Pixelated goodness

R

random

New elf
Joined
Oct 16, 2011
Messages
38
Location
Collaroy, NSW
I'm a bit of a latecomer to the Christmas scene for 2011, supermarket-bought lights don't interest me in the slightest but in September my friend sent me a link to the GE G35 hack. As an electronics engineer this kind of addressable light is exciting, however the GE lights are far too expensive. Fast forward to mid October and I'd researched the bejeezus out of RGB pixel control, signed up to ACL and ordered some pixels from Ray. I thought it might be a neat idea to make a dot matrix display to hang on my balcony, as I live on a 3rd floor unit.


Here's the result - 1.2m x 0.9m dot matrix containing 192 LEDs (17x12 pixel resolution). It's being driven by an ATMega64 sending pixel data on interrupt, and I have written some conversion routines to allow me to manipulate things based on row/column location (makes things a lot easier!).


The first colour sweep is a test sequence that will be deleted. Keep an eye out for the southern cross sequence, the youtube video doesn't show it as clearly as real life but the stars twinkle randomly (yes, now I'm showing off :D )


http://youtu.be/BbX7zAtc2fA



Vimeo link if youtube is blocked (copy/paste, it's the same vid) - vimeo.com/32883704


Image/sequence suggestions are eagerly received.. now that the hardware has been mostly completed I can focus on programming again. I haven't added the ability to display scrolling text yet, it's on the cards but depending on how much time I have in December it may not happen this year..


Cheers for the support + ideas I've received from other ACL members :)


Geoff
 
For simplicity's sake all the code and sequence data is stored in flash. Time has been a major limiting factor this year, next year it's likely I'll do some development to improve sequence editing and either interface it to my PC via DMX (helps if I ever want to sync it to music) or to a file on an SD card (if I want to keep it standalone).
 
[Hijack]

A couple of us have been thinking about some sort of command interpreter for use in a micro.

The idea is to store the commands in flash and have the micro turn them into channel on/off/dim/fade events.

Anyway, more about it here if you're interested.

[/Hijack]
 
Would be handy David, I'm keen on doing something along those lines in the new year so I've subscribed to that thread. This year I repurposed an existing PCB I had lying around, there is plenty of scope for improvement if I make a board dedicated to the task!
 
Video of final display sequence below, I live in a 3rd floor unit and the display is mounted on my balcony railing which is about 6-8 metres above ground level. Looks really nice from across the road!! The video camera I was using had some focus issues, it's a friend's and neither of us really knew how to operate it.


XMAS RGB Pixel Matrix


Audio track is just filler, my display runs standalone so it doesn't synchronise with anything..... yet.... :D
 
Nice work there, now how about a video of it looking at it from ground level to your balcony ;) i reakon that would really show off its real impact. But great work, im sure you level of CLAP infection has now gone up a notch
 
Very good there random. That will be a great addition to your building
 
Thats what im talking about, that does look great from ground level, all you now need to add for 2012 is some RGB floods and a few pixels to outline the balcony and it will be an awsome effect. But the matrix now really looks the part from that view. great work im sure its getting some attention from the people in your area
 
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