Bits

Cobbled up a script light using one of the DuckLight prototype boards. Made a flexible stand with an eight inch length of armature wire from the art supply store, and the neodymium magnet from a 1" tweeter as a base. I'm having odd issues with the software, though -- there's a noticeable flicker, and I'm pretty sure the chip is running at 8 mHz. This is something I need to solve to make the circuit truly useful. But at least I can see my cues on my current show.

I'm also re-thinking the button scheme once again, in that if I can get the software working on the Holocron, I think it might just provide enough control for many of the "quick, find a light to put in this prop" applications. It is a lot of programming and will be fiddly to use but with three buttons I should be able to select color and among several nodes; steady, pulse, flash, swirl, and flicker.

Adding the option for interactivity is harder. But...I just realized I can add another mode by polling the buttons and taking any voltage outside the range the programming buttons supply as a valid input. So it might be simple to add a one-shot trigger mode. Less simple to add an intensity control (unless I've got another analog input lying around I haven't remembered).

Related to this, a family of megahertz-range radio modules has just had a decent software and hardware infrastructure built for them, so there is an option now that is cheaper and has a better transmission range than the XBee modules I've been using up until now.



Managed to take the class on the Universal Laser and can now laser-cut and engrave at TechShop again. And sold off the last of my stock of Aliens grenades (I still have a few mostly-finished bodies around). The show I'm working closes next week and I'm really looking forward to having no theater for a while and being able to get more prop work done.