Se lancer is a pronominal verb that means, in the se lancer dans idiom that means "to enter some activity", "to engage in sth", "to go into sth":
Chapelier having entered the lance-Chapelier business for its exclusive use, Alix and Lapin…
Here, the verb tense is the participe passé (past participle) which is composite for pronominal verbs, i.e. uses an auxiliary verb. Both sites are thus correct. The second one just shows both the masculine, feminine and plural agreement forms.
Être is the auxiliary verb used for pronominal verbs while a non pronominal lancer would have used avoir in its compound past participle form, e.g.:
Ayant lancé la fabrication d’un lance-Chapelier…
Having launched the manufacturing of a…
The participe présent doesn’t use an auxiliary so the sentence would be:
Chapelier se lançant dans la fabrication d’un lance-Chapelier pour son usage exclusif, Alix et Lapin vont aider Coco à construire sa propre machine à voler.
Yes, the structure is a bit complex as it merges several French grammatical concepts.
- First step, the structure uses the verb "lancer" in its reflexiv form, i.e. "se lancer". For instance the present tense would give:
- je me lance (I throw myself, or more precisely there: I engage myself into)
- tu te lances
- il se lance
- nous nous lançons
- vous vous lancez
- ils se lancent
- Second step, this verb is used at the "passé composé", i.e. the most usual past tense in the French language. As this is a reflexiv verb, it uses the "être" auxiliary verb. Thus the "passé composé" is:
- je me suis lancé
- tu t’es lancé
- il s’est lancé
- nous nous sommes lancés
- vous vous êtes lancés
- ils se sont lancés
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Third step, the first part of the sentence is here to give an beforehand explanation for the second part of the sentence. So the easiest way to convey that would be to say: "Comme Chapelier s’est lancé dans […], Alix et Lapin […]" : "Since Chapelier has thrown himself in the creation of […], Alix et Lapin […]". There is a strong link cause/consequence in the structure.
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Fourth step, instead of using the usual structure "Comme (put the cause here), (put the consequence here)", the sentence is using an equivalent but much more academic structure with a participle: "(put the cause here using a participle), (put the consequence here)".
So the full declination of this sentence structure, for instance, would be:
- M’étant lancé, …
- T’étant lancé, …
- S’étant lancé, …
- Nous étant lancés, …
- Vous étant lancés, …
- S’étant lancés, …
Please note how the subject is implicit in the above structures, only the self-reflexiv verb remains.
I a) This form is the "participe passé composé" for the verb "lancer". As "lancer" is a verb that you conjugate with "avoir" it is formed with the "participe présent" of "avoir" and the "participe passé" of "lancer". For verbs conjugated with "être" the form starts with "étant". (You’ll have to brush up on that point (conjugation of complex tenses).)
- ayant vu, ayant parlé, ayant compris, ayant couru, … (most verbs)
- étant arrivé, étant parvenu, étant monté, étant parti
b) Whereas the use of the "participe présent" indicates an action that perdures in the past, present, or future while an other action takes place in the same past, present, or future, the use of the "participe passé composé" indicates an action that does not take place in the same time but instead that took place before that time (whether in the past, present or future).
- Travaillant avec plus d’ardeur, Jean avait de meilleurs résultats. (in the past)
- Travaillant avec plus d’ardeur, Jean a de meilleurs résultats. (in the present)
- Les enfants, travaillant plus librement, auront de meilleurs résultats. (in the future)
The name "présent" is rather the expression of the simultaneity of two actions (or states).
From LBU § 925, p. 1152
Le participe passé composé s’emploie pour marquer l’antériorité par rapport à un autre fait. (paraphrase of what can be read in the second part of the first sentence in "b)" above)
- Ayant fini mes exercices, je dois commencer à apprendre une leçon de géographie. (in the present)
- Ayant fini son repas, il se mit au lit et dormit longtemps. (in the past)
- Ayant fini ses études, il ne lui restait qu’à chercher un travail. (in the past)
- Ayant bien étudié les base de son sujet, il pourra alors s’intéresser à des choses plus compliquées. (in the future)
c) The action "to engage in the manufacture of a Lance-Chapelier" precedes the second action (to construct a flying machine).
II Go by the terminology on the second site; it is the terminology that can be found in LBU, which is a dependable source.
PARTICIPE
Présent Passé Passé composé
se lançant masc.sg.: lancé s’étant lancé
masc.pl.: lancés
fém.sg.: lancée
fém.pl.: lancées
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