My over-engineered holiday lights - 2018 version!

[slugg]

A little late on the video, but better late than never! My wife and I are both musicians and engineers and we do crazy shenanigans like this.

We do a new themed show every year. This year’s show is “Star Trek: The Light Show.” Hope you like it!

We are working on filming our Star Wars show and will post it when we can. Yes, we did both Star Trek *and* Star Wars.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Good stuff. Thank you slugg!

 

[Red Squirrel]

Think Youtube pulled the video for copyright or some other BS like that. Says video unavailable.

Edit: NM if I go strait to your channel it works from there. Looking awesome!

 

[malbojah]

So I hear TOS, TNG, VOY, Movies...but no DS9??!?!

 

[slugg]

So I hear TOS, TNG, VOY, Movies...but no DS9??!?!

It takes A LOT of work to put this together and there’s just no way to do it all. We have to make tough decisions while developing the show, including the removal of great parts, due to resource limitations, budget, and average viewer attention span.

However! We do have a pre-show for when people are driving up, parking, and waiting. During this pre-show, we do have the DS9 theme, among others (Enterprise, Wrath of Kahn, etc). Basically, it has all the themes from everything NOT in our show.

 

[eng2d2]

Impressive

 

[Exterous]

Damn this forum software and it not letting me like your post 100 times. Damn fine work!

 

[snoopy7548]

This guy deserves a CoolCoin. Awesome work!

 

[brianmanahan]

This guy deserves a CoolCoin. Awesome work!

agreed

 

[lxskllr]

*Very* impressive. How long do you spend on programming, and when do you start developing your concept for the year?

 

[slugg]

*Very* impressive. How long do you spend on programming, and when do you start developing your concept for the year?

It’s done in “hobby time,” meaning 15 minutes here, half an hour there, etc. That said, it takes a calendar year to do the whole thing. We’ve already started on 2019, which will be quite a triumph because we also have our wedding ceremony, our honeymoon, and there’s a chance we’ll be moving, too!

So how many hours? We don’t really keep track of it and we’re not entirely sure. But a ballpark is somewhere around 500 hours.

 

[soulcougher73]

Awesome. Nice work.

 

[BUTCH1]

Wow, quite impressive indeed!, how do you actually program the different changes?, it's all happening so quickly, (and with so many changes occurring at once), do you assemble the music you're going to use then slow it down to program the lights in real time?.

 

[zinfamous]

Great work man, as always.

 

[ultimatebob]

This guy deserves a CoolCoin. Awesome work!

Yeah, this definitely deserves a Coolcoin! Send me a PM if you want to collect it, Slugg!

Now, the REAL question is how is Mayne going to top this post for next year. The gauntlet has been thrown!

 

[slugg]

Wow, quite impressive indeed!, how do you actually program the different changes?, it's all happening so quickly, (and with so many changes occurring at once), do you assemble the music you're going to use then slow it down to program the lights in real time?.

We have lots of tricks up our sleeves and, to our knowledge, we do it very differently from the rest of the DIY light shows (there are many out there). If I told you our secrets, I’d have to blast you with a photon torpedo. But I’ll give you some hints.

1. Want to get started? Look up the app “Vixen.” We don’t actually use it, but drew some inspiration from it.

2. We are both software engineers. We essentially duct tape together many, many open source projects and code our own software on top of it to make this happen. Take a look at OLA: Open Lighting Architecture.

3. Learn image processing and basic rendering engine type stuff. And I do mean code (C/C++), not Photoshop!

4. Get really good at aural music theory. A good ear goes a long way!

5. Get a wife that tolerates your nerdiness. This should actually be step 1.

Great work man, as always.

Yeah, this definitely deserves a Coolcoin! Send me a PM if you want to collect it, Slugg!

Now, the REAL question is how is Mayne going to top this post for next year. The gauntlet has been thrown!

I don’t even know what a CoolCoin is. I’m not that cool! Can I redeem it for a chance to be cool? Also, what is a “Mayne?”

