Lanterns Coming Together

I failed to document a few steps because I was too busy having fun putting everything together to document all the steps. But so far I have folded a bunch of lanterns together, broken down the one 300 long led strip into twenty 15 led long strips. I soldered JST wire connectors onto all of the led strips so that I can easily snap the lanterns together into different orders. 

Here's a shot of the lanterns setup in my living room for New Years eve.

Currently, I'm in the process of programming different effects into the lanterns and figuring what all is possible and what looks best. I've been playing around with controlling the leds through the serial port. Right now I'm using Unity to send different commands to the lights, this helps keep the arduino code less verbose and I can do more complicated things on the computer. 

This is a video of making the lanterns sound reactive. My computer mic is listening to the audio and sending the arduino messages between 0 and 255 to control the brightness. 

Lantern Hardware

Construction Hardware and Prices

Here's a list of what I need to make 20 lanterns. Each lantern is going to have 15 leds in it and be about 25inches in diameter. The only thing not included in this list is the arduino which I already own.

Links

3 Pin Wire connectors - 50 sets for $12

NeoPixel LEDS - 16ft - 300 LEDS for $36

LED Power Supply  - AC to DC 5V 15A for $26

25in Jigsaw Lamp Shade - $5 per lantern

Building 20 Lanterns

Lantern Price = (20 x 5) = 100 + 36 + 12 = 148 Dollars

LEDs per Lantern = 300/20 = 15 LEDs

LED Lanterns Start

After working on the Light Blade project I really wanted to keep working with led strips because they have so many possibilities! I went to Siggraph Asia a few weeks ago and while wandering around a Bangkok night market I saw a guy selling some interesting lanterns. I bought a few packs and brought them home and I've been having a lot of fun folding them together.

The lanterns are built out of individual plastic cards that you fold together into different shapes. It takes a while to figure out how they come together (terrible instructions) but once you do it is pretty easy to put them together.

Here's my first test seeing what the lanterns look like with different colors being shown through them. I like how the two different colored cards look totally different depending on the color of light.

Light Blade Completion

Here are some clips of how the Light Blade ended up turning out. The arduino controlled the motor and the Led strip to create the color patterns. I then had a webcam connected to my laptop which captured a live video feed and additively built up the frames to create a long exposure effect. The video effect was programmed and run in Unity and then projected. I tried placing the projection next to and directly on the blade and ended up liking how the side by side looked better. 

Overall, I'm happy with the overall result of the project but there are elements that I initially wanted but wasn't able to complete in a reasonable amount of time. There are a few things I'd like to improve when I get time to work on this again. First, is getting a better camera input because the webcam resolution and frame rate weren't great. Second, I'd like to be able to create representational images with the blade by sending data to the blade. I tried this but the data transfer was far to slow and didn't create a very compelling piece. I'll need to look into faster ways of sending data to the leds and potentially use something other than an Arduino to control the strip. Lastly, the additive effect runs at a decent frame rate currently but I think by using shaders and the GPU I could faster and better looking results.

Assembly

This last week I built a box to house all of the electronics and mounted it on a tripod. The box is made out of plywood and balsa wood. It holds the Arduino, motor, and H-bridge. I drilled a hole in the bottom and glued in a 1/4 inch nut so that a tripod mount can be attached to the box. I also got a power supply and finished all of the wiring.

This is my initial attempt to get the projection working with the spinning blade. 

The main problem right now is that the LEDs are so bright that the color is getting lost and they only appear as white on the webcam feed. I've tried reducing the color intensity but that doesn't seem to help a significant amount. Currently my plan is to try and use a DSLR camera as a webcam so that I can get more control over the video feed. If that doesn't work my plan is to put something over the blade to diffuse the light.  

Initial Testing

I got a new piece 3D printed that attaches the motor, blade, and slip ring all together. My friend Nathan Ayres, did the modeling and printing for me! It turned out great!



I got everything wired and tested out. The slip ring works really well and allows for the power and data to get to the LED strip. The only problem currently is that the LED sometimes blinks randomly when the motor is powered on. I'm still looking into why this is.

Up next I need to synchronize the image by making the blade spin at the same rate as the data is being received. I also need to get the projection and long exposure capture working. And lastly I want to fabricate a box to put the arduino, and motor inside to make the project look cleaner and be more portable.

More Parts

Motor Power Supply:  5.1V DC 2.5A

This AC to DC adapter is to run the stepper motor which needs a 2+ Amps to turn with enough strength to rotate the display.

Slip Ring:  

This piece allows for wires to rotate on a motor. This should help me power and send data to the LEDs on the rotating bar. I'm not exactly sure how the slip ring is going to be mounted on the display and will need to do some experimentation to figure that out.  

Motor H-Bridge: