Blade Spinner, How I built it w/video of effects

[lanopie]

I'm a 5.1.2. Pro user and would love a copy of the lpeprop file

lanopie@xplornet.com

I think you did a terrific job, hope I can do the same.

Thanks!

[default]

To import the prop into a preview, right click the link and "Save As". Blade Spinner.lpeprop    

Save it to your C:\Users\Documents\Light-O-Rama\ImportExport directory. Follow the gif below.

This blade spinner was made using a Pixie16 with 16 - 50 led strings. You will have to set your Network and Unit Id's to suit your build.

Please let me know if you have success importing this prop. From what I understand of S5 this is how it should work to share lpeprops. Never done it before.

If you make this prop, please post some videos of it in action. Enjoy.

Alan...

Edited September 26, 2018 by default

[lanopie]

Thanks,

I was having problems saving it to the ImportExport folder, it wanted to save as an XML file.  I was able to save it after I renamed the extension from XML to lpeprop.  Windows 10 has a mind of its own, it's still saved it with the extension XML.  I had to remove the added .XML after it was saved and then I was able to add it to one of my preview in S5.  Looks good.  Now to see if I will have the time to build this, I'm sure it won't be for this year but guaranteed for next.

Thanks again.

[ebrown1972]

6 hours ago, lanopie said:

Thanks,

I was having problems saving it to the ImportExport folder, it wanted to save as an XML file.  I was able to save it after I renamed the extension from XML to lpeprop.  Windows 10 has a mind of its own, it's still saved it with the extension XML.  I had to remove the added .XML after it was saved and then I was able to add it to one of my preview in S5.  Looks good.  Now to see if I will have the time to build this, I'm sure it won't be for this year but guaranteed for next.

Thanks again.

After seeing the design made by default of the blade spinner I contacted boscoyo studios and requested something similar. They came up with the mega spinner based off of default's design. You may want to look at it if you want one for this year.

[lanopie]

Thanks, I did look at Boscoyo's version but I didn't like it because the end weren't round like default's and no space in between the blades.

[GrenzTravis]

On ‎9‎/‎25‎/‎2018 at 7:47 PM, default said:

The pixels were part of the Pixie16 Package Deal

Due to the spacing I used (1 1/8" between pixels and a 11 1/2" inner circle) the length from blade tip to blade tip is 70". I mounted the unit in a frame 72"x72". It all will depend on how big your inner circle will be and the spacing between pixels.

Are you using S4 or S5? Please fill in your Profile info. I have both the vis files (listed above) for S4 and a lpeprop for S5.

Alan...

Alan, I built my blade spinner. Now I'm ready to do some stuff with it! I am running S5 so if you would be willing to send me the file that I need to use that would be awesome! I was also wondering if you would be willing to share and sequences for this prop? I am a newbie when it comes to the pixels and RGB stuff in general and I think I may be in over my head a little bit. I have some sequences that I bought from light o rama over the last several years. If I send you the list of songs that I have, can you let me know if you have sequenced them for the spinner?

[default]

Wow, Travis, that looks great. You make me feel like a proud papa.

If you go back a page in this thread (near the bottom) you will see I posted the Blade Spinner.lpeprop and a gif on how to import the prop into S5. Since you have the Pro License you will be able to use Motion Effects in Sequencer. Do you have Superstar also? if so licensed for how many channels? Motion Effects make this prop easy to sequence for, but SS makes it really come to life.

I do have sequencing I can share, however I have nothing Christmas related. I am a fair weather lighter. I spend enough time outside in the winter for work, no need to play in it also. Give me a day or two, to copy some effects into a Animation file, that you will be able to copy into your sequences.

Did you build this with a Pixie16 also? Is the first blade at the one o'clock position? going around clockwise as you look at it?

This prop can be overpowering in relation to your other props, at least in my case that's what I found. To help with that, I dimmed the effects on this prop to 20%, It still lights fine, just a little easier on the eyes.

Again, good job on the build. I think you and your audience will really like this prop.

Alan...

Edited October 10, 2018 by default

[GrenzTravis]

Thanks alot! I'm glad you like it! I had a great teacher ? I did find the ipeprop. I do have super star licensed for 16 channels. I haven't messed with the program yet at all. I built it with a pixie 16 and the first blade is at 1 oclock position and going around clockwise. Thanks for all your help! I appreciate anything else you can do for me.

 

Travis

[mdnooyer]

Hello, 

I'am very busy to build a normal spinner and i already orderd the leds for your blade spinner. 

