New to the this crazy hobby

[Raakdogg]

Hi folk,

New to the this crazy hobby. I have been decorating for years for Christmas and have accumulated a lot of stuff. I know it's too late to buy a LOR and start this holiday. So I will be following everyone on this forum to educate myself before I start next summer on my display.

[zvacman]

From one newbie to another, start now for next year. you might be ready.

Z

[ericm]

I started this time last year, download the software and start getting familiar with it, and while it's cool start building stuff for next year! You will be ahead of the game for next year

[dgrant]

Give yourself 11 months to plan, acquire, fabricate and sequence. Seriously, it takes a lot of time. Do not wait till the summer and trust us as we know! There are two LOR sales each year so far. Spring and Summer sale when you can save money. Start with a photo of your home then draw circuits on it and decide how you wish to control them or what you wish to see. This will dictate your hardware requirements. Also, there's things to look at...speakers in the yard and/or FM radio transmission, frequency signs to let people know what to tune too. Music!!!! No two shows are the same as we all have different tastes in the music and we each have our own ideas what might look nice, based upon what's in our head and the lights/types in the garage that are available. After Christmas sales....

[1983ss454]

Give yourself 11 months to plan, acquire, fabricate and sequence. Seriously, it takes a lot of time. Do not wait till the summer and trust us as we know! There are two LOR sales each year so far. Spring and Summer sale when you can save money. Start with a photo of your home then draw circuits on it and decide how you wish to control them or what you wish to see. This will dictate your hardware requirements. Also, there's things to look at...speakers in the yard and/or FM radio transmission, frequency signs to let people know what to tune too. Music!!!! No two shows are the same as we all have different tastes in the music and we each have our own ideas what might look nice, based upon what's in our head and the lights/types in the garage that are available. After Christmas sales....

This is true, I've been sequencing since January and thought I was done, but then I decided to add a Star Wars song. So now I'm setting Up and sequencing to finish lol

[BMurray]

I started in February of this year. Jumped head first it feels like into an empty pool. I have 64 AC channels, 12 CCR tree, 12x50 pixel tree, 4 CCR circles, 4 singing faces. I had no life outside of doing this. The wifey was not happy but put up with my craziness. I'm gonna get her something really nice for Christmas. At least this next year, I will still be busy with planning but I will have some extra free time...... I think

[Psjoe]

Everyone is different and we don't want to scare the new guy into thinking its a full time job. He can learn that on his own

 

I only started a month ago. Decided I wanted pixel strings this year, begged wife for money and opened the Xmas storage. Already have 20 songs sequenced from previous years. Have been adding the pixel matrix sequences to all the songs past two weeks. Took me a good week to learn how to get my new pixel strings to work right but once through that I'm running on schedule.

 

Live in Florida so now deciding when to do last mow and start putting things out, actually a bit early. Prob start this weekend. To be fair I am self employed and make sure my schedule is clear so I have couple weeks of almost nothing but Xmas set up. Can work 10 hour days. And I do not like to light before Dec 1. And I like to work on it the whole month, odds and ends, build stuff for next year, etc. Going to make some big wood animals this Dec. All that helps me get in and stay in the Xmas spirit.

 

Actually chomping at the bit to get stuff out there now dang it! but tinkering in the garage....

[dgrant]

Extra bit of advice, we start early because of things that change or we think of a better way, better display and any sort of things that get in there. But, you can't be out of time at the last minute when things don't work right the first time. Good example, I go live on Thanksgiving night. Just the day before yesterday, it was storming here and 3.5 inches of rain in about 12 hours. Water managed to find its way into some new RGB strips. They were "supposedly" weatherproof... "supposedly" means we expect waterproof but over in China, not so much the case since that's where they came from. Just spent the past day and a half, draining water, drying, blowing air through them, testing and sealing. Just put them back out and up an hour ago. I'm surprised they worked at all. Will test later tonight for real.

 

Must allow extra time for the unexpected.

[George Simmons]

Add my vote for starting early. I'd been decorating for a couple decades before my first LOR gig. I started in Dec 2007 to prepare for a 2008 newbie debut. We finished in the yard 15 minutes before the show was to start on Thanksgiving. However long you think things will take, double that. And then add some more, and you'll be close. IMO, next summer is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too late.

