Tube

[Jack]

I've build a led tube, about 2 meters high. It uses 4 universes and the data is running over Ethernet.

The first video of it.. :

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2XVx1m67zCcVkRQUkZ4bHBrS3M/view?usp=sharing

Still alot to improve. The video is recorded with lowered brightness. The tube itself is very bright and gives alot of light.

It's wonderful to see.

[Mathieu]

It's a really nice effect! Good job Jack :)

[Jack]

My first try with a controller switching effects. When the tube shows dots and a pulse sweeps through, that looks interesting. Two effects activated at the same time.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2XVx1m67zCcOHFjWjJjUHU5OWc/view?usp=sharing

Maybe it's better visible with a white background. I'll try that someday.  I'll have two tubes working now. Both 2000 channels. In realtime on music.

[Carl Dickson]

Looks great, do you want to share your project for that? ;)

[Jack de Visser]

Yes. I will reconstruct it because I changed it for two tubes. The trick is to give a grid a named variable. Then you get two new attributes per grid: Speed and activation. You only have to activate, make it 100 or 0 %, to invoke the effect. The speed attribute is unchanged/unused in the project. The effects are very experimental like the music. A grand galop which is speedy.

Op 29 aug. 2017 01:06 schreef "Carl Dickson" <carld...@gmail.com>:

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[Jack]

Attached is the project file for the video. Very simple. If you look at the attribute list, you will see the activation/speed attributes for the grid.

In the control grid consecutive effects are enabled in random order. The second effect is with a square wave of 1 second.  

Adding a second tube caused a very surprising moment. First, I connected the second tube and without doing anything in LightJams I simply started up a project and played some music.

I expected tube 1 to react on the music and show me some effects, and  tube 2 not working. I thougth I had to map tube 2 on a grid, make sources etcetera.

But to my utter surprise tube 2 did exactly what tube 1 was doing. Without any configuration tube 2 had exactly the same effects as tube 1.

Boy, I was so surprised. I distrusted my wiring etcetera, But nothing could have been wired wrong. Both controllers had a different ip adres, so that couldn't cause it too. Nothing in LightJams could have caused it.

After some searching I discovered that the starting universe of the second controller was the same as for the first controller, namelijk 1 where it should have been 5.

Because of the default configuration of the controller it received the same signals as the first tube.

So, without having to map anything in LJ the signal went to two tubes. haha. The controller only makes an electrical signal from the digital signal. No need for mapping or anything.

Of course I want tube 2 to have it's own effects, and I have to map it to a grid after all. But it was a wonderful surprise which caused me to think about the entire signal path.

[Carl Dickson]

Hi Jack,

Thanks for sharing, it maybe simple but very effective.

Im from New Zealand, there was a similar thing at a recent lighting festival but your sequence would of looked better.

What LED's are you using?

Carl

[Jack de Visser]

The leds are from China. They are RGB leds, 60 leds/mtr. 12volt. They are 5050 type and of course individually adressable. These are advertised with the ws2812b protocol. I have them from a shop on aliexpress named Ray Wu. 

But I'm not satisfied with them. When I received the strips there were chips on the backside of the strip causing bulbs on the inner tube. When I put on full power on every led then you can see that. 

The strips also have soldered connections every 30cm or so. 

I think I have the link to the shop somewhere. I'll look it up and put it here. 

Buying a good 12v led strip should be easy, but it is very difficult because of the messy way led strips are offered with chaotic specifying and such.

I find it very difficult to categorize quality suppliers of led strips. After searching and searching I have found other strips that might be of better quality and ordered two other brands. 

Here in Holland there is a shop with good strips that go at 35 euro/mtr. Too expensive I think as each tube needs 12 meter. 

Maybe for 5v. it is easier to find good quality.

My strips have a black pcb where white should be better. 

Op 29 aug. 2017 22:34 schreef "Carl Dickson" <carld...@gmail.com>:

[Jack]

link to the leds that are inside the tube: https://nl.aliexpress.com/store/product/4m-DC12V-WS2812B-addressable-pixel-strip-non-waterproof-60pcs-WS2812B-M-with-60pixels-72W-BLACK-pcb/701799_32311628022.html?spm=a2g0z.12010612.0.0.90TN8A

(hopefully the link works)..

[Jack]

Here is my entire order at the Ray Wu's ledstrip store in action:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2XVx1m67zCcc29fSll0a3lMZkk/view?usp=sharing

It takes Two To Tango. Two Tubes that is.

The music is Mika - Grace Kelly, a hit back then. :)  But it could have been anything. Any music requests on the tube ?.. hehe.

Them leds are hypnotising me.

I filmed the tubes with a mobile phone camera. Made the video with Premiere. Tubes are vertically filmed and rotated 90 degrees in Premiere.

attached the project file which is basically the same as the others, but with slight different activations.

