Canton Chills

I've wanted to set up a projection mapped Halloween display for years but have been hesitant for a few reasons. First, finding a good projector location will be a challenge. Next, it's hard to tell which projector will work well. And lastly, it will cut off access to the driveway and trick-or-treaters. This last one may not be that big of a deal. Given the way the porch comes out from the house, the projector location would be best over the driveway. But, this assumes that the side of the porch cover located between the porch and the garage would be mapped. This really isn't necessary. Positioning a projector at the midpoint of the house would be the best approach when dealing with a traditional keystone correction. This location, however, blocks part of the house from the projection. Last year I was able to set the garage projector to the left side of the driveway and still provide an approach to the porch. I belive that using this in conjunction with a projection map in t

I spent the day digging through my old DIY DMX projects and piecing together a system in order to test the Sprite DMX controller. It's best to explain as a series of tasks: Locate my Lynx DMX Dongle and install the FTDI/Virtual Comm Port drivers on my laptop (I'll use an older laptop later) Dust off my Lynx Express 16 channel AC controller to test the DMX dongle as well as finding the DMX-wired RJ-45 cables for doing so Figure out the RJ-45 to DMX signal wiring fron the Lynx Dongle Wire up the Sprite DMX module Find a suitable computer based DMX sequencer and figure out how to use it (a lot harder than I expected) Put it all together and make it work (my wife thought I was doing something useful) With the exception of spending about two hours trying to find the two tiny Sprite DMX controllers that I purchased last year (they weren't where I thought they'd be), most of my time was spent finding a suitable and easy-to-learn computer application for controlling the darn th

With the plan to use DMX synchronized video projections and lighting controllers, I have been getting busy with the setup for the 2021 Halloween display. This includes making sure the DMX hardware I have actually works and producing video content for the display. I feel that once I confirm the hardware will work, getting the hardware setup should be uneventful. The synchronized videos will require a lot more work, especially since I want to produce an hour long show (in order to not repeat the same scenes too often). I settled on four large video projectors for this season, but I know only where three of them are positioned. Figuring out where the fourth projector goes is eluding me and causing a little angst. I haven't tested the DMX controllers with the media players yet. I'm planning on testing them this weekend. This includes getting a DMX interface from the computer to the universe to work as well as sequencing software. I still have my Lynx USB-to-DMX interface but haven&

 A Halloween project I hoped to accomplish in 2020 was plaguing me over the weekend. It was the internal pumpkin projection mapping that I had hoped be able to build but just didn't have the time or correct construction concept. Now, I think I'm ready. The concept is to have the large, plastic pumpkins display the animated pumpkin faces from the inside utilizing the translucent properties of the prop. A quick test using the simple, small projectors and a mirror proved that it was possible. However, the projection ratio required the small projector be mounted about 18" away from the mirror in order to display cripsly and at the right scale. During a trip to Home Depot over the weekend, I passed by some wall-mounted, magnifying vanity mirrors and it sparked an idea. Strangely, I installed one for my wife years ago and see it every day, yet it never sparked inspiration. The new ideas should address two of my biggest problems. The first is to use a magnifying mirror in order t

I spent some time conducting research this weekend on video projectors, DMX lights, fog machines, and wireless transmitters, digital decorations from AtmosFX, and computer show controllers. My goal was to get a good understanding of equipment and cost and keep that understanding in the back of my mind while planning out the display. The theme of the display will be kid-friendly with hints of creepiness scattered about. I imagine something more of a Disney experience: good attention to detail with a warmer, thematic feel. I am also adjusting my mindset such that I think of it more like a show than a display. I am just not skilled enough to know whether the show is built around the display or the display is built around the show. This perspective, I need to understand. On the display side, I also started a task I was curious about for some time. That was, what is the distance to screen size projection ratio for the video projectors I have. I managed to get measurements for the mini

I've been thinking about the technical work required to create a multi-projector synchronized display. A previous post on the 2020 plan outlined some technologies to put together to make it happen. And, it was possible, albeit, time-consuming. I revisited a project that I hadn't looked too closely at before. Actually, until two years ago, it wouldn't have had the features that interested me, but it does now. It's called the Sprite Video Player by MedeaWiz and it's quite remarkable. But basically, you can load it with video and sound files and remotely command it to play a file on demand. It even works with DMX. That got me thinking about other DMX elements in the display, like lights and fog, and how I would conduct the various animations and scenes. The simple answer came from the fact that I already have some DMX components, including a USB-to-DMX connector and DMX lighting controllers. I can use a computer running either Vixen Lights or XLights and programmed seq