New Layout ideas for 2023

P

Pyjamas

New elf
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Apr 27, 2021
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Well, I hope everyone's shows have gone off without a hitch this season. This was my second year (first year was just animation, this year had more props, music and push to play speakers).
Basically I'm already looking to expand my layout next year and was looking to get some advice from seasoned players.

Here is my current layout. It's an inner Melbourne suburb so a small block with a front fence. (ignore the line near the middle candy cane, that's just the pixels for the tune-to sign)

Current layout.jpg

This is what I was possibly thinking:
1. Larger megatree (currently 16 string, 32px per string, 180deg, 5cm spacing), was thinking possibly go to 20 string, 50px per string and put it central with a new topper
2. Move middle candy cane to left of house
3. Three singing christmas trees on roof
4. Move the roof star and put a high density prop here (Possibly a Baby grand illusion or PPD Geowreath).
5. Second window outline.

This is what it might look like:
New Layout.jpg

Would love to get some thoughts. My concerns with the higher density prop option (especially the PPD Geowreath) is that they seem to have a lot about submodels, and unless I'm going to purchase pre-sequenced layouts for these models, it's going to take me a long time to get the most out of these props sequencing everything myself which I currently do.

Adding all these would be approx 1500px to my already 2500px layout. Currently run from a Falcon F16v3 with Rasp Pi running FPP.

What do you think? Too much? Would I be better with a lot more smaller props rather than larger ones?

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
Paul
 
If you have a small frontage I would push the tree to one side allowing other props to breathe if that makes sesne.
I have a steep block myself which means I can layer my props for visibility
 
Hello,

After just finishing my year two here are some suggestions and ideas. Some of these I have implemented or plan to implement.

1. I agree with Adsy and think you should move your Megatree off to the side and not make it a middle feature. Mine has been in the middle for 2 years but it sort of eats up space and I decided to move it off to the side. I'd say move it as far left as you can. The great thing about a Megatree is you can control the height so that only the pixels show above the hedge and you can't see all the ugly stuff holding it down :)

2. I noticed you had a spinner for the Megatree topper. There are very few spinner or sphere toppers in the sequences I see, most are stars. I'd swap that out for at least a 3 layer star when you upgrade your Megatree. I'm planning to upgrade to a 6 layer star from my 3 layer star. My three layer star works perfectly but I plan to upgrade my megatree this year so that is one of the upgrades.

3. House Verticals - Last year I did not have any and this year put them in. It makes a huge difference in the overall impact to have some verticals.

4. HD Prop, I have a PPD Geo wreath and sadly not many people use it directly in shared, free, paid for sequences. I'm constantly remapping something over to it. It works well but maybe only 20% of the sequences I look at have the prop. I'd suggest a more popular HD prop, I'm planning to had a GE Rosa Wreath which seems to be fairly popular. If you like it use it though, I'm learning to remap to it. I like the placement of where you are going to put it.

5. The mini trees on the roof seem a bit out of place and block house space that could otherwise also be used. I'd move them down to the ground and add some 2 layer stars above them.

6. Single arches - So, I've come to the conclusion that having a single arch while nice is rather limited. I've put in effort to have some decent led strip single arches but plan to replace them with multi-layered arches. With Multi-arches the effects that can be used open up greatly and they give more pop for a single prop.


New suggestions:
I like the look of those smaller flakes and wonder if maybe using a different one added in or a couple more would be better. A little more variation in props will help give a wider depth to the show.

Spiral trees are very simple but can added some depth to a show. You can even get creative and put a star on top of them.

Lastly, I'm learning to think about multi-functional props. Am I putting in a prop that has a limited usage, Single Arch, and can I replace it with something that gives that same usage but also adds additional function, Multi-Layer Arch.

These are just ramblings from a two year person and how I am currently viewing my layout and prop management.
 
So, everyone is always more than happy to tell you what they would do, but it's important not to overthink it. If you like a prop and you can find a spot for it, put it up. There are displays out there that aren't even close to the way I would lay them out, but look fantastic. That's what makes them unique, though, and sets them apart from the rest. If you follow the "formula" that everyone is going to give you, it's just another display. If you do what makes you happy, that will make it your display.

That said, I would add verticals on the house, like Indi said. ;-)
 
Thanks for the input everyone. I had not thought about verticals but definitely have some spaces to add them in.
I had thought about some mini trees along the front but there is a chance the garden/fence will change by next Christmas if we decide to do some renovations.
Will take everything on board and look forward to next years build!

Cheers,
Paul
 
The PPD wreath is an awesome prop, and there are plenty of free sequences available with models on the PPD that you can use to incorporate to your show.
I would suggest adding verticlas as pretty much everybody else said, and a fairly cheap nice add-on is to add a snowflake / spinner inside each of your arches. Christmas Props Australia has a whole range of 50 pixel snowflake props making it easy to push the pixels without any wastage of 2 or 3 pixels. Finally I would also suggest a large horizontal below the arches. 3 inch spacing should be sufficent for the horizontal. You propably should be looking at expanding your F16V3 controller. Either look at differential receivers expansion or a further 16 port output, or even a 2nd controller. Future proofing your show is never a bad idea.
 
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