[Noisebridge-discuss] 3D RGB LED matrix

[Mitch Altman]

Wow, 4x4x4 RGB for $100.  Pretty cool!
 
I assume you've seen my LEDcube kit?  That is 3x3x3 monochrome.  Also a good place to start.  I wrote my firmware so that people can easily learn from it.  It is very well documented.  (Most of the firmware is actually re-mapping from the easy-to-code data to the easy-to-wire PCB.)
 
I haven't seen the actualy cube from hi-tecart, but I would try to keep the 4x4x4 cube wired the way it already is wired, since that will save you a ton of solder connections.  Then "all" you need to do is wire the cube to a micro and program it.  Charlieplexing would make it so that you can control it with fewer output pins, but each light will be less bright than if you multiplex (there are 64x3=192 LEDs to control) -- but, then again, Jimmie Rodgers' LOL shield uses charlieplexing, and he has 126 LEDs that he lights up nice and bright.
 
Here's a link to my LEDcube kit assembly instructions:
http://www.tvbgone.com/cfe_LEDcube_instructions.php
Scroll to the bottom for links to the firmware.
 
Also, the original LED Cube came from Der Blinken Lights group of Das Labor.  Their projects are also open source.  You can check out the way they did it from their website (do a search for Borg Cube).  I did a quick search and came up with a 5x5x5 RGB cube of theirs:
http://www.das-labor.org/wiki/Blinken_Borgs
(but they did this with an FPGA).
 
Regardless of how you get it going, please post when you do!
 
Best,
Mitch.
 
 

 


From: tymmothy at gmail.com
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2010 15:56:22 -0800
To: sam.sobell at googlemail.com
CC: noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
Subject: Re: [Noisebridge-discuss] 3D RGB LED matrix


Looks like it's wired "charlieplexed" which is at least a place to start.


I couldn't see from the link what the controlling hardware is; if it's like an AVR or like an 89c51 or what.  Cleanest (though not necessarily easiest, based on CPU) would be to program a similar chip to what's on there with new stuff, if you can't wipe the current one & reprogram it.


Could almost certainly be controlled via Arduino if you really wanted, though you might have to implement shift registers to get enough pins.








On Nov 28, 2010, at 12:51 PM, sam sobell wrote:
I recently came into possession of a Hi-Tec Art cube (www.hi-tecart.com/products/cube-1/cube#1). I found it a little boring that it could only run through a per-arranged pattern, and I was hoping to remove it's LEDs and create a programmable 3D RGB LED matrix. The main issue I am facing is finding a way to drive the matrix, and I was wondering if anybody knew of any relatively easy and inexpensive ways of doing so? I have a fair amount of electronics experience, and I am definitely interested in learning more. I also have a fair amount of coding experience for actually writing the program to drive the LEDs. So, any bright ideas noisebridge?


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