iiiintroducing cubetube!

[alex hornstein]

Cubeheads!

We'd like to introduce CUBETUBE, a site for sharing volumetric joy!  It lets you browse through visualizations and load them onto your cube with a single click.  Log in to cubetube with your spark account, and you'll see your cubes in a dropdown menu.  Select a cube that you want to load new code onto, pick a viz that strikes your fancy, and click 'send to my cube'  Badda-bing badda-boom, it loads!

This is our first version of the site, and we will keep building it out over the coming months.  Our top priority is to let users upload their own visualizations to the site, and we're releasing that on Jan 3.  In the meantime, we'll be adding new visualizations as quickly as we can write 'em.  Comments, search, integration with streaming visualizations, and sharing source code are coming up next -- stay tuned.

This is a new site, and if you do happen to see any bugs, please let us know in the comments.

and happy new year!

--alex & the L3D team

[g. wygonik]

Congrats! Excited to see all the cool, new things folks do!

g.

[Dave Morgan]

Woohoo!  Thanks Alex. :-)

On Saturday, December 27, 2014 10:16:05 AM UTC-8, alex hornstein wrote:

[Minitme]

Hi Alex and hi everyone. Can't wait to get mine. I think it's fantastic the way you're already setting things up for users. Well done guys.

[Martin Grider]

This is very cool. Can't wait to add some projects. Two questions (only one related, really):

1) How are you imagining adding projects? Will we be able to just link up a github repo somehow?

2) Can whoever is admin of this google group change the preferences so email subjects have a prefix? I'm imagining [L3D], but anything to identify them would be most welcome. (Now that the volume of traffic is increasing, I think it's necessary for those of us who subscribe via email.) Thanks!!!

So exciting!!!

-martin

[Alex Hornstein]

Hi Martin,

V1 of adding projects will look like a “upload viz” page.  You can upload as many photos as you like, write a 1-2 sentence tagline that shows up in the main gallery, and then a long-form description that can be as long as you like.  You can link source code to any online location you please — github, pastebin, your own site, etc., and you upload a compiled binary file to the server, which is what gets sent to a cube when someone clicks “Send to my cube”

We have a sweet idea coming up to improve source code sharing.  We’re going to explain it in an upcoming update on Jan 1.

Good call on the prefix.  I changed it to a [cubetalk] prefix.  Thanks!

—me

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[Peter Chestna]

While you're at it, it would be great to have an Arduino gallery with pictures/videos/links to code. Until Martin, I thought I was alone in using an Arduino. Once FastLED is ported I will have less need to use the Arduino and may switch back to the Spark but that may be a while.

[alex hornstein]

That's a good call.  I'll take a crack at putting a selector or tag in a viz to describe the processor it runs on and other hardware deets.

[momo]

A quick update on cubetube:  

I'm finishing up the "upload viz" functionality, and it should be up tonight.  It adds a remarkable amount of complexity to the site, hence the couple days of delay.  

We'll be improving the site quite a bit over the coming weeks, and we're in the process of hiring a dedicated web developer to handle adding more capabilities to the site as we grow.  If you do notice any funny behaviors or issues, please let us know in this thread and we'll fix them up.

Stay tuned for a walkthrough of the uploading/editing tonight.

--momo

[momo]

Hey cubeheads!

Cubetube now has two big new features:  now anyone can upload a viz, and also comment on existing vizs.  Check out this video for a in-depth walkthrough of how to take a complete program and upload it to cubetube, or read-on, intrepid explorer!

Anyone can create a viz.  Once you're logged in, you'll see a link in the navbar that says 'CREATE'.  That takes you to a page where you can describe a new viz, upload the binary file and images, and link to a site to share your source code.

The 'upload binary' button is there specifically for programs written for the Spark processor that ships with the cubes, and will let other cubeheads load your program onto their cubes with a click of a button.  For users that are working with arduino, or with streaming code, you can still create a viz, add images and link your source code.  Just leave the binary field empty.

Finally, there is a field for tags.  This will help us search through vizs (coming soon) to find vizs that work with a certain processor, or to search for a specific effect.

We also added commenting.  Once you're logged in, you can comment on any of the vizs.

We have the first user-uploaded viz!  Tech_geek10 has uploaded a sweet viz called UberCube.  Check it out for yourselves!  Congrats, Tech_geek, on making cubetube history!

We can't wait to see what you all create.  Happy cubing!

