New to this kind of controllers.

Hi my name is Garnet from Alberta Canada... I am a very green newbie to these type of controllers. I am looking to add more lights and motion to my Christmas display. I used pixel rgb leds last year in a mega tree, arches,candy canes and fans. I used pixel controllers and about 10 000 leds plus dumb leds and icicle lights. My plan for this year are the following.
RGB led spot lights and lasers controlled by 2 servos for motion.
30 plus mini trees with 4 different color led strings on each and a start on top. They will be on/off set up.
30 plus led strips on vertical poles that have 3 color leds.. red, blue ,green. Each strip will be 8ft tall , each color will be on/off and the strip will be divided into four 2 ft sections for a total of 12 channels per strip.
I was going to use arduino and relay boards to control the lights for the trees and strips.
The controller for the laser and spot lights was going to be servo controllers I found online.. that is when I came across this site.... what a great find.
I could make the arduino and relays work but after I now see there is a better way. I need help though .. when it comes to software stuff I am back in the stone ages.... I can build almost anything but computer are not my friend.
So I am asking for some help, guidance,and suggestions.
I read all through the forums and site.. so I understand some of it now..
I will stop now and wait for replies.
PS the software to control the Christmas lights I use is Vixen lights.
Thanks very much ..
Garnet

Wow, that's a lot of stuff to control.

Have you decided which of Vixen's many output modules you'll be using?

PaulStoffregen said:

Wow, that's a lot of stuff to control.

Have you decided which of Vixen's many output modules you'll be using?

Click to expand...

I have not done that yet... I just remembered now that I did not use it to run the lights but used nutcracker through the San devices running the lights.

I ran out of time last year to get Vixen working with my set up.

So I guess you can say I am starting from scratch... but have the controllers for the mega tree, arches and candy canes. I want to add a martix like you have on your video.

Thanks.
Garnet

I must confess, I've only used the old version of Vixen, version 2.something I believe.

Years ago, I worked on this project, which use the Renard protocol.

http://www.dorkbotpdx.org/blog/paul/hand_eye_supplys_starlight_parade_float_wins_award

More recently, I built this little gadget, which reads a text file that's converted from the Vixen sequence data.

http://www.dorkbotpdx.org/blog/paul/dmx_lighting_sequence_player

So, that's the sum of my limited experience with Vixen. I know it has many plugins that can do so many protocols, but I haven't personally used them.

Perhaps the Artnet thread might be interesting to you?

http://forum.pjrc.com/threads/24688-Artnet-to-OctoWS2811

I guess some of the decision making depends on how you're going to run the signals from your PC to the lights. Or if you'll use something like that little DMX player so your PC doesn't have to be involved at all? It sounds like you're composing a really grand show, and certainly if you want Vixen's ability to sync with music, you'll want everything controlled by your PC.

I going to us Vixen 3 with input from Nutcracker... for the mega tree and arches.
I am wanting to add the rgb led spot lights with servo control this year. Here is a link and video http://smartaleclights.com/index.php?page=movinglight
Could the teensy run this set up?
Could it run many relays like this one.. http://www.ebay.com/itm/390662017464?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
but up to 500 relays. The arduino mega is what I was going to use but looking at this too.
Thanks very much for your help
Garnet