My 2011 Halloween Setup - Indoor

[Jay Czerwinski]

I have 9 of the face sequences, this is one. 4 Cosmic color ribbons, and I only had enough time to sequence one with animation. I used up most of my time trying to get DMX running on 10 Snowvision tubes driven by Madrix software, that takes commands from LOR. That was a complicated mess for some time.

Add in that this was two weeks before my wedding, and I was really testing the realtionship of my now wife -- who wanted me to stop destroying the house and focus on the wedding.

The party was a success and next year I will probably have a new home with a yard. This can't be done inside anymore.... Ha!

[fxdwg]

dude, that is really cool! and my wife thinks IM nuts... if i did this to the INSIDE of the house, i think i would need to find a new mailing address...

very nice. i love halloween, but with doing a christmas display, just no way i could pull both off... so i will just have to admire the ones posted here!!

[jerrymac]

VERY VERY nice job!

[The Pest]

Very nice.

[CLD Kevin]

Very Nice Jay...now that a house party. Hope your good with the neighbors...with that music pounding through the walls. But they were probably there:)

I looked at Madrix...I like what it can do, just figuring out how to add into LOR I didnt spend too much time with. The video Brad made seem easy...but sounds like is really not.

Kevin

[Jay Czerwinski]

Cracker wrote:

Very Nice Jay...now that a house party. Hope your good with the neighbors...with that music pounding through the walls. But they were probably there:)

I looked at Madrix...I like what it can do, just figuring out how to add into LOR I didnt spend too much time with. The video Brad made seem easy...but sounds like is really not.

Kevin

Thanks for the compliment!

It adds a lot of time in to the thinking process of setting up a show. I am sure once it is all in place and I am familiar, it will also save a lot of time with ONLY elements of the show, but it can never control all of the rest of the LOR show. I also think that Madrix may be able to run the CCRs if configured properly.

Essentially you have to get good at two different systems and constantly think in your head how they could work together. The Madrix manual is 626 pages long alone!!! And I won't even get in to the physical hardware and software patching required to address technical LOR/DMX conversions.

For this video, I am using only 1 Madrix setting on all 10 tubes - - Flame/Fire. I did not have time to put the change commands in to my LOR sequence, so during the party I just selected different ones manually. Because they are LEDs, it was also a challenge to get the correct dimming. I imagine when you converted your show to LEDs you had a lot of reprogramming to do with dimming???

Bottom line, Madrix is best if you want to have lights responding live to music you play at random and things don't have to be perfectly matching the music -- like at the party where people request songs to dance to and they just like flashy lights. It was funny when people came to me and asked to have the faces sing their favorite song! Ha! Yeah! Let me whip that up for you right after this beer!!! Ha! Haaa!

[Jay Czerwinski]

fxdwg wrote:

if i did this to the INSIDE of the house, i think i would need to find a new mailing address...

In a sense, I am -- finding a new address for doing it in the garage and the yard. It was a real test of love.... awwwww! ;-)

[miaskiewicz christian]

That's a really cool display.

[csf]

Very creative! That must of been one cool party!

Madrix looks like a great program, but rather complex. Did you try controlling any of the LOR devices using it?

I ended up skipping Halloween this year... But when I was planing my Halloween display this year I was going to control my display(48 AC LOR channels 36 DC LOR channels, 5 CCR) using 2 DMX universes and a custom program I was working on. It was going to create shows on the fly to the music playing. I stooped working on the program when I stopped working on the display, it was working pretty well, maybe over the winter I can clean it up and release it...

[ToddH]

Great Job Jay, really enjoyed the set up in the space you had to work in. Nicely done!

[Jay Czerwinski]

csf wrote:

Very creative! That must of been one cool party!

Madrix looks like a great program, but rather complex. Did you try controlling any of the LOR devices using it?

I ended up skipping Halloween this year... But when I was planing my Halloween display this year I was going to control my display(48 AC LOR channels 36 DC LOR channels, 5 CCR) using 2 DMX universes and a custom program I was working on. It was going to create shows on the fly to the music playing. I stooped working on the program when I stopped working on the display, it was working pretty well, maybe over the winter I can clean it up and release it...

Thank you (and everyone) for the compliments!

I did not even get to have Madrix running with the Snowvision tubes properly as I ran out of time trying to get the DMX equipment properly talking to eachother. Right now you have to go out of LOR, through LOR's iDMX to output DMX to a DMX input module. That module takes the signal back in to the computer in a USB port where Madrix gets commands from LOR. Then Madrix outputs out of another USB port to another DMX module for output, where the DMX wire goes in series to the DMX lights. It was a mess because I bought DMX devices that were brand new in the market and had a few software updates needed before operating properly.

I am at the understanding that LOR boxes DO NOT take DMX as an input. I did think that I saw somewhere that the CCRs WILL take DMX if configured properly. That will be a 2012 project possibly because I might want to take what I have learned so far and try to do something for Christmas and New Years. I certainly understand how difficult it would be for people to do both holidays at 100% effort. Something has got to give!!!! Good luck with the Christmas display!!!!

