My first year using LOR. Check out my vids.

[coasterbp]

I know the camera isn't the greatest.

I didn't have room for full arches, so I made mini-arches. Check out the walkthrough!

Mele Kalikimaka:

http://www.vimeo.com/8190571

Faeries:

http://www.vimeo.com/8190559

Christmas Time is Here:

http://www.vimeo.com/8190559

Walkaround:

http://www.vimeo.com/8190890



-=coasterbp

[Frank A.]

Good morning

great job

first year yeh right!!!

Frank A.

[GaryMartin]

Nicely done. What so many sequencers often mess up (IMHO) is not keeping a given fixture doing the same "solo" or "accompaniment" verses in a song. You did that nicely which gives life to those fixtures as that instrument. Sync is good and I'm sure your future stuff will look great as you're off to a solid start!

[NWSanta]

Man I like your mini Arches. It looks like shooting flames. Nicely done. I've always thought my arches look a bit blocky but, it's probably because I used C6's and I'm still learning the best way to sequence them....

But, your display looks great!!

-Evan

[Nova5]

Very nice. How many Channels?

[Larry Glasson]

Absolutey love the mini arches! I could use some details on how you made them. Also, I have relatives in Las Vegas who would love to see the display in person. Any chance of getting directions?



Great job!

Larry

glassonlights.com

[coasterbp]

Thanks for all the nice comments, everyone. And yes, it really is my first year! I've been in love with Christmas Lights since I was a little one and I love decorating for Halloween and Christmas, but this is my first venture into LOR. I've been wanting to do it for years.

I used to work for Disney and for a couple of years, I was on the crew that set up the Spectacle of Lights display. That's probably where I caught the main BUG...

I have 64 channels. I started with 32, but then my wife and I saw videos of peoples arches and she fell in love with those so we had to add another 32 channels just for those arches.

I made the mini arches by taking two 10' sticks of thin walled 3/4" pvc pipe and cutting them in half for 4 -5' sections. I used a heat gun to bend them into the arch shapes. (That part sucked big time.) Each arch is 8 channels, so each segment is 7.5". I ran the power to each section first and left the tails at one end, numbered. Then, I wrapped each segment with 100 light-strings. (Wal-mart, $1.84 a box!) So each arch is 800 lights, total of 3200 lights for the arches.

Wrapping the arches was the most painstaking part because they shape was already bent. I wanted to use hula-hoops cut in half to make the arches, but for the life of me, I couldn't find hula hoops ANYWHERE out here. That's why I went with the PVC bent to the shape.

I'm also about 90% LED this year. The only incandescents I have are the purple windows and the arches. I did have problems with the LEDs dimming, but some C7 snubbers took care of the problem in a jiffy.

I programmed 8 songs this year. Every 5 minutes, a new song plays and I use Zara radio to fill in the gaps and to provide weather, time, and showtime announces. It's been working great. I've uploaded what I think the best songs are, but I'm going to upload a couple more. I just have to wait for Vimeo to allow me more bandwidth next week....


-=coasterbp

[Scott Tuthill]

Nice job on the mini arches. So you bent the PVC before you wrapped them? Would it have worked the other way? To wrap then bend? I have to imagine wrapping bent PVC is a pain. I did six 13 foot seven segment arches this year and wrapping them while straight was a big enough pain. The idea is wrap them straight, but some stakes in the ground, and then bend them over the stake to hold the shape. Search for "Fort Lauderdale Christmas" for a great arches tutorial.

I also agree with GaryMartin's comment about having a consistent part of the display. I looked at your Faires, which I also have done and will post a video on in a couple of days. I have some bushes along the house behind most of the display. In Faires I have them track the main beat in the song -- and then do fun an crazy stuf with arches, minis, shooting stars, etc. This approach gives the display a sort of frame for the eye/ear to work with rather than having everying changing all the time.

Scott

[coasterbp]

Scott Tuthill wrote:

Nice job on the mini arches. So you bent the PVC before you wrapped them? Would it have worked the other way? To wrap then bend? I have to imagine wrapping bent PVC is a pain. I did six 13 foot seven segment arches this year and wrapping them while straight was a big enough pain. The idea is wrap them straight, but some stakes in the ground, and then bend them over the stake to hold the shape. Search for "Fort Lauderdale Christmas" for a great arches tutorial.

Yeah, Scott. I had to pre-bend the arches before wrapping them because the length of them was so short, that if I were to try and bend them to the shape I needed, they would have snapped. So heating them and pre-bending them was pretty much the only way to go. If I ever get a house with a bigger yard, I'll get the full-sized arches.

I agree about the sequencing as well. I like each portion of the display to hold it's own voice for at least the majority of the song. That way the entire display becomes a chorus for the music.

-=coasterbp