Ideas for star "Beams" please

[irene]

hello all- looking for ideas..1st let me say my display is totally old school!  no RGB, because I DO NOT UNDERSTAND!!!!  I would like to try but have watched the videos and just can't get it through my thick head! 

So with that in mind, I have blow molds of the holy family, I have a star on my roof, and would like beams of light connecting the 2.  any thoughts?  maybe 5 beams of light?  its a 1 story house with the star on the gutter line so not so high.  if there is a educational video I should watch that would be helpful with the RGB please point me in the right direction!  tell me what to buy in this regard in the summer sale. I am ready to buy another plain old controller and use several strings of different colored lights,  I know RGB would be more exciting but.....   Thanks so much for your time!

 

[Ebuechner]

This is an old-school idea that you might be able to use just a high-powered spotlight keep it hidden just underneath your star and shine it down where you want it. You would be able to plug that into one of the Lor controllers. I'm not sure if that's what you're thinking of. I'm thinking of a focused beam spotlight that has a shield so the audience isn't able to see it they would only see the light shining down from the star

[not enuf fuses]

Don't know if this is feasible, but if you had a hazer you could use it to highlight a beam from an LED spotlight shining down from the star. One tank of juice in a good quality hazer would last a week for you and you could control the amount of haze. I used this technique for my July 4th display with colored LED pinspots to great effect.

Edited August 26, 2016 by not enuf fuses

[Santas Helper]

Using a hazer/fogger has merit, indoors.

Any slight little breeze and in the wrong direction makes it a waste of money. And running it 4 hours a night, one tank won't last all week, especially being used outside where you need full output.

But the slight breeze will most likely kill the effect.

Go with a bright ican spot light and pray there is enough humidity/dust in the air to show a beam.

[not enuf fuses]

1 hour ago, Santas Helper said:

Using a hazer/fogger has merit, indoors.

Any slight little breeze and in the wrong direction makes it a waste of money. And running it 4 hours a night, one tank won't last all week, especially being used outside where you need full output.

But the slight breeze will most likely kill the effect.

 

My experiences with a high quality hazer, not a fogger, prove otherwise. To me, anyway. Hazers use miniscule amounts of fluid and even with some slight breeze my effect was apparent for at least 80% of the time. A fog machine would indeed be worthless under those conditions. Haze tends to spread out over large areas so small breezes aren't a huge issue. 

 

Another thought...check out pixie lights. Maybe a few strands of them going from the spotlight to the scene would have a nice effect.

[Santas Helper]

1 hour ago, not enuf fuses said:

My experiences with a high quality hazer, not a fogger, prove otherwise. To me, anyway. Hazers use miniscule amounts of fluid and even with some slight breeze my effect was apparent for at least 80% of the time. A fog machine would indeed be worthless under those conditions. Haze tends to spread out over large areas so small breezes aren't a huge issue. 

Well running a pro haunt for 8 years and dealing with fog/haze machines since 1990 for residential haunts, I'm not going to argue. Just stating the facts. If it's calm outside, then great.

Ground level is one thing, elevated and spread out areas is another. Not to mention keeping the haze in a concentrated elevated area even compounds the issue.

And then dealing with fluids in freezing temps up north.......

Edited August 26, 2016 by Santas Helper

[Mega Arch]

Since you're old school, might grab some white pex flex plumbing pipe at Home Depot. Pull a strand of LED lights thru it. Then string it from the star to the Holy Family. Put each of your (5) beams on its own channel. 

Sounds so good, I may have to try it too. Next year most likely though as I haven't finished 1/2 of this years new scheduled projects yet. ?

[jerrymac]

How far from the star to where you want the beam to go (16 1/2 feet or 32 feet long enough?)?

 

 

Edited August 26, 2016 by jerrymac

[irene]

hello all  thanks for the replies.   the distance would be around 16 feet give or take a bit. I bought another old school controller.  so I have 16 channels to play with.  I am leaning toward pvc

going from the star to the ground with 3 colors on each,  maybe 5 of them.  I should be able to make that look ok.  what are you thinking jerrymac??