Alex & the L3D team

On Saturday, December 27, 2014 1:16:05 PM UTC-5, momo wrote:

[shailesh kumar]

Hi,

This is really cool thing I saw recently. We are  planning to use this in upcoming project for our client. Only problem I can see is they need prototype by end Jan 2015 and full project can end up with May or June 2015. So I would like to request L3DCube team, if I can get even 1 unit of cubetube to showcase our client to get this project after convincing them. LAter We are planning to purchase 10-15 units of such cubetubes.PLease guide us proper channel to approach our request and email address to approach them. Thanks a lot.

[Dataway]

What are you using to make your Animated GIF's that you are showing in your gallery entries...?  I tried makeagif.com which can use a youtube video as the source of the Animated GIF and as you can see my entry in the Gallery the quality is not so good..

[Shawn Frayne]

I use two programs for the animated gifs:

From my phone:  an app called 5sGIF, and I record in landscape mode.
For conversion of videos into animated gifs on my mac:  a sweet and simple program called Gifrocket.  Highly recommended.

-Shawn

[Alex Hornstein]

@Dataway — I know what you mean about your GIF not looking great in the main gallery.  It’s not your GIF — I know that because in the detail page for your viz, the GIF looks great.  It’s a problem with the cubetube styling not handling your GIF properly.  I think it’s because I wrote the styling for landscape-type GIFs, so it tries to stretch the image so that the width fits into the box, and then it scales the height proportionately.  Your GIF is a portrait-type layout that’s higher than it is wide, and the display code isn’t smart enough to handle that yet.  

I’m putting a fix in the queue for the next release next wednesday.

—alex

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[TECH_GEEK10]

Nothing is free in life, and I bet a cube isn't free either, so I would expect to have to pay something one way or the other. :/ 

Not trying to be mean/rude, just don't feel it needs to be said.

[Dataway]

Thank you Shawn and Alex for the reply, I am working on a new animation and will try out the recommended programs.

[Peter Chestna]

Is there any way to edit my posts? I just created one but was trying to add a gif and can't find a way back to my original post. FWIW, I really wish that I could just post my YouTube video. That's how I share it everywhere else.

Pete

[Shawn Frayne]

Hi Peter,

Substantial improvements are coming to the new CubeTube, launching in early May  -- and we agree on the animated gif issues and are working out a way to make posting visualizations much easier and cleaner.  That all said, you should be able to edit your posts on the current beta CubeTube site -- try to log in with your account info, then go to the app you uploaded and click the small pencil icon for editing.

More on the new CubeTube and new beta library availability in the recent update Alex and I posted here:  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lookingglass/l3d-cube-the-3d-led-cube-from-the-future/posts/1189973

-Shawn

[Peter Chestna]

So now that FastLED has added support for the Photon I want to get back to creating new visualizations. I just added my first 'Atom Visualization'. This code compiles in particle and works fine on the cube. Here is what I get when I try to 'send to cube':

compilation status: false

errors:

2015-12-09--22.06.45.cpp:7:29: fatal error: FastLED/FastLED.h: No such file or directory

 void moveElectrons();

                             ^

compilation terminated.

make[1]: *** [../build/target/user/platform-62015-12-09--22.06.45.o] Error 1

make: *** [user] Error 2

Can you please add FastLED to your supported libraries? Here is the GitHub link: https://github.com/focalintent/FastLED-Sparkcore

Also, a suggestion. When I clicked 'send to cube', I had no idea that there was a compilation error until I clicked 'View Code'. If there is a compilation error, I should be told.

I miss the animation when the viz was 'in flight' to the cube. I would suggest adding something back to give feedback that something is happening.

[Peter Chestna]

My Photon keeps appearing and disappearing from being online inside the gallery. I do not have this problem with the particle ide. If I power cycle it becomes visible again. Anyone else seen this?

[Dataway]

Peter I have seen my photon disappearing from being online and I have to power cycle it to make it visible.

You Viz is awesome but to get it to work I have to copy the code into Particle IDE and recompile with the latest version of FastLED library V3.1.4 which resolves the compilation error you mention and now it works great.

I also agree that an indication should be shown when the code view is not in place as there is no indication otherwise and it would also be nice in the Send to Cube would toggle indicating I pressed the button as you can not tell if it was pressed or not.

Anyhow thanks for the VIZ really cool....

John

[Dataway]

Also wanted to mention the comments section does not seem to be working at this time as I tried to post a comment to Peters VIZ and it would not save it just clears the comment box when i try to post it...

[Peter Chestna]

Thanks John. More ready to go once they fix this in the gallery.

[Werner M.]

