Sequencing Contest!

[TonyD]

Have you thought about attending a Mini?  There are several people that make the journey from California all the way up North to Lacey Washington for the 2012 PacNW Regional CLAP Meeting.   I know that Magish01 has posted he's making the journey.  It's a great way to connect with others and get some support.  I went last year, and am going again this year.  Just a thought.  Congrats on winning, it was great that us West Coast newbie sequencers could sweep our category. 

 

As far as setup, don't worry, as long as you start setting up the day Nov. 1st you should have the kinks worked out by Thanksgiving... maybe.

 

-RainyOregonChristmas

 

Thanks and congratulations to you too! If Brian does not put up all the entries i will figure out a way to do mine. I don't currently have a youtube or vimeo account but will get something if i have to.

 

As far as the mini - it would be something i'd like to do but i think i need to ease the wife/family into this whole thing. When i told my wife i had won my category she said "that's great....but i'm afraid of what that means!" LOL

 

I'm picking the gift certificate to try and ease the burden on everything i still need to buy for my first display.

 

TonyD

[Brian Mitchell]

Congrats to all four winners. 

 

I am going to put the videos together now.  They should be up soon.  I won't be posting my scorecard and breakdown but I will critique anyones sequence on request, publically or privately.

[james campbell]

congrats to the winner.,Geoff nice use of the vu wizard

[Brian Mitchell]

OK.  Here are the captures of all four winners.  Due to slow frame rate, shimmers do not capture well and some of the short events sometimes get missed.  So this is not exactly what we saw when judging.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VKTNmJN8Ko

[George Simmons]

I, too, offer my congratulations to the winners!

 

A California sweep, eh... must be something in the water out there.

 

Brian and I decided early on that we would not be posting the scorecards, nor would we be consulting each other on the scoring.  We did, however, exchange scorecards after the fact and I was amazed how closely our opinions lined up.  I don't know what that means exactly, but I found it interesting. 

 

Like Brian, I'll gladly offer my critique(s) either publicly or privately, to anyone who asks.

 

If we do this again next year, I suggest that we add a third judge.  And also, we should start organizing things before the end of decorating season to make sure that everyone who has a life and doesn't hang around here the entire year knows about it.

[james campbell]

OK.  Here are the captures of all four winners.  Due to slow frame rate, shimmers do not capture well and some of the short events sometimes get missed.  So this is not exactly what we saw when judging.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VKTNmJN8Ko

I am really impressed with the newbie enties.great work from everyone. also nice work by the judges and the organizers making this an even well thought out competition

[TonyD]

Congrats to all four winners. 

 

I am going to put the videos together now.  They should be up soon.  I won't be posting my scorecard and breakdown but I will critique anyones sequence on request, publically or privately.

 

I'd love the judges and anyone else's feedback. Public is fine, especially when the videos are posted you can point out specific things and others can benefit from your comments with an example right there to look at.

 

I'll start it off by commenting on my own. In retrospect, i think it's a little boring at times. I was afraid of doing too much at once which is often sited as a common "mistake" by newbies so I was really trying not to do that. I think i realized this when finishing up but really ran out of time to do much more. Watching Brian's side-by-side i see lots of opportunities i missed to do something. I should have followed the voices and keyboards somehow. I could not figure out how to get the trees to move within the 8 count like i wanted.

 

On the positive side i think my timing was fairly good on most parts. I liked my spinners but maybe ran them too long. I liked my cymball crashes but i wished there were more in the song. I don't think i went overboard with too much flashing.

 

This was a little harder than i thought it would be. I think i spent 10 - 16 hours maybe, the first 8 seconds probably took me 5 hours!

[Brian Mitchell]

OK Tony, here goes.

There were a lot of things I liked about your sequence.  It was very watchable and not overly flashy.  You had lights on at all times which I feel is important.    I'll break the song into 4 parts: Intro A, Intro B, Verses, and Chorus.

Your timing was solid throughout on the house lights.  I enjoyed the intro and probably wouldn't change a thing.  Intro B was good too as it gets you into the beat and feel of the song and you don't need anything crazy going on. It could have used something fading in with the keyboards before the accent.

In the verses, while what you have is solid, there are a lot of missed opportunities.  The runs across the arches seem a little random and don't tie tightly to the music and the fan is not used at all.

I think the star poles were also under utilized in the verses and chorus. 

