johnson8ryley
My idol is ɟɐsʇǝppʎ
I promise if you take the time to read this, it will be worth reading.
Brief background about me and my situation. I've been programming my family's show since I was 13 years old using LOR software/box and I'm now 23. We upgraded our show over the years and the last show we did, we had four 16 channel LOR boxes and 3 DIY E1.31 pixel arches. However, my dad and I stopped doing the show about 2 years ago as college took most of my time and I didn't have time for sequencing. Thankfully I'm now close to graduating with a degree in electrical engineering but I have a giant show/opportunity that I need serious advice for:
Long story short I live in the U.S. and I crossed paths with a local Halloween pumpkin patch owner. The pumpkin patch brings in $5-$6 million in revenue a year so needless to say, you can imagine how big the farm is, the amount of haunted houses, etc. The owner and I met through a friend and he immediately proposed an offer he had on his mind for years. He'd like me help to modernize his family farm/business and make it into an animated halloween pumpkin patch in October AND also a winter wonderland around Christmas. I'm sure most of you know what a winter wonderland park is like, but here's a good example of one with animated lights and activities in Arizona:
View: https://www.facebook.com/SchnepfChristmas/videos/994087130964716/?v=994087130964716
View: https://www.facebook.com/SchnepfChristmas/videos/832032363921660/
This farm is a massive 180 acre farm and the son of the original owner believes the future of pumpkin patches aren't just halloween patches. Most of them are turning their parks into a winter wonderlands with animated lights to music, mini trains that drive under archways, trees lit up as far as the eye can see.
This is where I REALLY need you beautiful Aussies help. Money is not an issue for this family/farm. My concern here is all technicalities and keeping this mildly affordable.
1) Software Choice I'm very familiar with LOR and I know the prices are $$$$, but it's a small price to pay if I'm comfortable with it. I understand xLights is free, but it seems slightly more complicated and I love how easy LOR is, but I NEED an easy solution to program RGB trees and pixel strips. Thoughts on sticking with LOR vs xLights4? I also think going with LOR boxes and software would be a much better commercial solution. But I need advice here on possibly having an entire show over 180 acres and what's my best bet. (Possibly use LOR as main software but design RGB devices in xLights 4 and export to LOR?)
2) Communication Protocols: based on some prior knowledge, I know that an E1.31 network can become sluggish if too many devices are connected to the show. I also have imagine that if we're running cat5/6 to the other side of the farm, there's going to be some lag in the display compared to the music, yes? I know there will be lots of RGB devices incorporated in the farm like pixels, strips, floods, and archways over a train, etc. I also plan on keeping costs low by NOT buying Cosmic Color Ribbons from Light o Rama. Ray wu use to be a great DIY source for me. But I also plan on using regular channel LOR controllers as well. Long story short, should I stick with LOR channel boxes while incorporating DMX/E1.31 devices through the LOR network? Again, Ideally I would like to stick with LOR for controllers at least, but would DMX be better/faster than E1.31? (Keep in mind the owner may want to use this setup for Halloween as well to control smoke machines, moving animatronics, etc.)
3) Mega Pixel Trees/Decorations In General: One of the items that I know will cost a lot are the RGB pixel trees. Again, I'm trying to stay away from $600 prebuilt 12 pixel strip trees. I can setup the trees myself, wire them, etc but are there any recommendations out there for pixel trees that aren't $600+?
4) LOR Controller Speeds. I found a page detailing that some LOR boards have better connections speeds than others (which is news to me). Since I want to minimize lag as much as possible, is it recommended I go with a cheaper, already put together board like the CTB16PCg3 based off these results? http://www1.lightorama.com/network-speeds/
Guys any help to all those questions would be tremendously helpful. I know LOR software pretty well but E1.31 network is still relatively knew and the sequencing has come a LONG way since I last programmed. I really want to do this though for this local pumpkin patch. It's very famous locally, I'll have a degree soon in electrical engineering and a minor in business. I've considered starting a business of my own to setup, design, and program christmas lights shows for residential or commercial customers. This is something I could see potentially taking off for me if it works. But I need some serious advice about the bold items I listed above. Mainly so I can give the owner a ballback estimate of the costs but also so I can have a grasp on the whole situation.
P.S. I'm familiar with how to use J1sys controllers for RGB but if there are cheaper or better pixel controllers you guys recommend, please also let me know.
Also if there are other light recommendations or design recommendations, I'm open to looking into those as well!
