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Yeah moved in a few months ago so most of the display is retrofitted directly from the old house except for all the outlines.

@ I thought the display was a little bit bigger than last year!

Hi @ColdAddict, I'm incredibly time-poor myself but I've found invaluable help starting with AusChristmasLighting - auschristmaslighting.com/ and the various xLights (facebook.com/groups/xLights ) and Unofficial ACL groups (facebook.com/groups/unofficialacl ) that detail quite a number of different setups and many willing to help out (including the vendors for their respective controllers). One of the ACL members Johnnyboy has done two massive writeups on all equipment he's bought and tried (auschristmaslighting.com/threads/2023-journey-first-display-for-johnnyboy.15380/#post-131786 ). I'm partial to the Hanson Electronics lineup of products but to be honest - now's the best time to go through the forums and start using xLights to mock up a layout in time for the Chinese New Year pre-buy sales. For show files, I can recommend Magical Light Shows and RGB Sequences (there's two freebies from The Weeknd there that are well mapped). They can give you a good guide on what to put in your sequences group-wise to help map and build out your shows. Mine aren't close to being as easy as their sequences to being mapped on other houses and some borrow heavily from their ideas. EDIT: I also did my own blog on building out a layout where I 3D Printed the early things - craigmattson.net/blog/2021/09/building-a-synchronised-christmas-lights-to-music-display-part-1/

@ thank you!! I’ll take any tips and help I can get! I gotta get that Bluey show and pixel matrix setup asap to make my kids and the neighbor kids happy ha hopefully I can get it up and running with minimal hair pulling. I can put in plenty of physical work and create custom props and characters, but it’s programming it all that seems very daunting

@@ColdAddict If you've ever used photoshop or video editing software, the layering and timeline concepts will be familiar. Tom BetGeorge released a video on his approach to custom sequencing that gives a good foundation for creating effects (basically it begins with turning things off and on to beats, then going from there into something else): ua-cam.com/video/Uxt4UJz2n0E/v-deo.html It is going to take some time, but xLights isn't as daunting as it seems. Start with house outlines and singing faces, then the common elements (trees, stars, candy canes) and you'll get there. I think the hardest bit is the creativity element but it takes time.

Way too long for a comment, but the tl;dr is most info you'll probably find on auschristmaslighting.com/ My first few props I 3D printed based on Boscoyo's Singing Trees and Santa (I did a blog writeup of my first year here: craigmattson.net/blog/page/christmas%20lights/5 ) before I found out that Boscoyo do commercial corflute templates you can buy (boscoyostudio.com/products/chromacharacters-santa ). After my first year of copying lots of display elements I liked, I went my own way with Thomas, Cars and Minions (based on what the kids have been into). The first thing in xLights I learned to do was custom models (documentation here: manual.xlights.org/xlights/chapters/chapter-four-tabs/models/custom-model ) with singing faces (documentation here: manual.xlights.org/xlights/chapters/chapter-four-sequencer/singing-faces ). As you'll see, all the "phoneme's" for the different verbal sounds in a song (AI, E, etc, FV, L, etc...) can be mapped to certain pixels lighting up. There's also a suggestive icon as to what sort of face should be made. When sequencing, I use Autolyrics (autolyrics.lightingfanatics.com/index.php ) to do the first run through of mapping Lyrics to Music. Lightning McQueen is my favourite, followed by Thomas the Tank Engine and Mater. The mouth on Lightning McQueen was fun to get right - as it's not like the 'tree' faces that Boscoyo have reused in their props (or indeed one of the others like GE - gilbertengineeringusa.com/products/singing-tree-with-santa-hat, Magical Light Shows also have cute elements to his - magicallightshows.com/collections/products/products/christmas-all-in-one-package-kit ). It's definitely time consuming to do a custom prop, but like you've pointed out - if you can do unique ones, they really set the display apart. One of my favourites at the moment due to the sheer uniqueness is @Sidewalk Spectaculars (www.youtube.com/@sidewalkspectaculars/videos ) - love the chickens and flowers. Just goes to show the power of xLights making the mapping process easy. The rest is just down to time. I've been thinking about doing a video on how to make custom props as there's quite a few steps in the mix. I've got a good pattern that I used for the Minions so if that does eventuate - it'll be posted here. Good luck with your journey, looking forward to seeing your 2025 display!

