Hello from Georgia/USA - feeling overwhelmed

[miadeer1]

Decided I wanted a pixel tree display for Christmas with plans to expand each year so I started researching and feel paralyzed. I do not want to make a bad decision with equipment so having a hard to getting started. maybe I started to late for this year?

Lots of good information on this site I am just a hands on person so struggling.

Anyone else feeling overwhelmed.

 

[uncledan]

Welcome to ACL! I remember feeling overwhelmed when I started with pixels. You still have plenty of time. Any specific questions you have? Lots of helpful people in the chat room.

 

[scamper]

I too am a hands on type.
When I started I downloaded and printed the 101 manual and read it almost every night trying to wrap my head around it.
When the bits i ordered finally arrived it was so much easier and came together quite easily. I ordered what I thought was right, but pixels were just taking off so most of the stuff I got was outdated within 2 years, but it still worked and I have re purposed a lot of it.
My suggestion is get yourself some pixels, however many you want for your tree, then some spares.
Get yourself a control board, falcons are very popular and well supported and being in the U.S. you should be able to get one quite easy. You will need a power supply or 2 to power the pixels and some wire to connect it.
The easy bit is the software, but it is also the tricky bit. Easy because there are a couple of free programs out the, I personally use Vixen, however xlights is probably the most popular, just download it and start playing to get a feel. That is the tricky bit, learning to use it, but as I said, they are pretty well supported, so any questions you have can usually be answered in minutes and remember when you are new to this, there is no such thing as a stupid question.
once you get started, you will be addicted and as you walk around your whole perception will change, you will look at everything with a view on how to use it in a xmas display.