listing Helios devices. Choose one and connect.

The device card then shows the DAC's name, its state, and its maximum point rate.

DAC Simulator

A virtual DAC that renders the exact point stream — blanking included — to an on-screen preview. Free on every tier, and it never consumes a trial session. Use it to verify content before any real beam.

Output preview

Connect a device and a preview appears in the panel's MODULE section — MODULE · SCOPE in OSC-1, MODULE · SCANNER in Text→Laser and Video→Laser. It draws the same point array the DAC receives.

When it starts drawing differs by app, because the two build frames differently:

• OSC-1 previews as soon as a device is connected, Simulator included — you do not have to arm anything. While nothing is armed it is labelled PREVIEW · NO OUTPUT. OSC-1 sends the laser the same XY samples the scope draws, in real time: frames are consecutive slices of that signal, not a re-traced copy of the figure, so a circle closes on the wall the way it closes on screen. If a slice reaches the Bridge late, the beam holds dark for a moment rather than repeating the previous one.
• Text→Laser and Video→Laser preview while output is running, since those surfaces only build a frame once armed and started.

Two buttons under the preview choose what it shows:

• DESIGN — the figure as drawn, with no scanner limits at all. This is your artwork.
• GALVO SIM — a preview of scanner behavior at the class you pick in SCANNER below it. Look for rounded corners, overshoot, and brightness changes. It is a comparison aid; verify the result on your own equipment.

The four scanner classes, fastest first:

STANDARD 40K and BUDGET 40K are not the same scanner. They share a number on the box and behave very differently: the budget class has lower bandwidth, looser damping and a torsional resonance, so it goes wavy under hard drive where the standard class stays clean. If your projector is rated 40 kpps, start at STANDARD 40K and only drop to BUDGET 40K if the sim looks better than your wall.

Ratings are also quoted at different test angles, and a narrower angle flatters the number — 35 kpps at 7° is a slower scanner than 40 kpps at 8°, despite looking close. Which is the real reason to trust your own projection over the spec sheet.

Under the buttons:

• Points/chunk in OSC-1 — the number of consecutive XY samples in each output slice. Chunks sent counts those slices; it is not the drawing's refresh rate. Other laser tools show Points/frame for their frame-based output.
• Tracking error — the overall tracking error across lit points, as a percentage of the scan field.
• Peak lit error — the largest error at one lit point, including the start of a stroke after blanked travel. A brief stroke-start error can dominate this number even when the rest of the drawing tracks closely. Read it alongside Tracking error and the preview; it does not rate your scanner.

The expand icon in the corner opens the preview full-screen, which is the view to use when comparing it against an actual projection.

Ether Dream and LaserCube

Both connect through the BeamTracer Bridge running on the same computer. Click OPEN BEAMTRACER in the Bridge's menu-bar panel, or type its four-digit PAIRING CODE where the panel asks for it, then choose the DAC. Pairing is a one-time step.

• Ether Dream — keep the DAC and computer on the same local network.
• LaserCube — set the cube to Control Mode → LaserOS with Settings → Connection → LAN client, and quit LaserOS on every computer first so only BeamTracer is controlling the device. Output lands the same way round as the canvas; if it does not, check the cube's own Flip X / Flip Y in LaserOS Projector Setup, which BeamTracer cannot see.

Naming a projector

Some DACs store a name you can set. When the connected hardware supports it, a pencil appears beside the device name — click it, type a name like FRONT or REAR, and it is written to the DAC itself. The name follows that physical unit to any computer, which is how you tell two otherwise identical projectors apart.

Arming and firing

When a physical DAC connects, a safety dock appears along the bottom edge of the app: a POWER slider at the left, then device status, ARM, BLACKOUT and START. The dock sits outside every panel and column, so no collapse, scroll, or fullscreen can hide it, and it is in the same place in every app.