Would you like to send the test file from War? so i can look at the examples in SS and can program the bladespinner very vast. 

If i have to pay for it or we can trade some sequences thats not a problem. 

mdnooyer@zeelandnet.nl

Thanks for showing your work, Mark

 

[default]

On 10/9/2018 at 5:43 PM, GrenzTravis said:

I did find the ipeprop. I do have super star licensed for 16 channels.

Travis,

I have added some new Groups to the original Blades Spinner Prop. You can either download this new one or follow along with the video I made showing how new groups can/will change how Motion Effects are displayed on the Blade Spinner and create your own unique groups following the example. If you decide to create your own groups please share the lpeprop I liked to see what people have done with this.

2018 New Blade Spinner Prop

I am still working on getting some sequences together. I have many things going on right now and may not get to it until this weekend. I am licensed for 40 CCR's in Superstar so I don't know if those will work for you. At least you can load it into SS and see how I sequenced in SS.

Alan...

 

[default]

On 10/10/2018 at 6:16 AM, mdnooyer said:

Would you like to send the test file from War?

As mentioned in the post above I have a 40 CCR license for Superstar. I think most of the effects from the song War were done in SS. I will put something together and post something here in the next few days.

Alan...

[mdnooyer]

thank you very much. I also orderd 800 leds for the 16 x 50 pixel matrix. But do you have the distance between the leds?

Send you some pictures when i'am ready. 

Mark

[default]

Travis and Mark,

This prop (built with a Pixie16) will require at least a 16 CCR license to use in Superstar. To be able to use Motion Effects in S5 you will need the Pro License.

Here is the visualization file (.lee) file for the Blade Spinner for use in SS. It was created in S4 Visualizer and modified (to straighten the blades out and to rotate them) with ItsMeBobo' SharpIn program. I use this file in Superstar to give me the grid I wanted to use in SS. It is also the grid that is used when you (right click in S5 SE) Insert Superstar Effects. See the gif below on how to use this .lee file in SS.

32 spoke props sharpin.lee

Here are some sample SS .sup files I have created over the years. Some times I just load SS with this prop and start making effects and see where they go. Some effects are incomplete as I was just playing around. They should give some idea on how to sequence for the Blade Spinner. Some are complete and I have used them in Sequences. Change colors and time to match your theme.

Right Click and Save As, they need the file extension of .lee when you save them. Some browser will try to save them as .xml

SampleBladePixels.sup

blade effect2.sup

blade effect3.sup
sample blade.sup
blade sequences 1.sup

sample blades_2.sup

sample blades_2.sup

I don't have many S5 Motion Effects for this prop (yet) I have mostly sequenced this prop in SS, I like the control I have in SS for this prop. In getting some of this info for you guys I have thought of some neat ways to sequence this prop in S5 (Motion Effects) that will happen this winter.

If you need help with any of this, let me know.

Enjoy

Alan...

Edited October 13, 2018 by default
Edit. Went brain dead while composing post, forgot links, etc...

[default]

14 hours ago, mdnooyer said:

thank you very much. I also orderd 800 leds for the 16 x 50 pixel matrix. But do you have the distance between the leds?

Send you some pictures when i'am ready. 

Mark

If you are asking about the Blade Spinner - pixel spacing is 1 1/8" between pixels.

If you are asking about the Matrix I built, those pixels are spaced 1 1/4" between pixels

Alan...

[GrenzTravis]

32 minutes ago, default said:

Travis and Mark,

This prop (built with a Pixie16) will require at least a 16 CCR license to use in Superstar. To be able to use Motion Effects in S5 you will need the Pro License.

Here is the visualization file (.lee) file for the Blade Spinner for use in SS. It was created in S4 Visualizer and modified (to straighten the blades out and to rotate them) with ItsMeBobo' SharpIn program. I use this file in Superstar to give me the grid I wanted to use in SS. It is also the grid that is used when you (right click in S5 SE) Insert Superstar Effects. See the gif below on how to use this .lee file in SS.

32 spoke props sharpin.lee

Here are some sample SS .sup files I have created over the years. Some times I just load SS with this prop and start making effects and see where they go. Some effects are incomplete as I was just playing around. They should give some idea on how to sequence for the Blade Spinner. Some are complete and I have used them in Sequences. Change colors and time to match your theme.

