SPARK PIXELS V3 IS **OUT**!! GET IT NOW!!

[Kevin Carlborg]

If you haven’t installed the latest release of the Spark Pixels Android app yet, do it now. You are in for a treat with the latest updates. The app can now auto detect your cube that is online and running the Spark Pixels viz! It can also sync your local time zone from the app to your cube. You’ll never have to manually adjust for day lights savings time again :)  Check out the new Aux Switch Panel (found in the menu) and customize it to turn things on or off or switch between two options.

But the updates don’t stop there, the updated sketch has four new modes! One of them called Cube Classics, is my current fav. Give it a try and turn on the Color Sweep option. 

To check out the new modes and to make good use of all of the new features you will have to flash Werner’s accompanying sketch from here: http://www.cubetube.org/gallery/newestFirst/1438/

Werner is the chief implementer of the Spark Pixels Cube viz, he has worked hard to bring the Spark Pixels luxury to your fingertips. You should all give him a high five when you have a chance.

If you have any questions about some of the new modes, just read the header at the top of the sketch.

-Kevin

[Werner M.]

Kevin, thanks for the update on your app -- I think this is the best version you've released so far (as in, more features, better UI and overall user experience).

I've also done some work in the v3 sketch over the weekend -- mainly, smoothened out the transitions in between effects in CUBE CLASSICS mode, added text capabilities to the IFTTT mode (I'm no longer calling it IFTTT WEATHER because it can do so much more when displaying recipes created in the IFTTT website); the details on how to use the IFTTT mode can be found in the initial comments section in the viz code.

I'm lovin' the IFTTT mode! I've set up a bunch of recipes already to warn me about weather changes and incoming e-mails in Gmail. The limits are your imagination.

Great job, Kevin!!

[Dataway]

Wow this is Great, I have built a Temperature / Humidity Sensor with spare Photon and can now use IFTTT to monitor my humidity and trigger my humidifier through my Nest Thermostat and can now publish my humidity level to my L3D Cube so I can now see my humidity and Temperature level right on my cube..WAY COOL...thanks for the hard work...

[Todd S]

Hi Kevin, this looks great thanks to Werner and you guys... having bit of problem running it though, I have uninstalled and reloaded the Spark Pixels Android app(running on an emulator running on my Mac that ran fine with last version) and then flashed Spark Pixels app V3.0 from Cubetube and when running the android app it comes up with "wrong firmware version on device". So I followed instructions getting code from github to reflash firmware that it comes up with in trouble shooting text, now the selection comes up correctly in the android sparkpixels app but the cube does not respond and just looks frozen with a variety of pixels on...if I flash the cubetube version 3 app to the cube it flashes successfully but the android app once again complains of wrong firmware , any ideas? Thanks Todd

[Kevin Carlborg]

@Dataway, thanks for sharing your success story. It's good to hear people adapting Spark Pixels to do other tasks and integrating it with other hardware like the Nest. 

[Kevin Carlborg]

Hi Todd,

I'm not sure why it's not working for you through Cubetube. I just flashed it from Cubetube with no problems. It sounds like you used my firmware on github for regular Neopixel strips. You can try to flash with Werner's sketch from here: https://github.com/wmoecke/Spark_Pixels

If you're still having problems enter the string below into your web browser's address field. Add in your device ID string and access token. You can get both of these strings from particle.io/build  Let me know if you need help finding them.

https://api.particle.io/v1/devices/<your device id here>?access_token=<your token here>

Post the result here but omit your device ID and last_ip_address.

The result should look like this:

{
  "id": "my device id string",
  "name": "l3d_cube",
  "last_app": null,
  "last_ip_address": "my ip address",
  "last_heard": "2016-03-15T13:46:47.315Z",
  "product_id": 6,
  "connected": true,
  "platform_id": 6,
  "cellular": false,
  "status": "normal",
  "variables": {
    "debug": "string",
    "tHour": "int32",
    "speed": "int32",
    "brightness": "int32",
    "modeList": "string",
    "modeParmList": "string",
    "auxSwtchList": "string",
    "mode": "string"
  },
  "functions": [
    "Function",
    "SetMode",
    "SetText",
    "CubePainter"
  ]
}

[Werner M.]

Hi @Dataway, long time no see. Long-time Cubetuber here folks (round of applause).

It's cool that you are finding 1001 uses to Kevin's app and my sketch as well -- one word of caution though, when you're setting up a IFTTT recipe and you wanna use the ",W:<string>," appended to the command string in order to set up a text message for the cube to display, make sure the entire command string (the whole command string, including the ",W:<string>," part) does not exceed 63 characters in length. That's the maximum limit allowed by Particle -- anything greater is nullified and the result will be that nothing will be displayed in your cubes.

Unfortunately, I found no way to create any sort of pre-validation (as in, checking for string length upon firing up a recipe and alert a user) in IFTTT due to its extreme simplicity.

