DiyLightAnimation
Hardware => Other Projects => Topic started by: lortiz on February 03, 2009,
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Hi,
I've joined this community just last october (2008) and now I am in total addiction to this hobbie (like the rest of you, I bet). I was able to get a Grinch board and some SSR's and do a small display last Christmas.
I'm already preparing (thanks to all coop organizers) in order to do a full blown show in 2009.
However, I was thinking (outside the box) about other applications where RJ designs could be put for good use.
Being a youth baseball coach most of my life, the obvious answer was using the light controllers
to do a scoreboard. Perfect fit!
It has been many years since I've wanted to build a scoreboard for our community baseball field.
Now the time has come thanks to RJ's inexpensive (but absolutely great) light controller boards.
I am preparing a short proof of concept presentation (video) on this that I will be sharing with you soon.
I have a scoreboard digit in my hands that is already working with my Grinch board. I'm writing a VisualBasic program to handle the scoreboard, and later I will check if a Vixen Add-in is possible for this application (any help from someone proficient in Vixen Add-ins will later be appreciated).
Think about the possibilities here..
Our scoreboard displays will not only be capable of keeping the score, but also:
- Do a lot of light animations and shows (i.e. Take me out to the ball game light show).
- Simulate fireworks (like I've seen in many Xmas shows) when a Home Run is hit by one of the kids, or when the local teams wins a game.
- Pre-game show with 'Jock Jams' sports type music
- Different light shows/animations between innings.
- Integrating LedTriks for showing kids names, stats, animations, sponsor messages, etc.
- Low cost
We'll get the additional benefits of:
- Year long show off (not just Xmas).
- Keep us busy and creative more time.
- Permanently sharing our scoreboard creations with our local community,
just like RJ is freely sharing his designs with us.
- It is going to be wireless. (Wireless DMX)
If you search the web, you'll see that scoreboards are extremely expensive. I know that
by us sharing our knowledge, we can certainly start producing very good looking
and inexpensive scoreboards capable of doing far more than any standard commercial
scoreboard.
Let me know what you think about this proposed new project.
If you all agree we can do this, then we can say that the "DLA Scoreboard" is born.
Leo
PD: Sorry about the long post, but I'm too excited about this.... ::)
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Hi Leo,
It sounds like a great idea to me. I'm looking forward to your proof of concept video.
Ed
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Welcome
Bill
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Hi guys,
I made the 'proof of concept video' but I am struggling in compressing it good enough to be posted here. Any suggestions on what software (freeware) to use so I can shrink it .
Anyway, I wrote the program to do score keeping and send it to the scoreboard digit.
Also did a Vixen animation with a siren sound. It is just a 2 second looping sequence that will randomly turn on-off digit segments.
It looks awsome !!
I can now imagine a full scoreboard doing all kind of cool and colorful animations with music and sounds. We can even put a FM receiver inside the scoreboard cabinet and transmit the sound using the FM transmitter you all use for the shows.
Hopefully I can shrink the video and post it here or elsewhere (YouTube).
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Cool
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Leo,
I think I can help you with compressing your video with some excellent freeware but I need to know what format is your video in (.avi, mpg, etc.) and what is the resolution (640x480, 720x480, etc)? What size is the video file?
Ed
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Video file is MPG and size is 100MB+ for just 4minutes of video (wow!).
I was able to convert it to wmv format and it went down to 7MB so I'll post it now.
Video doesn't look that great but it does the job.
Anyway let me know what software do you use since I could do other videos for updates.
Thanks.......
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Cool ideal
Nice Video
Bill
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Excellent demo. Great little project. I can really see the benefit of the wireless in your planned setup.
Larry
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Leo, you have every reason to be excited about your scoreboard project!
I'm impressed
John
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lortiz,
Excellent idea and well done on the proof-of-concept.
For video editing/rendering software I like to use Pinnacle Studio (http://www.pinnaclesys.com). If you're on a budget you can simply use the free Windows Movie Maker. It's not too bad but it only really does Windows media formats.
Ron
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Very cool! There is a lot of potential there, and it's a great way to utilize your controllers in the off season. Great work!
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Greetings,,,
Interesting project.
Keith
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I enjoyed the video. Definitely a cool use of your equipment. Keep up the great work.
Ron
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Excellent proof of concept Leo, great job!
For video editing (mostly I just do straight cuts) I use VirutalDub ( http://www.virtualdub.org/ ) unfortunately it doesn't do MPG's... but VirtualDubMod does ( https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=65889 ).
Both of these are freeware and work great.
If you want to use some fancy stuff in your videos, you might want to try Wax from DebugMode http://www.debugmode.com/wax/ (another freeware product).
To convert and/or re-compress your videos I've found Squared 5 MPEG Streamclip (freeware) and it has worked well for me. Its powerful but also easy to use and turns out some excellent quality videos quickly.
Another easy to use video converter is Super. Homepage: http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html The download link is kind of tricky to find so I've pasted it here: http://www.erightsoft.biz/GetFile.php?SUPERsetup.exe
All in all, I've found that it's really hard to beat the wmv format for size vs. quality. Your video turned out really well I thought.
Ed
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Thanks to all for your compliments. Thanks Ed (OriginalHotRodder) for your suggestions on available video software.
I'm just trying to share and give back something to this wonderful community.
As time permits (read wife!!), my next step is to create a complete scoreboard using C9 bulbs. This will probably be a mini version of a full size commercial scoreboard.
I want to share this mini scoreboard with our local youth baseball teams, as the season is already in progress (no SNOW or cold here :D) .
My ultimate intention is to present the final mini version to the mayor and try to get some funding from the local government to cover the cost of the electronics and enclosures and build (for free! of course) full size scoreboards in many of our sports facilities as most of them are lacking these. This will be a personal challenge and at the same time I'll contribute with my community.
I'll get pictures during my building process and share the details with all of you.
Someone else interested in making one ?
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Welcome, Leo!
I think you're definitely onto something there. The best part, though, is that you're using your hobby to find ways to help your community. Commercial signs are expensive and the kids will probably love it.
Good Job!
-Murl
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Welcome, Leo!
I think you're definitely onto something there. The best part, though, is that you're using your hobby to find ways to help your community. Commercial signs are expensive and the kids will probably love it.
Good Job!
-Murl
Hey Murl,
I like the way your tree looks in your picture,,, any way you could share your file with me that would show me how to sequence my tree to do that,,, it appears you are doing a double chase with fades following, would really like to see this..
Thanks
Brad
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Thanks, Brad!
That was actually part of a sequence I made with Light-o-Rama software, but I made a short example for you with Vixen.
Somewhere I remember seeing a script posted for converting sequences from LOR to Vixen. If I can find it, I'll convert the rest of the sequence for you. It does a lot of different spins and fades with the mega tree.
-Murl
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Leo,
I saw your wonderful project and i was wonder how far have you gotten with the DLA scoreboard idea?
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Thanks.
- Software for controlling the scoreboard is ready. Would love to have something as professional looking as Vixen but that is beyond my programming skills. Maybe when I demo the whole thing someone will step up and develop software.
- Design and layout for the electronics (lynx express, freestyle, wireless) and scoreboard elements (score/innings digits and balls-strikes-outs markers) is ready.
- I have all needed materials and I'm just trying to get some free time to actually construct the scoreboard. Also working on making a DIY document for others to use.
Will keep the community posted on progress and hopefully will have a demo soon!
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Beautiful work and this is exactly what I need!!
I'll go to local shops to check if they can do this for me.
Thanks for the info and pictures.