Right Click and Save As, they need the file extension of .lee when you save them. Some browser will try to save them as .xml

SampleBladePixels.sup

blade effect2.sup

blade effect3.sup
sample blade.sup
blade sequences 1.sup

sample blades_2.sup

sample blades_2.sup

I don't have many S5 Motion Effects for this prop (yet) I have mostly sequenced this prop in SS, I like the control I have in SS for this prop. In getting some of this info for you guys I have thought of some neat ways to sequence this prop in S5 (Motion Effects) that will happen this winter.

If you need help with any of this, let me know.

Enjoy

Alan...

Thank you so much Alan for all your help. I will have some time this week to start working on the sequences for my blade spinner. I'm excited to get it going!! What's the best way to contact you if I get stuck? I have only ever sequenced one song and it was traditional (not rgb).

Thanks

[mdnooyer]

19 hours ago, default said:

If you are asking about the Blade Spinner - pixel spacing is 1 1/8" between pixels.

If you are asking about the Matrix I built, those pixels are spaced 1 1/4" between pixels

Alan...

Thanks i need them from the matrix, now i can drilling holes. Thanks

 

[default]

22 hours ago, default said:

32 spoke props sharpin.lee

 

Right Click and Save As, they need the file extension of .lee when you save them. Some browser will try to save them as .xml

SampleBladePixels.sup

blade effect2.sup

blade effect3.sup
sample blade.sup
blade sequences 1.sup

sample blades_2.sup

sample blades_2.sup

As I read back through this, this is confusing and I had screwed up the links. I should not have been allowed near a pc yesterday. ?

This is how it should have read and the links have been corrected.

Right Click and Save As, this file needs the file extension of .lee when you save it. Some browser will try to save it as .xml

32 spoke props sharpin.lee

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

These are the Superstar sample files, they need to be saved with a .sup extension

Sample Blade Pixels.sup
blade effect2.sup
blade effect3.sup
sample blade.sup
bladesequences1.sup
sample blades_2.sup
sample blades_2.sup

Sorry for an confusion.

Alan...

[dibblejr]

I may add one or two of these this year. Running out of space on the ground, time to go up.

Thanks Alan

JR

[rick gurnee]

Alan,

I'm ready to build a couple of blade spinners for next Christmas and have a question.  I went to Home Depot and looked at the Coroplast.  It doesn't look real sturdy so obviously the frame is important.  Can you give a few more details on the frame and give your experience over the last few years as to how well it held up?  Did you end up drilling some wholes so the wind could get through?  If you had to do it over again would you change anything?

Thanks for the great post.

[default]

Rick,

The pictures (previously posted) show what the frame I made looks like. I added more screws with fender washer to the face, at the time of the pictures it was still being put together. The pictures show front and back of the frame. I did not drill any extra holes in the faces for wind to pass through. I do my lighting stuff in the spring/summer/fall months in the Pacific Northwest. We do have occasional storms with some wind. So far so good. This could vary in your location though. If you are concerned about wind, along with drilling holes to allow wind to pass thru, you could also put additional struts (vertical or horzontial) to reduce the open areas exposed to the wind. The center seam is where I made sure to add more screws and fender washers.

This prop has been outside in wind, rain and direct sun for months at a time, and I haven't seen any issues.

The only thing I would do different is to use a 12mm step up bit for drilling the holes. I used a 1/2" step up bit and if you drill though the full 1/2" the hole can be to big to securely hold the pixel. Although with coro-plast there is a tiny room for error, unlike thin aluminium. I did have to silicone in a bunch of my pixels because I drilled some of the holes to big. Drilling a test hole in a scrap piece of coro-plast with a 12mm would be a good way to make sure the pixels will "snap in" and not come out without a little force pulling them. Since I built this prop, I now access to a table router, that I can drill exact 12mm holes, and they fit very snug.

As posted earilier in the thread GrenzTravis (Travis) also made this prop. In his picture he also put a lot of fastners along the middle seem. I'd suggest PM'ing him to give his thought also.

I look forward to pictures of a completed prop, and even some video. I have posted what I use for a .lpeprop and some sample sequencing in the post above. Any thing else you need, just ask.

Hope this helps.

Alan...

Framing picture, from the back side. Note the center struct down the seem of the corroplast.

 

I have added a bunch more screws and fender washers to the face to secure the corroplast down better.

 

GrenzTravis's build of the same prop. Note the attachments along the seem.

 

This is a 1/2" step up bit. It is what I used. I'd suggest getting a step up bit, with the last step being 12mm. The "Stop here / Not here" on the picture is for the 1/2" step up bit, but it is really hard not to go all the way through if the bit grabs the materail and pulls it through. Again, do your self a favor and use a 12mm step up bit.