You guys have always been the best on here so I appreciate any help in advance.
Brief background about me and my situation. I've been programming my family's show since I was 13 years old using LOR software/box and I'm now 23. We upgraded our show over the years and the last show we did, we had four 16 channel LOR boxes and 3 DIY E1.31 pixel arches. However, my dad and I stopped doing the show about 2 years ago as college took most of my time and I didn't have time for sequencing. Thankfully I'm now close to graduating with a degree in electrical engineering but I have a giant show/opportunity that I need serious advice for:
Long story short I live in the U.S. and I crossed paths with a local Halloween pumpkin patch owner. The pumpkin patch brings in $5-$6 million in revenue a year so needless to say, you can imagine how big the farm is, the amount of haunted houses, etc. The owner and I met through a friend and he immediately proposed an offer he had on his mind for years. He'd like me help to modernize his family farm/business and make it into an animated halloween pumpkin patch in October AND also a winter wonderland around Christmas. I'm sure most of you know what a winter wonderland park is like, but here's a good example of one with animated lights and activities in Arizona:
View: https://www.facebook.com/SchnepfChristmas/videos/994087130964716/?v=994087130964716
View: https://www.facebook.com/SchnepfChristmas/videos/832032363921660/
This farm is a massive 180 acre farm and the son of the original owner believes the future of pumpkin patches aren't just halloween patches. Most of them are turning their parks into a winter wonderlands with animated lights to music, mini trains that drive under archways, trees lit up as far as the eye can see.
This is where I REALLY need you beautiful Aussies help. Money is not an issue for this family/farm. My concern here is all technicalities and keeping this mildly affordable.
1) Software Choice I'm very familiar with LOR and I know the prices are $$$$, but it's a small price to pay if I'm comfortable with it. I understand xLights is free, but it seems slightly more complicated and I love how easy LOR is, but I NEED an easy solution to program RGB trees and pixel strips. Thoughts on sticking with LOR vs xLights4? I also think going with LOR boxes and software would be a much better commercial solution. But I need advice here on possibly having an entire show over 180 acres and what's my best bet. (Possibly use LOR as main software but design RGB devices in xLights 4 and export to LOR?)
2) Communication Protocols: based on some prior knowledge, I know that an E1.31 network can become sluggish if too many devices are connected to the show. I also have imagine that if we're running cat5/6 to the other side of the farm, there's going to be some lag in the display compared to the music, yes? I know there will be lots of RGB devices incorporated in the farm like pixels, strips, floods, and archways over a train, etc. I also plan on keeping costs low by NOT buying Cosmic Color Ribbons from Light o Rama. Ray wu use to be a great DIY source for me. But I also plan on using regular channel LOR controllers as well. Long story short, should I stick with LOR channel boxes while incorporating DMX/E1.31 devices through the LOR network? Again, Ideally I would like to stick with LOR for controllers at least, but would DMX be better/faster than E1.31? (Keep in mind the owner may want to use this setup for Halloween as well to control smoke machines, moving animatronics, etc.)
3) Mega Pixel Trees/Decorations In General: One of the items that I know will cost a lot are the RGB pixel trees. Again, I'm trying to stay away from $600 prebuilt 12 pixel strip trees. I can setup the trees myself, wire them, etc but are there any recommendations out there for pixel trees that aren't $600+?
4) LOR Controller Speeds. I found a page detailing that some LOR boards have better connections speeds than others (which is news to me). Since I want to minimize lag as much as possible, is it recommended I go with a cheaper, already put together board like the CTB16PCg3 based off these results? http://www1.lightorama.com/network-speeds/
Guys any help to all those questions would be tremendously helpful. I know LOR software pretty well but E1.31 network is still relatively knew and the sequencing has come a LONG way since I last programmed. I really want to do this though for this local pumpkin patch. It's very famous locally, I'll have a degree soon in electrical engineering and a minor in business. I've considered starting a business of my own to setup, design, and program christmas lights shows for residential or commercial customers. This is something I could see potentially taking off for me if it works. But I need some serious advice about the bold items I listed above. Mainly so I can give the owner a ballback estimate of the costs but also so I can have a grasp on the whole situation.
P.S. I'm familiar with how to use J1sys controllers for RGB but if there are cheaper or better pixel controllers you guys recommend, please also let me know.
Also if there are other light recommendations or design recommendations, I'm open to looking into those as well!
You guys have always been the best on here so I appreciate any help in advance.
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