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Pixel Tree...Strips or Nodes?


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Posted

HC is having a sale on Pixel trees that I simply can't pass on.  My question is, which do people prefer.....strips or nodes, and why?

Posted
HC is having a sale on Pixel trees that I simply can't pass on.  My question is, which do people prefer.....strips or nodes, and why?

I had that same question almost a year ago and will tell you what I was told back then. It depends on what you like.

I went with a 360 degree tree with 50 bullets per string and it looked incredible. I think the ribbons look better on a 180 and for animations but for a "traditional" looking tree, I think the bullets look awesome.


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Posted
Just now, Brucey said:


I had that same question almost a year ago and will tell you what I was told back then. It depends on what you like.

I went with a 360 degree tree with 50 bullets per string and it looked incredible. I think the ribbons look better on a 180 and for animations but for a "traditional" looking tree, I think the bullets look awesome.


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What size tree did you get? Im going to change out my old light to pixels, my tree is 20'

Posted
What size tree did you get? Im going to change out my old light to pixels, my tree is 20'

I made mine from scratch by buying all of the components and parts separately from different vendors and putting them together.


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Posted
Just now, Brucey said:


I made mine from scratch by buying all of the components and parts separately from different vendors and putting them together.


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Yes, mine too, just wandering how tall it was and if you happen to know the base diameter and spacing. Im assuming when I change to pixels I will use a little different spacing because of the brightness and the graphics Id like to do.

Thanks for the info that you can provide. my base is 110" diameter, tower 20' spacing between each string like 19.5"

Posted
39 minutes ago, Ebuechner said:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwDgEpqsgNhfWkVYT3dOYVFPWmc/view?usp=drivesdk

270 degree tree.

36 strips width 56 pixels each 4 inch spacing.

(And 25000 imported Italian twinkle lights)

How tall? Ive seen your tree before and it is great bit I need a 360. I still cant get wrapped around all of these different string counts. 56 pixels vs 50. Hows that work out or do you just cut off the 100 count strings? My old lights 2x100 strands x 24 but of course none of the fun stuff.

Thanks for reply, trying to get this and a matrix worked out in my head, lots of extra excitement this year

Posted
29 minutes ago, dibblejr said:

How tall? Ive seen your tree before and it is great bit I need a 360. I still cant get wrapped around all of these different string counts. 56 pixels vs 50. Hows that work out or do you just cut off the 100 count strings? My old lights 2x100 strands x 24 but of course none of the fun stuff.

Thanks for reply, trying to get this and a matrix worked out in my head, lots of extra excitement this year

The tree is about 22 feet to the base of the Megastar. The strip's work out to about 19 foot each. The reason for 56 pixels per strip is because three strips equals 168 pixels keeping it under one DMX universe. I have 3 strips connected per output on the controller with 36 strips in total it uses 12 outputs on the controller. My controller is rigged to put out 100 watts per output. From the controller I run 16 gauge wire to the first strip with the data going up the first strip down the next then back up on the third strip, and extra power wires tie the power together at the base of all three strips.  I use the zig zag feature in the controller so essentially all the data runs the same direction on the strips. To answer your question on the pixels I put together 2 strips of 50 plus 12 to go up and down the first and second strip ,then another strand of 50 plus 6 on the third strip because of how they're tied together at the base and at the top. There's roughly 10 inches spacing in between the strips at the base with the strips overlapping slightly at the top. so the center of the tree works out to have the spacing on the pixels roughly 4 inches Square.

So is that is clear as mud?

Or did I create more questions:huh:

Posted
2 minutes ago, Ebuechner said:

The tree is about 22 feet to the base of the Megastar. The strip's work out to about 19 foot each. The reason for 56 pixels per strip is because three strips equals 168 pixels keeping it under one DMX universe. I have 3 strips connected per output on the controller with 36 strips in total it uses 12 outputs on the controller. My controller is rigged to put out 100 watts per output. From the controller I run 16 gauge wire to the first strip with the data going up the first strip down the next then back up on the third strip, and extra power wires tie the power together at the base of all three strips.  I use the zig zag feature in the controller so essentially all the data runs the same direction on the strips. To answer your question on the pixels I put together 2 strips of 50 plus 12 to go up and down the first and second strip ,then another strand of 50 plus 6 on the third strip because of how they're tied together at the base and at the top. There's roughly 10 inches spacing in between the strips at the base with the strips overlapping slightly at the top. so the center of the tree works out to have the spacing on the pixels roughly 4 inches Square.

