Wife wants me to make this
TC
Posts: 1,019
Hello all, I was surfing YouTube and came across a LED table. After a few more videos, I found this one. My wife looked up from her book and said "I want you to make that!" In our 15 years of marriage she has never been that adamant about a project she wants me to do.
But, I have a problem. I have no idea where to start, what should I use (MPU, drivers, etc.), how to do the patterns, etc... Building the table is no problem (wood, plastic, metal, etc), and making very simple LED patterns I can do, but I don't think simple patterns will work for this.
Any insight would be great.
Thanks
TC
But, I have a problem. I have no idea where to start, what should I use (MPU, drivers, etc.), how to do the patterns, etc... Building the table is no problem (wood, plastic, metal, etc), and making very simple LED patterns I can do, but I don't think simple patterns will work for this.
Any insight would be great.
Thanks
TC
Comments
Yeah, don't do it. I mean monitors are way cheaper and slim, just build the frame and legs and run it from a RPi as there are plenty of visualizers available. Use a polycarb sheet over the top to protect the screen. You could even play games on it, especially board and card games.
So 32" LED LCD TV does cost less at $179 http://www.walmart.com/ip/SCEPTRE-X322BV-HDR-32-LED-Class-720P-HDTV-with-ultra-slim-metal-brush-bezel-60Hz/25059351?wmlspartner=*7WaaTN6umc&sourceid=20164897472754624023&oid=268135.1&affillinktype=10&veh=aff
But if you can get the cost down for the rgb_led+diffuser, it's still cool factor.
As for driving them, you'd need to multiplex 3 grids of 12x20 (1 red, 1 blue, 1 green). It is possible to do, but you'd need a lot of shift registers, demultiplexers, and LED drivers (preferred to driving them with the shift registers). A project of this magnitude would be too much for a BS2, but a Propeller should be capable of handling it.
As Peter said, you'd probably be better off just buying a screen if you aren't needing to go for that authentic homemade look.
I don't have anything to suggest beyond what others have already suggested but I wanted to make sure you have seen SparkFun's LED array coffee table.
I'm wondering about doing something similar myself. I've been experimenting with 8x8 RGB LED arrays in preparation to possibly using them in a table.
I think the larger pixels of the table shown in the video would be easier to control than a 64x64 pixel (or 100x100 pixel) table top.
The led hardware is not that difficult, basically three sets of four 8 bit shift registers. The software though is a bit more difficult, but I am sure a prop could handle it.
Except self respect.
What localroger said.
Except that the screen isn't nearly as bright as a modern LED, or focused the same per-pixel.
http://macetech.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=43
Far better the effect when using an LCD monitor which could also turn into an aquarium or maybe it could disguise itself as a coffee table even.
Erlend
I may be over sensitive but screens are starting to drive me nuts. They are everywhere:
The are many at home already of course what with PC, laptops, Tabs, phones, TV's etc.
They are wall to wall in shopping malls.
They are at every checkout and cash desk.
They are wall to wall in bars.
Even small screens on beer pumps!
They are on the bus and train and the back seat of aeroplanes.
They are in the lobbies of office buildings
They are in the elevators.
All normally trying to remind you that you have forgotten to think about buying something for a moment.
Go for the LEDs. You have permission to go nuts. In fact you are commanded.
Of course you might accidentally (wink, wink) over specify the number of Propellers and other goodies you need to complete the job:)
They may be designed to mount vertically, thus using the chimney effect to circulate air through it.
Also if you go with a border on your LCD coffee table like the one in the picture, you will trap even more heat in the unit.
I've been playing with MAX7219 chips lately and I think they are fun but I still prefer to use high power shift registers. With a PASM driver, the shift registers should be able to give pretty good color depth with that size of an array.
The MAX7219 let's you update a just 8 of 64 pixels at once but I don't think this is very useful in this sort of project. I think a '595 type shift register would allow faster updates of the screen (to allow PWM blending of colors).
I'd suggest keeping the enable pins of the shift registers accessible to allow brightness control without losing color depth.
Depending on how bright you want the table to be, you might need to use a '595 chip to control some sort of transistors if the high current '595 can't handle the loads directly. I doubt you'll need to do this though. I bet the big brother of the chip I'm using would probably work for this project.
I talked with my wife, she said "No way are you using a TV for a coffie table. If I wanted that I would just put ours on boxes and it would be done. I want how it is in the video"
So, with her saying that, looks like LEDs all the way. YAY!!
