bob_moody Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Its really kind of funny if you think about it. We fire off the display on Thanksgiving night and on several nights we were in shorts and a t-shirt.The weather here in East Texas was pleasant, it didnt rain on us every night... in fact we only had a couple of nights where the yard grid (sometimes just 1/2 of it) wouldnt come up becasue of the GFCI's. Then suddenly it was Christmas and the rains came. We shut down early and for three nights it was dark ... then ... it happened ... that realization that ... I didnt take a single picture or shoot a single frame of video .... ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.... As I said the show had been dark for three nights but on the 4th night I tried to light it up to get some video ... All was well in the world. All the elements lit up and the show was running perfectly. I set up the camera on the tripod and started shooting ... Did I mention it was FREEZING outside now.. Did I mention that I usually take 3 angles of video which means I have to sit through the entire show at LEAST 3 times ... Did mention there are like 19 songs in a full show rotation? Oh and last but not least did I mention that the glow from a display in the night sky attracts visitors that park directly in front of your camera setup ... ROFL ... Yes this was my punishment for waiting until the last minute ... So anyway .. several hours of filming, watching, moving and trying to keep warm followed by several more hours of editing.... here we are ... The Moody Family Christmas 2014 videos are ready ... (well mostly ready ... I ran out of space on Vimeo for the week so there are 6 videos sitting in my Dropbox that are waiting for my upload allocation to roll over... ) 2014 brought a lot of updates to the display. Unfortunately most of them were behind the scenes. Visually, our biggest event was the addition of the 12-string 180-PixelTree. It was a huge success. So much so that the joke around the house was we could have just put the tree out then stood in the yard and blinked a flash light and everyone would have still have loved the display !!! LOL .. We had a lot of fun this year with the tree and all the new sequences. We picked up a few tree sequences from Brian Bruderer at Superstarlights and from Dave Torres at Holidaysequences. They were awesome additions. However they came a little late in the season so just to get them out, I did all the sequences on a couple of them but the other two, I basically just turned everything on and let the tree be the center piece hoping that no one would notice. That lasted about 15 mins. The first song where the tree was doing its thing and everything else was static brought a tiny voice from one of the cars that said... "How come nothing else is moving??? ... BUSTED !!! The tree also afforded us a little creative fun. The Santa Watch sequence was a 30 minute throw down but received a ton squeals from the kids. I sat down and did the voice over and scavanged a few effects from other sequences and poof ... All in all it was a great year and we would like to share it with all of our friends and family in the community. The posted link will take you to our Christmas 2014 album on Vimeo.Thanks to all of you for watching and for all the great help we get throughout the year. Video Album is at: https://vimeo.com/album/3207281 Thank you and Merry Christmas. Bob and Sandra Moody Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Arch Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Great stuff Bob. I still love your Merry Christmas sign. Thanks for sharing all your plans and great job on the videos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob_moody Posted January 15, 2015 Author Share Posted January 15, 2015 (edited) Thank you very much ...I forgot to mention ... (speaking of the Merry Christmas sign) ...On the Celine Dion song "So This is Christmas" look at the sign at about 58 seconds ... there is a special message for the season... Bob Edited January 15, 2015 by bob_moody Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1983ss454 Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Looks great as always bob. Love the pixel tree and already have my presale order in for the pixels for mine for this year. You seemed to get the text and everything to line up nicely. . Just wondering what spacing are you running on the pixels and between strings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Boyd Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Thank you very much ...I forgot to mention ... (speaking of the Merry Christmas sign) ...On the Celine Dion song "So This is Christmas" look at the sign at about 58 seconds ... there is a special message for the season... BobLove the message. Great display. Oh, and I don't think I thanked you properly for the CCR2DMX program. Many thanks to for that one my friend. Until we get a new visualizer and don't have to do the CCR fake-out, this is a must have. So, Thank you very much for this neat little program. Now I'm going over to your site and see if I van swing one of those signs this year or just stick with a small matrix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpageler Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Thanks for sharing. Watched several videos and really enjoyed them. Really like you zooming into the mega tree periodically.At least for the 2 songs I view, a very soothing display...not too much and too little action....just right.If that was your goal...great job.Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob_moody Posted January 15, 2015 Author Share Posted January 15, 2015 Thank you very much The base that the tree is mounted from is 8' in diameter. Being a 180 tree, the spacing ends up right about 12" or so.Since I'm using the strapping method to hold the pixels, I added a basket weave of sorts every 5 pixels to keep them pointing all the same way.It worked WAY beyond my expectations. For better than a month, the pixels never moved. I THINK the pixel spacing is 3". I would have to double check to be sure.I got the pixels Dave over at HolidayCoro. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob_moody Posted January 15, 2015 Author Share Posted January 15, 2015 Ron, Thank you for the kudos.. I really appreciate it ..Glad you saw the message ... That's the bad part of the tree being in the same sight line as the sign... people seem to focus primarily on the tree and miss what I thought were some pretty cool effects happening on the sign. lol If you decide to build one, let me know .. I'll pass along the Viz file for it and offer up what ever I can.. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob_moody Posted January 15, 2015 Author Share Posted January 15, 2015 Mike, Thank you... I appreciate the feedback and even happier that that you enjoyed the videos.What you're seeing is actually 3 different camera angles... (wish I had 3 different cameras... LOL) .. After I shoot all the show from, as is the case this year, the front, side and Tree/Sign... I then take it to the Vegas Video and edit it all together. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John (oldandslow) Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 First a big thank you for helping me with my pixel canes as they were a big hit this year. I enjoyed your show and I too was fixed on your tree which is great. I did see your sign and your effects which I think you did an outstanding job.I am taking your advice and learning the new programs to make sequencing the pixels easer. I put in an order for more pixels only because of your help that I am able to expand. ThanksJohn (oldandslow) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EARLE W. TALLEY Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Great videos Bob, I love the sing Christmas Tree.Earle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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