I've put my paper and presentation slides that I used for the 7th International Symposium on-line on this site. Click on the link below:

symposium.html

There's also the three video examples I used in my presentation in high resolution mpeg (note that these files are between 11 and 25 Mbytes).

Enjoy!

Paul.

interessing i will check them out when i can

I'm sure you'll love the Italian finale ... it's even louder than this year's Panzera one

Paul.

Paul,

Excellent paper. Well written and very informative.

The best quote from your presentation was: "much more interesting set design techniques can be employed to use the space available and thus design the fireworks into that three-dimensional space."

In my opinion, this was the most important advantage of electrical firing systems. If you cannot expand your "canvas" and break free from the classic "straight-up-the-middle" style show, then what good is a well synchronized show?

Approximately how long was your presentation?

Sean

Hi Paul,
Please send me your personal E-Mail Address I Have Valencia Pictures for you.
David. pyromate@monad.net

Sean,

thanks for your kind words. My presentation lasted just under 30 minutes. I have a longer version of a similar presentation that I made to the New Hampshire Pyrotechnics Association on their Members' Night in March which had more information about the Montreal site but less about pyromusical design.

I'm glad you agree about my analysis of the expansion of space that electrical firing permits. It seems to me that this is not always taken advantage of.

Cheers,

Paul.

Paul i couldnt watch those videos, so i figured out that they were svcd why? i dont think many of us here can watch svcd format on media player, i dunno , but thats ok for me i was able to convert them in vcd, so i watched them
thx they were very refreshing, i want to read the presentation i have alot homeworks ill read it friday night, cant wait!
anyone who cant see the videos tell me ill send u in asf or mpg format

Paul another thing, can u tell me in what year these fireworks were?

Yes, the videos are in SVCD format, but many players can play that format now. I was able to play them OK in realplayer without any problems - the aspect ratio comes out correct if you set fullscreen view. Also, anyone using linux will find the xine displays them properly without any problems.

The dates are listed on the symposium.html page IPON 1998, Caballer 2000 and IPON 2000 (for the finale).

Paul.

i just tried it on realplay (realone) v. 2.0 and it didnt work, it said "Some of the streams in this movie are in an unsupported format."

but doesnt matter i barely download any svcd, if i ever download one i always convert it in vcd hehe

sorry i didnt see the dates,
see! i knew i saw Caballer 2000 and IPON 2000 displays, when i heard the music i got flashback, i used to watch the 2000 displays at La Ronde so i was sure i heard those musics, anyways that was very kewl!

First off, Paul, that was an excellent Italian finale! Thanks for posting it for downloading. I appreciate it!

Anyways, at first, like Enkil, I had some problems with some of my media players. Fortunately, like you said before, it does in fact work well in realplayer. I tried it on Quick Time Player program, but not much luck and it took quite a while for download, so I watched it on realplayer in full screen mode and saw a fantastic ending! Once again, thx.

One little question, is it possible for it to work in Quick Time Player application? It didn't work for me though.

I still got to read your report on the whole thing! Hopefully after I finish my load of homework!

Thanks again,

Trav.

It's not possible for me to convert the videos into QuickTime format. That's a special format that requires programs which cost $$ to make. I just captured the output of my VCR through my videocard - which allows the higher resolution S-VHS input to be used for capture. Problem is that it saves this as an mpeg2 file, not mpeg1 that most players use, though as you noticed, the latest realplayer works fine with this. From mpeg2 it is possible to make an SVCD - these have much better picture quality than VCDs, but only play for half the time. I might see if I can convert the files into divx format (mpeg4) - there are free players for this and I think even windows media player will work. The advantage of that is that the file size is much smaller - by around a factor of 4.

Cheers,

Paul.

yes u can convert them in divx, but ppl need to install the divx codec and it will play fine in windows media player

u can also convert it in mpeg1, i just did it and it reduces the size alot = saves brandwitdh hehe

theres also .rm format, which is prolly the best for the size and quality, but dont use that cuz when u convert in mpg the is audio out of sync

mpeg1 will have half the quality (picture of 320x240) compared to the mpeg2 (picture of 640x480) that I uploaded. But you're right, it will use less bandwidth. To make a .rm format file also requires software which costs $$ and the quality is quite low unless the bitrate is kept high - and then it's no better than divx or mpeg anyway. And now that I've uploaded the files, I don't feel like re-uploading them since it took quite a long time

Paul.

hehe

acctually, i have RealProducer, which is free, i got it with another program, i still have the setup if u want

the version is RealProducer Basic 8.5 version 8.5.0.200

Smoke>>> could u tell what version is ure Realplayer?