Same thing goes for extension cords. You probably look around and think you've got a lot of them already. Maybe you've even taken pics of the pile they make where you toss them on your deck while you're tearing down. You. Are. Wrong. However many you have, it isn't enough. Not nearly.

But it sure is fun! Watch videos to see what you like and what will work for your house/yard. Ask those people your questions. They can give you the best answers. Enjoy!

[jfuller8400]

And plan to redo all of your sequencing (that you thought would look so good) because you finally figure out how to use things like the beat wizard, use and import Audacity timings, and create multiple tracks.

[Christmas_nolagirl28]

We decided to go bug after Halloween put up our outdoor lights in a week but it's taken us a good three to four weeks to sequence all the stuff we want. We've put in a bit of mix of sequences we've purchased and ones we have sequenced ourselves. It's fun but it does take a bit of time depending on how big you want to go. Now the more channels well add we know it'll take a bit longer but for now we're sticking to 16 channels.

The best thing we've found to help us with the lights have been hot glue because we have a brick house, gorilla duct tape to prevent trip hazards on sidewalks and zip ties to keep them all together.

[Gary N]

Found LOR in january, It took all year to plan, buy, sequence, and figure thing out. You found the forum, it is a big help, I only found it about two months ago. Beware, things can get out of control, start small and have a budget. This year along I bought 2 controlers, 150 sets of pro-grade LED's, 1000ft of spt1, up-graded software, transmitter, new computer, etc,  4K later and my show did turn out greater then I could have hoped.

 

Happy Holidays,

 

Gary

[lightingnewb]

Extra bit of advice, we start early because of things that change or we think of a better way, better display and any sort of things that get in there. But, you can't be out of time at the last minute when things don't work right the first time. Good example, I go live on Thanksgiving night. Just the day before yesterday, it was storming here and 3.5 inches of rain in about 12 hours. Water managed to find its way into some new RGB strips. They were "supposedly" weatherproof... "supposedly" means we expect waterproof but over in China, not so much the case since that's where they came from. Just spent the past day and a half, draining water, drying, blowing air through them, testing and sealing. Just put them back out and up an hour ago. I'm surprised they worked at all. Will test later tonight for real.

 

Must allow extra time for the unexpected.

+1 to allow for the unexpected. FYI - this is my SECOND year in doing an LOR show.

 

I started this season's prep work in hanging lights and installing our new ones and... due to weather changes/nature... I had reconfigured my setup three different times. Locations of certain fixtures were changed. Luckily, it doesn't affect my animations too horribly in my sequencing, nor have I installed those light fixtures yet. I just know things will happen. We went out to a hardware store to get some last minute items and... whaddya know... by the time we get back due to traffic and other irrelevant issues we're either (1) too exhausted to keep doing more work or (2) it's too dark to keep going. So... in a scurry, we went out and temporarily waterproofed our exposed plugs. So far it's held up. We just need to mount the controller and run the extension cords to the lights and we'll be okay. This will be simple... I hope.

 

Other than that, if you can sequence while you wait, even better. Just sequence, sequence sequence. Build up an inventory of songs you can dispose of. As you keep practicing and using the software more, you'll find a way to work in the software that may help you program better/cooler effects. So... revisit old songs constantly and update them as possible. You don't have to even use all of the songs you've prepared in your first show. We only do 4-5 songs in all... the same songs over and over. But, because it's only our second show, I plan on making a larger song list that is animated to our setup. That means taking last year's songs and updating them and adding them in for the next season, finding more songs to animate, etc.

 

ALWAYS BACK YOUR FILES UP! Always, always always. Back your files up. I back my files up 2x - once to Google Drive and once to a thumb drive.

 

Lastly, know that you're always going to need change your display year-to-year. This may mean expanding your channel count or display size, it may mean the location of decorations or lighting, or even music. (You could create a themed show each year). So... plan for changing to be constant.

 

Our biggest change is the upgrade of major lighting fixtures from single-color LEDs to RGBs, and the addition of new props. Next year may be stagnant in size, but we may change the layout of the fixtures. There IS a limit to how much you can do with one house.

 

Good luck with your first season and welcome to the craziest hobby in the season.

