Archive for May 2008

The first song I did was carol of the bells. I made a video of what the animation on my computer looks like. It gives you a good idea of how the display comes together. The four trees at the top is actually one tree and it goes in my front lawn but it is hard to draw in that space and represent 4 colors in one tree. The pink in the trees is something special but I won't say what it is. If you an enthusiast you can figure it. There are some random lines on the house which represent flood lights.

here it is: carol of the bells 2008.wmv

I picked all of the songs I want. I decided what I am going to have in my display. (Although I am still debating on having a drummer boy figure) Now I am starting to sequence! I am having to make some big adjustments from last year. Last year I had 32 channels which could all fit vertically on one screen. This made it easy to see what was going on. This year I am planning to have 128 channels so it is a lot tougher to manage, plus the software has a bug that doesn't update the timeline position of tracks offscreen.

I wanted to switch to all LEDs this year but they are expensive. I am going to switch only the C9 bulbs to LEDs because they use 2.4 watts per strand whereas C9 incandescent strands use 175 watts per strand. That will be a huge power saver! In 2009 I will start switching to LED mini lights. Hopefully the price goes down by then.

I found a great version of Carol of the Bells by Monique Danielle (has vocals) today. I also have a great version of the song by David Foster (instrumental). They are both so good that I am thinking of putting them both in my show. Last year I had a version from the movie Home Alone.

I love all of the songs I have chosen for this year. I listen to them every day. So far I have seven. That is a lot of sequencing but I might add one or two more from the Trans Syberian Orchestra.

I also recieved some MR16 LED flood lights today. There are 32 little LED's on there. I got 4 of them to test (2 red, 1 green, 1 blue). From those colors you can make any other color by turning the right combination of colors on together. I hooked up a red one to a 120V AC power source. It blew up in 2 seconds. Each LED was like a little strobe light. It was actually pretty cool except now I am out one red light. Actually these lights can only handle 12V AC or 12V DC. Most people use DC to power LED flood lights. I read online how to use the power supply from a computer as a DC power source. I took an old one that was laying around and wired it up. I didn't do it as nicely as the article does but it worked well. I think the power supply is 100W and these bulbs use 1.5W each so I can power 66 of them, although, I will not have that many. What I need to do next is get a DC light controller and hook up the PC PSU to it - like this guy. Only then will I be able to animate them with my display. DC controller boards are 1/2 the price of AC boards so I am thankful.

At the end of the 3rd quarter they never started the clock when the Pistons inbound the ball. There was 5.11 seconds left. The referees made a HORRIBLE call and let a 3 pointer count even though the clock never started. TNT video guru's went back and timed the inbound pass up until the ball left the hand of Billups and he let go at 5.22 seconds after the inbound pass was caught. The basket should never have counted... #1 fuck up was the person that keeps track of starting/stopping the clock - fucking cheater! #2 fuck up was the referees who made a baaaad call. Both teams were neck and neck and it affected the outcome of the game because the last few minutes would have played out totally different if Detroit didn't have those 3 points. Fucking cheaters!

On top of that the referees missed about 10 fouls at the end of the game that would have sent Orlando to the line. Retards.

This is so cool
http://www.geekologie.com/2008/05/video_of_the_r2d2_home_theater.php