Finally - LightsOnHarbor 2008 Halloween video

[-klb-]

Finally got these downloaded, and the audio dubbed in. They should all be available in HD as well. (Small HD button on the lower right of the video, near the full screen button)

[beeiilll]

Looks good. Can't wait to see what happens this year.

I started out with 80 channels last Christmas and will have 256 channels this year.

This definitely turns into a very engrossing hobby doesn't it?

Bill

[-klb-]

At least for me, Halloween doesn't grow in channel count much compared to Christmas. Usually the effort goes into better effects. This year, I am mostly exploring better black lights. Last year, it was the DMX light bars that are all the visible light effects (including strobing) in the entry way, and the larger fog machine with chiller.

Last year, Halloween was around 32 channels of LOR plus three 5 channel DMX lights, while there was 128 channels of LOR AC hardware on hand, plus another 64 of DC. I think that due to time constraints, only about 60 channels total wound up installed at the house.

This year, I think I have 192 AC channels, and still about 64 DC channels available. We are not planning on expanding the city park show as much this year as last, so maybe I'll get a chance to actually set up most of what is planned for the house this year. For 2007, the city park was 209 channels, For 08, it was around 600 including DMX, and we are growing at least 128 channels in the park this year.

Also, at least for the last two years, the home Halloween show was the final test for the software to be used for the city park show.

[friskybri]

Did you make the headstones or did you buy them from somewhere. Not doing that this year but figured next will be place to start.

[-klb-]

The illuminated tombstones are home made. There are a number of others that don't really show up in the video that are cheap off the shelf ones as well.

One of these days, I should find the photos of building the tombstones and do a good write up. I had put together a design in illustrator, and scaled it until the outline of lights, and the stroke lengths of the text totaled to about 90 inches. Multiple copies were plotted on a large scale plotter, and cut out on the exterior dimension. Each tombstone is two layers of 3/4 inch pink Styrofoam insulation, cut to rough size. Then a pair of groves was cut into the inside of both to accept 1/2 inch PVC pipe, as sockets to ride on rebar stakes. The two layers were glued together using Locktite shower surround glue, with the PVC sandwiched in place. Once the glue had dried a couple of days, one of the patterns would then be double stick taped onto the face. A hot wire knife was used to cut the edges to the paper template, resulting in the two layers now being cut the same. A 1/2 inch V grove bit was used to cut a V grove for the outline and text strokes. I think this was cut a bit deeper than 1/4 inch. Next, regular spray paint was lightly applied to the edges, and randomly on the faces. The solvents in the paint etch into the foam, giving a weathered look. Care must be taken not to eat too deeply, and most of the etching will happen later than you think. After the solvents had dried, everything got two coats of the Kilz no odor spray primer. This is a water based paint that does not etch the foam any further, and protects it from further spray paint. Brush on latex probably would have worked as well. After that was dry, a light, uneven coat of light gray was applied from a larger than normal distance. Next, the little insert in the can nozzle was removed, and more light gray sprayed from a distance. The lack of the nozzle insert causes more of a splatter of drops, instead of a spray. Last, a the same was done with black paint. This actually resulted in a surprisingly good granite appearance during the day.

After all the paint was dried, I used a compass to make marks every inch along the perimeter grove, and approximately every inch in the text strokes. I drilled 1/4 inch holes through from the front at each of these marks. A regular twist drill tears the foam more than it drills. I found that some auger bits have a nice cutter nib that works fairly well on this foam, as well as some of the brad point wood bits that have a little cutter at the tips to try and cleanly shear the wood grain. Once all the holes were drilled, it was just a matter of poking the lights through from the back, in a way to maximize the number of bulbs used, and minimize the number on the back that are just getting from place to place. When poking the bulbs through, I aimed for most of the filaments to stay within the grove. The bulbs to extend forward, but the light mostly shines on the insides of the groves, providing the nice sharp lines.

[toddmoon]

Do you have any photos up close of the head stones and other props that you built. Styrofoam is a lot easier to work with than plywood.

I used a 8' sheet to build my guitar and used 5 strings of lights. The base of the guitar I used a 100 light string. The 4 strings are LED 70 light strings spread out over five feet.

[Santabob]

Forney Texas here, The display looks great, I just ordered a 1602 LOR setup. What are you using ?

[-klb-]

The Halloween show used channels off of a few CTB16PC's, and an iDMX last year. It probably would have fit on two or three CTB16PC's, but since the controllers will be in the same place for Christmas, I don't worry about compressing my channel layout as things get removed or changed up. This year, a few channels from a CMB16D will be used for some LED blacklights.

Here is the wiring mess on the back of a tombstone:



Here is the front lit up:



and in ambient light:



Here is some detail of the texture you can get by etching with conventional spray paint before sealing with latex, or kilz no odor.

[ainsworth]

Very nice! How do you get the grove you cut for the lights on the front to glow red?

[kdouglas]

where did u get those eyes from..

looked great by the way

[-klb-]

The eyeballs were a string of 4 at Garden Ridge in 07. I cut the string in half, and put new SPT1 vampire plugs on them to make the two strings, as they are C7 bulbs inside. I think I saw some last year as well. Not sure about this year, as I have not looked at their stock for a while.

I actually plotted the patterns for the tombstones full size on paper, and used double stick tape to hold it on the foam. Then I used a V grooving router bit, and carved right through the paper. Then I used a compass to mark 1 inch spacing along the bottom of the groove. I used a 1/4 inch bit with spurs on the outside that were designed to cut the fibers when drilling wood, as it did a pretty good job of not tearing the foam too much. Then the bulbs were pushed through from the back, but only far enough that the filaments were still below the surface of the foam. The very tip of the bulb does extend beyond the face, but the bulb is only casting light on the inside of the groove, and forward of the tombstone, providing that nice crisp line of light.