WorkshopNeoPixels - Revision history

Takaji at 16:34, 4 October 2017

2017-10-04T16:34:23Z

Edwin at 05:01, 6 January 2016

2016-01-06T05:01:25Z

Edwin at 04:58, 6 January 2016

2016-01-06T04:58:46Z

Edwin at 04:38, 6 January 2016

2016-01-06T04:38:51Z

Edwin at 04:31, 6 January 2016

2016-01-06T04:31:54Z

Edwin at 04:22, 6 January 2016

2016-01-06T04:22:33Z

Edwin: Write out most of the guide

2016-01-03T03:02:36Z

Write out most of the guide

New page

Here we're going to be playing with WS2812 red+green+blue digital LEDs which [https://www.adafruit.com/ AdaFruit] calls [https://www.adafruit.com/products/1426 NeoPixels] by controlling them with an Arduino. They can be strung together into long chains so you can use them for signs, fancy Christmas lights, or anything else fun that might need changing lights or precise colours. Most of the hard stuff is handled in software for us, so this will be more of an Arduino and programming workshop that interfaces with the physical world.

=== Required Supplies ===

* Arduino-compatible microcontroller
* Laptop with the Arduino IDE installed ([https://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/HomePage see this page for details])
* USB cable to connect the Laptop to the Arduino
* A good attitude :D

=== Kit Contents ===

* Three NeoPixels soldered to female headers
* Male to male jumper wires to connect them to the Arduino

=== Pre-class Preparation ===

These lights need very precise timing to talk to them making it tricky to program. Because of that, we're going to use an Arduino library from AdaFruit to do all the hard work for us. That way we can just spend time doing awesome things with them. Instructions on installing and using that library are found [https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide/arduino-library here], so get that installed and if you like to be prepared give the rest of that page a read. It'll give you a huge leg up and an in-depth look at what we'll be doing in this workshop.

If you're not familiar with basic circuits, that's okay. There is magic here, but it's not needed for the class. There is a [https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/what-is-a-circuit great article] over at SparkFun that you can read if you're curious.

=== In-class work ===

Because we're using only three NeoPixels, the Arduino and your computer's USB port can give us all the power we need. The only physical part of this workshop is hooking the outputs of the Arduino to the inputs of the NeoPixels. You'll see that the LEDs in the kits come with wires attached, and that the ribbon is labelled GND, DI, and +5v. Those need to be wired to the 5v, Gnd and "Analog In 0" of the Arduino. That should give us the power and data we need to get onto the software part.

I'm going to take a break writing for now, but more will be available by Tuesday, January 5th, 2016.

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:34, 4 October 2017
Line 1:		Line 1:
		+	[[Category:Events]]
		+
	Here we're going to be playing with WS2812 red+green+blue digital LEDs which [https://www.adafruit.com/ AdaFruit] calls [https://www.adafruit.com/products/1426 NeoPixels]. We're going to be doing that by by controlling them with an Arduino. After you learn the basics you can be string these together into long chains so you can use them for signs, fancy Christmas lights, or anything else fun that might need changing lights or precise colours. Most of the hard stuff is handled in software for us, so this will be more of an Arduino and programming workshop. It's just fun to interface bits to the physical world.		Here we're going to be playing with WS2812 red+green+blue digital LEDs which [https://www.adafruit.com/ AdaFruit] calls [https://www.adafruit.com/products/1426 NeoPixels]. We're going to be doing that by by controlling them with an Arduino. After you learn the basics you can be string these together into long chains so you can use them for signs, fancy Christmas lights, or anything else fun that might need changing lights or precise colours. Most of the hard stuff is handled in software for us, so this will be more of an Arduino and programming workshop. It's just fun to interface bits to the physical world.

@@ Line 73: / Line 73: @@
 Some interesting ideas:
-. Traffic light (how do you make yellow?)
+# Traffic light (how do you make yellow?)
-. Animation of multiple lights
+# Animation of multiple lights
-. Reverse Flashing
+# Reverse Flashing
 === Troubleshooting ===

@@ Line 39: / Line 39: @@
 void setup() {
    pixels.begin(); // This starts the NeoPixel library.
+}
@@ Line 44: / Line 62: @@
    // Do something creative in here!
-  pixels.setPixelColor(0, pixels.Color(10,0,0));   // Low Red colour
+   //blink();
-  pixels.setPixelColor(1, pixels.Color(0,20,0));   // Low green
+   solid();
+}
 </pre>
-This should light the three LEDs for you. If not, panic slightly and read on.
+This should light the three LEDs for you. If not, panic slightly and read on to the Troubleshooting section. If it did light up, congrats! You're now ready to make your own fun! Start playing with the numbers in 'pixels.Color' just under 'solid()' to find out what different values for Red, Green, and Blue make.
 === Troubleshooting ===