-Werner

[Werner M.]

@Todd, like Kevin said, it looks like you have loaded the original sketch he wrote to drive a single 268-LED strip for his original hardware project. There's significant differences between his sketch and the one I wrote to drive the L3D cube: http://www.cubetube.org/gallery/newestFirst/1438/

So please make sure you're loading the correct sketch into your cubes, otherwise you're likely to see strange behaviors in your cubes.

-Werner

[Werner M.]

And for those who cannot wait to have a cube wrapped around their wrists, I give you -- CLOCK.
.
I have just updated the Spark Pixels v3 viz with a new mode: CLOCK. Here's a few usage instructions:- There are 2 types of clocks: the text clock, and the 3D clock -- you can select either one via the mode options- There are 2 choices of color: a fixed color (chosen via the color pícker, when you click the options for the CLOCK mode) and random colors- There are 3 ways to scroll the text in the text clock: You can transition between them by selecting (tapping) the CLOCK mode repeatedly
It is a clock. It tells time.
The 3D clock implementation was based off Dennis Williamson's excellent "Clock" viz. He's the man!

-Werner

[Dataway]

This is GREAT....Thanks Werner and Kevin for doing such amazing coding work here giving the cube this all of this functionality....and Thanks to all that have their Viz's in the application, what a great community.

I am putting together an Instructable including code and hardware schematics for my Temp/Humidity sensor that reports back to the cube and will post link here on our forum when complete.

[Todd S]

Hi Werner,

have setup a four IFTTT triggers in IFTTT using the ",W:<string>," , for RAIN, CLEAR , CLOUD & SNOW. An example of the exact text I have in the with input (Function Input) for the recipe is M:IFTTT,C6:0000FF,W:<RAIN>,   is this correct as when I select the IFTTT function with the spark pixels V3 flashed to cube the cube just goes blank. And as I have all 4 possible conditions set in 4 separate recipes I would expect one to trigger. I have also noted that when I update the recipe with the string M:IFTTT,C6:0000FF,W:<RAIN> and look at the field again ... the field with input (Function Input) is blank which seems strange even though I have updated the recipe with that text in the field. Any pointers appreciated Thanks Todd

[Dataway]

@Todd S,

For the Action in my Temp/Humidity Recipe  the Action, call function SetMode on "cube"

with an input of M:IFTTT,C6:FFA500,W:Humidity is: {{FunctionResult}} ,

My Trigger is Output value of function gethmd on tempHumid <= 31

Thought this may help showing the way i setup my display recipe to the cube.

Your "with Input" Function Input field should not be blank...

[Werner M.]

@Todd: @Dataway is right, and just to add to his explanation, you do not need to include < > in your string text; after typing ",W:" (btw, no quotes) then start typing your string text (remember the golden rule: the entire command input cannot exceed 63 characters in length).

I've been working in some very necessary fixes and some improvements:

- The 3 original TEXT modes (TEXT MARQUEE/TEXT SCROLL/TEXT SPIN) were replaced by a single TEXT mode (tap once on the mode name in the list to change between the 3 different scrolling effects);

- The CLOCK mode has more options and you can experiment with them.

- There was an issue with conflicting variables in the code (switch states) where the CLOCK mode would inadvertently alter a switch state that would also control the text color in IFTTT -- so that's fixed now.

The updated code is in the viz only (for now). So please go and reflash your cubes.

-Werner

[cube...@gmail.com]

hi Werner

after a while where nothing happens in the forum (and i thought the fantastic cube idea is dead) i saw this thread and took a look at your new code. Not only that the idea Kevin and you are get to life is wonderful also your code is breathtaking.

Its formatted so well and the structure is really brilliant and the size is now really big (and i know how hard it is to debug such a big app) i wiill pay you my biggest respect on your work.

Excellent

and thx that the Cube idea did not vanish from the planet  earth :-)

hape

[Werner M.]

> Hallo, Hans!
>
> Thanks for such big complements. I shall point out a couple things though:
> The code is the result of a joint effort between me and Kevin. He actually wrote the first version of the sketch and I have expanded on top of it since I first laid my eyes on it.
> The text modes only became possible due to your efforts in the processing environment. So thanks to you too, you're also a part of this big success story we are building together.  Vielen Dank!!
>
> Herzliche Grüße,
> --Werner

[Werner M.]

And one last thing I forgot: The cube will never die.

<3 L3D 4 EVER.

[Joep Schipper]

Werner,

Spark Pixels v3 is marvelous as usually, thanks for development.  One question: what is the function of   "cube painter"?  when i choose the program nothing happens. It makes me curious.

thanks for your attention.

Joep Schipper

Op donderdag 17 maart 2016 17:10:37 UTC+1 schreef Werner M.:

[Werner M.]

Joep,

Curiosity killed the cat (so they say).   ;-)

Stay tuned for upcoming news from the LKG team.

-Werner