I was wondering, what does everyone think of using WS2812 LEDs? I found 250 of them, from eBay for $62.95USD + free shipping from New York. I know I have seen people drive a lot of them at one time, but I don't know if the prop could drive 228 of them.
Also, how did they do the visualization? I don't think someone sat there and coded every single frame (that's the only way I know how). Im assuming they used some form of FFT (still don't know how it works).
I really like the idea of touch sensor. and of doing a Game of Life. Don't know how to do either.
Please keep the ideas, and knowledge coming. I have only done simple stuff, mostly with the BS2. I am just starting to get a small grip on the prop (still cant get past 1 COG). I think this project would help me more, and help to keep me out of the dog house.
Glad you've got the green light for LEDs - pun not originally intended... I've used the 7219 to drive 2 8x8 matrixes of LEDs from a single BS2. It's a little tricky for a novice but I have code that might help. You will need three matrix drivers, one for each R, G, and B. I agree that a Propeller would be an easier setup IF you have Propeller experience... but you could also use three BS2 chips I suppose, communicating between each other!
What an excellent wife you have.
Don't worry about knowing how an FFT works. You just put an array in and get an array out. Input might be sound signal samples, output is a table of frequencies detected in the signal. Have a search here for heater_FFT for an example that runs on the Prop.
Game of life is a must. It's also easy. I'm sure wikipedia can fill you in.
I want Carte Blanche...How can I get Carte Blanche?...me me me, I want Carte Blanche!
<sigh> My better half will never go for it.
PS: Keep us posted on your progress TC!. Carte Blanche doesn't come around very often- Carpe Diem!
-MattG
Let's see it is 12x19 matrix. Are you going with one color or three colors? That will decide a lot of what you need to do both in terms of construction and programing.
Oh, this is going to take quite a bit of power as well... but don't rush into buying a power supply until you are sure how you are going to drive the matrix.
Fast Fourier will allow for modulation to audio input, but it is one of the last pieces of the puzzle you will need to get into place.
If you are using three modulated colors on each LED, you may just have something better than the video. You may not have noticed but none of the LEDs are changing color in the example. They just blink on and off.
Those LEDs only take a couple of pins. They are addressed serially.
Instead of individual LED, I would suggest getting them in strips:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/144-LEDs-M-WS2812B-Chip-Black-PCB-WS2811-IC-Digital-5050-RGB-LED-Strip-Light-5V-/310775026322?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item485ba29292
This would save a lot of time soldering, and you would have to add one resistor and one capacitor to each LED, as shown at the bottom of this Data Sheet.:
http://www.adafruit.com/datasheets/WS2812.pdf
You will also be looking at a 6-8 Amp power supply.
Sign Sign, everywhere a sign, breaking up the scenery blocking my mind.... something something something sign..... ( I don't quite remember the lyrics, tesla was my dads music not my generations...)
That was actually by Five Man Electrical Band, from back in 1971. It was later covered by Tesla though.
Dang it, I went off topic there again.
"do this, don't do that, can't you read the signs?"
...or so my OLDER brother told me
(it may actually be "bending my mind" much more 70's (or so I'm told))
To go back on topic:
Carte Blanche is a WONDERFUL thing!! You can make quite the table.
Sounds, touch, variable RGB are all great things as mentioned. It should probably be WiFi enable so you don't need any ugly programming plugs or ports.
So I guess the original was Zetsu's grandfathers music
The signs were bad enough. Now we have both. The signs tell you all the time what you can not do whilst the screens are endlessly shouting what you should do (Buy more useless stuff).
Recently I read that they wanted to install huge advertising screens on the sides of bridges some place so that drivers passing underneath could be brainwashed as they sit in traffic. That's how bad it's getting. Luckily whichever city it was saw sense and disallowed it.
But don't forget the mood lighting mode, the pink hearts and the romantic messages scrolling by when you are done.
My wife wants to keep it RGB, she likes the way it looks.
I am a fan boy of the MAX7219, but I don't think it will be good for this project. The 7219 only has 16-bit global brightness, My wife wants it to be like the video. Where one pixel is different from an other.
I have seen the strips of WS2812, and I might just go that route. Because even if I make boards 1/4sqin (smallest OSHpark can do) i would be looking at around $100 just for the boards.
I don't want to get neck deep in this project and find out that this cant be done exactly like the video. The thing that grabbed my wife's attention was the visualizations, like what is on iTunes. That is the thing that has to be able to do. The other stuff, like Game of Life, spectrum analyzer, some form of input for simple games are up to me.
I like that idea.