This is my first forum post so I apologize if this is in the wrong section. I created a project using a 10x10 grid/matrix of WS2812B leds all individually cut and then connected to power rails, ground rails and the data pins are connected in a patter on left to right and then the last data out is connected to the first data on the left in the next row.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13......
My question is about a program i would like to write but have no clue how to do it. My idea is to have the capital letter E in the middle and all the other leds surrounding it do random patterns, colors and orientations while keeping the E easy to see so probably a white color (255,255,255) i think. I have downloaded the FastLed library which has these rainbow,chaser, ect... so is it possible to include those codes with my desired E in the middle?
Thank you in advance to all who try to help. If i should post this in programming or project guidance I will.
Work out which LEDs are needed for the E and then make sure that those LEDs are always turned to white. There is nothing magic in this, you just need to set each one individually (or in a loop if they are in the same row/column).
Yea i figured I would have to do that, I just don't know a thing about coding. Ive spent a couple days researching how to but I'm not very keen on it and find it very confusing. I figured you could just modify the random code to only include the leds not in the E and then a separate string for the E to stay all one color. I just don't know how to exclude certain leds
The FastLED library uses an array of LEDs that are numbered 0 to the (max length - 1). Colors are set in the led array by simply writing to the appropriate led index. You will see this in the example code. I think the array is called 'led' in most examples I have seen.
BTW, if you are not keen on coding this is a strange hobby to take up. You may benefit from getting some basics in place before tackling real code - there are a lot of 'arduino' and 'C++' tutorials on the web.
Just remember this is a huge shift register, the first byte shifted out will become the the Blue of the 100th LED once all the other bytes have been rattled out, therefore the very last byte that is sent will become the Green of the First LED
This may be too much information right now, I also suggest downloading the FastLED lib
As a non-progamming suggestion (and just for fun), you could get a USB-to-WS2812 convertor and download Jinx from http://www.live-leds.de/
Just remember this is a huge shift register, the first byte shifted out will become the the Blue of the 100th LED once all the other bytes have been rattled out, therefore the very last byte that is sent will become the Green of the First LED
trevor_rau:
My question is about a program i would like to write but have no clue how to do it. My idea is to have the capital letter E in the middle and all the other leds surrounding it do random patterns, colors and orientations while keeping the E easy to see
You need an array that contains the LED numbers you don't want to light. Then before you call the function that sets the LED colour you search through the array to see if the LED number you are about to set is in that array list. If it is you set the LED to black, if not set it as normal.