This year I got into LED art, and was using Amazon controllers from China (SP108e, 14-key RF, etc), and they left me frustrated with a lack of control.
I searched for other solutions, but coding with an Arduino seemed super tedious (I’ve always disliked coding, perhaps it’s my ADD), Pixelpusher lacked some important features and doesn’t look to scale down well, not sure what to say about my impressions of Artnet/DMX…
So, I plugged a Pixelblaze into my unicorn head a couple of days ago and was instantly excited by the results. Wow!
(unfortunately, my phone camera doesn’t do justice to the actual colors)
Yes, I love the ability to create more negative spaces and gradients in my patterns than I was able to with simpler controllers.
I happily share with individuals how I made it, but posting an instructable is an entirely different matter. Reverse engineering it entirely is difficult, even when standing right next to it.
I too have been frustrated with commercial controls and dissuaded from programming in FastLED. But altering patterns on thePixelBlaze, or wrting them from scratch is pretty easy, and Im just learning a bit about JavaScript. I wholeheartedly encourage you to look under the hood and start playing around. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.
I have to add-in, I’m having so much fun playing with my PixelBlaze. The live feedback is amazing. I’m only a neophyte hack coder but I’ve been able to do some interesting patterns (usually based off other patterns, but still fun). Thanks @wizard for making such a useful product!
Also thanks for shipping it so quickly.
