Whirled Without End

Quidam · Post by **Quidam** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:29 am

First off, if you know someone who was involved with any of the Cubatron projects or with the Quoting Whirled from '02, please point them at this thread.

Have you seen those cool little devices that look like noisemakers but when whirled around flicker the LEDs in such a pattern as to spell out words? The Quoting Whirled consisted of a number of these sorts of devices in different forms. Now picture those LEDs being pixels of any color, like the balls of Cubatron. Now picture, instead of being on a small straight verticle surface, the lights are along a ring that is whirled around & around like a line of longitude around our planet. Add some weight around the equator to provide some gyroscopic stablization.

You now see where I'm trying to get and the reasons I'd like to contact those who've worked on similar projects in the past. I want a gyroscopic spherical display. I need to learn more about how to program the lights so as to display words or images properly, in whatever color I want.

Hopefuly there is some readily adaptable out-of-the-box solution, but I fear I'm already looking at next-year's project. I'd like to start making some progress, though, so if someone could point me down some likely paths, I'd be obliged.

Quidam

Prometheatrician & Hypercube Wrangler

Dork · Post by **Dork** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:44 am

Something like this?
http://www.jamesnsears.com/projects/orb/

Quidam · Post by **Quidam** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 10:01 am

Thanks! That's almost exactly what I was picturing, except I was picturing using the spin for gyro effects, too. Which would probably make it much more difficult.

And looking at that log, it doesn't look easy. Thanks for the link! Now I have someone to bother with questions once I've read it all.

Toolmaker · Post by **Toolmaker** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 11:49 am

From what little I know the cubatron is highly technical and fairly expensive. One would need extensive computer and electronics knowledge to tackle the programming of such a wonderful thing. I wish you the best of luck with your project. The cubatron is one of the coolest things I have ever seen. And I can't wait to see it bested by you.

ibdave · Post by **ibdave** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:24 pm

Quidam, I got to help Mark assemble the Big Round Cubatron this past event.

It was alot of fun to help out.. My friends and I did not do anything other than help with the assembly. Mark is the man behind the curtain if you will. He did give us a set of the lights.. Very Cool of him.. But here is the website.
Good luck with your Project.. http://nw.com/nw/triklits/index.html

MikeVDS · Post by **MikeVDS** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:29 pm

One would need extensive computer and electronics knowledge to tackle the programming of such a wonderful thing.

Not really, but by the time you were done you'd have extensive knowledge in that particular area. If you're willing to learn and do a little research there is not much you cannot do. It seems complex but when you break it down piece by piece, it's pretty simple.