Some software/lighting/USB controller questions! Fairly large project!

[nck1285]

Hello everyone,

New to the boards and am happy to be here. I love DIY communities that really set the bar and this place seems to be just that. I have a few detailed questions that I need direction/advice on and really have hit a road block on where to begin. I'll give you a basic idea of the project first and then what I need done.

First, this is a project I'm doing for a small library as a donation. This will be a small story board game teaching little kids about how power gets sent from the power plant to an office building. The game will be coded in flash and will use a Windows 7 machine and a touch screen monitor built in to a custom fabricated "arm" woodwork piece that will be attached to the wall. Similar to a long kiosk I suppose. At the top end of the arm will be a frosted acrylic building around 4ft tall that I would like to light up with strip LEDs that will be controlled by SOUND coming from the flash game itself.

The basis behind the story is that once the child moves through the game, at the end they get a power switch that will allow them to control the power output to the city by sliding it up and down. This virtual bar will essentially control the sound level of the "power noise" going to the building and therefor (using an USB, LED controller) will be able to make the LED lighting inside the building fluctuate... simulating a band of power going from top-to-bottom of the building based on the power level. This way, when they move the power bar up and down, they hear the sound getting louder and the LEDs lighting up the building from top to bottom. I'd like to run 4 strips of 5050 RGB LEDs through the center of the building to evenly illuminate the entire thing. The LED's will be stuck to an acrylic rod fixed in the center of the building.

Here is where I'm stuck and still unsure as I've never done this before.

1). Can what I'm describing be accomplished? Using the sound + USB LED Controller + RGB LED light strips to achieve the "wavy" effect throughout the building?
2). If yes, WHAT is the best hardware to use for accomplishing this?
3). What is the best software to use in conjunction to that hardware?
4). Can I use LEDWiz for this application or is there a more suitable, better expandable option out there

That should be it to get started. I will for sure have more questions as I progress with this. I have around 6 weeks to complete this project and the lighting seems to be my biggest task... haha. THANK you for all that reply. Greatly looking forward to everyone's responses.

[RamjetR]

Hey Nck,

I hope we can help... nice story board idea for a library. Here's my best answers for you

1). Can what I'm describing be accomplished? Using the sound + USB LED Controller + RGB LED light strips to achieve the "wavy" effect throughout the building?

It can but there are many ways you can achieve this result...

2). If yes, WHAT is the best hardware to use for accomplishing this?

Funny you asked... It comes down to how you want to code your program. If you are generating the noise or just playing wav files of different levels of humming etc... If I were to approach this, I would write the code to reflect the level that the child has selected on the 'arm' and output the sound and lighting separately and not have them linked in a way. The Sound can be it's own effect and completely independent of the lighting effect you choose to use.

An LED controller like most used in the Mame/arcade community are very capable to do what you need but aren't necessarily free running devices which don't run without software like mamehooker or LEDBlinky unless your directly driving the output from the dll's provided. What I'm saying is that you'll probably have to write the interface to talk to the LED controller. This will be probably more daunting than you'd expect.

LEDBlinky out of the box will change LED's based on audio output according to frequency... This may be what you need if the sound output changes by frequency rather than just by level alone...

My advice here is to use an arduino for the lighting effects. If you have a PC running the game, then you have a serial port and there are hundreds of example LED controlled lighting effects using arduino. A simple write a value to the arduino serial comm port and enable/disable the LED strips you need. Even the Freetronics LeoStick is a Arduino in a USB stick now. No need for even a serial port. Atleast with a dedicated Microcontroller solution like an arduino, you have control over what and how you want to display rather than relying on sound level to change the effect.


3). What is the best software to use in conjunction to that hardware?

Premade? I think LEDBlinky has the best shot of achieving what you want with a stock LED controller. Depending on how your changing the sound level/frequency?
Otherwise... I'd be forgoing making any software and directly sending a serial command to an MCU like an arduino to handle the turning on/off of each level of lighting... it's honestly super easy and fun to learn... plus a compatible arduino will cost the same or even less than most LED controllers.

4). Can I use LEDWiz for this application or is there a more suitable, better expandable option out there

See Answer 2.... You have options here... I'd put a little more thought into how you plan to output the visual and audible feedback to the user, and think... Am I varying the sound by frequency or level? can I use that to trigger change in another program like LEDBlinky to use a standard LED Controller? or is sending a command to an external device easier from my own code than trying to interface to another program?



