Couple Design Related Questions

[Guest guest]

So I'm at that point where I know conceptually what I want to do, but struggling to take that next step of laying out my design down to the string of light and channel level. I actually need to summarize in a separate post what I am thinking and get some expert input.

All that said..a few questions related to what I am pondering:

1. In the past in my static displays I have used my existing landscape lighting to provide color. I'd like to incorporate that into my LOR design, and have seen various posts regarding the Rainbow Floodlight. I'm also trying to hold off having to step over into the DMX world, which it would appear I would need to do to use the rainbow flood in my display. Is that a correct assumption? I know I could use traditional AC floods and work directly with LOR channels, but that limits me from a color choice standpoint. I need to do a little more searching and reading on this topic, but interested in any input and insight from those who have already been there.

2. My display, for the most part, will not need to be seen from behind. I face the road in one direction, dense woods in the other. As I think about mini and mega trees as part of the design, I'm debating tomato cage (or similar) trees, versus the Holiday Coro style of tree. Seems like assembly is simpler with Coro, a little more expensive, but my bigger concern is the overall look and whether losing that "roundness" of the tree becomes painfully obvious. Curious anyone's experience with the coro trees...

3. I'm an engineer-type, not an artistic designer type, and while I can envision a lot of what I want my display to look like, I am struggling finding the best way to actually do the design. I bought Holiday Lights Designer (from HolidaySoft) but I'm not sure the time and learning curve will save me any time in the end. Looking for comments on just what method most use to get down the the details of designing their layout. Do a lot of LOR users use HLD?

Thats all for now..thanks.

[shfr26]

The only question I can answer is the one on cages. I made mini trees this year out of cages and started by only using 1 cage. After the first one was done, 400 lights, I took it apart and redid it using 2 cages to get the rounder look. One cage looked like a triangle and after two it was alot rounder. My display sits on a corner and I think that "flat" objects can only be seen if you are right in front of the display. That is just my opinion and if flat works for you then go for it and have fun.

[Darryl Lambert]

DonFL wrote:

1. I'd like to incorporate that into my LOR design, and have seen various posts regarding the Rainbow Floodlight. I'm also trying to hold off having to step over into the DMX world, which it would appear I would need to do to use the rainbow flood in my display. Is that a correct assumption?

With the rainbow flood you have two options one is DMX or you can use the CMD-16D the link is Here

As for design I just sketched it on paper, and used the animation window in S2

[Guest guest]

Darryl Lambert wrote:

DonFL wrote:

1. I'd like to incorporate that into my LOR design, and have seen various posts regarding the Rainbow Floodlight. I'm also trying to hold off having to step over into the DMX world, which it would appear I would need to do to use the rainbow flood in my display. Is that a correct assumption?

With the rainbow flood you have two options one is DMX or you can use the CMD-16D the link is Here

Thanks!...I always forget about the DC version of the controller. Gut says I'm looking at 2, maybe 3 controllers, and so might need to make a decision regarding 2 plus the 16D.

As for design I just sketched it on paper, and used the animation window in S2

I think that's more where I'm headed. Right now, seems much simpler.

[jimswinder]

DonFL wrote:

2. I'm debating tomato cage (or similar) trees, versus the Holiday Coro style of tree. Seems like assembly is simpler with Coro,

**I would think using Coro would be MORE time consuming...punching all those holes!! I can wrap a tree (4 colors, 400 total lights) in about an 90 minutes. Also like shfr26 said, definetly use two cages together.**


3. Do a lot of LOR users use HLD?

**I use HLD, but I didn't use it for designing...just to animate my yard to see what it looked like as I was sequencing my songs. I would think if you had a static display, your LOR display would look similar. Start with what you know...but start...Christmas is not that far away.**

[Guest guest]

As I understand the coros, the holes are punched, j They're cheap enough I may just go ahead and get one; I sense it is one of those "have to see it to decide" kinds of products.

[Cray Augsburg]

Don:

Planning is often the hardest, yet most crucial part. As an engineer-type, you know that a strong, well-mapped plan is the best way to forestall problems. But at the same time, it is important that we don't let planning get in the way of success. (It's hard for me sometimes to not get bogged down in the details and, temporarily at least, lose sight of the big picture.)

1) I truly believe RGB floods are the way to go, and they will certainly be in my future. Not this year, but next (this year will be LED flood bulbs). They'll probably be Rainbow floods or perhaps the long-awaited XMAS flood. With DC controllers and a proper power supply, I look forward to being able to generate any color I'll need.