1. ARM — click, then confirm. Arming never fires the beam on its own.
2. START — begins output. STOP ends it.
3. BLACKOUT — requests output to stop and holds it off until you release it. Keep the projector's physical interlock available.

The Simulator keeps its controls inside the panel. If the dock is on screen, a real laser is attached.

Arming is always a browser action — the BeamTracer Bridge never arms output on your behalf. Its BLACKOUT stops only outputs connected through the Bridge; those outputs also go dark on disconnect, sleep and quit. A DAC connected directly to the browser over USB is unaffected: stop it in BeamTracer or use the device's physical controls. RELEASE in the Bridge permits output again, but you must ARM and START in BeamTracer to resume.

Your projector stays connected while you rearrange the workspace — collapsing a column, entering fullscreen, or switching a tool's working mode does not end the session. If the USB cable is pulled, output stops, the panel disarms itself, and the reason appears above the safety row.

Output controls

• Point rate / Scanner — output rate in points per second. Match it to your scanner's rating; 30k is the common default.
• Power limit — the master output ceiling, 0–100%. It is never folded into Advanced, and the dock's POWER slider drives the same value. One ceiling is shared by every laser tool and remembered across reloads, so a rig dialed to 10% cannot silently come back at full power.
• Frame rate — how often a frame-based drawing is redrawn. Lower allows more points per frame; higher can reduce flicker. OSC-1 sends a continuous XY signal and has no drawing frame-rate control: use Point rate to set how quickly its samples reach the scanner.
• Galvo speed — how hard the mirrors are driven, as a percentage of the tuned default. Lower is gentler on modest scanners and softens the drawing; higher is crisper on premium scanners but can bow corners on cheap ones.
• Scale — the fraction of the full scan field the image draws at, for sizing the projection in a venue.
• Motion guard — holds back output that would park a stationary beam.

Which of these appear depends on the app — a tool that draws frames shows framing controls that a live audio scope does not.

Advanced calibration

• Color delay — shifts color against scanner position so colors line up at corners, since galvos lag color modulation. If strokes start dark or faint lines connect your shapes, this is the control — see Color Delay Explained for what each symptom looks like and how to dial it in. It starts at the measured +120 µs default and is remembered per DAC, so each projector keeps its own value. Raise it until blanked jumps stop drawing faint lines between shapes; go negative if color switches early.
• Color calibration — per-channel output curves for red, green and blue, with five draggable points from 0% to 100% input. Use it to lift a diode's turn-on threshold or tame a hot channel. True black always stays black. Reset Curves returns every channel to identity.

First light checklist

1. In OSC-1, connect the DAC Simulator first and confirm the preview matches what you expect.
2. Switch the preview to GALVO SIM and pick your scanner class. Resolve obvious problems in the preview before operating hardware.
3. Follow your projector's instructions and the Laser Safety guidance. Confirm the projection area, physical interlock, scan limits, and power limit before connecting the real DAC.
4. ARM, then START with simple content only when the physical setup is ready. Keep STOP and the physical interlock within reach.
5. Stop output before adjusting the setup. A low software power percentage or a clean-looking preview does not establish eye safety.

Troubleshooting

• The browser cannot reach the Bridge — it must run on the same computer as the browser, and Chrome may ask for local network access the first time.
• BeamTracer asks for the pairing code again — this browser was removed under Settings → Pairing in the Bridge, or every pairing was reset. Click OPEN BEAMTRACER in the Bridge or type the current code.
• Scanners move but nothing appears on the wall — check the projector's own interlock, key and shutter before changing any software setting.
• Corners look soft or overshoot — lower the point rate or the galvo speed; both reduce how hard the mirrors are driven. Switch the preview to GALVO SIM first: if it reproduces what you are seeing, the scanners are the limit and the setting to change is the rate, not the artwork.
• The projection looks nothing like the canvas — stop output, then compare DESIGN against GALVO SIM. Check your projector's orientation and calibration, the selected scanner class, and the point rate before testing again.