I’ve built a 64x64 pixel art frame [0]. With the diffuser in front of the matrix, it looks like animations are floating in the air. I got parts for v2, but I’m yet to find time to build it.
I really like how electronics today are very accessible to start playing with. Basic stuff is mostly plug-and-play, and essentially it becomes a software project.
At €20 per 32x8 module (2000/256), that's €0.078 per LED which is considerably more expensive than a third of a eurocent, I think? Even if it was €20 for all 6 panels, that's still over a eurocent per LED (2000/1536).
> I'm amazed at how cheap the LED matrix listed in the parts list is.
Cheaper now - AliExpress will sell you 6 32x8 boards for £59.21 (3.85p per LED or ¢5.16 if you're a colonial) saving you ~€52 over the original €120 price.
I've been meaning to do a write up of the project, but I keep putting it off. I wrote the software bits in C++. To speed up iteration (i.e. not have to deploy to real hardware for every tweak to the game code), I made a small web harness that ran the core logic as wasm.
5v power supplies are easily available, Meanwell is a popular & reputable brand. The same psu can run your lights and microcontroller.
I recall the last time I wanted to do this, my problem with it was that my microcontroller had a different voltage requirement than the LEDs and I tried to put together a little circuit that delivered the right voltage to the microcontroller and LED matrix from a single 5V power supply. I think it worked kind of ok and then not anymore and I had trouble figuring out where I went wrong, most likely did some bad soldering somewhere.
However, you can always just limit it in software. Total "brightness budget" for the display, scale everything to dimmer if exceeded.
I keep wanting to build a large "lite brite" style display for my window. I keep getting stopped even though I have a lot of the tools necessary, like this laser engraver.
You just gave me an idea about an extremely simple way to build this using a Raspberry Pi Zero and my cheap laser engraver.
