All About the Show
Last modified on November 3, 2024 • 7 min read • 1,489 words
Our Location
We’re located in the Anderson Mill West area of Cedar Park, just north of Austin, TX.
Equipment
Control Equipment
Surprisingly, the brains of the entire show is a $60 Raspberry Pi 4. It runs a program called Falcon Player (FPP) that takes the playlist, sequences and effects for the show and sends that data to a Falcon F48 Differential Controller . The F48 further processes the data and talks to several Differential Smart Receivers distributed throughout the ‘stage’. Each Smart Receiver controls a small group of light strings.
The Lights
All the lights in the display are WS2811 RGB LED “pixel” nodes. With a few exceptions, like the Leaping Arches, all are bullet-style nodes. In the arches we use WS2811 LED strips.
There are nearly 10,000 individual lights in both the Halloween and Christmas shows.
The Music
In addition to sending light data to the F48, the Raspberry Pi also handles playing the music. It is connected to a low-power FM transmitter, allowing visitors to listen in their cars or with portable FM radios while watching the show without disturbing the neighbors.
When a show song is not actively playing, I’ll play ‘intermission’ music from my personal music library, or the following favorite online streaming channels:
- Dead Air Radio (The Sound of Halloween)
- Santa Radio
- SomaFM (Usually ‘Mission Control’ or ‘Groove Salad’)
The Software
For audio editing, processing and normalization, we use Audacity .
For developing the show sequences and effects, we use xLights .
To run the show, we use Falcon Player (FPP) .
For scheduling and automation tasks, we use Home Assistant .
Features
House Outline
In 2024, we moved away from temporarily mounting the horizontal light strips with PVC pipes and instead installed Permatrack under the soffits along the first floor roofline. Not only do we avoid setup/takedown every year, but we now have lights year-round to add some color for lesser holidays. An added benefit is that we routed CAT-6 cable from the garage inside the track and installed waterproof RJ-45 ports. This is where we connect the remote enclosures instead of running cable all the way to the main controller, which is now located in the garage.
The vertical lights are attached to 3/4" EMT electrical conduit with pipe hangers. Using furniture levelers on the ends of the EMT, we can pressure-fit the pipes between the ground and soffits, avoiding having to attach to the mostly brick exterior. Finally, where we can, we secure the EMT to wood with pipe straps.
Also, in pictures and videos prior to 2024, you’ll see lights on the second floor roofline. These were originally installed using the PVC pipe method with cheap plastic clips. To install, we rented a boom lift, as there was no way to safely do so with a ladder. At the end of the season, though, there was no way to take those lights down without again renting a boom lift. So, we just left them up. Ugly. In the spring of 2024, while having our siding re-done and house painted, we had the workers pull down those lights and decided it was best to keep everything lower where we can safely reach to do repairs.
Mega-Tree
The center pole of the Mega-Tree (Christmas show only) is a 10’ length of galvanized iron pipe.
At the bottom, the center pole is attached to some EMT conduit bent and joined into a semi-circle. The pipe and conduit are attached using connectors from MakerPipe (which, incidentally, are used generously throughout the whole display and highly recommended). This bottom structure is raised about 6" off the ground, and held in place with rebar driven through the EMT conduit/floor flange support legs and into the ground.
At the top, the center pole is connected to a custom tree-topper from Boscoyo Studios with a floor flange. J-hooks connect to the tree topper and stretch 24 strands of lights, each holding 60 lights, to the bottom where they are attached with bungee balls.
The Mega-Tree alone has 1440 lights.
Matrix
The Matrix is constructed of an 4’x8’ frame made of EMT electrical conduit, held together with MakerPipe connectors. To that frame we attached 1152 individual pixel nodes spaced 2" apart.
The mesh used to hold the lights in position was purchased from Boscoyo Studios.
Garage Projection
In 2024, we replaced the Matrix with a projector. The Matrix had to be stored in the garage during the day, set up and put away every evening, and moved out of the way if we needed to get a car in/out of the garage. Plus, I wanted to make it larger to fill more of the garage door space, but that would have only made it more inconvenient.
I found a weather-proof enclosure and cut out holes for ventilation, power, and the projector lens. Inside is the projector itself, a Raspberry Pi 4 running FPP as a ‘remote’, a Wifi power strip (to remotely control power for each device separately), and a Wifi infrared remote (to simulate the projector’s remote control to turn it on/off via HomeAssistant automation). For the show, it’s mounted on an EMT frame I built and placed to the side of the driveway out of view, and out of the way.
Though not as bright as the Matrix, the effects are cool, if nearly fills the entire garage door, and gives us the ability to play high-definition videos during the ‘intermission’.
Mini-Trees
The Mini-Trees (Christmas show only) are constructed of EMT conduit slipped over a piece of rebar driven into the ground. The lights are attached to standard Mega-Tree mounting strips and 1/2 of a ChromaPole set, both purchased from Boscoyo Studios. The strings of lights are connected to a ChromaPole plate at the top, and held to the ground with tent stakes. Each mini-tree has 108 individual lights.
Tombstones
The Tombstones (Halloween show only) are made of corrugated plastic and purchased from Boscoyo Studios. Each tombstone has 100 individual lights.
Leaping Arches
The 4 leaping arches are from Boscoyo Studios. Each arch has 51 individual lights and uses the same bullet pixels as the rest of the display. The arches are supported by 1/2" EMT painstakingly bent to match the shape and held upright with rebar driven into the ground.
The 4 leaping arches are constructed of 2" HDPE tubing with LED strips inside. With some slight modifications, these were made following Matt Johnson’s Tutorial .
However, we had issues with LED strip durability since day 1. And then, after 2 years, the tubes had broken in storage over the summer due to temperature-related expansion/contraction. Though they looked cool, that was the final straw triggering the decision to replace them.
Singing Face/Spinner Prop
The large central ‘spinner’ over the garage door is a Hattitude Triune from Gilbert Engineering . This is one of our favorites due to its versatility. It can act as a high-density spinner to display designs and animation and also as a ‘singing face’ with several options.
Light Poles
The light poles on either side of the front door use Boscoyo ChromaPole top/bottom plates to connect 6x 30-light strings on a piece of EMT conduit slipped over a piece of rebar in the ground. Each pole has 180 lights and allows for doing numerous different effects.
Spooky Tree
The Spooky Tree (Halloween Only) comes from Gilbert Engineering . It’s made of corrugated plastic and has 394 individual lights. And, we can make it talk and sing.
I had issues the first year with the tree ‘melting’ under the Texas sun. For 2023, I built a frame by bending 1/2" EMT conduit.
Conclusion
When you come to see the show, please be respectful and don’t upset our neighbors. Click to review our Rules for Viewing.
Finally, some have commented after watching the videos that it looks as if I have some lights going out. Fortunately, it’s not the lights. I have a big Live Oak tree in front of the house and some smaller trees and shrubs in front of the porch that are obvious when you see it in person and much less distracting than in the videos.
If you’re thinking about, or in the middle of, building your own display and want more details about how I did something, or why I did it that way, feel free to email me at [email protected].