An Arduino library for Persistence of Vision (POV) projects @IslandRobotics
POV Library is an Arduino library for Persistence of Vision (POV) projects. It’s by shurik179 at Island Robotics under an open MIT License.
This library is for creating Persistence of Vision displays using NeoPixel (WS2812B) or DotStar (APA102) individually addressable LED strips. For smooth effects, DotStars are strongly preferred, as they have much higher refresh rates.
The library is intended for use with boards that contain flash memory chips. It supports two modes:
Upload mode. In this mode, the board, when connected to a computer via USB, appears as an external USB drive, allowing the user to upload images in bitmap format. One can also upload a text file with list of images and durations. Note: it is expected that you have already created the FAT filesystem on your flash memory, using SdFat_format example sketch from Sd_Fat library (Adafruit fork)
Show mode. In this mode, the board reads the image(s) from the flash memory and shows them on the LED strip one line at a time. Normally, the LED strip would be mounted on a rotating staff/wand/fan blade which would create persistence of vision illusion.
Supported boards
The library uses Adafruit_TinyUSB library; thus, it can only be used with boards supported by this library, such as M4 and RP2040-based boards. Full list can be found at https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_TinyUSB_Arduino
We recommend Adafruit Itsy Bitsy RP2040 board as a great and inexpensive option.
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.