[TJ Hvasta]

Jay, that is one really kool pad! Bet that party wuz da bomb!! Love the props/setting inside! You know you owe yer new wife big for letting you do this!

[Trish Bailey]

Very cool.

[csf]

Jay Czerwinski wrote:

csf wrote:

Very creative! That must of been one cool party!

Madrix looks like a great program, but rather complex. Did you try controlling any of the LOR devices using it?

I ended up skipping Halloween this year... But when I was planing my Halloween display this year I was going to control my display(48 AC LOR channels 36 DC LOR channels, 5 CCR) using 2 DMX universes and a custom program I was working on. It was going to create shows on the fly to the music playing. I stooped working on the program when I stopped working on the display, it was working pretty well, maybe over the winter I can clean it up and release it...

Thank you (and everyone) for the compliments!

I did not even get to have Madrix running with the Snowvision tubes properly as I ran out of time trying to get the DMX equipment properly talking to eachother.  Right now you have to go out of LOR, through LOR's iDMX to output DMX to a DMX input module.  That module takes the signal back in to the computer in a USB port where Madrix gets commands from LOR.  Then Madrix outputs out of another USB port to another DMX module for output, where the DMX wire goes in series to the DMX lights.    It was a mess because I bought DMX devices that were brand new in the market and had a few software updates needed before operating properly.

I am at the understanding that LOR boxes DO NOT take DMX as an input.  I did think that I saw somewhere that the CCRs WILL take DMX if configured properly.   That will be a 2012 project possibly because I might want to take what I have learned so far and try to do something for Christmas and New Years.   I certainly understand how difficult it would be for people to do both holidays at 100% effort.  Something has got to give!!!!  Good luck with the Christmas display!!!!
[/quote

Actually almost all of the LOR devices can se DMX as an input.

[csf]

Jay Czerwinski wrote:

csf wrote:

Very creative! That must of been one cool party!

Madrix looks like a great program, but rather complex. Did you try controlling any of the LOR devices using it?

I ended up skipping Halloween this year... But when I was planing my Halloween display this year I was going to control my display(48 AC LOR channels 36 DC LOR channels, 5 CCR) using 2 DMX universes and a custom program I was working on. It was going to create shows on the fly to the music playing. I stooped working on the program when I stopped working on the display, it was working pretty well, maybe over the winter I can clean it up and release it...

Thank you (and everyone) for the compliments!

I did not even get to have Madrix running with the Snowvision tubes properly as I ran out of time trying to get the DMX equipment properly talking to eachother.  Right now you have to go out of LOR, through LOR's iDMX to output DMX to a DMX input module.  That module takes the signal back in to the computer in a USB port where Madrix gets commands from LOR.  Then Madrix outputs out of another USB port to another DMX module for output, where the DMX wire goes in series to the DMX lights.    It was a mess because I bought DMX devices that were brand new in the market and had a few software updates needed before operating properly.

I am at the understanding that LOR boxes DO NOT take DMX as an input.  I did think that I saw somewhere that the CCRs WILL take DMX if configured properly.   That will be a 2012 project possibly because I might want to take what I have learned so far and try to do something for Christmas and New Years.   I certainly understand how difficult it would be for people to do both holidays at 100% effort.  Something has got to give!!!!  Good luck with the Christmas display!!!!

Actually almost all of the LOR devices can use DMX as an input.

[digdeepfundraising]

jay thats awesome one of the best ive seen so far proberly coz my daughter plays that tune non stop.your wife is awesome too for letting you pull that off bro cheers for sharing the video.

if ya interested in sharing your sequence drop me a pm my daughter would go nuts if i could pull that off in my halloween show next year

[Jay Czerwinski]

digdeepfundraising wrote:

jay thats awesome one of the best ive seen so far proberly coz my daughter plays that tune non stop.your wife is awesome too for letting you pull that off bro cheers for sharing the video.

if ya interested in sharing your sequence drop me a pm my daughter would go nuts if i could pull that off in my halloween show next year

Thank you for the compliment. The most difficult part I think is setting up all of the lights. But a very close second is sequencing in LOR. I did not have enough time to do the faces too, so I purchased several face sequences from halloweencostumesandmore on eBay. Considering the time it would take to make the sequence, it is definitely worth paying for at least a song or two. Plus it was helpful to study the sequence for writing my own.

With that being said, I could not share my sequence when I have purchased a portion of it (the faces) from someone else. Thanks for understanding, but you still have total access to making the presentation for your daughter!!

Cheers and Happy Holidays,

Jay

[digdeepfundraising]

Cheers jay for the info I have contacted Neal on eBay about getting the Halloween sequence's so next year I should be ready to pull off a Halloween show

Many thanks dan

[Kellenlights]

Cool!