To all electronics / LED people out there!

[Slukaj]

Ok, so this is mainly for anybody who's familiar w/ LEDs and electronics.

I'm looking for a way to build an eye from the Personality Spheres that changes color and pattern w/o swapping the physical eye out.

Any suggestions?

Here are what the eyes are supposed to look like. Remember, one eye needs to make all four of these color patterns.

 

[exoray]

How big is that eye circle that needs to be illuminated?

 

[Slukaj]

Oof... probably should've mentioned that, huh?

Near as I can tell, maybe 3" in diameter. I'm still working out some blueprints.

 

[blip]

......

 

[RisingZan]

Funny you should ask. I've been researching LEDs for my own Portal related project and the BlinkM by ThingM might be just what you need. Its an LED you can program to change color, strobe, "breathe", etc. Check it out here:

thingm :: an electronic product studio: BlinkM

The pattern element could prove difficult. Maybe you could accomplish it by creating different lens "overlays"?

Keep us updated, I'd really like to see where you go with this!

 

[exoray]

Near as I can tell, maybe 3" in diameter. I'm still working out some blueprints.

At that size you would be best using an color LCD/OLED display, aka digital picture frame... That way you can nail the pattern near exact, and get the tight 'square' corners, and overlayed grids... You won't get the kind definition and detail with simple discrete LEDs..

 

[RisingZan]

Whoops, I missed the scale you are shooting for...I second the use of an LCD panel. At 3", you might be better off buying a used ipod touch and uploading the "eye" images. Unless you're tech savvy and can solder and program something of your own.

 

[jasonw2112]

You could use a digital picture frame, if you can find the right size. All you would have to do then is download the images to an SD card, and put it in the frame.

Edit! ^^ What Exoray said!^^

 

[Darth Lars]

Print in greyscale on plastic film. Mount onto coloured gel. Build a mechanism that swaps between them.

 

[RisingZan]

Print in greyscale on plastic film. Mount onto coloured gel. Build a mechanism that swaps between them.

Probably the most budget friendly option. The greyscale on plastic film approach would work for the color changing LED option as well. It would be pretty cool to build some sort of "viewmaster" slide changing mechanism into the main unit so a simple click would change the "eye" of the personality core.

 

[Slukaj]

Print in greyscale on plastic film. Mount onto coloured gel. Build a mechanism that swaps between them.

I'm iffy to that... I've already got plans for moving the 'eyelids', but I'm unsure as to how structurally stable this whole thing will be...

At that size you would be best using an color LCD/OLED display, aka digital picture frame... That way you can nail the pattern near exact, and get the tight 'square' corners, and overlayed grids... You won't get the kind definition and detail with simple discrete LEDs..

You could use a digital picture frame, if you can find the right size. All you would have to do then is download the images to an SD card, and put it in the frame.

Edit! ^^ What Exoray said!^^

Thats actually a pretty good one. I was looking into LCD shields for Arduino, and I couldn't find anything. Maybe a bit of hacking could make a picture frame work in the same way.

Whoops, I missed the scale you are shooting for...I second the use of an LCD panel. At 3", you might be better off buying a used ipod touch and uploading the "eye" images. Unless you're tech savvy and can solder and program something of your own.

Nah, you're cool. The only project I've ever considered using an iPod Touch for was a PIPBoy 3000. Since Wheatley will be pretty much a static prop w/ minimal interaction w/ the world, I can't really justify purchasing such a pricy device.

 

[sswift]

An LCD is your best bet. And since it doesn't sound like you want to animate your sphere, as others suggested you can probably just use one of those digital picture frames. The picture frame is especially appealing because some of them come with built in MP3 players and you could set up a slide show or whatever with that and pretty much be done on the electronics side, aside from blinking the eye.