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Clearwater Lights 2009 Videos


George Simmons

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Nice color on the video. What camera do you have?

I too have always admired your "face"...was looking forward to see him singing Rudolph though. :{

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Thanks for all the praise. Definitely helps to make all the work worthwhile. I had too many other things to create this year and ran out of time before I got around to upgrading the face. But it's definitely going to get done next year so it can sing for Jim. Sorry I missed you Tim.

The camera is a Samsung X34 or something like that. I got it a month ago from Walmart.com. So far I like it and I definitely feel it is a much finer piece of equipment than my meager efforts might lead you to believe. I'm still experimenting and learning and hope to get it down before the season ends.

I've posted some more videos I shot at about the same time as the first one. I posted my opening number: 2001/Nutrock, along with a few favorites including a live version of Time by Pink Floyd. (Hey, what kind of light show is really truly complete without a litttle PF?) I'll be posting a few more videos until I run out of my weekly Vimeo upload allotment. Hopefully, the better quality ones will start rolling out next week.

2001 / Nutrock: http://www.vimeo.com/8249198

We Three Kings http://www.vimeo.com/8247271

Third Rock http://www.vimeo.com/8246166

Time http://www.vimeo.com/8248565

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George,

Can you tell us a little more about a couple of the elements in your display? The mini trees look like they are solid with clear lights, but maybe a spiral tree when green? Any up close pictures? Also, what is the chasing effect on the roof line of the garage (or whatever building is set farther back). It looks really smooth.

Brett

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Hi Brett,

You're correct about the mini trees. They're 32 inches, and wrapped with 200 clear minis. Before the minis went on I spiraled 7.5' of rope light and added a set of red LED's. (The rope light spiral is an idea I believe I "borrowed" from Tim Fischer.) I don't rightly know if I have any pics - I'll check and if I don't have any I'll snap a couple and get back to you.

The chase sequences on the shed and both garages are 12 segments. I used 1/2" wire mesh cut into rectangles and zip tied the lights onto it. Both garages (the neighbor's doesn't show real well in the videos) have custom fit pieces cut according to the length I needed to fit twelve panels onto the building without any slop. My garage has a set of 50 CT multi LED C6 and the neighbor's has 35 ct purple C6 LED's. The shed has purple lights also, the same as what's on the garage except they're hung vertically rather than mounted along the roof line. I originally made those for the garage last year but didn't like the way they looked so I moved them to the shed and lots of people comment favorably on them now...

I think what gives it the smooth look, at least on the garage, is having a dozen of 'em and butting them tightly against one another. With a dozen they usually move along at a pretty good clip and when they're all full on there's no gaps at all. I don't think the shed is quite as smooth, but it has the virtue of being unique enough that people don't notice the flaws.

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George, as always, Stunning!!! Absolutely Stunning... Looks great man!! I can't imagine how long it takes you to sequence your songs....

Do you ever sleep?

-Evan

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Thanks guys.

Evan, it's a strange world. Last year with 144 channels I started out taking about 12 hours per minute, and after I figured out what I was doing I was as pleased as a pickle in brine when I got it down to about 8 hours per minute. This year we added another 160 channels and my sequencing time shot back up to about 12 hours per minute. By the end of this sequencing year, I've once again gotten it back down to 8 hrs per minute.

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George,

Absolutely fantastic! I wish I could see it in person.

Could you share some more info. on one of the elements. How did you do the upright poles?

Are they the same as leaping arches only upright?

Have a Merry Christmas!

Ed

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Hi Ed,

I wish you could see it in person also. Or failing that, I wish I could capture the essence of the full display with a video camera - still working on that.

Yes, the poles are essentially upright arches. 10 channels total - nine for minis and one for strobes at the top. I wrap the lights around 3/4" gray (electrical) schedule 40 and then insert a ten foot piece of 1/2" metal conduit for strength. The poles are then zip-tied to a chain link fence and they stay put exactly as attached until I remove them in April or whenever winter ends enough to get the wires loose again.

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Thanks George for the info! The chain link fence is a real advantage. I would have to come up with something else substantial enough to withstand the wind.

About 2 weeks ago had a wind storm with gusts to 60 mph.

Merry Christmas!

Ed

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  • 4 weeks later...

Doug, Walleyes,

Thanks for your kind words. I'm hoping to seriously upgrade the face this year - at the very least give it a moving mouth - so it can be the "voice" of my announcements, among other things.

I've got a couple more videos to post when I get them edited - one of which is the FOX NFL fanfare that turned out nice this year.

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  • 9 months later...

I don't have a clue what "major thread necro" means so I can't quite understand what you're apologizing for. But thanks for the kind words.

Re: that post from Jan where I said I was hoping to upgrade the face... didn't happen this year. I got too busy doing custom sequencing and playing around with a couple CCRs. But I think there's enough new stuff to satisfy the most demanding return viewers while first-timers will have even more to be blown away by. Can't wait till it's all up and testing begins...

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