Kent Stutzman Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Hello all, This is a video of the RGB highlights from my display last Christmas. Because there aren’t too many RGB videos out there (at least that I could find), I thought I would consolidate a bunch of my different RGB house effects into one video. Didn’t spend much time editing so it’s pretty choppy, but shows a lot of effects. Among the 17 songs I did this year were a couple 8 or so minute music collages with 15 second snippets of various songs. I thought this worked out really well in that I could demo a lot of different effects by switching effects every 15 seconds. It gave a lot of flexibility to try different things.The house has 900 pixels with C9 covers using LOR S3 with E1.31. In the sequence editor, the 900 pixels were copied into different groups which were then rearranged from left to right, top to bottom, inside to outside, radar screen, rainbow, by segment and several chases. After all this work, the sequencing went pretty easily.Bottom line: RGB is awesome and I hope this gives others a few ideas to try. Enjoy. Kent 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
75redman Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Very Nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad02 Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Nice job and very impessive sequencing. Think I had a few flashbacks watching this. Any chance you can list what hardware you are using? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent Stutzman Posted February 7, 2013 Author Share Posted February 7, 2013 Thanks. The house has 2 E682 cards and another E681 mostly off camera to the right in the yard. There are 18 strands with 50 pixels with 6 inch spacing with the 3001 chip from Ray Wu. Unfortunately, the 3001s needed power injection at both ends. The sample 2811 pixels didn't have that problem so, the next batch of pixels I get for next year will be 2811s. I have 450 linear feet of 1X3" boards with 1/2" holes every 6 inches to keep the pixels straight and keep the exact count of bulbs in each segment. The boards were a lot of work this year, but should be easy next year. Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave H1 Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Thanks. The house has 2 E682 cards and another E681 mostly off camera to the right in the yard. There are 18 strands with 50 pixels with 6 inch spacing with the 3001 chip from Ray Wu. Unfortunately, the 3001s needed power injection at both ends. The sample 2811 pixels didn't have that problem so, the next batch of pixels I get for next year will be 2811s. I have 450 linear feet of 1X3" boards with 1/2" holes every 6 inches to keep the pixels straight and keep the exact count of bulbs in each segment. The boards were a lot of work this year, but should be easy next year. Kent Kent, Are your 2811's 5 or 12 volts?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent Stutzman Posted February 7, 2013 Author Share Posted February 7, 2013 Kent, Are your 2811's 5 or 12 volts?? The 2811's and the 3001's are both 5 volt. The 2811's were able to handle 30' of Ray's cable before they started to show a voltage drop at the end of the strand. The 3001 chips had significant voltage drop with 1 foot of Ray's cable. Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave H1 Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Kent I'm assume the pixels came from Ray also. Did you have any issues with the C9 covers coming loose? Outstanding video and show!!! Flashbacks??Can only imagine the outcomes if these pixels were around 35 years ago............ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Loved the pixels, loved the programming, loved the music choice... Great job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCas4380 Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Thanks for sharing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent Stutzman Posted February 7, 2013 Author Share Posted February 7, 2013 Kent I'm assume the pixels came from Ray also. Did you have any issues with the C9 covers coming loose? Outstanding video and show!!! Flashbacks??Can only imagine the outcomes if these pixels were around 35 years ago............ Yes the pixels, power supply and cables all came from Ray. The C9 covers were a pleasant surprise in that they fit and stayed on very well. I had some mounted upward, some sideways and even some downward and didn't lose any (though it wasn't especially windy this year). For next year I will drill holes in tip of those aiming downward so they can drain. Even though they had water in them, it didn't cause any shorts. They were up about 2 months and I did notice some discoloration in the C9 covers when taking them down. Didn't adversely affect the show but it may be an isssue after 2 or 3 seasons. At least they are easily replacable. As for 35 years ago, I recall making lightboxes back then with blinking C7s or C9s in a wooden box with a diffuser panel on front. Kind of the same thing, but on a smaller scale. Ironically, for next year I am thinking of making a big Christmas tree out of coro with 100 RGB bulbs each in their own compartment with the same diffuser on front. Basically 100 mini lightboxes in the shape of a tree. I guess I just live in the 70's. Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougd Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 (edited) Made me want to fire one up. Did you do full versions of all those songs? Edited February 7, 2013 by dougd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 As for 35 years ago, I recall making lightboxes back then with blinking C7s or C9s in a wooden box with a diffuser panel on front. Kind of the same thing, but on a smaller scale. Ironically, for next year I am thinking of making a big Christmas tree out of coro with 100 RGB bulbs each in their own compartment with the same diffuser on front. Basically 100 mini lightboxes in the shape of a tree. I guess I just live in the 70's. KentKent,I used to make "color organs" that way.. I used only C7s but I even had a jig for bending the diffuser plastic so I could have a three sided one.. I made tons of 2'x4" flat front color organs to stack behind my drum set for the band.. Those were the days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveMaris Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Very nice.Do you have flood/spots on the house also or is that just color wash from the pixels? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebaronn Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Very nice!Did you lose any pixels over the course of the season? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james campbell Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 very cool display, I want to know how all you pixle guys are going to improve you displays after a couple more years of this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave H1 Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Yes the pixels, power supply and cables all came from Ray. The C9 covers were a pleasant surprise in that they fit and stayed on very well. I had some mounted upward, some sideways and even some downward and didn't lose any (though it wasn't especially windy this year). For next year I will drill holes in tip of those aiming downward so they can drain. Even though they had water in them, it didn't cause any shorts. They were up about 2 months and I did notice some discoloration in the C9 covers when taking them down. Didn't adversely affect the show but it may be an isssue after 2 or 3 seasons. At least they are easily replacable. As for 35 years ago, I recall making lightboxes back then with blinking C7s or C9s in a wooden box with a diffuser panel on front. Kind of the same thing, but on a smaller scale. Ironically, for next year I am thinking of making a big Christmas tree out of coro with 100 RGB bulbs each in their own compartment with the same diffuser on front. Basically 100 mini lightboxes in the shape of a tree. I guess I just live in the 70's. Kent The ceiling of my van had a light bridge running the length of the van, from the sunroof to the rear doors. I used the rotating contactor from the tail lights of a Cougar or Thunderbird, the sequential type that the new Mustangs have resurected. Just used a bunch of 1157 bulbs and colored "cracked ice" plexiglass as diffusers. anyone got a spare book of matches to put in the 8 track player??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent Stutzman Posted February 8, 2013 Author Share Posted February 8, 2013 Made me want to fire one up. Did you do full versions of all those songs?No, I didn't do full versions of all the songs. I spliced together about 15 seconds of 60 or so songs into a couple collages. Worked really well to try lots of different effects. How else can you sneak in "I Am the Walrus" and "Helter Skelter" into a Christmas display. Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent Stutzman Posted February 8, 2013 Author Share Posted February 8, 2013 Very nice.Do you have flood/spots on the house also or is that just color wash from the pixels? Hi Steve, I have a smart RGB strip shining down on the garage door and another on the windows of the second story above the garage door. I used to use 100w incandescent floods on the house, but the RGB strips allow so many more options. Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmac Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Very Very nice.......Reading your first post I assume all that was sequenced with LOR & SS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent Stutzman Posted February 8, 2013 Author Share Posted February 8, 2013 Very nice!Did you lose any pixels over the course of the season? The pixel strings were very reliable. Of the 900 pixels on the house, one pixel wouldn't show red but did do green and blue. I think the problem there was that I probably applied too much strain on the pixel when unfolding the boards that they are attached to. I now use 14" zip ties between the boards to take the strain instead of the strands. Everything else on the strands worked perfectly. Of the two smart pixel strips, a couple pixels in the middle stopped working. Of my 3 CCR strands, one section went out too. The strips seem to be more fragile. The good part about using them under the eves as color washes is that it doesn't matter of some pixels go out. Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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