A couple tips on timing.  When you set up your sequence use the beat wizard to get the basic beat and create additional timing grids with the other related grids 2X, 4X, 5X, ...etc.  An 8X grid will work perfect for chasing 8 trees.   Sometimes you  need to adjust them to make them look better.   In this song I found I had to back up the chases and changes by 1 square to make the them look locked into the beat.   I often find I have to sequence just slightly ahead of the beat  for it to look best.

 

Even as I look back on my sequence, I see places I'd like to improve.  I never had anything follow the bass line like some other sequences did and it's a fun bass line to go with too.  I think I ran out of props before I ran out of ideas.

[George Simmons]

Never mind- Brian posted while I was composing.

Edited March 1, 2013 by George Simmons

[TonyD]

OK Tony, here goes.

There were a lot of things I liked about your sequence.  It was very watchable and not overly flashy.  You had lights on at all times which I feel is important.    I'll break the song into 4 parts: Intro A, Intro B, Verses, and Chorus.

Your timing was solid throughout on the house lights.  I enjoyed the intro and probably wouldn't change a thing.  Intro B was good too as it gets you into the beat and feel of the song and you don't need anything crazy going on. It could have used something fading in with the keyboards before the accent.

In the verses, while what you have is solid, there are a lot of missed opportunities.  The runs across the arches seem a little random and don't tie tightly to the music and the fan is not used at all.

I think the star poles were also under utilized in the verses and chorus. 

A couple tips on timing.  When you set up your sequence use the beat wizard to get the basic beat and create additional timing grids with the other related grids 2X, 4X, 5X, ...etc.  An 8X grid will work perfect for chasing 8 trees.   Sometimes you  need to adjust them to make them look better.   In this song I found I had to back up the chases and changes by 1 square to make the them look locked into the beat.   I often find I have to sequence just slightly ahead of the beat  for it to look best.

 

Even as I look back on my sequence, I see places I'd like to improve.  I never had anything follow the bass line like some other sequences did and it's a fun bass line to go with too.  I think I ran out of props before I ran out of ideas.

 

Thanks!

[PMC]

I have the posters packed and labeled earlier than I expected, so I will be shipping out these posters in the morning to the 2 winners and I will email or PM each recipient with the estimated date of arrival and the tracking number

I guess its what I do best

[rainyoregonchristmas]

Can't be a Californian sweep, I' still an Oregonian..

[MikeyRo]

Definite congrats to all of the winners. Very nicely done.

[75redman]

Nice work!

[George Simmons]

Since you sent a message asking for abuse:

 

I think it's a little boring at times...  I should have followed the voices and keyboards somehow.  I could not figure out how to get the trees to move within the 8 count like i wanted.... i think my timing was fairly good on most parts... I liked my spinners but maybe ran them too long. I think i spent 10 - 16 hours maybe, the first 8 seconds probably took me 5 hours!

 

Boring is an apt word.  Not incredibly boring, but I agree there's more you could do with that setup to keep people awake.  

 

If you're true to the beat, the voices and keyboards usually take care of themselves.  Making the pole into a VU meter works well for voices.  

 

Using the chase function and/or the stretch-to-fit paste option allows you to create a pattern and easily put it into precisely the time frame you want it.

 

I agree your timing was pretty exact.  

 

The spinners, at least the way I use mine, often serve as the glue that holds other display elements together.  In this setup their central location allows you to use them to keep things rolling, so to speak, while other elements come and go during the song. 

 

Your sequencing will speed up as you do it more.  At your rate, it better...    But seriously, if you truly spent 5 hours on the first 8 seconds it's okay to question your own sanity.  It's a pretty boring, easily-forgettable part of the song and hardly worth that kind of expenditure.  

 

 

 

Brian wrote:

It was very watchable and not overly flashy... In the verses, while what you have is solid, there are a lot of missed opportunities...  The runs across the arches seem a little random and don't tie tightly to the music and the fan is not used at all...  I think the star poles were also under utilized in the verses and chorus.  

 

 

I agree with Brian's assessment.  I only sequenced the first minute of the song while I was testing the setup and I also ran out of props long before I ran out of ideas.

 

I liked the ascending rocket and starburst effect in the very beginning and then was disappointed to not see it again.  (If that's what you spent 5 hours on you should have used it more than once.)  I thought the subsequent pole fades looked kind of gooney.