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-Here we're going to be playing with WS2812 red+green+blue digital LEDs which [https://www.adafruit.com/ AdaFruit] calls [https://www.adafruit.com/products/1426 NeoPixels] by controlling them with an Arduino. They can be strung together into long chains so you can use them for signs, fancy Christmas lights, or anything else fun that might need changing lights or precise colours. Most of the hard stuff is handled in software for us, so this will be more of an Arduino and programming workshop that interfaces with the physical world.
+Here we're going to be playing with WS2812 red+green+blue digital LEDs which [https://www.adafruit.com/ AdaFruit] calls [https://www.adafruit.com/products/1426 NeoPixels]. We're going to be doing that by by controlling them with an Arduino. After you learn the basics you can be string these together into long chains so you can use them for signs, fancy Christmas lights, or anything else fun that might need changing lights or precise colours. Most of the hard stuff is handled in software for us, so this will be more of an Arduino and programming workshop. It's just fun to interface bits to the physical world.
 === Required Supplies ===
-* Arduino-compatible microcontroller
+* Arduino-compatible micro controller board
 * Laptop with the Arduino IDE installed ([https://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/HomePage see this page for details])
 * USB cable to connect the Laptop to the Arduino
 * A good attitude :D
-=== Kit Contents ===
+=== Kit Contents ($20) ===
 * Three NeoPixels soldered to female headers
 * Male to male jumper wires to connect them to the Arduino
 === Pre-class Preparation ===
@@ Line 50: / Line 51: @@
 </pre>
-This should light the three LEDs for you. If not, panic slightly and ask your partner for help.
+This should light the three LEDs for you. If not, panic slightly and read on.
 === Troubleshooting ===
-In all likelihood the wires were not connected properly, or the code may have failed to upload. The Arduino itself also has a handy light on it so if that's not lit, plug it into another USB port and see if that helps.
+In all likelihood if something went wrong it was either the wires were not connected properly, or the code may have failed to upload.
 If you see red text at the bottom of the Arduino IDE, it could be that the serial port wasn't picked properly. Try looking under the "Tools" then "Port" menu for a COM (Windows) or tty (Linux, Mac) port. You'll need the right one selected, and nowadays the Arudino is likely the only serial port on your system. Swap to different ports to see if the upload works.

@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 For the software, we've made something very simple. Start a new sketch in the Arduino IDE (see 'new' under 'file') and save it (see 'save' under 'file'). Then just paste this text block in there and press the upload button (round button with a right arrow):
-<nowiki>
+<pre>
 // Adapted from NeoPixel Ring simple sketch (c) 2013 Shae Erisson
 // released under the GPLv3 license to match the rest of the AdaFruit NeoPixel library
@@ Line 45: / Line 44: @@
    pixels.setPixelColor(0, pixels.Color(10,0,0));   // Low Red colour
-   pixels.setPixelColor(1, pixels.Color(0,20,0));   // Medium green
+   pixels.setPixelColor(1, pixels.Color(0,20,0));   // Low green
    pixels.setPixelColor(2, pixels.Color(0,0,10));   // Low Blue
    pixels.show(); // This sends the updated pixel color to the hardware.
+}
-  </code>
+</pre>
-<nowiki>

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:22, 6 January 2016
Line 23:		Line 23:
	Because we're using only three NeoPixels, the Arduino and your computer's USB port can give us all the power we need. The only physical part of this workshop is hooking the outputs of the Arduino to the inputs of the NeoPixels. You'll see that the LEDs in the kits come with wires attached, and that the ribbon is labelled GND, DI, and +5v. Those need to be wired to the 5v, Gnd and "Analog In 0" of the Arduino. That should give us the power and data we need to get onto the software part.		Because we're using only three NeoPixels, the Arduino and your computer's USB port can give us all the power we need. The only physical part of this workshop is hooking the outputs of the Arduino to the inputs of the NeoPixels. You'll see that the LEDs in the kits come with wires attached, and that the ribbon is labelled GND, DI, and +5v. Those need to be wired to the 5v, Gnd and "Analog In 0" of the Arduino. That should give us the power and data we need to get onto the software part.

−	I'~~m going~~ to ~~take a break writing for now~~, ~~but more will be available by Tuesday~~, ~~January 5th~~, ~~2016~~.	+	For the software, we've made something very simple. Start a new sketch in the Arduino IDE (see 'new' under 'file') and save it (see 'save' under 'file'). Then just paste this text block in there and press the upload button (round button with a right arrow):
		+
		+	<nowiki>
		+	<code>
		+	// Adapted from NeoPixel Ring simple sketch (c) 2013 Shae Erisson
		+	// released under the GPLv3 license to match the rest of the AdaFruit NeoPixel library
		+
		+	#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>
		+
		+	#define PIN A0 // Which pin on the Arduino is connected to the NeoPixels?
		+	#define LED_COUNT 3 // How many pixels
		+
		+	Adafruit_NeoPixel pixels(LED_COUNT, PIN, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800);
		+
		+	void setup() {
		+	pixels.begin(); // This starts the NeoPixel library.
		+	}
		+
		+	void loop() {
		+	// Do something creative in here!
		+
		+	pixels.setPixelColor(0, pixels.Color(10,0,0)); // Low Red colour
		+	pixels.setPixelColor(1, pixels.Color(0,20,0)); // Medium green
		+	pixels.setPixelColor(2, pixels.Color(0,0,10)); // Low Blue
		+	pixels.show(); // This sends the updated pixel color to the hardware.
		+	}
		+	</code>
		+	<nowiki>