2) The Coro trees are an intriguing design. But for me they are too perfect. I use 4-ft artificial trees (picked up from Wally World on clearance) and bolt them so the sections don't come apart. Stick 'em on some 3/8ths rebar driven in the ground, and string 'em up. I use clear, red and green lights, with 200 of each color on each tree. Because of the greenery, 200 lights lit at a time is plenty and looks "full" on the artificial tree.The three strings are stranded together with cable ties, and I cable-tie the strands to the tree. WHen the season ends, I pluck the tree off the rebar, unplug it, then hang it upside down in my storage unit, between other trees that are stored upright.

3) I have no experience with Holiday Light Designer, so I can't say it's not a wonderful tool. It's simply more than I want to learn right now. For me, a good sketch works well. Another idea - take a picture of your house and yard from a good viewing angle and print several copies. Then use markers and let your imagination go. Draw what you want to see. I took such a picture, then edited the heck out of it with Photoshop Elements. I added a "reference" frame that includes my arches and trees and other elements, without lights. Then load it into the LOR software and add the lights via the visualizer. Do what you can to get an understandable interpretation of how you want things to look, and then go for it.

4) Welcome to the addiction. Good Luck! It's a blast.

Cray

[Guest guest]

I finally just went ahead and ordered a couple coro trees to set up and decide how i like them. Since I don't need 360 degree appearance, they may be an option. Looking at the sample pack of coro material, it confirms how might they likely are, but still want to see one sitting on my lawn. I will say the responsiveness and turn around time is pretty good..I ordered 2 trees tuesday morning and they'll be here saturday.

One thing I didn't realize is, as far as I can see, the most common string count on M5/M6 LED lights is 70..and I assumed (without doing my homework..) that 100s would be the way to go. Am I just not finding a source everyone uses for 100s? I found one source, and they are out of stock at this point. It's not a huge deal; if I go with the coros, i just order 70 string trees moving forward. Hopefully this weekend i'll be able to decide if there are tomato cages in my future or not.

The more I look at the rainbow floods (especially with the xmas flood still not being available), the more I like them. In my past static display, I used red and green MR16 bulbs in my landscape light to color the palm trees..I like these even better as I think 3-4 of them will do a nice job of "washing" the front of the house and landscape with varying color. It will likely come down to a decision of 3 CTB16s, or 2 CTB-16s and one CMB-16...i.e, 2 AC and one DC, or skip the floods for now and go with all AC and lights.

Thanks again everyone for all the comment and input..I truly appreciate the time taken by those on the board to give their comment and input in a way that makes one feel comfortable to ask more questions, no matter how stupid..

[jimswinder]

DonFL wrote:

One thing I didn't realize is, as far as I can see, the most common string count on M5/M6 LED lights is 70..and I assumed (without doing my homework..) that 100s would be the way to go. Am I just not finding a source everyone uses for 100s?

Creative Designs Inc. has a supply of them.

http://www.creativedisplays.com/siteresources/modules/webstore/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=37

Minis are about half way down the page...


EDIT: Sorry...but I am the KING :dude: of stupid questions...so that position is already filled.

[lightzilla]

DonFL wrote:

So I'm at that point where I know conceptually what I want to do, but struggling to take that next step of laying out my design down to the string of light and channel level. I actually need to summarize in a separate post what I am thinking and get some expert input.

All that said..a few questions related to what I am pondering:



2. As I think about mini and mega trees as part of the design, I'm debating tomato cage (or similar) trees, versus the Holiday Coro style of tree. Seems like assembly is simpler with Coro, a little more expensive, but my bigger concern is the overall look and whether losing that "roundness" of the tree becomes painfully obvious. Curious anyone's experience with the coro trees...


Thats all for now..thanks.

How would 200 or 400 LEDs be easier pushing each light in a hole over just wrapping lights around 2 cages (more roundness)?

I only zip tie the first two strings that started the wrap and then nothing after that until the top. I do some times stick the odd light between wire to help hold, and sometimes there is a small cap between the cages that can help hold lights in place as well.

Just curious but can Coro hold more than one colour and still look good? Does anyone know?

Could coro trees hold four different colours and still look great?

I like the cages because the lights go all the way around and can be seen when cars turn the corner, or when I sit in the living room looking out the window I can see the lights reflecting of the snow. Looks so cool. Since you live in Florida put some white painter sheets under the trees to look like snow. lol

Just my two cents.

[jimswinder]

lightzilla wrote:

Just curious but can Coro hold more than one colour and still look good? Does anyone know?

