Welcome:
Welcome to Katie and Dave's Christmas House for 2004. Here you will find a description, some happy snaps and a few small video clips of this year's Christmas Lights. This is the second year that Katie and Dave have decorated their house together and we hope you enjoy your visit.

Summary of 2003:
2003 was the first time that Katie and Dave entered the "Bunnings Lights Up Ballarat for Christmas Competition". You can view our 2003 Xmas web page here. Last year's effort was a huge success with descriptions and pictures appearing in the local newspaper (The Ballarat Courier) as "one of the sights to see" and we were lucky enough to win the Darrell Lea Lucky Draw Prize comprising $300 of chocolates. Needless to say, many of Katie and Dave's family and friends received some very yummy chocolates for Christmas...

Objectives for 2004:
The objectives for 2004 were threefold:

1. More Lights
2. More Power Points
3. Bigger Power Bill

• Santa's Letter - 314KB Image
• Santa's Letter - 40KB Adobe Acrobat

Application for Santa to Visit:
Has your child or loved one been "naughty" or "nice" this year. They can fill in this form requesting a visit from Santa:

• Santa's Visit Application Form - 45KB Adobe Acrobat

Planning:
Initial planning for 2004 commenced as the 2003 lights were being taken down, but serious planning started in April with a "notional" budget agreed to by Katie. The budget was well and truly overspent by the end of June, so we don't really need to talk about the 300% budget blowout... Dave has already been told, very clearly, that next year's lighting budget is to be slashed considerably and despite what Dave thinks, their new baby (due March) doesn't need any more teddy bears or stuffed animals...

The Winter Wonderland:
After the success of last year's Rope Christmas Tree, Katie and Dave both wanted to do something innovative and away from just a basic set of Christmas Lights. It was decided that we would make a Winter Wonderland and to set it up properly we would utilise the garage. As a result, no cars can be parked in the Garage from mid November until early January.

The garage walls have been lined with black material so that all of the lighting is highlighted. Katie made a some large foam cut-out Christmas presents that were painted using UV (Ultra Violet) Glow Paint. When a UV light is focussed on the figures they are illuminated and glow against the black background. Throughout the Winter Wonderland are penguins, polar bears, snowmen, reindeers, Christmas presents and in the distance you can even see Santa on his sleigh. Oh, and we almost forgot, there is lots of snow.

The centre-piece of the Winter Wonderland is a 5 foot high Frosty the Snowman that sings and dances. Frosty is also equipped with a microphone and an amplifier so that he can talk to any children or passers-by.

There are 3 different types of snow used in the Winter Wonderland. There is snow on the ground near all of the features, a mirror ball that reflects snow like patterns across the walls, floor and ceiling. An Antari Snow Machine sprays out snow to unsuspecting visitors, made from bubble bath fluid, for approximately 10 seconds every minute.

A Winter Wonderland Polar Express Railway has been setup and operates nightly. The railway engine and 2 carriages come to life with a variety of Christmas themes on a 4' diameter "G" Scale track that interweaves amongst the Christmas decorations. We will probably expand this theme and the track length next year.

Now to the lighting... All of the lighting is controlled using the DMX-512 protocol for theatre lighting. It is a control system that allows command and control sequences to lights allowing:

• lights to be turned on / off at predefined times or changes in music;
• different lighting effects / patterns, known as Gobos, to be selected;
• pan and tilt of different lights, so that they can be focussed on a particular spot;
• control of the fog and snow machines; and
• control of the red and green laser system.

2 x 3.5m and 1 x 4m long x 50mm diameter lighting poles, configured as an H Frame, have been bolted to the ceiling and support approximately 40Kg of new computer controlled lights, rotating mirror ball, fog machines and snow machines. There are a total of 10 new high powered lights in the Winter Wonderland, comprising red and green floodlights, special effects lights and Ultra Violet Black lights to highlight different scenes... A 300 Watt UV Black Light is focussed from above onto Frosty, so that he glows in the dark... Objective 1 met...

A total of 15 additional power points were needed just to manage the lighting components of the Winter Wonderland... Objective 2 met....

When all of the lights within the Winter Wonderland are active the total power consumption is 1300 Watts... Objective 3 met... Due to the large power load, the Clothes Dryer cannot be used as the combination causes the household circuit breakers to trip... It looks like 3 phase power will be needed next year...

A fog machine is used to create a haze like effect in the Winter Wonderland so that the rays of light are highlighted. The fog machine is essential to see the lasers. An interface box was designed and constructed, based on a 555 timer and digital counter, for use with the fog machine allowing it to be automatically controlled and send 1 second bursts of fog every 30 seconds.

A complex sequence of lighting patterns has been created so that the effects are always changing. Care had to be taken in programming the lighting sequences as some of the lights can turn the house across the road from night time into daylight and so that the lasers don't point into peoples eyes... 180 unique lighting sequences have been programmed into the DMX Controller, changing at 5 second intervals. A 4 Channel Chaser, linked to the DMX Controller, is used to manage the switching of the red, green and UV spotlights. It takes 15 minutes before the sequence is repeated ensuring that visitors always see something different. For added variety we can also change the control system so that the lighting sequence is sound activated. If we get really enthused the music keyboard can be connected to the lighting controller enabling the lighting sequence to vary in time with the music.

A sound system, with a multi-stack CD player and speakers, has been installed in the Winter Wonderland so that Christmas songs can be listened to by visitors. The choice of music has been edited to follow with the Winter Wonderland theme. The lighting and sound system are now permanent fixtures in the garage and could easily be used for an ad-hoc disco during the year...

The Winter Wonderland comprises the following lights and features:

Other Changes To The Christmas Lights:
The Rope Christmas Tree has had some enhancements and modifications this year. Originally it had 3 x red, 2 x green rope lights and an unlit guy wire all of which are separated at angles of 60 degrees. This year it has 5 x red and 5 x green rope lights separated at approximately 30 degree increments. The additional rope lights fill in the appearance of the tree nicely. The tree is a little bit shorter this year as all of the additional weight caused the pole to bend during its erection, requiring rectification with a hacksaw...

2003 Rope Christmas Tree	2004 Rope Christmas Tree

Video Clips:
We have a couple of small video clips in WMV format that show different elements of this year's Christmas Lights.

SMS Voting Competition:

Next Year:
Plans are already underway for next year. The main emphasis will be on:

• Migrate the DMX-512 controller into a full computer based control system.
• Synchronise the lighting with sound...
• More power points, and add 3 phase power...
• Bigger power bill...
• Bigger train track...
• Return the Rope Christmas Tree to its full height of 7.5 metres (maybe even higher if Dave gets his way)...
• Light up the apex of the house...

We hope you've enjoyed looking at our Christmas House and have a Merry Christmas...
Katie, Dave and Yo Yo