So is that is clear as mud?

Or did I create more questions:huh:

Actually both. This is exactly why it took this long for some of you to get me into pixels.

I want to stick with just the basic strips of 50 at 20'. The best DIY I read was use 3 strings per controller (keeping it simple) I'm just trying to figure out the spacing that would best fit my needs. I know I will be using the strips to mount the nodes so I guess if I go with 2" and it doesn't look good I can change it.

Am I wrong with using the example as my LED tv. The more and closer the pixels the sharper the image? Since I want to have graphics I was thinking that is the way to go. Im trying to keep it all LOR this year, pixie 16 controllers just for integration and not wanting to venture to far out at first. My tree will be 100' from the street so im trying to provide the best viewing experience for the audience for pixels.

Thanks for the info.

JR

Posted

By the way with using those numbers on the strips a shared 50x12 mega tree sequence can be run 3 times across the tree with a 6 pixel gap on the top or bottom, 50x16 sequence could be run twice. 

Posted (edited)

I'm looking for the best graphics, and I think 180 will be fine, so it sounds like I should be looking at strips instead of nodes.   They have 3 trees kits on sale.  Which is easier to find sequences for 12 or 16 strips?

Edited by Dcroc
Posted
2 minutes ago, Ebuechner said:

By the way with using those numbers on the strips a shared 50x12 mega tree sequence can be run 3 times across the tree with a 6 pixel gap on the top or bottom, 50x16 sequence could be run twice. 

Now I'm fused.

Is this how you get like graphics running on top of each other? It's gonna be a learning curve. what have I gotten myself into? LOL

Posted

Holiday Sequences sell sequences in 12 or 16 strips 

Posted

If you're going to do a 2 inch spacing between pixels the math works out that you will have a 9 foot tall viewing area at a hundred feet away. If you have a hundred feet I think you could space out the pixels a little more and still have it look good. With 4 inch spacing and at 50 feet even pictures going across mine are recognizable and I turned the intensity down to 50% on my controller.

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Posted

Thanks, good to know. I believe my pixles are just under 4" going to order some strips and see if I can stretch them or just go 3"

JR

Posted

HC shows that their 16 x 50 pixel node tree as a 180 degree tree with 2" spacing. Will this look alright or should it be a 360 degree tree.

or can the spacing be changed to 3" or 4" spacing for a taller 180 degree and even better

 

 

Posted

I live on a corner lot so the 360 looks awesome driving from any area around my house,but for a non-corner lot, unless you want to watch it from your house, a 180 should be fine.

Remember the recommendation is 1"spacing for every 10' from the street.


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Posted
28 minutes ago, Randy Martin said:

HC shows that their 16 x 50 pixel node tree as a 180 degree tree with 2" spacing. Will this look alright or should it be a 360 degree tree.

or can the spacing be changed to 3" or 4" spacing for a taller 180 degree and even better

 

 

A 16x50 will not look good as a 360 tree as there will not be enough legs and they will be spaced too far apart. Most 360 trees will have 24 or even 32 legs to fill in the space. Also 2 inch spacing is the max with the HC kit as the pixels are only spaced 3 inches on the string. If you want further spacing you will need strings where the pixels are spaced further apart.

Posted (edited)

Yes anything more than two inch spacing requires you to get pixels with more than 3 inch spacing on the wires. Boscoyo and holiday Coro both have black strips. Boscoyo has White strips. Bosco has aluminum plates to use for the mounting end on the strips. I made my own hook head from a aluminum frying pan.

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwDgEpqsgNhfSWkzYnpPVHQyNG8/view?usp=drivesdk

My hook head slides up and down the center pole connected to a pulley on the top and a boat winch on the bottom so I can lift all the strips into place

Edited by Ebuechner
  • Like 1
Posted
10 hours ago, Dcroc said:

I'm looking for the best graphics, and I think 180 will be fine, so it sounds like I should be looking at strips instead of nodes.   They have 3 trees kits on sale.  Which is easier to find sequences for 12 or 16 strips?

I went twelve strips this year (16ft tall with ten inch spacing at the bottom, it looked great), will go to 16 next.  I did a 180 tree because I was going to use my tree like a matrix sorta, with that in mind the back side would have been wasted.  Mostly went strips because I wanted to go tall without blowing the budget, strips was the best way to do that.

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