The Coro Trees come pre-punched.

here is their website:

http://www.holidaycoro.com/

and Instructions:

http://www.holidaycoro.com/Instructions-CoroTree.htm

and a picture of the tree




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[lightzilla]

jimswinder wrote:

lightzilla wrote:

Just curious but can Coro hold more than one colour and still look good? Does anyone know?

The Coro Trees come pre-punched.

here is their website:

http://www.holidaycoro.com/

and Instructions:

http://www.holidaycoro.com/Instructions-CoroTree.htm

and a picture of the tree

Thank Jim for the picture. In this picture the tree looks good.

[Guest guest]

jimswinder wrote:

DonFL wrote:

One thing I didn't realize is, as far as I can see, the most common string count on M5/M6 LED lights is 70..and I assumed (without doing my homework..) that 100s would be the way to go. Am I just not finding a source everyone uses for 100s?

Creative Designs Inc. has a supply of them.

http://www.creativedisplays.com/siteresources/modules/webstore/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=37

Minis are about half way down the page...

Ugh..in quantities of 12..was hoping to pick up some single strings just for this test, then buy 70s or such.

More importantly, thanks for the link..don't think i had these guys in my list of favorites.


EDIT: Sorry...but I am the KING :dude: of stupid questions...so that position is already filled.

Cool..I now have a mentor..

[Guest guest]

lightzilla wrote:

DonFL wrote:

I like the cages because the lights go all the way around and can be seen when cars turn the corner, or when I sit in the living room looking out the window I can see the lights reflecting of the snow. Looks so cool. Since you live in Florida put some white painter sheets under the trees to look like snow. lol

Just my two cents.

That's why I am just buying a couple...to check them out. I only have racoons anc other critters behind me..in the woods..so no one will notice the back...220-240 degrees of viewing max.

If I get a chance tonite, I'll post some house pics...picture is worth a thousand M6s, err, words...

[Cray Augsburg]

Don:

Another source for LEDs (in particular M5s and M6s) would be christmas-leds.com.

In addition, they have wire frames and other display items you might like.

Cray

[Guest guest]

DonFL wrote:

lightzilla wrote:

DonFL wrote:

That's why I am just buying a couple...to check them out. I only have racoons anc other critters behind me..in the woods..so no one will notice the back...220-240 degrees of viewing max.

If I get a chance tonite, I'll post some house pics...picture is worth a thousand M6s, err, words...

So here are a couple pics of where I can see the coros helping me. The elevated area is actually my septic field, and the raised area has always screamed for something more than just blow-ups.

As you can see, there is nothing behind me but woods--my house sits back, and the trees would face the road. Will pst a second pic next page (would be nice to be able to attach more than one....).



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[Guest guest]

and another.

so what I am thinking is trees along that 80 foot stretch of hill...maybe 4 foot minimum in height; not sure I'm ready to tackle a huge mega tree.

Lastly, will attach a pic of the house for perspective.

**Crap. Size restriction on the house pic..need to squeeze it down under 2 meg.**


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[Guest guest]

Ok, now we fall within the limits..

Anyway, house is to the right of the hill.

Thinking small trees, either tomato cage or coros, along the walkway.

Robelinni (small) palms typically get red and white rope lighting.

Arch above door has a cheesy set of "falling" snowflakes...need to come up with something better for that this year.

The landscape lights and floods are changed out to red and green..figure the landscapes get replaced by rainbow floods (and maybe spots), not sure if I'll change out the flood (under the eaves) this year.

Other than that, it's usually a lot of static lights..

Budgetarily, thinking 32 AC plus 12 DC (if I use the floods/spots), still pondering if, minus floods, 32 is plenty, or if I just need to go to 48 and grow into it.

Open to suggestions from those who have been down that first year road in the past.



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[jimswinder]

Personally, I think you would be happier with tomato cages...what is in the back of your yard I don't think really matters, as for most of us, our homes block the back view of our displays for anyone to see.

You will have this wonderful thing called LOR, which adds SOOOO much dimension to a display...I guess I just don't understand why you would want to use something so one dimensional as a Coro tree. I would think unless you are standing DIRECTLY in front of it, you won't get its' full value, while a tomato cage mini tree would look the same from any angle. And if your display is spread out at all (which from the looks of the size of your yard it will be), you won't be able to stand right in front of each mini tree.

But, like everything else in each of our displays (Color, size, quantity, etc), it is a personal choice...and no matter what you use, the people who come to view it will LOVE IT!!!!

[TJ Hvasta]

For mini design, I use just one cage but wrap it in black plastic chicken wire so its really a cone and just tie-wrap each line so it doesnt slide.. takes a lil over an hour to wrap the chicken wire and 3 colors(RGB) on one tree..

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