NeoPixel Arduino Assignment
I added a sparkle animation to the Arduino code. Here is an explaination below:
uint32_t c
This animation starts the function by telling the Arduino to output color across a range of RGBW. As this represents 4 different colors with their respective intensities, this information has to be stored within a large enough range. As color intensity varies from 0-255, the color parameter requires a 32-bit parameter in order to account for the 0-255 range for each color (RGBW). This is because 32-bits represents 256 different combinations of 1s and 0s, for all 4 colors RGBW
uint8_t wait
This animation then defines the ‘wait’ time as an 8-bit function — meaning it has the capacity to count to 256 milliseconds (2^8th power). Using an 8-bit variable here saves a few bits of storage and is particulary useful in this case as the pauses between the loop running are very short within the 0 -256 millisecond range.
*I found this part particularly interesting as I’ve learned about quartz watches in the past and I wanted to know how this relates.
strip.clear();
This clears the strip of any colors/brightness before the wipe begins
strip.setPixelColor(random(NUM_LEDS), c);
This defines the random value that will be assigned to any of the 4 LEDs in this chain. We know there are 4 LEDs because we’ve pre-defined it for our variable NUM_LEDS
strip.show();
The color isn’t pushed to an LED until this ‘show’ line is run.
delay(wait);
There is a delay before the loop is run again. This delay is defined by the 100 in the following line sparkle(strip.Color(255, 255, 255), 100);
Halloween Costume Ideas
Daft Punk (MTA Edition)
Daft Punk is back except its not all fun and dancing, its practical MTA train times so you never miss the F again! I could implement a LED strip across the 3D printed visor that would allow light animations to sweep over the screen to display text. With this I may want to change the helmet just slightly to make it more my own and less a replica.
Eve Glasses
In Pixar’s Wall-E (one of the top sci films of this century) Eve’s eyes squint up when she laughs. I thought this is a cool feature to implement into glasses that could be a main piece of a halloween costume. Perhaps the glasses have a gyroscope to squint when the head tilts up.
NYC Crosswalk Sign
Another idea is to have a shirt which functions like the NYC crosswalk. Perhaps a custom animation that is a bit different or unique from the NYC signs could give it an extra kick. Or maybe it walks when I walk and then the stop hand comes up when I stop moving.
Hey Tristan, I think you’d have the most fun at the parade with the crosswalk sign! Consider ways to box it in to make it a bit more graphical, and increase the size of the signal to be more accurate to the actual thing. It’s a fun challenge to make your lights arranged in such a way that they make both the “walk” and “don’t walk” symbols. You could change between them on a timer or with an onboard pushbutton.