Will the Time Ball become a project or Kit?

[millerg]

Will the TimeBall ever become a "supported" project or Kit? I have a Disco Party coming up and am dying to put one of these baby's together.

Greg

[adafruit]

Will the TimeBall ever become a "supported" project or Kit? I have a Disco Party coming up and am dying to put one of these baby's together. Greg

we hope so! we're wrapping up a couple new (shipping) products/projects and we try and revisit shortly!

cheers,
adafruit support, phil

[millerg]

Any update on the Disco Ball?

Greg

[adafruit]

Any update on the Disco Ball?

none at this time, but we're still considering it and it'd on our list of projects!

cheers,
adafruit support, phil

[millerg]

I'm still itching to make one of these. I'm new to Arduino but have don a little AVR/satellite stuff etc in the past. Is anyone else interested? We could work as a team to refine some of the rough edges and order the lazer cut panels in a batch to hopefully lower the cost.

Maybe we can even have it moved into "Project" status.

I see the Arduino code on github, is there some PC/MAC/Linux software requires as well to control it and configure/design the patterns?

Greg

[millerg]

I'm getting closer to building one of these. The piece I am missing is the software used on the PC to design and or control that patterns showing up on the Time Ball. Il also going to take a swing at using bluetooth in leu if the xBee. Does have a copy of the file for the PC side?

Thanks,

Greg

[millerg]

Any suggestions on getting the laser cut panels? Is the Adafruit team willing to make a batch if we get a critical mass of "pre-orders" or commitments to purchase?

This is clearly not a kit as there are many unknowns as well as ways to build it. For example, am using Bluetooth over xbee and I am considering pre-loading a bunch of patterns to reduce the demand on serial communications.

I need a set of panels and the local shops are busy servicing the oil &gas industry and are very expensive.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Greg

[millerg]

Is I dig further into this the Arduino code (very well done by paintyourdragon) is pretty simple ti get up and running, even over bluetooth. It's the PC/MAC side that is the more difficult part. I believe the original design referenced Open Graphics language? Does anyone know if the was an app built with OpenGL, Blender, etc.

So far this is a very cool project to dig into and external communication makes it even more interesting.

Any tips from anyone that know more that this would be greatly appreciated.

Greg

[pburgess]

Hi Greg. Hey, I got your email...sorry for not answering, been so busy...but actually this is better here, we like to keep things recorded and searchable for others who may have similar questions.

If you have a local hackerspace or a TechShop-type of place, they may have a laser cutter available for members (maybe even non-members, with a reasonable donation). Or you might find a local hobbyist with a laser cutter...ask around, post to Craigslist, etc.

I've attached an Adobe Illustrator (v10) file that's a template for four triangles (you'll need 20 triangles total) plus the little hanger/strain-relief thingy:

triangles.ai.zip

(154.5 KiB) Downloaded 19 times

Barring that...if you can live without the slick mirrored finish, and if you have some power tools (bandsaw, drill press), the triangles can be cut from Sintra (aka foamed PVC), which you might find at plastics or sign shops. When making multiples of something that way, I'll usually stack up several layers (joining them temporarily with rubber cement, which peels off later) and drill and cut as a set.

Pre-loading data would be a good idea. The Time Ball I built used XBee, and it was *barely* reliable enough to work as long as the transmitter was within a few feet. Triggering fixed sequences over XBee would be a bit more robust, but wired over USB is still likely to be best.

[pburgess]

Oh yeah, as for the software...

The host-side software did use OpenGL, yes...but that was purely for the onscreen visualization of the ball. Elsewhere in the code, you can see where the X/Y/Z coordinates of each LED gets calculated...if you save those in a table, you can then do some position-dependent animation (for example, 'filling' the LEDs bottom-to-top based on time or something like audio volume).

[millerg]

Thanks for the reply. Are you willing to share the OpenGL Code? Coming up with the different patterns seems to be one of the more difficult parts. I have lots of woodworking tools, I'll just cut the panels manually. What material did you use that had the mirror finish. I could rough cut it on the band saw and finish it with a router and a template.