Audience Scanning
The Single Most Important thing you need to know about Audience Scanning
Audience Scanning CAN be Dangerous
Many show designers consider the need to scan an audience with laser as the best of all the laser effects possible.
The laser show is beautiful and the audience love it. in the first place, the audience can actually reach out and touch the laser.
The beauty of the laser from an audience point of view can come with a massive price though.
Although this may be true, laser can damage the eyes permanently and can burn skin.
Implementing safety precautions can make a show safe.
Consequently many countries have strict regulations in place. In fact, audience scanning is almost never allowed in America.
Regardless, as a professional show producer, it is very important that you are aware of the risk that come with pointing lasers directly into an audience.
Nevertheless, even low powered lasers should be treated with respect.
In spite of the dangers, I often see the technical staff at a show waving small lasers at the teams to communicate with them. This should never be done.
As lasers get more powerful (500mw or more), there become a danger to the eyes, skin and even the possibility of burning materials in the room.
To see more information about this click here
To make laser shows safer:
Never use pulsed lasers for audience scanning. Only use continuous wave lasers (cw)
Do not exceed the MPE value (maximum permissible exposure)
Always observe the minimum height and distance to the spectators
What dictates a safe show is:
The power and type of laser
The distance from the laser to the audience
The divergence of the laser
Bright Light In the Eyes
It can be safe to perform audience scanning. However, it can be annoying to have a bright light flashed in the eyes for a few minutes.
The audience are there to enjoy the show. They probably don’t want to sit watching the show with their eyes shut for most of it because the laser is so bright.
I love laser and even I can’t stand having laser flashed in my eyes.
Any light in the eyes is annoying, but laser is more dangerous than other light. To find out why, visit our laser partners at Pangolin
Pangolin provide us the software we use to program the lasers. There are actually safety programs build directly into the software to help create a safe show.
We are Argon Animation Inc implement these safety features.
We want that you have the best show possible. It has to look amazing. The show also has to be safe for both the audience and the venue.
It is critical that you discuss each show with us before putting it all together to make sure that you as a show producer are not creating dangerous shows.