 

LN

[robigd]

My 2 cents as a 3rd year "veteran"

 

1. Don't forget all of the little things that can substantially add up and hurt your wallet. I.e, FM tune-to sign, FM tuner, network cables, extension cords.

 

2. Don't get to stressed about song count. Just do 2-3 your first year. Quality over quantity. Your viewers won't care that you only did a couple songs.

 

3. Think "in the now". I.e, focus on this years display. I have a habit of always looking ahead to next year and what I will add to the display which probably makes my current display suffer a little bit.

 

4. If your show is going to expand every year, create yourself a nice spreadsheet with channel ID's, descriptions, firmware version and notes to help you out for next year because trust me, you will forget why you did something.

 

5. Invest in a label maker and storage bins and get organized from the beginning. The goal is to make setup and take down as easy and repeatable as possible.

 

6. If you have limited time throughout the year, create a schedule for yourself. For instance, sequence a song in 3-5 second chunks, then you are done for the day. Before you know it, the song will be done and on to the next one. It can be overwhelming busting your butt on a sequence and seeing how much time you have left to sequence, then you can start getting lazy with effects just to get through it.

 

7. Look at YouTube only for ideas, but realize those displays are an accumulation of years of light accumulation and effort and should not discourage you in any way. The kids in your neighborhood will be just as impressed with a bush turning on and off as a giant piano and spot lights shooting into space. Well, maybe not

 

8. Do not get into financial trouble chasing what you think is the perfect show. There is always next year and there will always be Spring and Summer sales. I personally have a "LOR fund" I contribute to every pay period that makes controller purchases less painful on the bank account.

 

9. Most importantly, remember why and for whom you do this.

[paralegalnc]

My 2 cents as a 3rd year "veteran"

 

1. Don't forget all of the little things that can substantially add up and hurt your wallet. I.e, FM tune-to sign, FM tuner, network cables, extension cords.

 

2. Don't get to stressed about song count. Just do 2-3 your first year. Quality over quantity. Your viewers won't care that you only did a couple songs.

 

3. Think "in the now". I.e, focus on this years display. I have a habit of always looking ahead to next year and what I will add to the display which probably makes my current display suffer a little bit.

 

4. If your show is going to expand every year, create yourself a nice spreadsheet with channel ID's, descriptions, firmware version and notes to help you out for next year because trust me, you will forget why you did something.

 

5. Invest in a label maker and storage bins and get organized from the beginning. The goal is to make setup and take down as easy and repeatable as possible.

 

6. If you have limited time throughout the year, create a schedule for yourself. For instance, sequence a song in 3-5 second chunks, then you are done for the day. Before you know it, the song will be done and on to the next one. It can be overwhelming busting your butt on a sequence and seeing how much time you have left to sequence, then you can start getting lazy with effects just to get through it.

 

7. Look at YouTube only for ideas, but realize those displays are an accumulation of years of light accumulation and effort and should not discourage you in any way. The kids in your neighborhood will be just as impressed with a bush turning on and off as a giant piano and spot lights shooting into space. Well, maybe not

 

8. Do not get into financial trouble chasing what you think is the perfect show. There is always next year and there will always be Spring and Summer sales. I personally have a "LOR fund" I contribute to every pay period that makes controller purchases less painful on the bank account.

 

9. Most importantly, remember why and for whom you do this.

This is EXACTLY correct... though I have a big piano in my yard  also, invest in the little black zip ties...(you will need big ones too) the little black ones are on EVERYTHING.  they are the perfect size to ties lights to something.  #9 is the most important,  but as far as time... it takes a good solid 30 minutes if not longer to just wire up one box.  Making sure that the prop is plugged in to the right channel, that the wires are all organized, sure some may take less...but wiring everything up to go live takes a great deal of time especially when you have about 3000 feet of wire.  Which the spt wire and the vampire plugs, my husband swears by them.  stock up on those.  due to my surgery this year and the plan of moving, I didn't sequence new music... then when we found out we werent moving and I could use my right hand it was late July.  So we took songs from the past 4 years to put in this year's show.  still took alot of time and I was still finalizing the show 2 hours before kick off, because it has to be perfect (OCD) but people say... I don't see what you are talking about... it looks great... but I see it not going off the exact second as something else... so leave time for "tweaking" ..