Sometimes, we build things with LEDs as indicator lamps or to illuminate something important. Sometimes, we build things with LEDs purely to glow and be beautiful. This interactive light toy from [Jens] falls into the latter category.
The build uses a 16×16 addressable LED matrix. [Jens] then ported some “Bouncy Bubbles” Processing code from Keith Peters to the Arduino Mega, and set it up to display on the matrix. An accelerometer was used to control the bouncing ball animations, while a second Arduino was then tapped to act as a musical synthesizer to add more vibes. The whole kit was then built into a 3D-printed housing with a nice hazy diffuser to give the LEDs a smoother, even look. [Jens] steps through how he got the diffuser just right, including a support structure that made all the difference to the aesthetic of the finished product. Getting diffusion right is key to making a nice LED project, and [Jens] got it very right here.
It’s a nice little art piece that looks kind of relaxing to play with in a dark room. We love a good glowable project here at Hackaday, so if you’ve built your own—don’t hesitate to let us know! Video after the break.
The diffusion is very nice, but the movement feels a bit jumpy. Maybe some anti-aliasing between neighboring LEDs would help?
I think he accomplished his goals, and in addition made a great video for us :-) Also including the highs and lows in the video, setting a great hack example.
I appreciate the kind words, Gösta! Thank you!
Interesting question — I think he did a great job with the parts he’s using and may be at the limit of the hardware — he’s using an arduino with only a 16×16 display – I’m wondering whether the math for antialiasing continuous movement would even be possible with an arduino — if he used more “blobby” fluid shapes it might also be less jumpy but again possibly beyond wha the arduino and a 16×16 array is capable of.
Thanks for the kind words, Titus431. I appreciate it. I think you are spot on about the hardware, anti alising is possible but I think I’d need a more capable platform.
Thanks for your input. Anti alising would be fun. I looked into other people’s work on it and I could be wrong but I think I’d have to move to a more powerful platform for that. For my purposes this was exactly what I wanted to make though.
You can look at what WLED can achieve with a ESP32 and a 16×16 panel. Really impressive.
It shouldn’t be too hard to port your code to an ESP32.