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How to Create a LED Mask Using Arduino, NeoPixels, and C++

armaizadenwala.com

11–20 of 39 posts

Re: How to Create a LED Mask Using Arduino, NeoPixels, and C++

#11
post #8

This 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 :)

Thank you! I can't wait to upgrade it with a better microcontroller!

Re: How to Create a LED Mask Using Arduino, NeoPixels, and C++

#13

Fun! 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 Uno…

Thank you for this post! When I started, I didn't realize how low powered these nanos are. I spent forever getting the variables under 1.1kb but I just discovered the teensy 4.0 that supports 1000x as much memory and 30x the processor speed. I am still glad I started with the nano because it got me to refactor my code and make it memory efficient.

Well, congratulations - it's an impressive project! Putting things together in a sturdy way that looks nice is the hard part. Thanks to all of the free libraries and IDEs, the hardware and software are practically an afterthought these days :)

Re: How to Create a LED Mask Using Arduino, NeoPixels, and C++

#14

Fun! 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 Uno…

Im building a setup now. Any tips on libraries for esp8266 to control the maximum number of leds via i2s DMA?

Well, 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

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-NeoMethod...

Re: How to Create a LED Mask Using Arduino, NeoPixels, and C++

#15

Fun! 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 Uno…

Im building a setup now. Any tips on libraries for esp8266 to control the maximum number of leds via i2s DMA?

FastLED is quite popular: https://github.com/FastLED/FastLED/wiki/ESP8266-notes

Re: How to Create a LED Mask Using Arduino, NeoPixels, and C++

#16

Fun! 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 Uno…

Teensy line, especially the Teensy 4. Amazing power in that thing, and cheap.

Re: How to Create a LED Mask Using Arduino, NeoPixels, and C++

#18

Fun! 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 Uno…

Teensy line, especially the Teensy 4. Amazing power in that thing, and cheap.

I have one laying around! Is it as easy as just soldering the wires on the pins just like the nano?

Re: How to Create a LED Mask Using Arduino, NeoPixels, and C++

#19

Fun! 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 Uno…

I'm a big fan of the STMicro nucleo L476RG. Multiple UARTS and SPIs, really low power, custom clocking and deep-sleep modes, 32x the flash of an Uno, and up to 80MHz. Comes in $13 arduino-like board, or a smaller $8 version like an Arduino micro.

Re: How to Create a LED Mask Using Arduino, NeoPixels, and C++

#20

Fun! 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 Uno…

Teensy line, especially the Teensy 4. Amazing power in that thing, and cheap.

Teensy is great, and the guy that makes it is super cool. Not enough IO on the breakouts for big projects tho, IMHO.
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