F-Prop Questions & Discussion

Skymaster

Skymaster

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Hi all,

An update on the "Project X" build session.
Now that it has been released to market, we can now reveal that we are presenting the F-Prop by PixelController as the basis for the prop build.
The session will be an introduction of what it does and how it does it (by Keith) and then an hour and half of assembling and programming it.

The prop selected is a mini Christmas tree, which will hold 49 pixels. An ultrasonic distance sensor will drive the interactivity within the prop and the tree will respond to various actions and inputs from the distance sensor. The F-Prop is the brains behind this to make it all work.

Tree-Prop.jpegF-Prop.pngdistance_sensor.jpeg

You will receive:
  • 1x F-Prop controller, valued at $48 USD (~$72AUD)
  • 1x string of 50 pixels for the prop. There will be a mix of 5V and 12V available
  • 1x Christmas Tree prop approx 23 x 30cm in size.
  • 1x Ultrasonic distance sensor
  • Misc connecting cables to complete assembly.
The total value of the above is around $100 AUD, so you are getting an amazing deal with this being only $55 AUD on top of the attendance fee.

I will be reaching out to all registrants in regards to whether they wish to include this as part of their attendance.
 
If you can use a distance sensor is there any reason why it couldn't use a mmwave sensor like HLK-2450 which can be zoned
 
fugley said:
If you can use a distance sensor is there any reason why it couldn't use a mmwave sensor like HLK-2450 which can be zoned
Click to expand...
A good question to ask during the intro session of the mini. I don't know enough about how it works to answer that.
Either that or a new thread in the DC & Pixel Controller forum might be a good start with this being a brand new product.
 
For your information here is an extract from F-Prop manual:
Overview
The F-Prop is a stand alone controller for running a single (or small group of) props. It is not designed to be integrated with other props or controllers.
When we say prop we use it in the most general sense possible. Essentially it can be used to run any prop with up to 2048 pixels and audio including the ability to react to events going on in the environment around the prop.
There are many ways to configure and use this board but its most common usage would be to by default play pixel and/or audio data when in its default state. Then when an event is detected by one of its sensors and timers it would switch to an alternate pixel/audio display and once that was completed return to the default state.
That’s said this is not even close to the full capabilities of the board. Other things it could do:
- Run kitchen cabinet lighting
- Run mood lighting
- Run architectural lighting
- Run a jukebox of lights and/or audio
Once configured (and particularly if you are able to fit all the data into the onboard flash) the prop essentially becomes completely self contained. You plug it in and it just works.
Feature Highlights
- 5V or 7-12V power
- 15MB of onboard flash memory to hold pixel data/audio data
- Micro SD card slot for configuring the board and for holding data if it cannot fit within the 15MB limit
- 2 fused pixel ports supporting 1024 3 channel pixels each (or 768 4 channel pixels)
- 1 audio output (3.5mm jack) supporting audio output.
- 6 input/output pins that can be used to
o Detect closure of a normally open switch (or a high from a normally low output from a sensor)
o Detect opening of a normally closed switch (or a low from a normally high output from a sensor)
o Detect an object within range of an ultrasonic sensor
o Detect movement of the board
- Ability to define time based events triggering
 
Keen to see how I can use the F- prop in a stand alone mode with some selfie wings so I can take the whole setup to some possible Xmas charity events around town. See you at the Sydney mini.
 
Hi all, I have been trying to use the F-Prop Programming Tool for a basic sequence. I created a simple sequence in xlights for a 3 ring star (150 nodes) displaying 3 colours for 5 sec each colour. Every time I try to add the fseq file to the F-Prop Programming Tool I get an Invalid FSEQ file message - shown below.
Have I missed a setting or is there a trick to saving the fseq file for the F-Prop.
I am using xLights 2024.10 and have F-Prop firmware build 5.
1718021777763.png
 
Having a hard time creating a valid fseq for this controller in Xlights. What should i set the controller type as in Xlights? There is no option for F prop
 
You dont need to associate it to a controller. You arent going to be streaming data to it, so it's irrelevant. The FSEQ just needs the props in the right order (starting channel 1 up to 6000 for 2k pixels total)

To order the props, you can set the start channel independently-

1722287834367.png

That being said, if you do want to use visualiser, you can just set any controller (such as F14v3 in my example), and set it to DDP (so the channel count is accurate)

1722288067282.png

1722288120584.png

The most important thing to remember is that the xLights channels are 1 to xxxx for the number that you have on the F-Prop.

Then when uploading the F-Prop config you need to tell it the right number of pixels on each port - which can come from the Pixel Port 1 and Pixel port 2 counts.
 
I think i had everything correct except i forgot to put props in order by channel for port 1 & 2. Thanks so much for your help.
That was probably the easy part as i am actually using ws2811 breakout boards to control analog relays for a pneumatic halloween prop. I will keep you posted on how that goes.

Thanks again
 
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