A light element is a section of the display that will be controlled by a single channel or many channels if it is an animation element. A string of lights is usually a common type of light element while others can be very complicated. Some elements such as light archs can have many channels controlling it in a sequence to give the illusion of water jumping in a arc or like a mega-tree with 24 channels giving the illusion that the tree is spinning in multi-color. Options for light elements are unlimited. A Santa train can have each engine and car body lit up while the wheels can be controlled by a few other channels making it look like they are turning. Snowmen can have snowball fights, elves throwing gifts into Santa's sack, Angels singing, toy soldiers drumming you name it. By turning on and off of a few channels, movement can be simulated and magic happens! Choosing which elements to add is a tough one because the imagination runs away. Start with the basic lighting elements such as the house and major points in the yard, counting channels as you go. With the leftover channels, you can get creative and make a few elements from scratch. Basic matierials going into contruction of a light element will be specific for the kind of element it is. A simple Mini-tree is 1 to 3 strings of light wrapped around a cone shaped bit of fencing wire held on by some zip ties. Sounds simple enough but the results in the dark are amazing. Some other examples are stars made from plywood stuffed with lights, archs made from plastic pipe and wrapped with strings of lights and Mega-trees made from poles staked into the ground and strings draped at an angle around it. During the day, these contructions don't look like much but at night are spectacular!
