House Layout Ideas

[stevelee]

Here is what I'm prosing for a first year project. When I saw the Santa riding a motorbike I had to have it.
I am planning to just display sequences this year and then sync to music next year (unless I make great progress)

I'm open to suggestions on layouts.

 

[David_AVD]

Hi Steve. Looks like a good start. Where are you located?

 

[LawrenceDriveLights]

Looks like a great layout, and a nice canvas to work with

Great to hear you are planning your display already so hopefully you will get all sorted prior to Dec

Remember there is lots of people in this community always willing to help / offer tips / advise etc so don't be afraid to ask.

The ACL chat normally has some people lurking around if you are after info or the xLights zoom room normally has people willing to also help out.

Re Your layout, it won't take much more to transition from a animation only display to a sequenced to music display, essential only difference is a FM transmitter or some outdoor speakers

If you budget allows some Arches would be a great addition as they do provide great some nice "movement" for displays

 

[Mark_M]

some Arches would be a great addition as they do provide great some nice "movement" for displays

Arches and and roofline here for my first year. Few pixels (350 bulbs!) with some static lights and it still made a statement.
Arches are a nice universal prop to use for movement.

(2019 with 350 nodes; 150 along roofline and 100 per arch.)

whole_house

• Mark_M
• Dec 11, 2019
• 2019

 

[i13]

That layout looks clean and achievable for a first year. It's good that you're starting now.

I agree with LawrenceDriveLights saying that it wouldn't take much more work to include musical sequences. I'd suggest aiming for that this year. One option is to map other people's existing sequences onto your display to save the time that it takes to make sequences from scratch. The mapping can be saved so that you can map multiple sequences from their display onto yours. You can always add musical sequences once the display is up and running.

Remember to buy more supplies (pixels, connectors, etc) than you think you'll need.

The first year has a learning curve but it is very rewarding.

 

[Adsy]

Looks good Steve, good start for sure. I noticed some small trees in your photo so remember to allow for this if you change your layout.
I stupidly used and old photo from 10 years ago which had a 3d angle thing going but totally forgot about the street tree , so some
more tweaking required this year. I would 100% advise to grow your display over a couple of years and not cram it into 1 like myself as I only got it working Properly on Christmas eve which seemed like a bit of a waste.

 

[Old Salt]

I can see the garage door opening, Santa riding his bike into the garage, then the door closing as part of a sequence. Put the prop on a cart for movement. Distract viewers with some good motion in another part of your display while resetting Santa.

 

[stevelee]

Hi Steve. Looks like a good start. Where are you located?

I’m in Bathurst

 

[stevelee]

Looks good Steve, good start for sure. I noticed some small trees in your photo so remember to allow for this if you change your layout.
I stupidly used and old photo from 10 years ago which had a 3d angle thing going but totally forgot about the street tree , so some
more tweaking required this year. I would 100% advise to grow your display over a couple of years and not cram it into 1 like myself as I only got it working Properly on Christmas eve which seemed like a bit of a waste.
View attachment 16495View attachment 16496

My picture is old too. The hedge goes upto the gutter now and I have a street tree front right (not in the picture). The smaller trees in the front yard are going to go as they are a pain to mow around, when mum and dad visit and park their camper there.

I’m a slow and steady guy. I’m on a corner so I have another other side to work with too.

 

[stevelee]

I can see the garage door opening, Santa riding his bike into the garage, then the door closing as part of a sequence. Put the prop on a cart for movement. Distract viewers with some good motion in another part of your display while resetting Santa.

If only that was possible. I’ve done some renovations and the garage doors are now fixed and a wall built behind it. The garage became the toy room / office.
I did initially think of eventually getting him to drive across the front of the garage doors.

 

[vk3heg]

Look at also doing some leds on the porch posts, and perhaps make it four Candy Cains.

 

[stevelee]

Look at also doing some leds on the porch posts, and perhaps make it four Candy Cains.

I was thinking about maybe a 3 strip matrix on the porch posts in later years. My excel spreadsheet has 4 candy canes in it too. I think that was because I have 2 5m LED strips and will make 2 spiral trees out of them.