Flat tree aspect ratio

[orchidman]

I will be designing and adding a new flat tree to my display this year using S5 to program it with a PIXIE or PIXCON.  I will want to use either 2.5 meter or 5 meter long lengths of the LED lights and am wondering how wide I should plan on the base to be.  I am guessing a somewhere between 2:1 and 3:1 might be the best ratio but can I get some input from others as to what I should shoot for.  If I go with the 5M  strips or about 15' tall, then I would have 16 strings and if I go with the 2.5M strips or a little less then 8' tall, it would have 8 strings doubled (up and back down).  So there would be 16 strands at the base.

For the 2.5M strips, 2:1 would put the spacing at the base of each strip at about 3" apart and 3:1 would be shy of 2" apart.

Is it more important to consider the spacing of the strings at the base or the overall aspect ratio to dictate the width at the base?  Viewing distance would be at least 20' with an average of 40' to 60' depending on where they stop on the street.

[k6ccc]

I built mine such that the outer strings are exactly aligned with the two sides of the star.  That makes it 72 degrees.  My tree is 133 inches of lights or about 11 feet.  The bottom is a bit under 10 feet.

http://newburghlights.org/pixel_tree.html

 

[saxon]

My flat tree is 12 ribbons and I believe I used 7” spacing at the bottom. 

[mpageler]

Here's a handy mega tree design program. You can adjust height, width, number of stringk/strand, etc..

 

Mega Tree Design Tool

[orchidman]

K6CCC, thanks for the link.  Wow, will have to spend some time examining it.  Quick look, looks interesting, may get some real ideas.

saxon, what is your lengths for the 12 ribbons?

mpageler, I used something like this when I built my original mega tree with the spirals about 5 years ago.  This may help with the aspect ratios.

[saxon]

On ‎5‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 4:08 PM, orchidman said:

K6CCC, thanks for the link.  Wow, will have to spend some time examining it.  Quick look, looks interesting, may get some real ideas.

saxon, what is your lengths for the 12 ribbons?

mpageler, I used something like this when I built my original mega tree with the spirals about 5 years ago.  This may help with the aspect ratios.

sorry for the slow reply - 5 meters