Chuck Smith, considered by many to be the father of computerized holiday displays, started PlanetChristmas over 10 years ago as a place for people to learn how to light up the world.
The members of PlanetChristmas became pioneers in animated displays, building their own home brew systems. He uses a micro-powered radio station on site. The music heard through the outdoor speakers is also going out over the radio station 24 hours a day between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
If you’re a do-it-yourself person, Vixenlights.com has open source free software but doesn’t support commercial hardware. It’s primarily for DIY projects. Ready to go kits are available from Animated Lighting, D-Light, Galaxia or Light-O-Rama. Here are some Bay Area Christmas light displays.
Light-O-Rama, a leading manufacturer of user programmable light controllers, has 16 Channel to 128 Channel controllers that are ready to go.
Packages include and the PC software to synch the lights with your music. You supply the lights and a Windows PC to run the show.
Google engineer Andy Swing describes how he automated his Christmas light show in this video, including details about the hardware and software. His setup uses 32 strings, controlled using a combination of off the shelf and custom built components.
Is there an App for that?
