led light box project help

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grettagirl
 
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led light box project help

Post by grettagirl »

I am an artist and I have been making led light box sculptures. The ones I have made at this point are static with a crude rgb controller. I want to used tiled matrix screens and need a recommendation for software program to create pixels that is simple and intuitive. I also need suggestions for a processor that can handle a large amount of tiled led screens data.

Please see attachment. Thanks for any help Michael
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mikeysklar
 
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Re: led light box project help

Post by mikeysklar »

Interesting project. It reminds me of James Turrell's work.

There is guide page specific to chaining 4 panels.

https://learn.adafruit.com/rgb-led-matr ... ple-panels

Any of adapters would be good solutions with a Pi4 or M4 processor.

https://www.adafruit.com/product/4745
https://www.adafruit.com/product/3211
https://www.adafruit.com/product/3036

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grettagirl
 
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Re: led light box project help

Post by grettagirl »

Thank you Mikeysklar!
I feel like I am starting to move forward with this project with your help! I am new to led matrix screens, processors, and pixel mapping programs. Researching this project has been daunting trying to find the best solution with all the information and different ways to control leds.

It looks like the Adafruit Matrix Portal - CircuitPython Powered Internet Display Product ID: 4745 should have enough ram to run four 64×32 panels?

Also, Is the CircuitPython able to run leds in a loop in a stand alone setup?

My other concern is what pixel mapping software to use. Im afraid programming code to run leds would be too complex, I simply want to control different bands of color and brightness and animate a slow fade to different colors over a long period of time in a loop.

Any suggestions? Most pixel mapping software I have been researching seems way too complex for my needs.

Thanks for your help, Michael

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mikeysklar
 
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Re: led light box project help

Post by mikeysklar »

The Matrix Portal would be good choice for chaining 4 64x32 panels. It has the processor and memory to drive them. It can be run standalone.

Adafruit has a CircuitPython guide which can help get you started with pixel mapping. You will have to roll your own tool chain to do abstract sequencing, but this is a start.

https://learn.adafruit.com/circuitpytho ... el-mapping

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grettagirl
 
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Re: led light box project help

Post by grettagirl »

Thanks for all your help so far. Because of the requirements for unique mapping of leds to create these abstract colors bands writing code for 2000 plus pixels and making fades for the bands and programming specific color and their rgb numbers. I think it would be too overwhelming and time consuming.

The LED Matrix Studio is free application designed for electronics enthusiasts who want to speed up the development of their LED and matrix projects. It supports many different export options, animations and different sizes of matrix.The software can create graphics and animations for your PICAXE, PIC, Arduino, Parallax and any other electronics or microcontroller projects. Im not sure if it is supported by Circuit python? If it did ,that would be a good option. If it does not i need to find a microcontroller that will work with a led mapping program that does not require soo much coding to map all these pixels. I will keep looking for a mapping software that I can send to a microcontroller. I you know of any please let me know. Thanks Michael

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mikeysklar
 
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Re: led light box project help

Post by mikeysklar »

LED Matrix Studio supports Arduino and you can run Arduino code on the Matrix Portal.

That being said you might want to search various forums on this topic and see if others have a preferred setup.

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grettagirl
 
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Re: led light box project help

Post by grettagirl »

Hello,
I have changed corse and will be using sk6812 rgbw led chips in strips and matrixes to animate light box. They have better light, brighter, and i can make large boxes cheaper and easier.

I want to run animated giffs in led light boxes i have made. I am learning how to create these gifs in photoshop. What micro controller would be best to use? Also, if using a ardruino, what program should i use to convert giff . so that the microcomputer can read and send it to the leds? I would like to achieve these goals with the simplest means . For this project i want to run a animated gifs that fade into other colors over time

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grettagirl
 
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Re: led light box project help

Post by grettagirl »

Can i use a ardruino uno or should i use M4 to run leds? Can I run gifs on Sk6812 rgbw leds? Thanks

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: led light box project help

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

The UNO does not have enough memory or processor speed to run animated GIFs of any significant size. The M4 would be a much better choice for that.

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grettagirl
 
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Re: led light box project help

Post by grettagirl »

Will m4 run sk6812 rgbw strips?

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grettagirl
 
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Re: led light box project help

Post by grettagirl »

What do i need to connect a m4 to sk6812 led strips? Thanks

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mikeysklar
 
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Re: led light box project help

Post by mikeysklar »

Yes, an M4 based board would be a good solution for running NeoPixel RGBW LED strips like this one:

https://www.adafruit.com/product/2842

The NeoPixel Uberguide is excellent for getting started with these strips.

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neo ... xel-strips

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grettagirl
 
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Re: led light box project help

Post by grettagirl »

Hello mikeysklar,

I am still mulling over how to get these light boxes to work. I have figured out how to create animated gifs in photo shop and have also imported these gifs into microsoft expressive pixels and manipulated them even more.
I have also created a large 14" x20"matrix panel of led strips that looks and works well.

The missing link for me now is sending gifs to microcontroller and coding controller to output the correct data to led strips. The adafruit tutorial is for the matrix portal panels LED drivers, not the sk6812. It seems I need to modify the SmartMatrix AnimatedGIFs program to work with sk6812 Neopixel strips . I am sculptor who cast bronze, silver and makes ceramics. Coding is new to me ,so, so this is difficult for me.

I think I am ready to purchase the adafruit m4 express and try to set it up. Do you think think this will work? Thanks for any help Michael

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grettagirl
 
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Re: led light box project help

Post by grettagirl »

here is new flow chart for project and controller I want to use
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Screen Shot 2022-12-09 at 10.07.57 AM.png
Screen Shot 2022-12-09 at 10.07.57 AM.png (98.8 KiB) Viewed 185 times

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mikeysklar
 
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Re: led light box project help

Post by mikeysklar »

You might be able to pull this off.

The issue is there no clear roadmap to get everything you need working. There are guides for using tiny displays like the QtPy BFF and using RGB Panels. Making it working with NeoPixels is totally possible, but you might struggle being new to this.

I think the key is to use the NeoMatrix library (Arduino):
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-5x5 ... ff/arduino

or displayio bitmap (CircuitPython):
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-5x5 ... cuitpython

That way your pixels are mapped in a way you can reference them. Still this will require some coding and hardware skills. The M4 Metro is a good choice for a hardware board.

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