Hello

[Joshs lights]

Hi on the Gold Coast, only just got into lights as last year was the first time I had a my own place to do lights. Really want to try and step up my display from just normal lights to more programmable lights to songs and music, I have started reading the 101 manual but so lost. Is there a good way to start out and where to even get the lights from. Thanks in advance

 

[merryoncherry]

First I want to say that the 101 manual is a great reference. But it is a "manual", not a "getting started guide".

There is more than one way to get started. I think it depends on how much time you have, how much money you have, what your goal is, what style of lights look best to you, and what would make the hobby fun vs. frustrating for you.

I'm going to lump people into categories, in a very unfair way:
1. People who love the technology, they build their own controllers, they choose the boards carefully, they got started with a small controller and flashing lights first. Or people who love their mechanical designs. This is a very "bottom up" approach, focusing on components and then putting a show on top.
2. People who love to micro-manage, plan, and are very detail-oriented. Much like gardeners who don't want any weeds, they are careful about which pixel spacing they use, know their exact voltages everywhere, mount things precisely and cleanly, like a work of art even in the light.
3. People who want to be pioneers, do things nobody else has done, like using water jets, or having fire in the show, or taking txt messages, push buttons, interactive animatronics, etc.
4. (This is the category I'm in) People who just want a show, we know roughly what we like and will do some work to get it done. We're very "top-down" people, we want everything to be as easy as it can be, want to make a lot of changes as we go to get closer to the goal. We don't know enough in advance, we'll just refine the stuff that annoys us the most, as we go along. We want kit that "just works", and some handy quick fixes (zip ties, data amps, power insertion tees, extra cables, garden stakes, etc.) for stuff that doesn't just work.

If any of the first 3 sound like you, ask someone else for advice, not me.

So if you "just want a show that looks good to you", I think the first major decision is whether you like the look and simplicity of A/C stuff (Bunnings lights will do) that blink to the music, or want to do the whole pixel thing. Pixels definitely involve more work and learning, they tend to have a bright/harsh look about them compared to A/Cs (especially incandescent). If you haven't already, watch the xLights around the world videos. These will give you plenty of inspiration, maybe you'll see some ideas you definitely want to incorporate in your setup. Download xLights for free, play around with it, and see if you can get used to it, because if you choose pixels, it's a good way to run them. You can, if you choose, mock up your whole display, sequence it, tweak it, etc., get a pretty good idea of what it looks like, without spending any money... and you'll know a lot about whether you'll enjoy this or get frustrated.

If you go pixels... @Mark_M put a good list of suppliers in the last "hello" post here.

One final thing that I know now but didn't believe (or want to believe) before I started, is that I put 10-20 seconds and $1USD into each pixel, on average. This covers the pixel, the mounting, the wiring, the controller, and purchased sequences. If you do more yourself, you might save money, less yourself and it'll cost more. If you have OCD, you'll spend a lot more time per pixel, probably more money too.

 

[Skymaster]

A very good summary of the different 'personas' by Merry above. The good thing about ACL is that there are people here that sit in each of these buckets, so plenty of experience to draw on - and some of us who may even be categorised in more than one.

Unfortunately, you just! missed the Brisbane mini (it was last weekend) - this is a gathering of folk from here to discuss and learn about different parts of the hobby. It's a great place to chat and get ideas, as well as learn from presentations.
If you are willing to travel, there's one in Townsville on the 14th of May - https://auschristmaslighting.com/threads/north-queensland-mini-2022-townsville-may-14th.14576/ and one in Sydney on the 4th/5th of June - https://auschristmaslighting.com/threads/sydney-mini-2022-june-4th-5th.14562/

 

[Joshs lights]

First I want to say that the 101 manual is a great reference. But it is a "manual", not a "getting started guide".

There is more than one way to get started. I think it depends on how much time you have, how much money you have, what your goal is, what style of lights look best to you, and what would make the hobby fun vs. frustrating for you.

I'm going to lump people into categories, in a very unfair way:
1. People who love the technology, they build their own controllers, they choose the boards carefully, they got started with a small controller and flashing lights first. Or people who love their mechanical designs. This is a very "bottom up" approach, focusing on components and then putting a show on top.
2. People who love to micro-manage, plan, and are very detail-oriented. Much like gardeners who don't want any weeds, they are careful about which pixel spacing they use, know their exact voltages everywhere, mount things precisely and cleanly, like a work of art even in the light.
3. People who want to be pioneers, do things nobody else has done, like using water jets, or having fire in the show, or taking txt messages, push buttons, interactive animatronics, etc.
4. (This is the category I'm in) People who just want a show, we know roughly what we like and will do some work to get it done. We're very "top-down" people, we want everything to be as easy as it can be, want to make a lot of changes as we go to get closer to the goal. We don't know enough in advance, we'll just refine the stuff that annoys us the most, as we go along. We want kit that "just works", and some handy quick fixes (zip ties, data amps, power insertion tees, extra cables, garden stakes, etc.) for stuff that doesn't just work.

If any of the first 3 sound like you, ask someone else for advice, not me.

