The set up consists of 12 LED poles, 3 LED boxes, and 8 DMX colorblast fixtures. LEDs are mounted behind frosted acrylic to diffuse the light evenly.
Each unit is operating from it’s own dedicated Arduino. At the helm of the Arduinos is an Adafruit FTDI Friend that communicates one way to all 16 at once. Each Arduino has its own internal address and receives 14 byte packets of data telling it what to do (rate, pattern, color, brightness).
All patterns are baked into the Arduino code- that way if there’s ever a serial disconnect, the lights will continue to run. In addition to the pattern data, the computer sends a heartbeat 10 times a second, insuring they stay in sync for patterns like color fading and strobing.
A processing sketch running on the computer controls everything, and is extended further to use an iPad for wireless control via touchOSC and oscP5. We are working on an update for a Lemur sketch to offer even more control.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, or even use Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for MakeCode, CircuitPython, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell with Google Hangouts On-Air is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
