have a box with 3 ping ultrasonic sensors located on 3 of the walls (X, Y, Z)
and map those values with an arduino UNO to DMX out represented by RGB values (and thus changing the color of the room)
placing your hand in the box, the closer your hand got to that sensor, the more of that color value would be sent to the lights, the the room becomes more of that color.
so say
(input of PingX = output of DMXLED RED) // Hand far away from sensor, 0 red, hand up to sensor 100% aka 255 RED
(input of PingY = output of DMXLEDGREEN) // Hand far away from sensor, 0 green, hand up to sensor 100% aka 255 GREEN
(input of PingZ = output of DMXLEDBLUE) // Hand far away from sensor, 0 blue, hand up to sensor 100% aka 255 BLUE
so with the mix of RGB you can make so many colors by waves of a hand! an interactive station :))
ive got about a month to pull it off, and i come here on my knees humble for assistance. Thank You in advance
What you're asking isn't difficult at all in principle, however, because of the relatively slow speed of sound and the need to allow echoes to die away before taking another reading, you may well find your system is limited to perhaps only six to ten x/y/z measurements per second.
it is what it is. having 6-10 measurments per second ...if it can deliver an emotional effect, then we have succeeded.
would either of these scenarios work help to create more measurments per second
=-=-Scenario A=-=-=-
removing the walls so its just posts creating the box and supporting the sensors. and creating a ignore ping response > 50ms (aka 10 inches or whatever) to create the "ultrasonic edges" of the box
=-=-=-Scenario B=-=-=-
Some type of Foam can absorb ultrasonic waves to deaden the echo
a few months ago and being totally new at the time didnt notice it was not an UNO. Long story short i bought and am learning on an Uno. Then, heading over to the DMX arduino Playground Arduino Playground - Opendmx i see the phrase "All this just works with an old arduino board, since the UNO there is a different chip used :("
Oh what a scary statement!
Do i need to buy a Arduino Duemilanove ?
THank you for your responses.... this makes Art happen :))
Sounds like a fun project. You will need a shield or at least an additional circuit to talk DMX from the Arduino. Basically you need the chip that converts RS-485 to the levels the Arduino can talk (MAX485 or sn75176). I have had mixed success with DMX libraries, so I would get working on that right away. Going the shield route is probably the best, but I haven't used either of those, so can't testify as to their effectiveness. I have, however, built my own and got it working (though my code currently only works on the ATMega168). If you are planning on using a PC based lighting software then that is where the difference between an Uno and Duemilanove is most critical. The USB chip used changed, so the Uno won't talk to any lighting software that I know of. You would probably need to create your own software, or hope someone else has written something. However, it sounds to me like your project is simple enough that you could have all of the work done inside the Arduino, eliminating the need for extra software and a PC.
which says it works with the UNO. Coding will be the next step and im sure i will ask for help on that soon enough. I may use PURE DATA as way to use PROCESSING , but that will require the computer, though my ultimate goal is , like you said to be totally run on arduino. thanks For the enthusiasm i am PSYCHED!!! This will be s0o0o0 fun!
My first attempt will be to use the DMXsimple library with the UNO and Guildstern DMX shield. We'll see what happens
here are some additional angles of the concept design