I updated to the WS2812, got our own PCB’s printed up, and made this. There is the same amount of negative space as there is PCB, and the light only throws forwards, so you can see through it perfectly well. Also, because they PCB is mostly fibreglass, it bent into the half cylinder really easily. This thing is insanely bright. We modified the Pixel Invaders software to be able to send to the 2812 (as it has no clock pin) using a teensey using the adafruit library.
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.
Tully writes in about his NeoPixel VJ visor:
