Lighting up a real tree

[deej012160]

My wife had what I think is a great idea last weekend. I have been wanting to do synchronized lights for several years now and I think my job next year will be such that I will be home enough in the fall that I can do my first setup. Has anyone put synchronized lights on a "real tree"? We have a fairly large live oak tree in our front yard. My wife suggested that I "wrap" the trunk & branches with lights. Has anyone synchronized branches, trunks, etc? What did it look like? Thanks in advance!!!

[papap]

Did one this year. It is a sycamore tree. It has 6 big branches at bottom. So I did the trunk as one channel. Then 1 channel for each branch. Came out great. The branches are wrapped with lights out about 25 feet or so from the trunk.

[papap]

I plan on doing my oak tree the same way next year.

[scubado]

Start here: http://forums.lightorama.com/forum82/ There are too many to mention.

[George Simmons]

I've sequenced them for a client the past couple years. He has 2 large trees in his yard. One tree is 12 channels - trunk and eleven branches, and the other one is 8 channels - trunk and seven branches. There's things you can do to make them really look cool, and generally speaking they're easy to sequence. But it's pretty limited from a sequencing perspective unless your branches are in a position to allow sequential patterns and chases to be clearly discernible to street-level viewers. Personally, I like the look of branches lighting in a seemingly random pattern, of course, to the beat of the music. Wrapping a tree is a great accent, a great space filler, and can make for an unforgettable sight.

Be advised though that it's a real light-hog of a project if you're going to do it well. (And if you're not going to do well, why bother in the first place?) Even more so if you're doing it in multiple colors. IMHO if you're not doing the full length of the chosen branches, you'll need to come out from the trunk of the tree at least ten feet or it looks weird. I'm going to try something like that to a tree in my yard next year too, except I'm not going to wrap it. I'll use single-color "superstrands" facing the street to follow the shape of the branches.