Project Starters
3D Structure
We've provided you with chicken wire, coathangers, and other materials you could
use to create a 3D structure. Using those materials, you could sculpt almost
anything!
Happy Sculpting!
Dancing Lights
One possible use of your lights is to program them to "dance" to music. To do
so, you would need to choose a piece of music and then time the light pattern to
fit with that music. (Be sure to follow the rules of
the showcase!)
As an example, these lights are dancing to
Axel F.
A few notes:
- To know when to begin your music, you might want to start with one bulb as
the "conductor". You might designate light 0, for example, and have it blink
four times so you'll know when to start the music.
- You have a few choices for ending your music:
- simply stop the music after your presentation,
- trim the music to the correct length so that it ends at the right time, or
- execute your project in an infinite loop, by adding a pause and looping
the music.
If you choose a method that requires music editing, a
good editing software is Audacity;
here is a
tutorial for how to use it in the lab.
Happy Dancing!
Displaying a Message
You could also program the lights to display a message. To do this task, you
would need to choose a phrase and then program your lights to write letters to
spell out that phrase. (Be sure to follow the rules of
the showcase!)
As an example, these lights are flashing a
message.
Happy Texting!