Hey guys,

On Thursday, December 10, 2015 at 21:31:59 UTC-2, Peter Chestna wrote:Thanks John. More ready to go once they fix this in the gallery.

I'm afraid I could not replicate the issue reported. I've just tested in the "Demo Code" viz (http://cubetube.org/viz/133/) and I was able to enter 3 comments with no problems. They can all be seen under the preexisting ones. Maybe try clearing the cache in your browser to try and refresh.

 

On Thursday, December 10, 2015 at 12:50:09 PM UTC-5, Dataway wrote:

Peter I have seen my photon disappearing from being online and I have to power cycle it to make it visible.

I'm still looking into this. There seems to be some kind of inconsistency in the way the REST API provides data about connected devices vs how the web IDE determines the same. Throughout my whole experience as a Cubetube user, I've always struggled with getting my photon being consistently reported as 'online' in the Cubetube dropdown, while it almost always flashed flawlessly from the web IDE. It's as the status data was being retrieved in different ways. But so far, that's just my speculation.

I have my photon online right now, and I'm monitoring the calls to the REST API through the web developer panel - I can see that the JSON data reports it as online, so as the Cubetube website right now.
Currently, I have two concerns (or threads of thought):
The reply from the API might somehow be cached: after the first 200 HTTP code, all subsequent calls are returned with a 304 ("Not Modified") code.
The code running in the cube: if your code is setting the photon mode to SEMI_AUTOMATIC or MANUAL. Setting either one of these modes require that the code manages the 'keep-alive' state with the cloud (by calling Particle.process()) at regular intervals (< 20s). If Particle.process() is called less frequently than every 20 seconds, the connection with the Cloud will die.
When set to AUTOMATIC, refreshing the connection status is done automatically. Messages to and from the Cloud are handled in between runs of the user loop; the user loop automatically alternates with Particle.process().

With the introduction of the SYSTEM_THREAD mode, I believe there is no longer a need for using either SEMI_AUTOMATIC or MANUAL modes, as simply declaring SYSTEM_THREAD(ENABLED); at the very beginning of the user code (and removing any calls to either of the formerly mentioned modes) it should set the device for optimal performance and connectivity.

I'm quoting this for informational purpose, as I'm still testing all of that in my own photon device. The above are all contributing factors to the cube being reported accurately (or not) by the REST API.

I am still investigating this behavior and will report whatever new info I can discover about it. I ask of you the same, if possible.

 

I also agree that an indication should be shown when the code view is not in place as there is no indication otherwise and it would also be nice in the Send to Cube would toggle indicating I pressed the button as you can not tell if it was pressed or not.

Point well taken; this is among the issues I am currently working on, hopefully to be in place in the next release. Stay tuned folks.

[Dataway]

Werner, 

Thank you for the update and looking into this very much appreciated and I will try clearing my cache to see if that resolves my comment issue.

Did you also note that Peters new Atom viz when compiling it is using an older version of the FastLED library, V1.1.3 that does not support the Photon and must use the FastLED V 1.1.4 if you could just update that for cubetube compilation that should resolve the issue.

Peter made mention of it  in his update on this thread:

So now that FastLED has added support for the Photon I want to get back to creating new visualizations. I just added my first 'Atom Visualization'. This code compiles in particle and works fine on the cube. Here is what I get when I try to 'send to cube':

compilation status: false

errors:

2015-12-09--22.06.45.cpp:7:29: fatal error: FastLED/FastLED.h: No such file or directory

 void moveElectrons();

                             ^

compilation terminated.

make[1]: *** [../build/target/user/platform-62015-12-09--22.06.45.o] Error 1

make: *** [user] Error 2

Can you please add FastLED to your supported libraries? Here is the GitHub link: https://github.com/focalintent/FastLED-Sparkcore

Also, a suggestion. When I clicked 'send to cube', I had no idea that there was a compilation error until I clicked 'View Code'. If there is a compilation error, I should be told.

I miss the animation when the viz was 'in flight' to the cube. I would suggest adding something back to give feedback that something is happening.

Thanks ...

John

[Peter Chestna]

Werner,

Couple of things:

1. Thanks for all the work on this. The gallery is getting much better.

2. I can't figure out how to add the embedded youtube video to my viz.

3. I can't seem to edit my description, etc when I open my viz, just my code

4. I don't explicitly set the photon into any mode (as seen in my viz). Do I need to do that or does it default to AUTOMATIC?

Pete

[Werner M.]