 

I'm not a fan of having red and green conventional lights on at the same time.  Especially on a background element like the house.  My experience is that it turns to visual mush and blurs the outline of whatever it covers as well as anything that might be in the same line of sight. 

Edited March 1, 2013 by George Simmons

[TonyD]

Since you sent a message asking for abuse:

 

 

Boring is an apt word.  Not incredibly boring, but I agree there's more you could do with that setup to keep people awake.  

 

If you're true to the beat, the voices and keyboards usually take care of themselves.  Making the pole into a VU meter works well for voices.  

 

Using the chase function and/or the stretch-to-fit paste option allows you to create a pattern and easily put it into precisely the time frame you want it.

 

I agree your timing was pretty exact.  

 

The spinners, at least the way I use mine, often serve as the glue that holds other display elements together.  In this setup their central location allows you to use them to keep things rolling, so to speak, while other elements come and go during the song. 

 

Your sequencing will speed up as you do it more.  At your rate, it better...    But seriously, if you truly spent 5 hours on the first 8 seconds it's okay to question your own sanity.  It's a pretty boring, easily-forgettable part of the song and hardly worth that kind of expenditure.  

 

 

 

Brian wrote:

It was very watchable and not overly flashy... In the verses, while what you have is solid, there are a lot of missed opportunities...  The runs across the arches seem a little random and don't tie tightly to the music and the fan is not used at all...  I think the star poles were also under utilized in the verses and chorus.  

 

 

I agree with Brian's assessment.  I only sequenced the first minute of the song while I was testing the setup and I also ran out of props long before I ran out of ideas.

 

I liked the ascending rocket and starburst effect in the very beginning and then was disappointed to not see it again.  (If that's what you spent 5 hours on you should have used it more than once.)  I thought the subsequent pole fades looked kind of gooney.

 

I'm not a fan of having red and green conventional lights on at the same time.  Especially on a background element like the house.  My experience is that it turns to visual mush and blurs the outline of whatever it covers as well as anything that might be in the same line of sight. 

 

Thanks! I think what took me so long is I was trying to go for a particular effect and just coulnd't get it the way i wanted. I wanted different sections of the lights to fade up as the tone of the song changed finally leading to the big start. I kept playing around with how many cells to stretch the fade and when to start each group of lights and in the end i think i only faded up to 75%. Also, the first time using the beat wizard, timing grids, and the other tools took a little time to figure out.

[Brian Mitchell]

George wrote:  I'm not a fan of having red and green conventional lights on at the same time. Especially on a background element like the house. My experience is that it turns to visual mush and blurs the outline of whatever it covers as well as anything that might be in the same line of sight.

 

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

 

This is a point that George and I will have to agree to disagree on.  I like the combinations of lights on the house.  It adds another color choice to the pallet.  The red/green combo looks very Christmassy.  A red/blue combo gives the house a purple glow.   Blue/white has a wintery look to it.  Red/white I'm not too crazy about or blue/green.

[PMC]

I shipped the TSO Posters to the 2 people that won them, you should have received my email, if not PM me and I will give you the tracking number, even though both of you should receive them Monday

 

Again, thanks to all who participated in this No Name Sequencing Contest

 

-Paul

[George Simmons]

This is a point that George and I will have to agree to disagree on.  I like the combinations of lights on the house.  It adds another color choice to the pallet.  The red/green combo looks very Christmassy.  A red/blue combo gives the house a purple glow.   Blue/white has a wintery look to it.  Red/white I'm not too crazy about or blue/green.

 

No problem Brian - I've disagreed with people who are a lot more disagreeable than you. 

 

I'm onboard with the red/blue for sure - looks a lot richer than straight purple.  And I too don't care for blue/green.  Blue/white are colors I use to contrast each other.  I'm okay with red/white but I don't use it for much of anything.  (I'm talking about LED colors.)

 

My bias against red/green (and also multi-colored incans) probably comes mostly from my color-blind issues.  I like both props and background to be solid colors wherever possible/practical.  Helps them stand out from one another from any kind of distance.  (And all you other color-blind guys know exactly what I'm talking about.)  The only place I've ever cared for R/G or multis is on the inside tree.

[George Simmons]

Thanks Brian and Paul - I think we made a pretty good team.

 

And thanks to everyone who entered - it gave us all something half interesting to do this time of year.