Arteom Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 This may be a strange topic to start but I'm wondering, does anyone get more traffic/ attention drawn to their display when its all static instead of synced? Our foot traffic in our neighborhood is very light, however anyone that does walk by loves the show, especially the kids. However, working on the display one night, I noticed that 8/10 times a car would drive by during a "dark" period of the display, strange, but it happens, so they never care to stop and look. However one night doing a few checks I turned on all the lights and went outside to do some maintenance, most cars slowed to a complete stop to take a look and a few parked and some people even took the time to park and get out and get a closer look. Anyone ever experienced a similar situation? Maybe my syncing skills just suck... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
htebault Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 I mix a 30 minute show and 30 minutes of mostly static (no music) lights - I do have some movement in the lights - but on a 30 second/1-5 minute loop. Neighbors like both - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 I do both also, people stop either way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Benedict Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Try something new next year: have a background sequence with most lights on (some dipping off now and then), then setup an Infrared detector out front that gets triggered when somebody walks or drives by and that would start your regular show. I've used this technique for Halloween and thought you could apply the same technique for LOR triggered shows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Well which would you tend to stop at if you were randomly driving through a neighborhood - a house all lit up, or one with a Tune-To sign that promised a show if they stuck around and waitedThe long and short of it is few people want to see a dark house, even if there's a random bush blinking around. You don't have to have a static display to attract people, but if you run a very dark show most of the time you might have trouble attracting people and getting them to stick around. The best animated shows have a lot going on all of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arteom Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 My plan for this year is to buy another controller for a total of 32 Channels. I will string all the walls and roof of the house with around 10k LED's and the other controller will control a Spiral Mega tree? The other elements, like trees, bushes, windows, icicles will be unaffected? I know its bad, but I threw it together in a few minutes for a quick picture. With your trained eyes, what do you guys think? Well which would you tend to stop at if you were randomly driving through a neighborhood - a house all lit up, or one with a Tune-To sign that promised a show if they stuck around and waitedThe long and short of it is few people want to see a dark house, even if there's a random bush blinking around. You don't have to have a static display to attract people, but if you run a very dark show most of the time you might have trouble attracting people and getting them to stick around. The best animated shows have a lot going on all of the time. 100% Agree! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 This may be a strange topic to start but I'm wondering, does anyone get more traffic/ attention drawn to their display when its all static instead of synced? Our foot traffic in our neighborhood is very light, however anyone that does walk by loves the show, especially the kids. However, working on the display one night, I noticed that 8/10 times a car would drive by during a "dark" period of the display, strange, but it happens, so they never care to stop and look. However one night doing a few checks I turned on all the lights and went outside to do some maintenance, most cars slowed to a complete stop to take a look and a few parked and some people even took the time to park and get out and get a closer look. Anyone ever experienced a similar situation? Maybe my syncing skills just suck... What a strange year... first a LOR show that gets schooled by a Mr. Christmas, and now one that gets stomped by static display... I guess my question is what do you mean by a "dark period" in your display? And why do you find it puzzling that people don't stop when your yard is dark? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arteom Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 What a strange year... first a LOR show that gets schooled by a Mr. Christmas, and now one that gets stomped by static display...I guess my question is what do you mean by a "dark period" in your display? And why do you find it puzzling that people don't stop when your yard is dark? The transition between songs/ quiet parts of the songs & beginnings where little is going on. I don't find it puzzling that people don't stop while its dark, obviously no one would. What I'm saying is that ironically most people drive by when the show is in its "dark"/"low action" period, being right on a corner only gives the house a few seconds before people are out of view of my display. My idea is to use more subtle, smoother, sequences with no extended dark periods, and edit all my music into one long soundtrack to eliminate as much "off time" as possible.Boy these shows just get more complicated every year, its like mountain climbing, standing at the base it looks easy, but it just gets harder and harder on the way up, and when you look back down, you notice you just started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeERWNC Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 My experience is once the community knows that you have a show... Everyone stops during those short dark periods. Also, keep some stuff on while the song is not playing.I 18 zone which were trees. The flashed while the song was ending and the new was starting.Also my dingle berry tree would flash which is a huge attention grabber. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 There's such a thing as a dingle berry tree? I thought dingle berries were something else?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PMC Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 I do a semi-static as well, and it works, I will create a sequence with all lights at 50% intensity and do a long fade between the even number channels and the odd number channels all the way through each controller and on my 12 CCR matrix again at 50% intensity a Merry Christmas is displayed with red and green slow fade letter color change, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeERWNC Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 There's such a thing as a dingle berry tree? I thought dingle berries were something else?! I have a large Magnolia in the yard.I twist three strands of Warm white LEDs up to about fifteen feet where the branches start.Then I have them change to cool white LEDs in the branches.Attached to the Cool white are multiple Blue strands which hang from the limbs and have the last eight to ten light bulbs bunched up into a ball with different random colors.When I set the LOR to change the three channels it makes the tree look like it is dancing. This year I will add three more channels for RED. I wish I would have gotten some good video.It really looks neat when you look up into the tree branches and the cool whites are sparkling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeERWNC Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBGgwppAyC0&feature=youtu.be Dingle Berry Tree Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arteom Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 I do a semi-static as well, and it works, I will create a sequence with all lights at 50% intensity and do a long fade between the even number channels and the odd number channels all the way through each controller and on my 12 CCR matrix again at 50% intensity a Merry Christmas is displayed with red and green slow fade letter color change, Do you have link to a video? I would love to see something like that in action, would be great for inspiration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 What a strange year... first a LOR show that gets schooled by a Mr. Christmas, and now one that gets stomped by static display...I guess my question is what do you mean by a "dark period" in your display? And why do you find it puzzling that people don't stop when your yard is dark?Wrong George. My LOR Display DID NOT, in any way, shape or form get "schooled" by a Mr. Christmas. They just had the volume turned up close to full volume on it, I run outdoor speakers, but I DO NOT BLAST my neighbors with them, I also have and use an FM transmitter, but because of how they had set the volume, it OVERPOWERED most folks trying to watch and listen to MY display, that IS NOT schooling, and once they realized that the Mr. Christmas was overly loud, it got turned down where it was no longer a distraction or interference to MY LOR display. Thought I made this quite clear in another thread. And even if it had, it WAS my Mr. Christmas before my neighbor bought it! And it was ran STOCK, no modifications were done to it either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 I have many other elements in my display that are always on in some fashion. My first year, I learned don't let the display go completely dark, makes it look like either no one is home to turn the lights on {if the lights can be seen from the street}, or the house looks like it may not be decorated when all dark. So I started adding in some always on type animated light strand with their own built in controller to operate all the time outside the actual display area or a few that stay static all the time both in and outside the display area. This way, any dark spots between songs doesn't have the entire display and house go dark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobschm Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 I never saw anyone get out of the car to stand and watch my between show animation. I have seen a car occasionally slooow way down when passing. The shows had good crowds most nights this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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