@@CleggsLights Thanks for the detailed reply. Hope your 2025 is off to a great start! Sidewalk Spectaculars chickens are great, the frogs had us cracking up this year, too.

Yes on all fronts. I'll need to think over PiP, angles, possible drone footage and better use of the terrain for future years. Also you're right on video performance and the need to do it before starting the show. I didn't expect the steady stream of cars this year (compared to the quiet court I was in for previous years) so definitely a learning to get out earlier and record on day 1. We'll see what we do with that bush anyway. It's frustrating for reasons other than blocking the matrix so might even relocate that bush and put some carpet varieties in that won't be as big / bushy as it also blocks the stairs up to the house.

Quite possibly. The characters do exist from EFL Designs - e.g. ua-cam.com/video/X5X5DFmxiVQ/v-deo.html but I tend to make my own props.

@@madmiask both did come out better than expected. I keep intending on adding more eye animation into sequences for these guys.

@@CleggsLights sure it will add realism.

@madmiask Nice! I like your snowman playing the guitar. I like the animated singers. I'm thinking of putting a sleigh and santa on the roof next year but I'd like to animate it somehow.

@@CleggsLights Sure you'll find a way.

Standard 12V Bullet WS2811 Pixels from ScottLED (via Light it Up LEDs - www.lightitupleds-xmas.com.au/shop/ws2811/7) but I use all sorts of different ones. I've found reliable ones through Amazon "Rextin" and "Alitove" - as long as they are WS2811 they should do RGB no problems. These are powered through HE123 Controller (www.hansonelectronics.com.au/product/he123mk2/). There are many different types of boards available to do lights these days, so if you're interested in doing something similar - www.auschristmaslighting.com/ is a good starting place.

Thanks for the feedback and appreciate the query. I'm not planning on selling or giving away my sequences as they're very much tied to my specific layout and custom models that would not map easily to other layouts without a lot of work. I know this sequence is done by a few other vendors if you search around.

They are to fit the house, but I can't take the credit. EFL designs did the groundwork for their coro props available here: www.efl-designs.com/product/spiral-x-nsr/ or if in Australia, www.extremelightingdisplays.com.au/shop/christmas/mini-trees/efl-nsr-spiral-x/

@@CleggsLights thanks!

My setup would be too long for UA-cam's comments. I've been meaning to do a tear down video at some point, I'll see if I can find the time to do it. I do have what you might call a 'master' controller that is a third party version of this sort of thing: ua-cam.com/video/cANeFscoNPg/v-deo.html with several smaller boxes. Here's a couple of other behind the scenes video to give you an idea on the hardware side of things: ua-cam.com/video/r348Xw-pi0A/v-deo.html and ua-cam.com/video/hm6J3q6k854/v-deo.html

Everything in the display is hand-made. Garage matrix is 8mm thick Twin Wall sheets (very similar to Corflute) cut down to 2.1m x 1.15m (garage door width is 4.7m), hand-drilled 12mm holes (4,400 of them) at about 4.6mm spacing. Spray painted black before populating them with WS2812 Bullet LEDs. The magic is that there's a steel lintel above the garage and magnets capable a total of 50Kg vertical each everything in place. So to get in, I just lift off the panel and put it to the side. Not saying it's the best way to do it by any means. There's a local forum with us in there talking about ways of building one including different controllers and mounting options over at AusChristmasLighting. auschristmaslighting.com/threads/garage-matrix-builds.15196/page-3#post-130131

Impressive. I could see one day a permanent solution integrated into the door panels themselves@@CleggsLights

Appreciate the detailed comments.

You are welcome. I should have waited before commenting about the space at 1 minute, as I then saw the X-Wing and Death Star!!!! Fantastic work, and you should feel very proud!@@CleggsLights