Ideally you would make the display 128x64, and copy the GIF image to two locations to produce an identical image on each side. The Teensy 3.6 may struggle to drive 128x64 though, so as a bit of a hack, you can drive 64x64 for one side, and then chain that to the other side. The other side won’t be driven with the same image, it’s complicated to explain but the pixels and timing will be slightly off, and I think there may be some rainbow colored pixels on one edge. Try it and see what you see. You can also try driving 128x64, and see if it flickers too much.
For 128x64 you want to set kMatrixHeight to 64, kMatrixWidth to 128. For 64x64, set kMatrixWidth and kMatrixHeight to 64. Then you may need to play with the panel order to get the image to look right. Please post back and let me know how it goes, and I can help with copying the image to two locations for 128x64 if needed.
What festival(s) are you planning to take this to?
I tried changing the kMatrixHeight and kMatrixWidth to both 64 like you mentioned, but now sadly my panels are showing black without a gif. If I set it back to both 32, I can see the gifs again. Here’s a snap shot of my code to show, see if I’m inserting anything wrong.
For the gifs I am using, I have been following the gif forum on that same page for resizing. I don’t understand too much about the chaining part. Is that how I connect the wires in the back or in the code for kMatrixOptions?
I’m probably going to take you up on that offer of copying the image to two locations please!!
I’m planning to take it this weekend for EDCO, kind of scary I’m doing this last minute.
Thank you by the way for replying so fast and for your help, I greatly appreciate it
By chaining I meant wiring, and your wiring looks good at a glance.
So 32x32 works, does 64x32 work? 64x64 and 128x64 both have a blank screen. Try the larger resolutions again with kRefreshDepth set to 24 which frees up some memory.
I’m about to go to bed (UK time) but I’ll check in tomorrow
Yes, 32x32 works and the 64x32 works. I tried doing the kRefreshDepth to 24 for the 64x64, this time it caused only the top left and top right panel to be displaying a gif. The bottom left and bottom right became blank. When I try the 128x64 with the kRefreshDepth to 24, all four panels are blank.
By chance, am I supposed to be inserting something for kMatrixOptions or change the kPanelType I have currently?
I think you may be limited to 64x64 with the Teensy 3.6
For 64x64, do you see the same pixels from the GIF on the top left and top right panel? Or do you see like the top half and bottom half of the GIF split across two panels? What are the sizes of GIFs you have loaded?
If you set your config to 64x64 and played a 64x64 GIF for your setup I would expect to see it displayed correctly across the first two panels, and nearly identical on the last two panels. There may be a column of rainbow colored pixels on the last two panels. The only think you may need to do for kMatrixOptions is change bottom to top stacking (or the reverse) if the image is stacked upside down.
For the 64x64, I see top half of the gif image on the top left and top right panel. For example, I only see the head and back of the pikachu on both panels, not the legs. The sizes I have the gifs are 32x32. Should I change the sizes of them?
I’m not at home at the moment but I will try to change the gif to 64x64 like you mentioned later tonight and let you know how it goes!
If you can post a picture, or video, and the source GIF that would help me figure out what’s going on. There’s no resizing or even centering of the GIF in the example sketch, so if you’re playing a 32x32 pixel GIF I’d expect to see it fully displayed in the top left of the panels, and then repeated on the other panels
The only problem I’m having is the order of the picture. It’s flipped upside down. So the feet of the pikachu is on the top, and the back is on the bottom. When I tried to change the kMatrixOptions to top to bottom to fix the issue, that’s when it shows error. What I did to solve this was just flip the panels around physically.
Everything is good to go now! I can not express how thankful I am for you helping me out with this project. For replying so fast and having such a kind heart. You are my angel hahahah. Now I can enjoy this totem for the weekend. Thank you Louis
If you want to do an upgrade for the next show, you could swap out the Teensy 3 with a Teensy 4, and either upgrade to the SmartLED Shield for Teensy 4 or use this adapter and solder some headers/sockets so that you can use your existing shield. The Teensy 4 has enough power to refresh the panels much faster. You’re likely refreshing around 120Hz with the Teensy 3, maybe lower. The Teensy 4 will do 240Hz by default and higher if you set the refresh rate manually. That way there will be more lines refreshed in the shutter time of a camera, and the picture displayed will look more complete on a camera.
Here’s an article@marcmerlin wrote which includes how he improved his wearable LED panels to look better on camera (search “refresh”).
Thanks Louis, I was going to say the same thing from the pictures with the visible refresh bars. You definitely want a much higher refresh rate so that people can take full pictures of your totem.
I hope you had a great EDC In case anyone cares/is curious, here is my report:
There were multiple cool totems, but the new ones I saw were all running off rPi, and one was running off an FPGA (that was at dreamstate):
Sorry to nec this thread, but the resolution on that is incredible. Did you have any information on what that individual was driving those displays with, or in general recommendations on the current best approach for someone taking on this project for the first time (rpi vs. teensy, etc.). If it helps, I am hoping to display a gif made from a video of someone dancing. Thanks for any insight!
the totem in the picture I gave above, uses an FPGA board, although it would work with rpi-rgb-panel lib and 3 parallel chains since I have the same setup at home on my wall
In case anyone cares/is curious, here is my report:
