Newbie Guide to Do It Yourself Christmas (DIYC)

As mentioned, you can use the RPI as a show player and a light controller. So you have a few decisions to make:

Do you want to use vixen or RPI as your show player?
If you use vixen as your show player then you can use an E1.31 application to convert the E1.31 data from Vixen into something you can output on your GPIO ports.
If you use RPI as the show player, then FPP has a mechanism for hooking into the data stream and outputting data to the GPIO pins. This would be my prefered option. The RPI as a show player is much less expensive than tying up one of my laptops or computers for lighting. RPI is pretty much an all-in-one solution for under $50.
 
Its been a long time since anyone has posted to this thread. So I will try to break the ice.

About 13 or 14 years ago I watched the "Wizards of Winter" video on a house that went viral. I wanted to do the same thing on my house. But my wife at the time was dead set agonist it. But now I have a NEW wife (just married on June 25) that says that I can do anything I want to celebrate Christmas. Time to start planning 2022.

Back a decade or more back there was a program that I think was called Aurora that was popular. That is now gone and Vixen is in its place. Back in the day, I purchased several PCB's and even built a small 8 channel display that worked very well on 2 songs. But that only ran for one year because of problems in my home. I stopped looking at this site or any others that were similar. When you are trying to bring joy to people you don't even know, but it will bring grief to your home, you stop trying.

That was then and now is now. I have a lot to do in the next 13 months.... On a budget...

Is there a "Vixen for Dummies" book out there? There should be....

I am not stupid and I know the basics from a decade and a half ago but I would like to find a bridge from what I was learning back then to what is available now.

I have been Blessed to have the house that I live in. I just want to share my Blessing to my new neighbors. I have 11 to 13 months to pull it off. I hope to find some friends here to help me.

Thank you,

Tom
 
Hey everyone!
I've been lurking on this forum for a couple of years and I'm ready to jump in. I'm still reading through all the newbie stuff but my main concern is that some of the info is pretty old. Is there a section or post that talks about applicable advancements in technology? I don't want to start with vixen and buy all the boards just to find out later that everything is out dated, unsupported, or there's a way more efficient way of doing things.
 
Vixen 3 and xLights are the current free sequencer favorites. They both work with a wide range of controllers and are being updated to newer data transfer protocols as they emerge. Choice of Sequencer has very little to do with choice of controllers. When it comes to controllers you need to first decide what kind of lights or mix of lights will make your show work for you. What you might initially call an "old" style controller may be exactly what you need. As you choose a controller you must realize that the show player (which may not be your sequencer) is what needs to support the data protocol used by your controller.
 
Welcome! I don’t think it’s something to be too concerned about. Get boards like Renard SS for AC and Falcon F16v3 for pixels (and start learning because there is a learning curve.

Non of my stuff has become obsolete in the 10 years I’ve been doing light shows. There is new stuff like Pixel Sticks (wireless data) from when I started but my old stuff still works great!
 
gemcoska said:
Hey everyone!
I've been lurking on this forum for a couple of years and I'm ready to jump in. I'm still reading through all the newbie stuff but my main concern is that some of the info is pretty old. Is there a section or post that talks about applicable advancements in technology? I don't want to start with vixen and buy all the boards just to find out later that everything is out dated, unsupported, or there's a way more efficient way of doing things.
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I have been very happy with my Renard setup for my AC lights.

I plan to use the Falcon controllers when I switch to Pixels in the coming years.

Raspberry Pi is a great computer to use to load your show onto and control from. You can log into it from your home computer or phone if you install it on the same network through wifi or Ethernet.

I’ve found xLights has had great support here and was my primary choice because it is comparable with Apple computers.

If you have questions about what you want to buy you can always ask questions here. Everyone has always gone above and beyond when I have had questions with stuff.

Why don’t you start by telling us if you are looking for a pixel setup or AC light setup. From there you can decide how many channels you want. I got 48 and figured that would be enough but I found I quickly filled all the channels and am wanting more. I suggest whatever controller you get you may want to make sure it has plenty of room for growth. Ive never heard anyone here ask for less channels…
 
Thanks @pjones, @harpster & @martinmueller2003 for the warm welcomes!

As for AC vs pixels, that is something I have to more research on as I don't know the definition of AC. But I am looking to individually addressable lights so I would assume that means pixels.

I'm going on vacation for 2 weeks and am about to install vixen 3 on my laptop and bring it with me. I'm hoping to create a show based on what I think I want with assumed capabilities. Then come back and find out what hardware is needed, then figure out what group buys are available and learn the techniques while I wait for the components to show up. Does that sound like a feasible plan?

As for capabilities, I'm looking for dimmable lights and sequenced lights individually or as groups. That would probably be the first year. Then move up to something like a animated talking face (eyes/mouth) and then to a tree (which seemed to be more complex).

Again, I'm just starting and I promise to do my homework, but that's where I am as of today.
 
Hi there. I'm a new to this forum. I have been working with electronics and electrical for many years. Probably more than some of you have been alive.
I like fixing stuff myself. Stuff like cars, bikes, motorcycles, home electrical including Christmas Lighting.

Sometimes there are items that require help to be diagnosed and fixed! Which I came here.

I also am a woodworker and carver.

Happy to be here.
I am retired/
 
deplanche said:
Welcome to Do It Yourself Christmas (DIYC)!
I put this guide together, since my first few times here I was completely lost as to what people were talking about in the various threads, and figured a very simple guide to DIYC was needed for those who are new here. It is very easy to get lost with the vast amount of information in the threads, especially if you don?t have an electronics and/or computer background, and thus don?t understand what it is people are talking about.

Since most of the information is already been presented in one form or another, I?ll provide links, rather than reiterating the information that others have taken the time to prepare. Since these links often have other links, which have more links, etc. you may want to bookmark this page now, so you can find your way back.

Sections
1 - Introduction
2 - The Wiki
3 - Glossary
4 - Hardware/Controllers
5 - Software (Vixen)
6 - Newsletter
7 - Chat
8 - DIYC Rules
9 - Links
10 - What you will need
11 - Group Buys (Coops)

I welcome all comments on this thread. I ask that if you have comments, please post to http://www.doityourselfchristmas.com/forums/showthread.php?p=35345#post35345, so that we can keep this guide as clean as possible for the newbies.
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Thank you :thup2:
 
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