SpudFiles

I just read the kids "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and took them driving to see all the decorated houses.

Mr Crowley is presumably first off the mark, then me and Zeus on the eastern seaboard of Godsown.

I guess D_Hall comes about last, or maybe USGF in Hawaii ?

Anyone in the mid-Pacific ?

Not to forget Crna Legjia in Melbourne too.

I've done precisely stuff all for christmas, spent less than $50 all up for people, and now I'm sitting here with a lot of apple schnapps and a good outlook.

Here in the former USSR it doesn't happen before the night of the 6th January

I went out to see a Christmas light display near me. Someone nearby did an animated display with over 600 channels of control. The online videos do not do it justice as the vid and audio quality is not the best. If it wasn't so expensive, I would like to do something like this. I met the guy and found he is running Lights-O-Rama with 3 universes of DMX512 control. I have some stage light stuff, but only have 4 dimmer packs for a total of 16 channels.
http://rgbstars.com/

[youtube][/youtube]

Here in Wisconsin it seems like Christmas after that little storm we got in the Midwest.

Also new this year my family and I did and animated light display in our backyard. It consisted of 96 channels although none were dimmable

next year we are looking to expand by at least doubling the channel count and possibly having all dimmable depending on which controller we pick up.

on a side note, programing light sequences are a royal pain!

Programming lights is a royal pain. Not hard, just tedious. I program a light board for state productions on the side, which is child's play compared to the number of steps in a typical song lighting display. My sequences are most often under 50 steps (queues) verses several thousand for a yard display. I want to check with the guy later to see what he is using to interface DMX with his yard stars, candy cane pixels, and other addressable LED items. Most LED DMX controllers I have seen in the past were prohibitively expensive. I hope he has a lead on where to get affordable LED interfaces. I have 2 universes of DMX controller that I can use with Vixen Lights.

http://www.vixenlights.com/ Sequence software. Free alternative to Lights-O-Rama.

I have a couple of these to interface a computer to DMX512 control lines for 2 universes of output. $67 ea. They are going up in price. I bought mine when they were $60.
http://www.fullcompass.com/product/4203 ... Qgod-yMAGw

I like the ability to use the computer for both stage lighting and what ever else I want to throw at it instead of buying interfaces that only work with Lights-O-Rama Showtime software and nothing else.

The Lights-O-Rama is way more expensive and only works with their software as far as I know.
http://store.lightorama.com/smdmxin.html $259.95 ea

Merry Christmas to one and all, I hope at least one sentry gun trap worked and Santa is lying face down in a puddle of milk and cookies in someone's living room, riddled with 0.177" holes