Russ

As great as the preview window is on Light-o-Rama, sometimes sequences just look different on the live production with real lights. LED lights react different than incandescents, and I've noticed even different brands of lights have a slightly different ramp time. Short of trying to hook up 96 strings of Christmas lights in the basement, I began to think of a way to make a mock-up. It would be nice to cut a string of lights to a foot or two long -- and I know you can't do this with mini-lights, or any other lights that are wired in series. Has anyone come up with a solution that you'd care to share? Bonus if you have picture. Thanks. -r

I love your snowglobe. I've been thinking of adding something almost exactly like what you have since I started doing Christmas projections. If you have videos of it, and are willing to share, please post! I'm headed to Disney World in a couple of weeks, I'll see if I can find someone that can give me details about the projectors they use :-) Last time I was there I counted 16 projectors; 4 different angles, with 4 projectors each (which doesn't sound like a lot -- but are probably 50-100k lumen each). The Merchandise Mart in Chicago just installed a permanent projection system. I'm sure it's close to as large of an area as Cinderella's Castle. They use a total of 34 projectors, 30k lumens each, at a street price of about $70k each. https://www.artonthemart.com/technology I'm up to two projectors stacked, 2000 lumens each!

Just getting back on the forums after a long break away. I'm doing video projection for Halloween and Christmas. This is my second year of doing projection plus another year or two of failed experimenting. This year, I cut back on traditional Christmas lights quite a bit and focused on the projection. For next year, I'll go back to doing both. Traditional lights will grab people's attention (unless your projection is REALLY bright--like commercial quality bright with commercial quality prices), but the projection animation will make it unique. The videos below were made when I used one 2000 lumen projector. We have moderate light pollution--lots of street lights, neighbors houses with security lighting--but I think the projection shows up well. Even with the bright sconce lights on my garage, the single 2000 lumen projector shows up nice (see the halloween picture). I replaced the bright lights with dim candle flicking lights which helps a lot (see the Christmas videos). Click on the Christmas pictures to see a the video. 20181202_180401 by Russ Foster 20181202_180348 by Russ Foster IMG_20181031_153321_488 by Russ Foster

Some projectors have network connections (either wired via an RJ-45 or wireless) have have the ability to turn the projector on/off remotely. I don't know that any of these have a daily schedule timer (i.e. turn on at 4pm and off at 11pm)...but...if there's a web-interface, then there is undoubtedly a way to automate it with your computer (but might take some software scripting/hacking to do). Do do theater lighting work part-time and have never seen a projector with DMX input...but now that I think about it, it sounds like a great idea. I can't say one doesn't exist somewhere, but of the dozen or so theaters I've worked in--some with $50,000 projectors--they all use either a network web interface for on/off ability, or a remote control (or we climb up on the catwalk before/after each show and manually push the power button).

Just curious if you got the video up on YouTube yet. I know it's that time of year, and everyone is busy. But just curious...and I wanted to let you know I'm still interested in seeing this!

How does the story get "told" now? You said the nativity blowmold turns on in sequence and the star raises...is it just a sequence of events that tells the story (without narration, or text on a wall, or anything)? I'm just trying to get a mental picture of what it is now. I think the turning pages would be super-cool, but I have no idea how you'd accomplish that. I go the route of having signs with lights that turn on ('cause that's what I know how to do). Maybe, instead of a light that turns on, the pages/storyboard could be "revealed". The pages lay flat (so the text isn't seen), and then raise up and become readable at the appropriate time -- or rotate 180 degrees with an image on the back and the text on the front. You could go the theatrical route and use a scrim in front of the pages. Light that hits the front, at an angle, will reflect back and make whatever behind it unseen. But with the front light off and the rear light on the rear-lit object can now be seen through the scrim. Even during the day this effect works well. Go you YouTube and search for "scrim lighting". You can get scrim material at any fabric place. Most loosely knit fabric (and cheap fabric with a low thread count) will do this to some extent anyways, some more than others so experimenting helps.

Thanks for the info. I need to cover a large area (this is for a church building...planning for next year). So probably the zip cord and individual sockets would work best. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Tapatalk

Thanks. I'm looking at these for my church (for next year). This would be to cover a section of roof, so probably 20-30 feet between to cover the area we need.

I was looking at the strobe bulbs from CDI, but how do you mount them? Do you use a strand of C-9 and replace every Xth bulb with a strobe? Or is there a special wire with very wide spacing just for this purpose? You guys have me intrigued... -r

I was looking at the strobe bulbs from CDI, but how do you mount them? Do you use a strand of C-9 and replace every Xth bulb with a strobe? Or is there a special wire with very wide spacing just for this purpose? You guys have me intrigued... -r

Actually, now is the perfect time to start thinking about next year. If nothing else, I start putting together a list of what I want to add, then hit up the after Christmas sales. :-)

Spray a shot of WD-40 and try to keep them facing down.

Welcome Jim. I do some part-time work as a lighting designer for a kids theater and have some experience with theater lighting systems. The LOR controllers are actually DMX aware, so if you have access to spare lighting console--which you may be more familiar with than re-learning the LOR software--then there's no need to convert. Consequently, the LOR software can control a DMX universe with an extra hardware add-on (in case you have any 7-channel LED's you want to use in your display). Good luck. This is a good place to hangout. -r

Thanks for all the great ideas. We ended up going them all. We were asked to make it something that could be removed if/when needed...so we went with commercial caulk adhesive figuring we could peel it off if necessary. The problem is we did this on Saturday, the day because the storms hit the midwest. We figured 12+ hours of cure time would have been enough, but Sunday morning (when 2,000+ people coming/going) they lights were hanging down. So we regrouped later in the week. One guy armed with a heat gun to warm the clip and the cap, another guy to apply Gorilla Glue, and a third to "clamp" it down with Gorilla tape (Gorilla Glue recommends 2 hours of being clamped) (and I was the fourth to supervise and tape pictures). After 2 hours, the clips wouldn't move even with a fair amount of force. I'm sure the tape will probably not last the winter, but it served it's purpose to give the glue time to cure. 950 Phillips LED C9 bulbs (about 500 are glued, the other with traditional shingle/gutter clips). Consuming a modest 71 watts. There's one section we didn't get approval for glue, as it's almost at eye level -- but gmac's idea was accepted as the best solution. Probably too late to get it done this year, but one of the laborer's who has access to the equipment, volunteered to work on some templates. Thanks again for everyone's suggestion!

As in, a regular hot glue gun? Do you think it will survive a harsh midwestern winter?