It's OK - I don't want to convert stuff into a format that might not work in the future or only on certain players. mpeg format has enough issues as it is

Paul.

I jut play them on Windows movie maker .
Nothing more.
Maybe you guys have to update some or try BSplayer normaly this thing Plays even a LP.
heheh

Well, to answer your question, Enkil, I have the Real ONE Player program application which gives great resolution and nice quality in picture. It's very good in my opinion.

To be honest, I was quite impressed when I saw the quality of picture when I switched the viewing to full screen mode. I don't watch videos from Real One Player, usually I watch them on the Quick Time Program. It was very clear and the detail was pretty good! So, when I watched the IPON 2000(Italian finale), it looked great and fantastic. On Quick Time, the picture quality is a little more blury, but runs at the same speed, if you know what I mean. However, I like quality! So, I'm sticking with Real One Player and I'm probably going to download it on my other p.c. as well. I'm not saying it's the best media video viewing program, but in my opinion, it's one of the best.

Hey Paul, what version of real player do you have?

Trav.

I'm running on linux and using realplayer version 8, which doesn't support the SVCD files. But the free player "xine" works fine with pretty much every format, including some (but not all) QuickTime files too. When I'm in windows2k, I have the realOne player and that works fine with the svcd files, as does the version of windows media player I have.
Also WinDVD works fine too.

But most of the time I work using linux and use xine.

Paul.

Mmm, I'm not to familiar wth the version you have, I probably heard of it, though.

Does it have good picture quality for your videos that are downloaded? If so, let me know.

Trav.

Paul,

I definitely agree. With the advancement of the hardware available to the fireworks industry, it seems some "old school" companies just are not taking advantage of the potential these firing systems possess. It could be a few reasons: Lack of knowledge, Laziness, or even Cheap.

Taking advantage of the full "3-D" landscape requires knowledge of the firing system you are using, a certain degree of more work (i.e. layouts &pre-design), and more product.

All these reasons can lead a fireworks company just to sticking to the way they have been doing somewhat successful shows for "years". How many times have you went to a show (non-Mondial SAQ) and thought it was a horrible show, but everyone loved it?

That's the biggest problem with the fireworks industry. Companies not doing their best show each time they do a show. (Shoot all the shells straight up the middle and through in a bunch of noise, the lazy man's fireworks show). I understand that in general, the fireworks industry is a business, and business' are suppose to generate profit. BUT, the reason most people get into the fireworks business is because of the art.

Best way to think about it. There is at least a hand full of people in the audience that will be enjoying their only show of the year. Make it worth their while.

Sean

Sean,

you raise some very good points and are obviously a man of integrity and artistic vision. I'd like to invite you to join this forum as a member, rather than posting anonymously, since you have a keen insight into the pyrotechnics world.

Cheers,

Paul.

Paul,

Thanks for the invite, I have taken the liberty as joining the forum as "Firemaster". I've been visiting your website for years, and read your forum quite regularly.

A bit about myself (fireworks related):
I hold a Level 2 Display Fireworks Card along with a Quebec License. I've been doing fireworks for close to 10 years.
I work for Royal/Garden City FX in Ontario/Quebec. I also have worked with PyroMagic in Hong Kong, Big Bang Canada and Fireworks Spectaculars in Ontario, and PyroFire at the PGI Convention in Gillette Wyoming.
I have founded at local committee that organizes a fireworks show every year in May before the fireworks season starts. I invite everyone to check out our website at: [url=][/url]http://www.tsevents.ca

I live in Thorold, Ontario. Small city (pop 18000)just outside Niagara Falls.

Sean

Hello Firemaster or Sean, if you prefer! It's great that we have a new member here and I hope you like it here!

Anyway, it's great that you decided to join this forum, so feel free to post as many posts as you like, I'm usually on this site after school, so you might catch me there. lol

I've been to Niagra Falls before and I think we past through Thorold, nice place.

So anyway, as a final note, I hope you get to come to Montreal next summer during the competition in ending of June to the end of July, and from what I hear, It's going to be a lot more intense, due to the fact that it's going to be the 20th anniversary of the Mondial SAQ, so it's a don't miss! So, think about it!

Cheers,

Trav.

Sean,

thanks for joining as a member. It's really great to have professional pyrotechnicians participate in the discussions here!

Thanks,

Paul.