MULTICHANNEL LIGHT EFFECT GENERATOR

A multichannel light effect generator for creating lighting effects and light figures having one or more coherent light sources for producing one or more beams of coherent light and directing the beams onto a light effect member to produce light patterns and figures visible to an observer characterized by one or more diffraction gratings disposed between the sources and the light effect member to dissect the beams into a plurality of diffraction orders. The diffraction gratings may be either stationary or moving and the light effect members may be either stationary or moving. In one embodiment, all of the diffraction orders are projected onto one or more light effect members and in another embodiment, one or more light effect members is provided for each of the diffraction orders.