megatree help

[bigbuck]

hello all, I was directed to this message board for help with a megatree, I want to build a megatree for next year, problem is I do not know where to begin, I guess you could say I am dumb to pixels,rgb's,smart strings,nodes and so on,i need to know what to buy where to buy and how to make it all happen, I guess you could say I am in need of a mentor, could someone who knows how to do this please help me with this project? {if I don't have one of these up next year I will be divorced!!!!} thanks for any and all help,and merry Christmas to all

[danj]

Bigbuck--do some searches here at this forum and at doityourselfchristmas.com forum.   You can certainly find some good guidance in regards to building a megatree.   TAKE MY ADVICE HERE DON'T UNDERESTIMATE IT!!!  I decided to add a megatree to my display this year (my 2nd year to synchronize) and it ate my lunch.  I started probably 2 weekends too late, then had problems with various & sundry items such that my display only ran for one night this year.  So, I am starting on the 2nd megatree I will be adding for my 2015 display early.   Probably one of the best ways of learning the in's & out's of RGBs is to join the auschristmaslighting.com forum and download their "101 manual"--it is just chock full of information.  Like a lot of things in life, nothing is really "hard" with RGBs but there are a lot of little pieces to know--any of which will make your display be non-functional.  I HIGHLY recommend getting into RGBs--they are essentially infinitely variable lighting devices.  They are totally amazing.  If you go to youtube you can see some videos of how different people have constructed the megatrees themselves.

[bigbuck]

thanks for the info,it seems to be that I am joining more and more forums with dead end results, I ask for help and get reffered to another forum, its like paying child support,  no wonder so many dads say screw it, its just easier to pay support, {by the way I have custody of my children} I have been trying to accomplish this for the second year with little or no results, I am the furthest thing from a computer whiz and am not sure which direction to turn, but make no mistake I appericate the reply, thanks

[JonB256]

thanks for the info,it seems to be that I am joining more and more forums with dead end results, I ask for help and get reffered to another forum, its like paying child support,  no wonder so many dads say screw it, its just easier to pay support, {by the way I have custody of my children} I have been trying to accomplish this for the second year with little or no results, I am the furthest thing from a computer whiz and am not sure which direction to turn, but make no mistake I appericate the reply, thanks

bigbuck - what is your current lighting status? (hardware, software) I think you'll get less response because we don't want to assume you know nothing or that you are very experienced.

JonB

[flyinverted]

Bigbuck,

To you, what is a megatree?

To some 16 strings of lights with 4 green, 4, white, 4 red, 4 blue that can spin and all come on at the same time/etc is a megatree.

For most of us here, a megatree is 600-2400 individually controlled pixels that we can make all kinds of patterns/effects on. Most of us synchronize those patterns to music. That averages 20-40 hours per song to get the patterns to match the music to our tastes.

Some people like my neighbor plays a LOR show on his entire yard, and has a 30 foot megatree not synchronized to music, just playing patterns and that tree gets the most love from the crowd.

What do you want your megatree to do?

[jnealand]

I went to google and typed "How to build a megatree".  i got 1,170,000 results.  There are a lot of tutorials on the web on individual peoples websites, on Christmas forums, commercial sites, etc.

But if you have no experience at all with doing animated lighting you need to get some basic information and some experience with basic animated lighting before taking on the mega tree task.  Many of us have built a number of mega trees and have had them be epic failures because we did not know what we were doing at the time although we thought we did.  Now (after doing this for 8 years) I have a rock solid megatree made up of 64 strings of LEDs and a Pixel tree created with 16 strands of RGB pixels.  Next year I will be building a 2nd pixel tree.  There are lots of decisions that have to be made, type of lights, how big, where are you going to put it, how are you going to power it, how are you going to electrically control it, how are you going to sequence it, what music do you what to use, what kind of materials to use, how much are you willing to spend.

Almost every Christmas forum I belong to have a lot of historical threads about mega tree building and recommendations about all the topics I listed above.  I think you need to search a little harder and not just ask the question and expect a simple answer.  There is lots of help available, but you need to be more specific about your skills and desires.

[bigbuck]

I would like to be able to control each individual light so im guessing that would be a pixel tree, which is more cost effective a pixel or an rgb? will an rgb only be red green and blue,  can they use the same software and controller? I only am looking for it to be 16 to 20 feet,i am just tired of looking at same old lights in yard every year,i am a welder by trade and have been welding and rolling trees for a couple of years and digging holes in yard to sink concrete sleeves for tree to freestand in but I gotta say they look good but are becoming boring to me,i currently have 12 lit every night,so I guess im looking to do the easier of the 2 {pixel,rgb} or heck maybe achieve what im looking for with led lights,but as far as software,controllers,lights, and such I have 0, im sur this can become very expensive thats why I want to start now , im sure you guys all have a place to buy equipment and lights from,any suggestions ???THANKS TO ALL WHO REPLIED

[JonB256]

I would like to be able to control each individual light so im guessing that would be a pixel tree, which is more cost effective a pixel or an rgb?

It definitely sounds like you need/want a Pixel tree.

An RGB tree would allow all the color choices you might want, but the ENTIRE length of light string would always be the same color. If you bought the 27Channel controllers (12vdc), each controller would handle 9 strings of RGB. If you want 24 strands, you'd use 3 controllers.

Or, and I think people here would unanimously agree, a Pixel Tree with 24 strands (or so) is the way to go.
First, the price for the lights is about the same.
Second, you can do all the insane graphics and color patterns available in Nutcracker
Third - and this is the harder part - you will need more complicated controllers than simple RGB controllers described above.

I use a lot of Falcon Christmas hardware and DIY Lightanimation (DLA) hardware. Personal preference.
Others use the SanDevices pixel controllers.

I highly favor things that run on 12vdc. Others prefer 5vdc. There are reasons for both.