 

[Red Squirrel]

What are you using for the lights, is it addressable RGB strips like WS2812B? I want to actually play with those at some point, I want to just mount them on the house permanently, would act as normal lighting but then I could change it for different holidays.

 

[slugg]

What are you using for the lights, is it addressable RGB strips like WS2812B? I want to actually play with those at some point, I want to just mount them on the house permanently, would act as normal lighting but then I could change it for different holidays.

It’s a combination of DMX, WS2811, and direct PWM. But a vast majority is WS2811. A permanent installation is very, very hard to accomplish. You’ll find out why once you start your research spike.

 

[13Gigatons]

You have too much time on your hands.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

That looks great. Is there a line of cars waiting to see your display every night?

 

[JEDI]

A little late on the video, but better late than never! My wife and I are both musicians and engineers and we do crazy shenanigans like this.

We do a new themed show every year. This year’s show is “Star Trek: The Light Show.” Hope you like it!

We are working on filming our Star Wars show and will post it when we can. Yes, we did both Star Trek *and* Star Wars.

that was AMAZING!
how many hrs did it take you ?

 

[slugg]

That looks great. Is there a line of cars waiting to see your display every night?

It dies down after the 25th, but before that, absolutely yes. And we always have to be out there to control the crowd, direct traffic, and keep the neighborhood happy. The biggest problem is that we’re very limited on space, so we need to actively keep things running smoothly. On very busy nights (50+ concurrent people), we set up a stereo outside and block off a section for standing space. We then get people to park down the street and walk up to enjoy the free candy canes and free light show!

that was AMAZING!
how many hrs did it take you ?

We really don’t know. We don’t track it, and you know what they say: time flies when you’re having fun. The best ballpark I can give you is something like 500 combined (wo)man-hours between me and my wife.

Keep in mind that it’s a hobby that we have tons of fun with. We could spend wayyyyy less time on it if we had a higher budget. Time versus money. We’ve spent roughly $1500 over three years on this hobby. Imagine if we had Disney’s budget!

 

[JEDI]

We really don’t know. We don’t track it, and you know what they say: time flies when you’re having fun. The best ballpark I can give you is something like 500 combined (wo)man-hours between me and my wife.

Keep in mind that it’s a hobby that we have tons of fun with. We could spend wayyyyy less time on it if we had a higher budget. Time versus money. We’ve spent roughly $1500 over three years on this hobby. Imagine if we had Disney’s budget!

why would you spend less time with a bigger budget?

also, ever think of making it a side business?

 

[slugg]

why would you spend less time with a bigger budget?

also, ever think of making it a side business?

With more money, we could buy, rather than build, tools and equipment. There is a massive effort in custom software and physically building the lights, both of which could be avoided by just spending more money. Trust me, the commercial stuff is EXPENSIVE.

As far as a side business, I’m very open to ideas, but I can’t seem to find much demand for this type of service. But I’d love to do something more creative like this! I do have a good day job, but I thrive when I’m part of a creative process.

That said, I do have another tangential interest: graphics programming. I don’t currently do it professionally, but I’m trying to get enough hobby projects under my belt to potentially switch careers without taking a loss in pay. I currently engineer distributed systems software.

 

[JEDI]

With more money, we could buy, rather than build, tools and equipment. There is a massive effort in custom software and physically building the lights, both of which could be avoided by just spending more money. Trust me, the commercial stuff is EXPENSIVE.

As far as a side business, I’m very open to ideas, but I can’t seem to find much demand for this type of service. But I’d love to do something more creative like this! I do have a good day job, but I thrive when I’m part of a creative process.

That said, I do have another tangential interest: graphics programming. I don’t currently do it professionally, but I’m trying to get enough hobby projects under my belt to potentially switch careers without taking a loss in pay. I currently engineer distributed systems software.

there are lots of people who pay professionals to elaborately decorate their houses for holloween and/or xmas.