[barrel]

Last year I finally decided to jump into Halloween decorations. I was inspired by the singing pumpkins found at Disneyland inside the Haunted Mansion. I know this is from last year but I just joined the site. This year I'm not adding anymore animation but instead working on some faux stone and iron fencing for hiding the projectors. Last year I ran out of time.

I created the animation in Adobe Flash which is then produced into a QuickTime movie and spread across three projectors. The three projectors all connect to one laptop that sits in the house.

 

[FearingtonHouse]

That looks like (better than?) the professional projections that are for sale. Can you elaborate on your Adobe Flash technique? And, how did you synchronize the voices with each other so well?

 

[skunkman]

wow - just wow

 

[FearingtonHouse]

(duplicate, please ignore)

 

[bobzilla]

Really nice work!

 

[EviLEye]

That's awesome.

 

[victor-eyd]

To spread across three projectors, did you use something like this:

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/th2go/digital/

I bought the dual head myself for something like this but using different animations. Also, is there a lag using 3 as opposed to just one?

victor

 

[CreepyCreations]

Awesome display! I don't think I've seen one spread across multiple projectors like that before. Well done!!!

 

[barrel]

To spread across three projectors, did you use something like this:

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/th2go/digital/

I bought the dual head myself for something like this but using different animations. Also, is there a lag using 3 as opposed to just one?

victor

I did look into this but it was more than I wanted to spend. I tried to find one on Ebay that was reasonably priced but was unsuccessful. I eventually landed on using a USB display adapter.

http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Graphics-1920x1080-1600x1200-DisplayLink/dp/B004AIJE9G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410817265&sr=8-1&keywords=usb+display+adapter

I'm happy with my choice, the display adapter was cheaper and I like the fact that I could add more if three isn't enough. I never experienced any difference with 1,2 or 3 projectors hooked up. In reality I had 4 display monitors because on the laptop I had the movie player controls.

 

[victor-eyd]

Very cool. I was never aware of the USB to VGA route. So one unit per monitor and one free usb port on your pc.

I was able to secure a dual head from ebay for about $25 so i will post eventually on how it works. otherwise for simple animations and muliplte projections like yours, for less than $150 for 3 modules, you could project across the entire house if you wanted to.

Victor

 

[Mr_Chicken]

Very well done. I love that you gave them such distinct personalities, and the more traditional animation approach works well

 

[barrel]

That looks like (better than?) the professional projections that are for sale. Can you elaborate on your Adobe Flash technique? And, how did you synchronize the voices with each other so well?

I'm not sure I'd say I had much of a technique. In Flash you have what's known as a timeline and for this animation I used 24 frames per second. At first I tried the default which is 12fps but it didn't provide enough control to map to the audio. Next you import the audio track and start the long process of scrub over the song many times getting the animation you want to line up.

The pumpkin faces are actually Flash movies that I produced separately and only consist of about 12 frames a piece. Each frame captures a specific phonetic, like a, o, e, m. You actually don't need to draw very many different pictures to have something that looks pretty decent. Then as I said you just keep scrubbing over the song and trying to pic out what sound you are trying to match and set the frame accordingly on the pumpkin face(s) you are animating.

Let me know if I didn't quite answer your question and I'd be happy to provide more detail.

 

[barrel]

Very cool. I was never aware of the USB to VGA route. So one unit per monitor and one free usb port on your pc.

I was able to secure a dual head from ebay for about $25 so i will post eventually on how it works. otherwise for simple animations and muliplte projections like yours, for less than $150 for 3 modules, you could project across the entire house if you wanted to.

Victor

Nice on the $25!

You should be able to hang them off a USB hub if all you have is one port but are looking to have more than one projector.

 

[Darth Vader]

 

[barrel]

Thanks to everyone for all the kind words

 

[tpt594]

That's awesome!!!!!!!!!! Great job .......:d

 

[FreakinFreak]

Heck of a way to get started! That looks awesome barrel!

 

[SaltwaterServr]

Fantastic! Sent the link to my wife via FB and she had to call me from the tub. She loved it. One of her favorite movies of all time.

 

[Boone6666]

again as everyone say's wow a whole pumpkin patch if I only had the know how

 

[SavageEye]

Awesome! Careful now, you realize that you are creating expectations!

I too have wanted to use multiple projectors and have not figured it out yet. I have been wanting to do my own animation too; How would you suggest a newbie get started? Maybe you can throw together a "simplified" tutorial?