I have to say this library is pretty awesome. I have worked with it a bit from code examples and make some pretty neat stuff but I keep hitting one wall. For those of us that are not programming geniuses like Dan and Mark (What they do is amazing!), would there be a way to make a GUI for this library as far as coding is concerned?
This would be for basic patterns, functions, etc. An “easy mode” for people like me who do not have the talent or the know how to but want to make some LED based projects.
I am tired of seeing something really cool and unable to animated it or code it properly. Getting things to compile is all guess work for me. Just a suggestion for someone who is really struggling with learning this from scratch. I hate to ask every time I run into something that I botch up coding wise. I wish I had the know how to make something like this.
What would we want to from something like this? If we can spec up how it should work and what functionality it should have perhaps some programmer will pick it up.
This particular editor was key frame based with all the animation data saved to sd cards. But a version that composes effects and compiles to code might be possible.
Well I was thinking about what most people do with this library is pretty simplistic. Yes, there are very complex projects out there like clocks etc, but it would be nice to have all the basics stuff down in code for beginners like myself.
This is a good place to start in terms of the idea.
The strips would be defined and all you would have to do is select which strip you have and the number. If its a grid- your software looks usable for sure!
Frame by frame would be a nice addition too if needed or a combo of frame by frame and automated programs.
The current issue is that everyone can write the code in very flexible ways. It took me months (limited programming skills) to make a 5 pattern auto switching program. I could see how this would be make very easy if it was all together as a template type, select what you want/order kind of program
There could be a transitions database, to switch from effect to effect. A presets - lots of code is on here but all over the place.
What would be really cool is to be able to have a collaboration effort to add new code ideas into the program in simple importable files. No more having to modify tons of code to make snippets work together. If some sort of standard of sorts is set, then it will become easy for people to share and really take this to the next level.
These of course are only some of my ideas but I just have no clue how to make it a reality. But even having just a menu to put patterns back to back in a simple interface would be better than what we have implemented now.
Just throwing it out there to see what others think. =]
I believe @Mark_Kriegsman and I had a chat along these very lines back at OSHW conference in 2013. I think there’s definitely potential for it. I’m thinking something a little bit like VJ software.
A library of processes which can be layered and applied to each other. Simple modules of code so you can easily get the community involved that each do a small thing, but when layered together make outstanding stuff.
This is all very solvable, its really a question of finding enough programming time and talent to make it happen.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. It could start out as a really simple database of code/ combination editor software then go from there. I wish I knew someone who could make it happen.
Well it´s not a GUI, but that was one of my main intentions with FunkyClouds and FunkyNoise: to have a solid API skeleton which allows you to code your animations straight foreward without thinking about the details going on under the hood. And there it is already easy to share short code snippets which contain everything relevant for the actual animation itself. Maybe I should really start documenting it well…
@Stefan_Petrick I spent a little time thinking about this earlier and I think your approach is probably right, but it does need better presentation for people new at coding. I can imaging that being confronted with 2000 lines of code when you are first starting out is daunting.
So we have two options here.
The simplest is we put together a library dedicated to effect processing. Much like FunkyClouds and FunkyNoise, but with a full suite of documentation and packaged in a library which you can just install. You then call the appropriate functions and away you go. I can see this being really useful, and could double as a set of utility methods usable by everyone regardless of skill set. It would as you say give us a common API to work against.
Much harder and for the complete newbies who don’t want to code much at all you need a full GUI. This could possibly be based on the same library of code, but would present it in a simpler way allowing people to easily generate the code they need. This is honestly a lot of work, whether or not it is worth while I am not sure. If people are getting into pixel matrices and ws2812 strips without any programming experience or intention to learn then I suspect there might be better more packaged products out there.
