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Animated LED Specs

November 13, 2018

Animated LED Specs are a pair of RealD 3D glasses fitted with two 24 LED RGB NeoPixel Rings driven by a compact microcontroller.

They make a great accessory for all types of futuristic fancy dress outfits; they’re perfect for visits to Light nights and festivals; and kids love them.

The original idea wasn’t mine, I take no credit. My MMU BA Creative Multimedia colleague and creative collaborator Ben Lycett prototyped them first. I replaced the original Teensy 3.2 with a cheaper and more compact microcontroller – the Atmel ATTiny85 (and later the Digistump – an ATTiny85 based development board with a USB interface as recommended by Mike Bratt of the HacMan makerspace) – and updated the PCB layout and laser cut mountings.

I developed them for a ‘hands-on’ workshop at Barclays Salford Eagle Lab as part of the outreach programming and development team for Illuminim – an interactive light-based artwork featuring up to 10 floating illuminated buoys that collectively create patterns of light in response to audience interaction – launched at Lightwaves 2018.

I subsequently showcased them at the Manchester MakeFest 2019 at the Science & Industry Museum, 25 May and also at Liverpool MakeFest 2019 at Liverpool Central Library, 29 Jun.

I also developed the project as a MIY (make-it-yourself) kit with accompanying instructables.com guide – though that’s still in progress. 

I invested a fair amount of time working out how to optimise the code to fit within the modest 8k Flash memory (about 6k after bootloader) of the ATTiny85 and will post these details on my development blog in due course.

A demo video of the Animated LED Specs in action embedded below…