Posted on by dshernan@andrew.cmu.edu

Buggy Implementation Plan

Concept overview

The “Welcome to Carnival” project involves creating a light and sound show for the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) annual Spring Carnival. The project will consist of multiple parts, including a countdown, three buggy races, and a winner’s circle celebration. The light show will be created using either Pharos or scripting, and the sound effects will include crowd cheering, drum beats, and bagpipes. Overall, the “Welcome to Carnival” project will be an exciting and visually stunning overview to the CMU Carnival and create an immersive experience for spectators and participants alike.

Lighting Description Overview

Countdown:

The countdown will be created using Pharos and will include turning on groups of lights over time. The sound effects will include a building crowd cheer and boop boop boop beep sounds to start the race.

Race 1 – Front Hills:

The first buggy race will involve pushers 1 and 2 racing up the Front Hills. The light show will be created using scripting and will involve experimenting with buggy light movements and speeds. The background could be a pale blue color, and the crowd cheering could be depicted using a flicker effect. Commentating will accompany the sound effects, and the crowd cheering will fade out as the buggies leave.

Race 2 – Freeroll:

The second buggy race will involve a freeroll, and the light show will be created using scripting. Commentating will accompany the sound effects.

Race 3 – Back Hills:

The third and final buggy race will involve pushers 3, 4, and 5 racing up the Back Hills. The light show will be created using scripting, and the crowd cheering will ramp up. Commentating will accompany the sound effects.

Transition to Buggy Show:

The transition to the Buggy Show will be created using either Pharos or scripting. Additional CMU songs or bagpipes could be played during this part of the show.

Winner’s Circle:

The winner’s circle celebration will involve a “confetti” effect, where the bridge background will be white with random colors popping in at 100% intensity. The light show will include fast-paced wave and/or chase effects, different types of dimmer and color chase sequences, and a mirror dimmer. The sound effects will include “victory music” and a drumroll.

Lighting Implementation

Show length: >5 min

  1. Welcome to Carnival
    1. Probably doable in both Pharos or scripting but might be easier to do in Pharos
    2. We’ll need to experiment with different Pharos preset light effects, e.g. gradient, wave, rainbow
      1. Dimmer bounce, chase to center;
    3. Look into videos of different effects on the bridge
    4. Come up with a few keyframes and experiment with different ways to transition between keyframes
    5. Music backing: Drum beats or other gentle rhythm
      1. Bagpipes seem controversially popular
      2. People don’t recognize the CMU fight song
  2. Countdown
    1. Pharos task
    2. Probably not too difficult, make groups of lights and turn them on over time
    3. Sounds: crowd cheering building up; boop boop boop beep sounds to start the race
  3. Race: Front Hills (pushers 1 and 2)
    1. Scripting, difficult to have buggy lights move with pusher lights by hand
      1. Vary buggy speeds
    2. Could have like a pale blue backdrop, but might need something more exciting, crowd cheering (maybe jumping up and down – flicker)
      1. Experimentation needed
    3. Preliminary attempt: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sTIMRg-pFjMj7Xa_lmER5mgnTpF24z5j/view?usp=sharing 
    4. Sounds: crowd cheering fades out as buggies leave, commentating
  4. Race: Freeroll
    1. Scripting
    2. Sounds: more commentating
  5. Race: Back Hills (pushers 3, 4, and 5)
    1. Scripting
    2. Sounds: crowd cheering ramps up, more commentating
  6. Transition into Buggy show
    1. Probably doable in both Pharos or scripting but might be easier to do in Pharos
    2. Additional CMU songs or bagpipes here
      http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~kiltie/lyrics.cgi
    4. Sounds: “Victory Music,” drumroll
      1. Mario kart?
      2. Something to really signify the race being over
  7. Winner’s Circle
    1. Pharos?
    2. “Confetti” effect: white bridge background (20% intensity) with random colors popping in (100% intensity)
    3. Fast-paced wave and/or chase effects
    4. Different types of dimmer and color chase sequences
      1. Mirror dimmer, lights start from ends and move to middle before bouncing back to the ends
      2. Break up bridge into sections and repeat the patter in different sections
    5. Sounds: more “Victory Music”? 

Implementation Proofs of Concepts

You can view some early concepts of our lighting designs in this Google Drive folder: link

Questions

  • How to make the buggy rolling sections distinct?
  • How to test sounds?
  • Python
    • Documentation on sprites?
    • Changing speed of buggy to 1.5x? Something finer than just integer multiples
    • How to keep the buggy and person pairs together in a way that’s less sketchy than just timing them correctly

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