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How to Create a LED Mask Using Arduino, NeoPixels, and C++
- slowboat 7y agoThis is cool project, the effects look great! makes me think of 'Ruiner' computer game, the main character had an animated mask set in a cyberpunk world. Great work enjoyed the article :)
- armaizadenwala 7y agoThank you! I can't wait to upgrade it with a better microcontroller!
- nixpulvis 7y agoThis mask craze is confusing to me. Not surprising, just confusing.
- adammunich 7y agoIt's Mardi Gras lol
- egypturnash 7y agoCarnival's over. It's Lent now.
- sebbecai 7y agoI could be wrong, but I've always thought this was connected to Burning Man (masks are functional there).
- jedimastert 7y agoAre you referring to the cloth surgical-style face masks, or masks at raves?
- williesleg 7y agoAn LED mask.
- leggomylibro 7y agoFun! It's amazing how ubiquitous WS2812Bs have become in such a short time. They're wonderful for everything from wearables to signage to room lighting, and there are 12V versions available if you want to drive longer strings. Some advice for people seeing this article in 2020: you might consider using a more modern microcontroller which supports DMA for new projects today. The ATMega328p which is used in Arduino Unos and Nanos is a reliable workhorse, but it's also slow and expensive compared to modern 32-bit MCUs. Check out ESP8266/ESP32 or ARM Cortex-M cores. They're fast enough to make buttery-smooth animations, they have enough memory for thousands of LEDs, and DMA lets you set up a continuous data transfer to the LEDs which does not require CPU time. These days, there are plenty of ARM Cortex-M boards which work with the Arduino IDE while still being a hair cheaper than "Arduino" knock-offs, and ESP8266 boards let you control your patterns over WiFi. If you're starting to learn about embedded development today, it's not a bad idea to start with more modern hardware; projects like MicroPython and Arduino support a wide variety of chips. Also, if you use the Arduino IDE and appreciate their work, consider buying a genuine Arduino Nano. They cost a bit more than $3-5: https://store.arduino.cc/usa/arduino-nano https://store.arduino.cc/usa/arduino-nano
- person_of_color 7y agoIm building a setup now. Any tips on libraries for esp8266 to control the maximum number of leds via i2s DMA?
- leggomylibro 7y agoWell, there's an ESP8266 board called the "PixelBlaze" which is designed for driving these LEDs, but I don't think the firmware is open source: https://www.bhencke.com/pixelblaze https://www.bhencke.com/pixelblaze This page seems to have more information about a couple of different methods - apparently it's also possible to use a UART peripheral: https://github.com/Makuna/NeoPixelBus/wiki/ESP8266-NeoMethods https://github.com/Makuna/NeoPixelBus/wiki/ESP8266-NeoMethod...
- detaro 7y agoFastLED is quite popular: https://github.com/FastLED/FastLED/wiki/ESP8266-notes https://github.com/FastLED/FastLED/wiki/ESP8266-notes
- pugworthy 7y agoJust in time! )'(
- lqs469 7y ago"Cyberpunk 2020"
- fnord77 7y ago> Any airsoft mesh mask should work. how about a fencing mask
- LessDmesg 7y agoC++? How about no.
- gitgud 7y agoWhat language do you propose then?
- phito 7y agoWhy would you want to program a microcontroller in any other language?
- jmiskovic 7y agoBecause C++ is huge language with lot of history baggage that makes it easy to write bad code. I'd love to use something more elegant like Nim (with disabled GC). Note that only lowest layer of embedded project has to have direct access to memory mapped devices and for this I still prefer C.
- nimmer 7y agoThe new ARC memory manager will replace GC.
- brailsafe 7y agoI saw one of these last night at a show. It was pretty cool, but thought it was a little confusing to see so many rave masks (led and non-led) among so many surgical masks on sock people. We need LED rave surgical masks!
- brailsafe 7y agosick people
- midgetjones 7y agoThis seems an appropriate time to mention Shobaleader One, Squarepusher's live project, as their stage gear is a sort of Kendo uniform with a full-face LED matrix. The masks don't look quite as impressive in the video[0], but live it was incredible. The LEDs can react to volume, but additionally they were synced into preprogrammed routines to fit the music, and with very little other light on stage it was mesmerising. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VypU8zojFsY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VypU8zojFsY edit: warning! jazz fusion
- drcursor 7y agoThis is the mask that will most likely avoid you getting any kind of virus/bacteria/human interaction. Great for these pandemia-panic times.