How to Make an LED Light Show on Your Back #WearableWednesday
You may think this is something from Mutant Ninja Turtles, but actually it is an LED blinged backpack by Aren Hibbing that I found on Google+. Aren and his brother love to wear their LED masterpieces to concert events, and this might just be their coolest yet. It all started with some 3D printing to get the hexagonal shapes.
Aren added WS2812B LEDs diffused by packing foam, however, the real treat is the LED matrix in the center. The whole thing is run from a SmartMatrix shield and there is a mic for some fun animations when grooving to tunes. Aren is part of the FastLED community on Google+ where he has received some great help with coding for his projects. You should definitely check out his other builds including his Daft Punk style helmets.
You can check out a video of Arun’s project here. Want to create some cool animations yourself with an LED matrix? Check out our tutorial on the SmartMatrix Shield and learn how to make GIFs that will amaze your friends. The SmartMatrix shield combined with an Arduino Teensy 3.1 simplifies hook-ups and just makes everything easier. OK, now you know the secrets of the universe, so get back to making.
Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!
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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, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, 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 is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.