Hi everyone,
I’ve just moved the FAQ page into the manual, and I am looking for ideas of what to add there?
Let me know! Reply to this thread.
Current page is now at FAQ | Liberation User Manual
thanks!
Seb
3 posts were split to a new topic: Getting started questions
-Pricing, proof of concept and software capabilities.
-When I Laser Designer Glastonbury? /s
This probably isn’t helpful, but none. Every time I felt I was stuck or didn’t know how to do something, I’ve found another way. Some things were made easier, some more steps than Id like or I chose to use a cheat sheet because of my limited brain capacity, but I always seem to get what I’ve been after.
Tools wise, randomize was the least used tool for me. It’s felt quite erratic and almost too unpredictable and difficult to harness on much of the beam content. My big a-ha was using on graphics content. Discombobulating Stimpy I think has been the greatest laser moment since I started using Liberation. Also, seeing how you used it on the new canvas content will bring it back into my workflow.
Adopting HSV as a concept and the Color Change by Position took a little longer than expected to adopt. In the beginner stage I would try it on the shapes that didn’t make best use of it. I am still probably underutilizing it, but now feel I have a fair handle on it.
Using delay with effect nodes. Myself as a newb, I would move delay with no result. Left it until I watched the zoom and then adopted it use quite heavily.
I’ll update if I can think of anything else.
Cheers!
Here is my FAQ suggestion:
I would like a FAQ entry that explains what all of the little icons, that may or may not appear on the clip buttons are. I’ve seen the mic icon, which makes sense, but there is another icon that seems like an upside down spade of some sort. It appears in the same place as the mic icon, and it’s not clear, to me at least, what that it means.
There is also a little “…” icon in the upper left corner of the clip buttons, and it’s not clear (to mere mortals at least) what this is intended to indicate. Could a mouseover tooltip solve this, or are mouseovers on the clip icons too intrusive? I tried going into the editor to sort this out, but I’m still learning my way around the editor and it wasn’t clear to me what the correlation is.
Could we have a graphic explainer for each of these, as well as any others that show up that I just haven’t seen yet?
(Love the software, learning so much, thanks for sharing your creation with all of us!)
Thanks,
Eric Watkins
Hey @EricWatkins that’s such a good catch and something I forgot to add to the manual. I’ll do it now.
Hey @Eyes2theSkies, thanks for the feedback!
How do you mean proof of concept? What could I add that would help?
This is actually really helpful, and one of the core principles of Liberation. I want easy/common things to be obvious, and more specialist/advanced things to be hidden. If you don’t aim for this then you just have an interface packed full of noise, and common tasks that require multiple steps.
The node editor has a lot of core functionality, but it’s a very flexible system. There’s usually a way to get what you want, but sometimes you have to do some “plumbing” haha. If I find I’m doing complex workarounds too often I’ll add a more specialist node in there.
I’m glad that you’ve eventually been able to do what you want!
Good feedback thanks. I would definitely like to make those “change by position” nodes more friendly but I will document them (and all the nodes) fully. It’s next on my list!
Do you mean trying to add zone delay to an effect?
Thanks again!
How do you mean proof of concept? What could I add that would help?
I like to see stuff in action…you know…prove it! Liberation makes claims and is backed with irrefutable proof of output. There isn’t much I’d suggest. Your style/design is right up my alley so I’m an easy sell however if I were more apprehensive to join I’d want to see more content made by the users.
Do you mean trying to add zone delay to an effect?
Negative, But that sounds like a good idea. I meant the delay in the pattern devices. I didn’t comprehend the oscillator signal feed part required first. It just didn’t seem to do anything.
*What information were you looking for when you were thinking about signing up?
Active Community/Forum: It seemed like every other macOS compatible laser software was either not in active development or didn’t have an active forum or community. Being completely new to lasers, this was a major factor.
Hardware: What all hardware was needed (which is/was covered)
YouTube/Other Tutorials: Were there tutorial videos or walk throughs of the software to help learn how to use it? I saw the YouTube videos and they were helpful but a series/playlist of specific topics would’ve made me make the decision much quicker. I still think you could cut up some of your calls and make a playlist of short videos on specific features.
*What were your sticking points when you started using Liberation?
3D View: Adjusting the 3D view to match my setup.
Creating Clips: While I was able to find some helpful info in the calls and by editing the pre-existing clips, it took me a while to figure it out completely.
*Anything else?
How to copy and paste clips 
I found the answer through an unrelated forum post but either spelling out how to do it or making it as simple as right click to copy, right click to paste in a different spot would be nice.
Ableton Link: What it is/how to properly use it
Thanks Seb!
What information were you looking for when you were thinking about signing up?
What were your sticking points when you started using Liberation?
Anything else?
[/quote]
Ah I understand, thank you for clarifying. It’s an excellent point and I will work on that!
Right, yes the node editor and all the nodes is next on my list to embark on. It’s a big one! But in the meantime I’ll add a tooltip to that node.
Thank you!
@Eyes2theSkies Hopefully this will help!
This is really helpful thanks!
Yes I could definitely add a simpler “getting started with lasers kind of thing”
Great, yes I’ll be working on that over the next few months 
This is now added to the FAQ, thanks. In case anyone else needs this, also see Setting up your project
100% agree that this is something that could be improved! In the meantime I’ve added it to the FAQ, it’s also in the Organising your clip deck user guide section.
Good question! I haven’t got to the synchronisation part of the user guide, but in case you’re wondering, it’s a way for different apps to all sync together. If you have an Ableton Link compatible piece of software (like Hybrid Pulse or… well… Ableton Live 
) Liberation will automatically sync to it!
Thanks for all this great feedback!
Seb
Really helpful, thank you @stevewallet !
Thanks for the updated clip button faq. That’s perfect!
Another thing that I think is missing from the manual is how to tune lasers. For example, I’ve searched the entire manual (and forum) for some explanation as to what the “latency” slider does… It appears to have done nothing for the helios DAC but is somehow required for an etherdream. Is this correct?
-How should I be tuning this section? How does it impact the specific laser settings in advanced?
-If I tweak this setting do I need to go readjust the advanced settings?
-What’s the correct process for getting a laser correctly tuned for best visuals?
Good questions!
I’ve added sections to the FAQ and the manual about the latency setting : Latency setting | Liberation User Manual
And I’ve added a section to the FAQ about tuning, copied below.
Thanks for the feedback!
Seb
The main setting is Colour Shift, which compensates for the slight delay between the mirrors moving and the lasers changing brightness. If your laser dots/beams have little ‘tails’ then you’ll need to adjust this. (See the photos on the Laser output settings window page for an example of ‘tails’)
You can also try changing the scanner speed, slower if your scanners are cheap, or faster if they are good. But use with caution as you can damage your scanners if you drive them too hard.
There are also some preset scanner settings. The default option is conservative and fine for most laser beam requirements. But there are other presets for if you have better scanners, and some are tuned for graphics.
For more information see Laser output settings window, and for information on how to create your own presets see Scanner presets (advanced, in progress)
You can also correct the colour balance using the Colour calibration settings. See Colour calibration (advanced, in progress)
