Narre Lights 2017 - Behind the scenes

scamper

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Nice idea on the car radio, my stereo I have been using for the last few years is on it's last legs and I didn't want to have to buy a new one, but I have a car stereo in the shed :thumbsup:
 

djgra79

My name is Graham & I love flashing lights!
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Nice work David!
Were you happy with the 3" spacing of the megatree? I'm thinking 2".
 

OzAz

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Nice behind the scenes video, like how you interspersed clip of prop working.
Always wondered why no one uses lighting trusses for megatree poles, good to see one in use. Did you have any big winds, wondering how it would hold up, even with the 3 guy wires
 

DavidJ247

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Nice work David!
Were you happy with the 3" spacing of the megatree? I'm thinking 2".
Thanks Graham, yes really happy with it for this year but I'm already thinking of increasing the pixel count for next year (never satisfied...lol). It's great from a distance but it's pretty close to the street and up close the resolution could be better. I'm pleased with the height and the shape so I won't change that but I'm thinking of changing to 2" spacing and increasing the number of strands to tighten that up a little, maybe 30 x 75. Just a thought at this stage, it was pretty effective this year so I may just leave it as is.
 

DavidJ247

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Nice behind the scenes video, like how you interspersed clip of prop working.
Always wondered why no one uses lighting trusses for megatree poles, good to see one in use. Did you have any big winds, wondering how it would hold up, even with the 3 guy wires
Thanks OzAz, yes the light stand was really solid for my tree but may not be ideal for all designs, because the base ring is fixed to the ground and the winch cable takes all the weight the only force on the pole and stand is downwards, the guy ropes at the very top stop any sway of the pole. A few times we had some really strong winds and it didn't budge.
 

ElSalZi

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Is there a chance that you could throw up a picture of the star and how it fits onto the pole?
I help out occasionally with a local Music/Show Production business (Sons’ boss) so I am some-what familiar with lighting trusses - not sure how you made it to slide up using a whinch...

We have been looking at ‘mini trampolines’ as the base rings but weren’t sure if the proportions. You answered that for me! I like the symmetry of your tree!

I am getting a lot out of these ‘Behind the scenes’ vids; very informative! Well done.
 

DavidJ247

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Is there a chance that you could throw up a picture of the star and how it fits onto the pole?
I help out occasionally with a local Music/Show Production business (Sons’ boss) so I am some-what familiar with lighting trusses - not sure how you made it to slide up using a whinch...

We have been looking at ‘mini trampolines’ as the base rings but weren’t sure if the proportions. You answered that for me! I like the symmetry of your tree!

I am getting a lot out of these ‘Behind the scenes’ vids; very informative! Well done.
Good question, I don't think I took any photos of the tree topper assembly. The tree is down now so I'll take some pics tomorrow and post.
Glad you found the vid useful, I've learnt so much from this group glad I can share the knowledge. If you haven't already seen it, you may be interested in my previous year walkthrough, similar info on the controllers but a bunch of different props
View: https://youtu.be/nUg-CD4e7Fo
 

ElSalZi

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Hahaha just finished it 10 mins ago!

Your ides of colour coding is genius! And it really really appeals to my OCD (thats CDO, to be totally correct!)... It has also reinforced what a number of others have said to me already - we can still use the old static lights with the right controllers ... So thats good to know as we have soon much of the stuff o_O

I have to literally focus on slowing myself down otherwise the giddiness is making me behave like a headless chook!

The Mage tree of yours is of particular interest as we have already established that we won't be able to have a 'true' mega tree but a 3-4m tree might just be doable!
So going on your description of the base (1.8m trampoline) it seems that we are on the same wavelength as thats what we started looking for! :thumbsup:
I'm taking the tree proportions to be roughly 1:2.5 (being 1 base to @.5 x the base as height). Not sure thats accurate but its a starting point! Now to figure out how long the pixel strips need to be???

As with your tree, we will be doing a 270 degree tree, not because we are on a corner block, but because it will be ontop of our carport (to get above the 6' front fence) and it will be partially blocked by the roof...

but the idea of replacing the old rope-lights on the wire steps is also great! loving it...

The "Behind the Scenes" videos are, without a doubt, a fantastic learning tool for newbies, especially when they can't attend the Mini convention!

Love your work! Keep it up.
 

DavidJ247

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Is there a chance that you could throw up a picture of the star and how it fits onto the pole?
I help out occasionally with a local Music/Show Production business (Sons’ boss) so I am some-what familiar with lighting trusses - not sure how you made it to slide up using a whinch...

We have been looking at ‘mini trampolines’ as the base rings but weren’t sure if the proportions. You answered that for me! I like the symmetry of your tree!

I am getting a lot out of these ‘Behind the scenes’ vids; very informative! Well done.
Here are a few pics of the tree topper, made from pvc plumbing parts it is a short length of 50mm pipe which the star attaches to and slips over the main pole. The winch cable runs to the top of the pole, through a pulley then back down to the topper where it clips to the chain and the whole assembly can be winched up.
IMG_1040.JPG IMG_1044.JPG IMG_1049.JPG
 

ElSalZi

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Very cool.

I'm guessing the pulley is a removable insert to the top of the pole? But thats very clever, Thank you.
 

ElSalZi

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Doh! I should be an engineer! Trying to over complicate things!

Disclaimer: I apologise to any existing engineers reading this, sometimes I wish I had gone down that path... No Disrespect intended! :thumbsup::oops:
 
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