Hi Pete,

Here's some answers:

2. I can't figure out how to add the embedded youtube video to my viz.

You can enter a YouTube URL if you select the "Interactive" option in the left pane, below the "Public/Private" switch. However, for new viz'es this option is intentionally disabled as the entire "interactive" mechanism needs a full overhaul, as we have determined over the time it's been on; work on this is on the pipeline and will follow as soon as the current demands that are priority (useability, bug fixes) are done with. So if you intend to make a new "interactive" viz, you won't be able to. But L3D viz'es are enabled (as these seem to be the preferred and most downloaded vs the interactive ones).

3. I can't seem to edit my description, etc when I open my viz, just my code

Peter, If you edit the code while having NOT clicked in the "Edit Sketch" button first, this is the exact scenario. If you try clicking "Edit Sketch" then you'll see that the description field immediately becomes editable. The code is editable while not being "Edited" because this way you can make quick changes and even test them by compiling & flashing it to your photon without fear of making permanent damage to your code. If you're happy with the changes you made, you can select all text, enter "Edit Sketch" mode, paste it, save it.

4. I don't explicitly set the photon into any mode (as seen in my viz). Do I need to do that or does it default to AUTOMATIC?

If you don't explicitly set your photon mode in your code, it assumes SYSTEM_MODE(AUTOMATIC); however, I must ask you - have you also tried my suggestion to add a SYSTEM_THREADING(ENABLED); to the beginning of your code as well?

-Werner

[Peter Chestna]

Is there a reason that the YouTube links are limited to the interactive vizualizations? 

[Werner M.]

Not really, Pete. That's why I spoke with Alex earlier this week and we agreed upon making this field available to all viz'es in the upcoming release.

-Werner

[Peter Chestna]

Thanks. That's great news.

Any indication from the team when they will support the FastLED library? I don't want to keep uploading them until they have that fixed.

You could also re-introduce the binary upload that was available last year as a work around. I would keep the source there for reference.

[Philip Schroth]

this would have been a brilliant option. as my pc which is preforming quite well isnt eating the webgl animations nicely. and to put a vid link gives a more nice clear how the animation is in real workd.

Op donderdag 24 december 2015 15:11:39 UTC+1 schreef Werner M.:

[Peter Chestna]

Why is it that I can't get an answer to my question about FastLED support? Alex? Werner? Anyone? If you can't or won't do it then just say so. Plenty of people liked my animations last year and I'd like to re-post them along with new ones. Should I just give up and do it for myself? I've asked the question in at least 3 threads in the forum and I get answers to all but this. 

[Peter Chestna]

Alex, please see my post at the end of this thread. I'd appreciate a response.

[Philip Schroth]

Hi Peter. I am struggling with the same thing. I was playing with your animations on the arduino. but porting to photon seems to be impossible for me. Maybe we can have a short chat on some stage to exchange knowledge . maybe we can find some workaround or add some code.. or wahtever

I wish you and everyone else a happy new year ! 

Op donderdag 31 december 2015 22:04:33 UTC+1 schreef Peter Chestna:

[Alex Hornstein]

Hey Peter,

I’m working on it — I took my last crack last week, and was struggling to get fastLED to compile either in the particle online interface or particle dev.  I posted an issue on github a while back, and was going to sift through the comments this week to try again.

Once I have fastLED compiling, adapting cubetube to use fastLED is pretty straightforward — virtually all of the programs use the setVoxel() and getVoxel() layer of abstraction, which lets me switch from neopixel to fastLED without affecting the functionality of the programs.

From my point of view, the main reason to add fastLED support is to get better integration for the big 16x cubes into cubetube, which would make use of fastLED’s parallel output functionality (16x cubes have 8 parallel channels of LED data).  Once I can get the parallel output demos running on a photon, I’ll be in a position to work fastLED code into cubetube.

—alex

   

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[Peter Chestna]

Thanks Alex. I'd like to humbly suggest a simple answer to the problem for at least the short-medium term. 

Why not re-enable the ability to upload the binary file created in the particle ide? That's how it worked last year in the first version of cubetube. Make it my problem to get it to compile. I am happy to post the source as well but looking at the wide range of programming literacy that have flocked to your hardware, I'd suggest that getting people the ability to get a viz to their cube quickly and easily should be a high priority. That will drive utilization for a large number of those that have purchased from you. I also unshackles me from pain of compilation in particle->compilation in your environment. If it works, great! If not then at least there is a work around.

Respectfully,

Pete

[Peter Chestna]

That sounds good Phil. Most of the viz's just work in the particle ide once you select the latest version of the FastLED library and add FASTLED_USING_NAMESPACE;