Rate my Sequence

[EmmienLightFan]

This year I have found it much harder to get sequencing, have ideas and get them into the SE. I only started sequencing the last two weeks, and I have one song done, one partly done and a few where I did the first 10-30 seconds, then got bored.

I managed to churn this out, but I am not sure how good it is.

Is it too repetitive or do you want to watch it until the end? I feel I use all the lights too much, but I want people to see my house. Because it is only my 2nd year and there are very few animated displays in the country, people don't know what it is.

 

Anyone who watches, I would really like to hear what you think of it.

[Need more lights]

1 hour ago, EmmienLightFan said:

 

I managed to churn this out, but I am not sure how good it is.

 

 

Are you happy with it? Because that's all that matters. You are your own worst critic, at least that's how I feel about my display. I can pick up on stuff in my display that no one else would ever see. So again, what do you think of it?  Anyone who will be watching it won't know if it's bad or good, they will just be wondering how the hell you did it and that it's cool. 

It's not bad, I watched it twice..and would watch it in person. You've come a long way from Up Town Funk....

[EmmienLightFan]

25 minutes ago, Need more lights said:

Are you happy with it? Because that's all that matters. You are your own worst critic, at least that's how I feel about my display. I can pick up on stuff in my display that no one else would ever see. So again, what do you think of it?  Anyone who will be watching it won't know if it's bad or good, they will just be wondering how the hell you did it and that it's cool. 

It's not bad, I watched it twice..and would watch it in person. You've come a long way from Up Town Funk....

The thing is I am not sure if I am happy with it. It is better than some of my sequences last year. Some were last minute and didn't look too good (Uptown Funk was won of them). Some I did earlier in the year and I was really pleased with them.

 

I just finished this one and I am much more pleased with how it turned out, + it's TSO.

 

Edited September 4, 2016 by EmmienLightFan

[canadianchristmas]

I liked your mad russian sequence the most out of the two, This is ONLY my opinion but I think you should add a few more whole house effects to carol of the bells rather then too much darkness.

But I do agree that your sequencing has come a long way since last year!

Keep up the good work!

[Need more lights]

Between :49 and about 1:20 there is a lot of dead time...I would fade out a little longer to jive with the music and not to have so much dead space if you follow my drift. other than that looks pretty good. You don't want to have alot of blank space like that. It's better to have at least something on almost all the time. That's my only critic... there is one spot that only 3 arches light up also...not sure if that was intentional or just a glitch in programming, but I saw it. (at 1:05 RED left arch) For a 2nd year programmer..not bad. Looks like you added quite a bit from last year too. Are you going to use a pvc frame to get a straighter look around the windows this year? that would be a big improvement too. Don't take this wrong. 

Edited September 4, 2016 by Need more lights

[canadianchristmas]

One thing that helped me get straight windows was good thick metal strapping, go to your hardware store and look for this:

  

find the heaviest gauge they have and cut and bend hooks for your windows out of it I usually go through 2 rolls a year. And the best part of this window frame mounting method is their is no holes or damage done to your house.

The other tip for windows is use thicker "electrical conduit" PVC pipe the stuff in plumbing is more flimsy. 

[Orville]

Looks pretty decent.  But I also agree with the others on some of the critiques of less darkness and a little more light in some of the spots they mention.

My display I have some items that are "always" on, like a set of stars or snowflakes that have their own controller and I set their controller to the random setting and let them just run through their cycles.  

I will also at times turn on unused items in a song, like a blow mold, wire frame deer or something that I can just turn on at a low intensity so it doesn't detract from the "dancing lights", but doesn't allow my display to be totally dark at any time.  

I usually set these items at 40-50% intensity, occasionally, depending on the incandescent nature of the bulb, may go no higher than 60% to have an item illuminated.   

Again this is just the way I do it, that way there is always something on and the house{display} is never in total darkness.

 

[k6ccc]

OK, here you go...

Carol of the bells
Not making enough use of the upper matrix.  The RGB spiral is cool - for a few seconds.  Really liked the bells on the matrix at 2:30 & 3:00.  The matrix could be the centerpiece of the display if you used it more. Making the RGB spiral jerk in the area of 2:40 made it interesting.
Turning on the icicle lights in a sweep, with each column coming on together rather than individual lights (like you did with the colors at about 3:20) looked better.

Mad Russian (better of the two IMHO)
Some of the quiet musical segments at beginning are lit and some dark except the climax of each cycle.
As others said, way too much dark at about 1:00.  In one of my other lives, I shoot professional fireworks shows.  A lot of parallel between the two.  In fireworks, for the most part, you don't want dark sky.  Same concept here - no (or very little) dark display.
The Red / Green alternate starting at 1:43 went on too long. Throw some more variation into it.  Same thing with the whole display edges to center sweeps starting at 2:06.
Starting at 2:50 the whole display color sweep went on WAY too long.  One cycle should be about it.
Yes, it's a long song so it makes it hard to not repeat too much.

Yes, far better than what I saw of your last year.  BTW, I watched both to the end and then a second time (with a few repeats) while writing these notes.

I would suggest some lights somewhere that are on all the time.  For example maybe a normal multi-colored light string on the upper eves.  Although that may be hard to get to without risking your life!  I do that on my eves using GE Color Effects bulbs.  That way I have full control over them, and they are different colors or "random" patterns for each song.  I also play a few games with them (two rows so I can make them hop), but for the most part, they are static.

Your large matrix has so much potential that you are not tapping.  If it were my house, I would try real hard to make that matrix the full width of the house (I know, that would be expensive).  It could be the centerpiece of the show!

BTW, I also am not a fan of sequencing.  The hardware is easy for me, but it's very hard for me to get motivated about sequencing.  Almost all of my songs, I purchase the sequence for the pixel tree, and then I add the several thousand other channels.  But the tree is the centerpiece, and the rest of the display supports or augments the tree.  And I buy the tree sequences from several different sources as the general flavor is different.  I also learn how different experts make effects work!