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How to create chase effect


chowell

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Is there a way to create a chase effect with only one channel? For instance, I've seen people create a chase effect on a single arch that looks like the effect starts on the left side of the arch, and goes up over the top and down to the right side, then back up over the top to the left side so it looks like the strand is chasing up and down. Is that done with one strand of lights, or several lights over different channels?

Corey

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several different strands and channels

the originator of the arch (cant think of his name right now...think its rich) used 16 channels per arch

14 strands of lights wrapped the length of the pole using 14 channels and the last two channels were used for the splash effect he had using snowflakes bent up on each end of the pole

im sure someone knows who exactly and where his tutorial video is at

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Ken Maxwell and his son are generally given credit for the leaping arch. Sorry I cannot remember his son's name.

Dan

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I can't believe I didn't remember that they were called leaping arches! Thanks for the youtube links guys. That helps a ton. This year I am starting with LOR and am planning for 80 channels so I guess I won't be able to fit in the arches quite yet, but next year I sure will. I completely understand how it works now.

Thanks much!

Corey

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14 channels would give you lots of control for very expressive arches. But from all the videos I've seen, even 7 segment arches can be beautiful to watch. It would only cost a couple of bucks for the pvc to prototype an arch to play with. I think you'd be pleasantly surprised.

Here's Richard Holdman's video of the construction and demo of 9 segment arches:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qTBdySBNPgg

And videos on his homepage (192 channels in 2007, but hey, the LOR sale is only 10 days away!):

http://www.holdman.com/christmas/video.asp

Have fun!

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Brian Mitchell wrote:

I had an 80 channel display and used only 7 channels for my arches. I guarantee it can work great.

http://www.lightorama.com/Contest2007/CAT4_Winner.wmv


Hey Brain...

Can you tell us a little about that fan shaped semi-circle of lights that looks like a riverboar wheel turning sometimes? That is great... how many channels? How many strings per channel. The motion is great...

D.T.
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  • 2 weeks later...

OK Guys this is my first post. You are all awesome. I have been yard decorating for a long time. Mostly Halloween where I have been active on several forums.

But the last few years I have started with Christmas and just recently joined a few forums. I have spent the last few days salivating over all the new ideas! I will be upgrading my LOR from 32 to 64 channels but now I wish I had more! Maybe if I get the two new ones for free I can get two more.

Both the Marty fan and Arches seem doable with the arches better for storage.

I have several design questions on the arches. Can the power cords be run on the inside of the PVC? Fed through holes for each segment with shrink wrap. Will this cause too much weakness and a break point in the PVC. I am thinking I need the 8 plugs all at one end and the same length.

Also has anyone tried overlapping the segments instead of a hard boundary? Wouldn't this appear to pan better from segment to segment?

Here is a link to my only Christmas video from last year. No tripod :P

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3779012796108996166&hl=en

Bob-O

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Bob,

I haven't done the leaping arches as arches, although I did do something very similar as a leap of light from Cinderella's fairy god mother's wand to the top of my mega tree. She waves the wand and the light travels from the tip of the wand to the star just as in a leaping arch. To do the "arch", I just taped the extension cords to the PVC and then wrapped the lights over them. The wrap does get larger as more cords are added for each string of lights, but it was not noticeable when lit, and not really that noticeable in the daylight. As far as overlapping the lights to avoid a "hard boundary," you can make it "softer" by using a short fade out on one segment while doing an equally short fade in on the next segment.

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