Ramjet

[nck1285]

Ramjet,

Thank you SO much for your detailed response. I needed a starting point and it seems you provided me with just that. I'm going to document this as much as I can because I feel others will greatly benefit from this especially if they try to design something to this size. Here are a couple more questions/added information I have for you. Here is the basis behind the hardware/setup in to this game:

The PC system will be running Windows 7 and is an HTPC size box. Here is a screen of the exact system: http://www.techspot.com/images/products/desktop-pcs/desktop-pcs/org/856277377_1816923304_o.jpg
The system will be mounted to the arm and connected to a ELO 15.6" touch screen monitor which will be flush mounted as well. This system has 6 USB ports, an audio port, DVI, and an HDMI port. No serial port. The entire arm will be about 5ft in length. One end will be the touch screen and the other end will be the acrylic building(s).

Here's the thing... the games will be completed in Flash because that's whats easiest for what we're trying to do. I thought that just by playing .wav files or .mp3 files that are inside the game... I could make the lights pulse or do whatever just based on this sound output. I really never thought of separating the functions (sound & lighting) because I thought the functionality with Flash is limited in that aspect. Is the commands that need to be called using LEDBlinky or similar simple enough to integrate in to Flash? Flash has an "execute command" function which allows you to perform simple 3rd party commands but I'm not entirely sure it's full capabilities.

If this gives you a better idea, here is how I want the game/lighting to work. I may have made it sound too complicated before but here:

-User starts the game by touching the screen
-User moves icon through the game until completed
-Once this screen is completed, User then gets taken to the "Control the Power" screen
-"Control the Power" screen has a slider bar with 0-100% on it.
-User moves the power bar up and down causing the LIGHTING in the building to go up and down or pulse brighter/dimmer. At the same time, the background sound is increasing and decreasing.
-After 30s of no one interacting with the game, it will reset back to the start page along with the sound which will then put the lighting back to idle.

If possible Ramjet... can you give me a list/link of items to get started on some testing? I'll need the RGB LEDs, controller unit (whatever you think is best) and then software to control it all. I'm in a grey area again when it comes to even the power needed for the lights (if any) and if I'm able to run the 5ft of wire from the system. Would I keep the LED controller closer to the system and then run a wire to the building(s) or run a wire from the PC to the controller which will be placed closer to the building(s)?

If this is a success, they want to do 5 more (6 in total) to represent the popular forms of energy used in the USA. All of which will be connected together in a circle with multiple buildings in the center. What an exciting venture huh? haha.

Thank you VERY much for your help. I'm stressing about this project and want to ensure I can get it done in time frame I have. Just so much to learn!


Side question: Would some sort of DMX system work for what I'm trying to accomplish?

[RamjetR]

Heya again...

Ok I think I understand what your doing now... tell me though, are ALL the lights on all the floors going to change intensity at the same time? or are the lights going to move up from floor to floor to the top at 100%?

If all the lights are going to incease in steps with the MP3 being played, then it makes your life alot easier... if your stepping the lights up from the floor to rooftop then it's a bit more involved...

Here is a good tutorial series on Arduino and PWM control of an LED output... all you'll have to do is of course put the output through a high load current transistor to drive the many parallel LED strings you wish to vary the intensity for. It's also a good started series for arduino in general. I would just send the serial command to change the pwm level (0-255) to the arduinon via serial (USB com port which is built in to the arduino) at the same time you tell it to play the new MP3. It's really that simple.



If you really want to change the effect of the lights by the sound being played... then I'd assume you'd have the 'humming' sound effect increase in frequency on each file to indicate more power is being fed to the building. From this you can use LEDBlinky to generate effects with any LED controller.... Note that not ALL LED controllers will change intensity of the LED's... for example a PacDrive that I'm more familiar with will only toggle them on or off... for PWM control you will need a LEDWiz or something of the likes. You can then set it to Audio control and enable effects based on the frequency it's listening too...

Alternatively, could could just use LEDBlinky to make the lighting effects at different levels (with the animation editor) and call the animation with a command line like c:\ledblinky.exe -animation file here (it's in the user manual)

Download LEDBlinky and see what you think. It's a top program and even the free version will be more than enough for your need.

Actually, I checked LEDBlinky's site again (great work again Arzoo) and found a configuration picture of probably exactly what you need.


Couple this with a PWM compatible LED Controller and make your MP3 files increase in sound level and your set...

Ramjet