DiyLightAnimation

Fun => The Porch => Topic started by: rm357 on December 26, 2011, 10:29:05 pm

Title: SS Megatree
Post by: rm357 on December 26, 2011, 10:29:05 pm
I finally won the battle with LSP and created a program that would render out to the LOR format. Unfortunately, the rain got to some of my strings first... I was one of the first orders.

My tree is 16 strands of 46 nodes + the star on top contains 71 nodes arranged in a 5  x 14 format + 1 extra and a central ball containing 7 square nodes.

http://vimeo.com/34237273

Basically I edited the tree in a video application (I do a lot of video work at my church) and exported 25 second sections that were imported into LSP as transitions. I tried to do each effect as a separate transition, but somewhere in the 8 to 10 transitions in the sequence and LSP started throwing an out of memory type error.

Looking forward to next year. Planning to replace the strings on the tree with the new IP68 ones and using what I can salvage from the tree in other places with some additional treatment... I also picked up some GE35 sets today that I'll be working on to see if I can use them along the eves.

The sign is just 8 rigid strips mounted on a PVC pipe frame.

RM

Title: Re: SS Megatree
Post by: Ron on December 27, 2011, 12:15:03 am
That's awesome.  Even with the problem strings the presentation is amazing.

So how tall is that tree?

Can you share a few things about your video transitions you created?  What did you use to create them and what were the settings for use in LSP, frames per second, length and anything else we might need to know.

Maybe we should create a LSP video transition sharing website.

Ron
Title: Re: SS Megatree
Post by: z327 on December 27, 2011, 08:16:39 am
Amazing  <;d
Title: Re: SS Megatree
Post by: Steve Gase on December 27, 2011, 10:26:26 am
Those effects look great, nice job!

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LSP started throwing an out of memory type error.

I also had the out of memory errors frequently.  When I saved, then exited from LSP, and went back in I got past the problems.  I think there might be some memory leaks in LSP that need to be resolved.
Title: Re: SS Megatree
Post by: tng5737 on December 27, 2011, 12:37:27 pm
Great job on the tree!
I also have the earlier batches of nodes and lost about five strings due to rain!  Very disappointing - so I know how you feel.   Are the sign texts RDS generated or manually programmed thru the matrix animator?
If I remember correctly there was some talk about having a state-side source for the new nodes with better sealing!  Trying to decide whether to wait for that or get some of the newer nodes from Ray.
Title: Re: SS Megatree
Post by: NavyGator on December 27, 2011, 06:20:41 pm
Looks awesome, good job.

Rich
Title: Re: SS Megatree
Post by: caretaker on December 27, 2011, 06:40:04 pm
Very Nice!   <res.
I had the same problem I had one string stick on, lost one SS controller and had several other strings have partial lighting after 3 days of rain we had. I decided to try to rescue what I had and took down my pixels and put up my old incandescents to have a show.  I have had a chance to check out my pixel strings and while several have a bad pixel I will replace those and re dip them this time taking a lot more time. Hopefully next year i will be able to have a Mega tree with effects as nice as yours.
Title: Re: SS Megatree
Post by: rdebolt on December 27, 2011, 11:02:45 pm
Great effects!! Just goes to show how limitless our possiblities are now. Unfortunatley I don't have an artistic mind, but I do know what I like! Awesome job!

Roger
Title: Re: SS Megatree
Post by: rm357 on December 28, 2011, 11:04:59 pm
Believe it or not, the video I used for the transitions is relatively simple. It just consists of rectangles filled with a gradient and moved across the screen. Up/Down/Left/Right. For the spirals, I skewed the box at an angle such that it ran from corner to corner. The trick is following it with another box at the right interval so that the transition from one edge of the screen to the other appears seamless. I've created a video with the transition source in the upper right hand corner so that you can see what I used. In a few places the source and the tree are not in perfect sync - that was caused by the way that I had chop up the sequence to make <500 frame transitions and it being almost impossible to set perfect timing with a mouse...

I tried doing resolutions that more closely matched my tree, but in the end I gave in to editing in the DV standard video format - 720x480 at 30Hz. I rendered the sequences out of my video application to 240x160 with the DV rectangular pixels in Microsoft video format. This format worked fairly quickly in LSP while the others I had availble were much slower... I'm not sure what the best format to use is, but the DVIX format into an avi file was not available to me at the time...

Anywhere the tree is moving, but there is no video, was created in the matrix animator or just using the "on" effect and it's ability to support color gradients.

Looks like vimeo needs another 20 minutes - I'll post the videolink tomorrow.

RM
Title: Re: SS Megatree
Post by: rm357 on December 28, 2011, 11:35:58 pm
Here is the video.
http://vimeo.com/34316201
Title: Re: SS Megatree
Post by: RJ on December 28, 2011, 11:39:49 pm
Very cool stuff!

RJ
Title: Re: SS Megatree
Post by: Ron on December 29, 2011, 12:51:44 am
Very cool, thanks for posting that.

Ron
Title: SS Megatree
Post by: TheBanker on December 29, 2011, 01:30:22 am
Keep teaching us, some of us are reading intently.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: SS Megatree
Post by: dannyct on December 29, 2011, 01:57:20 am
That was a great setup. 

About the transition videos.  I would love to have a copy, if you don't mind to share those transitions? 

Thanks.

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Believe it or not, the video I used for the transitions is relatively simple. It just consists of rectangles filled with a gradient and moved across the screen. Up/Down/Left/Right. For the spirals, I skewed the box at an angle such that it ran from corner to corner. The trick is following it with another box at the right interval so that the transition from one edge of the screen to the other appears seamless. I've created a video with the transition source in the upper right hand corner so that you can see what I used. In a few places the source and the tree are not in perfect sync - that was caused by the way that I had chop up the sequence to make <500 frame transitions and it being almost impossible to set perfect timing with a mouse...

I tried doing resolutions that more closely matched my tree, but in the end I gave in to editing in the DV standard video format - 720x480 at 30Hz. I rendered the sequences out of my video application to 240x160 with the DV rectangular pixels in Microsoft video format. This format worked fairly quickly in LSP while the others I had availble were much slower... I'm not sure what the best format to use is, but the DVIX format into an avi file was not available to me at the time...

Anywhere the tree is moving, but there is no video, was created in the matrix animator or just using the "on" effect and it's ability to support color gradients.

Looks like vimeo needs another 20 minutes - I'll post the videolink tomorrow.

RM
Title: Re: SS Megatree
Post by: Steve Gase on December 29, 2011, 02:01:38 am
Quote
I would love to have a copy, if you don't mind to share those transitions? 
me too?
Title: Re: SS Megatree
Post by: jnealand on December 29, 2011, 09:43:54 am
Awesome stuff.  Wish I knew how to do all that.  I can't even get a decent video of my display and edit it.
Title: Re: SS Megatree
Post by: dpitts on December 29, 2011, 01:52:25 pm
Great transition videos. I would also like to get a copy. Could you please give a brief summary on the process you use to create the transition videos?

Title: Re: SS Megatree
Post by: chrisatpsu on December 29, 2011, 02:54:09 pm
brief summary, we want details!!!    8)
Title: Re: SS Megatree
Post by: PJNMCT on December 29, 2011, 04:45:15 pm
Nice RM!

-Paul