So if you "just want a show that looks good to you", I think the first major decision is whether you like the look and simplicity of A/C stuff (Bunnings lights will do) that blink to the music, or want to do the whole pixel thing. Pixels definitely involve more work and learning, they tend to have a bright/harsh look about them compared to A/Cs (especially incandescent). If you haven't already, watch the xLights around the world videos. These will give you plenty of inspiration, maybe you'll see some ideas you definitely want to incorporate in your setup. Download xLights for free, play around with it, and see if you can get used to it, because if you choose pixels, it's a good way to run them. You can, if you choose, mock up your whole display, sequence it, tweak it, etc., get a pretty good idea of what it looks like, without spending any money... and you'll know a lot about whether you'll enjoy this or get frustrated.

If you go pixels... @Mark_M put a good list of suppliers in the last "hello" post here.

One final thing that I know now but didn't believe (or want to believe) before I started, is that I put 10-20 seconds and $1USD into each pixel, on average. This covers the pixel, the mounting, the wiring, the controller, and purchased sequences. If you do more yourself, you might save money, less yourself and it'll cost more. If you have OCD, you'll spend a lot more time per pixel, probably more money too.

Thanks heaps definitely want to go pixel and definitely don’t have the time to be that perfect about it and definitely would be in the number 4 category.

 

[Joshs lights]

Hi everyone I am struggling to work out how to download flights onto my Mac computer if anyone can help that would be great.

 

[Skymaster]

Simplest is to download it from the app store

‎xLights

‎xLights is program for sequencing LED pixels and other lights to music. It provides a complete program for modeling the target display (normally the users house or yard) in either 2D using a picture as a background or in full 3D with a stand OBJ model. The user can add models such as...

apps.apple.com

 

[Joshs lights]

First I want to say that the 101 manual is a great reference. But it is a "manual", not a "getting started guide".

There is more than one way to get started. I think it depends on how much time you have, how much money you have, what your goal is, what style of lights look best to you, and what would make the hobby fun vs. frustrating for you.

I'm going to lump people into categories, in a very unfair way:
1. People who love the technology, they build their own controllers, they choose the boards carefully, they got started with a small controller and flashing lights first. Or people who love their mechanical designs. This is a very "bottom up" approach, focusing on components and then putting a show on top.
2. People who love to micro-manage, plan, and are very detail-oriented. Much like gardeners who don't want any weeds, they are careful about which pixel spacing they use, know their exact voltages everywhere, mount things precisely and cleanly, like a work of art even in the light.
3. People who want to be pioneers, do things nobody else has done, like using water jets, or having fire in the show, or taking txt messages, push buttons, interactive animatronics, etc.
4. (This is the category I'm in) People who just want a show, we know roughly what we like and will do some work to get it done. We're very "top-down" people, we want everything to be as easy as it can be, want to make a lot of changes as we go to get closer to the goal. We don't know enough in advance, we'll just refine the stuff that annoys us the most, as we go along. We want kit that "just works", and some handy quick fixes (zip ties, data amps, power insertion tees, extra cables, garden stakes, etc.) for stuff that doesn't just work.

If any of the first 3 sound like you, ask someone else for advice, not me.

So if you "just want a show that looks good to you", I think the first major decision is whether you like the look and simplicity of A/C stuff (Bunnings lights will do) that blink to the music, or want to do the whole pixel thing. Pixels definitely involve more work and learning, they tend to have a bright/harsh look about them compared to A/Cs (especially incandescent). If you haven't already, watch the xLights around the world videos. These will give you plenty of inspiration, maybe you'll see some ideas you definitely want to incorporate in your setup. Download xLights for free, play around with it, and see if you can get used to it, because if you choose pixels, it's a good way to run them. You can, if you choose, mock up your whole display, sequence it, tweak it, etc., get a pretty good idea of what it looks like, without spending any money... and you'll know a lot about whether you'll enjoy this or get frustrated.

If you go pixels... @Mark_M put a good list of suppliers in the last "hello" post here.

One final thing that I know now but didn't believe (or want to believe) before I started, is that I put 10-20 seconds and $1USD into each pixel, on average. This covers the pixel, the mounting, the wiring, the controller, and purchased sequences. If you do more yourself, you might save money, less yourself and it'll cost more. If you have OCD, you'll spend a lot more time per pixel, probably more money too.

Hi I am struggling to download flights on my Mac if you have experience with this if you could help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Joshs lights]

Simplest is to download it from the app store

‎xLights

‎xLights is program for sequencing LED pixels and other lights to music. It provides a complete program for modeling the target display (normally the users house or yard) in either 2D using a picture as a background or in full 3D with a stand OBJ model. The user can add models such as...

apps.apple.com

Downloaded the app but then when I go to open the app it says it needs to open in a file or open a file to open the app and won’t let me unless I select a file

 

[Skymaster]

Ok, so it's probably saying you need to create a show folder. This is where xLights stores all the configuration for your particular show.
There are loads of informational videos on the xlights site - http://videos.xlights.org
This one is a good start:

View: http://videos.xlights.org/vcs-2020-xlights-101-keith-wesley_d803b570b.html

Note; Keith is demonstrating on Windows, but the same principles apply to Mac

 

[Joshs lights]

i did try and create a folder but wouldn’t let me select it I maybe didn’t download both the downloads before trying to open it

 

[Skymaster]

Might be worth to jump into the Zoom room - http://xlightszoom.com/ - often people can give you good direction in there and see where the issue may be.

 

[Joshs lights]

Thank you will give it a go