Start early (not in Nov) and start small. Once you get the concept of how everything works you can scale from there.
There used to be active forums that were great to learn from, but I think they're all inactive now. I would suggest joining the following group. You can learn and ton and there are plenty of people to answer any questions.
www.facebook.com/groups/577818958965269/I don't use an Arduino, but do use a Pi that acts as the scheduler/interface to my controllers out in the yard.
Definitely let me know if you have any other questions. I haven't really kept up on any new info for years, but know enough to keep my display up and running.
My setup
- Pixels: I have bought all of mine from diyledxpress.com or though RayWu (vendor on alixpress)
- Power Supplies: I use a 700w atx power supply (the same kind a desktop computer would use) for about half my show. The other half is powered from 350w meanwell controllers
- Props: check out https://boscoyostudio.com/
- Controllers: I'm a bit out of the loop on this as I have been using the same controllers for the past 5ish years. I run half of my show from a Falcon controller and would definitely recommended these controllers (https://www.pixelcontroller.com/store/index.php). The rest of the show is run off some oldschool smartstring controllers.
- Programming: when I used to do a non-pixel show I used the original Vixen. When I started doing pixels I used Vixen 3 on a handful of my songs. The rest are done with xLights. If I were starting today, I would definitely go the xLights route.
Smart String 'brain' and individual controllers
Falcon controller & power supplies