[Carl Dickson]

I use to buy them from Ray but he is a bit expensive so now I got my last 3 shipments from Angel Led

https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1m-5m-WS2812B-Smart-led-pixel-strip-Black-White-PCB-30-60-144leds-m-pixel-WS2811IC/32725540374.html?spm=2114.13010708.0.0.Kc2Pl4

Ray's price for 4 meters is $31 USD = $7.75 p/m

Angel's price is 5 meters for $21 USD = $4.42 p/m

I bet you they come from the same factory and if you order over $100 he usually sends it by DHL for free, usually 5 days delivery to New Zealand.

I have had zero issues with the quality.

Carl

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[Carl Dickson]

Looks great, Im wondering where to get tubs like that over here....

[Jack]

The controllers, two LeDMX4 Pro are from DMXKing.com from.. .. New Zealand.

16 Douglas Road

Pukekohe, Auckland. 2120

That's relatively around the corner for you.

[Carl Dickson]

I meant the right Tube... have you got a photo of it during the day?

I use this; http://www.advateklights.com/shop/home/51-pixlite-16-long-range-mkii.html

[Jack]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2XVx1m67zCcVEY1NUFMWXZNdkE/view?usp=sharing

The stock is empty in our eyeball store
All we got left, a few cataracts and sores
The faggot mimic machine never had an idea's
Mission impossible, they self destruct on fear
On a standard N.Y. night ghouls go to see their so called 'stars'
A fairly stupid thing, to pay five bucks for a 4th rate imitation
They say: I'm so empty, no surface, no depth
Oh please, can't I be you, your personality's so great.
Like new buildings, square, tall and the same
Sorry, Miss… 

Lou Reed - N.Y. Stars

An extra color added which often is surprisingly matching.

Them tubes are amazing and a pure joy to play with. I'm amazed myself at watching them.

 

[Mathieu]

Cool :)

[Jack]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2XVx1m67zCcTk9OWU5yT1JkaFU/view?usp=sharing

This one is using the new random organic function. Music: Sons Of Pythagoras - One Man's Thunder

I've tried to make the video a bit lighter halfway.. it's a bit difficult to make a good recording I noticed.

On Wednesday, 6 September 2017 01:28:48 UTC+2, Mathieu wrote:

Cool :)

[Mathieu]

It feels like a living creature! You've created an intelligent light tube. I particularly like the part around 2:50 with the big music bumps.

[Jack]

It's very satisfying to see it in action. In reality the light is very bright.. hard to explain. And difficult to convey in a video.

I'm gone build at least four more tubes. With two other brands of leds.

On Thursday, 7 September 2017 19:35:18 UTC+2, Mathieu wrote:

It feels like a living thing! You've created an intelligent light tube. I particularly like the part around 2:50 with the big music bumps.

[Carl Dickson]

Looks great !!!!

[Carl Dickson]

Whats the new random organic function?

On Friday, September 8, 2017 at 5:18:57 AM UTC+12, Jack wrote:

[Mathieu]

It just starts at a random position in the organic wave. This way, you can select multiple sources, link all x and y sliders to the randOrganic function and every source will move differently.

[nickthe...@gmail.com]

Any  updates or photos if the actual tubes and parts?

[Jack]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2XVx1m67zCcSGdaZ3VpNGJla3c/view?usp=sharing

This is the tube in daylight. I filmed it with a mobile Phone (Galaxy S7), default video settings. As you can see the tube is a bit greyish.

The leds are inside the tube in vertical strips. Every led is mapped in LightJams. 

The LJ setup is the same as the video before this one, but only with the color blue. In the previous video I used an extra color.

But in this one I made an effect with dynamically deleting the saturation. That way the effects looks bright white.

The music is from a band named: Double Dealer - Deep Blue Sky.

It is less fun in daylight..  This tube has a ledstrips with a black pcb. That makes the tube greyer as neccesary I think.

The controller LeDMX4 PRO has an extra DMX channel. Maybe an extra universe can be utilized someway.

[Jack]

Oh, and I modified the top effect because it sucked. And I see that I played the music too soft for the range is too short. bummer.

[Jack]

I'm gone make one where you can see the leds. If you look wel, you should be able to see the bulbs in de ledstrip. I really don't like that, and next versions of "The Tube" won't have that.

The music will be Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman's "The Kiss". It's 9 o'clock in the morning, sun is shining here. I have to record with music playing through speakers otherwise I can't synchronise the track in Premiere. As the whole point of this is realtime music processing in lighting fixture's.

"The Kiss" tries to convey an emotion. Likely romance. I think I'm gone try to make something with a kind of tremble. using many leds which means long stretch of the strips.

[Jack]

it's real shitty. I can see the leds myself but the camera won't get it. I tried various light settings.. sigh.

[Jack]

Rendering the video file take about 1.5 hr. Meanwhile, pray that it is worth looking at.

LightJams is busy with a football talk show. Everything that's being said is translated into "The Kiss". haha. Pure Fun.

[Jack]

While waiting for the video I can post the project file. Here it is. Open the monitor and then you can see the basic workings.

[Jack]

It's finished rendering. I had a sneak preview and it's a total failure. At 2.25 in the video I am changing light settings on the camera in an attempt to rescue the experiment. I think the camera is not quick enough or so. I tried it with a Canon Legria FS200 too (old, I know),  but same result. Bad camera's. I upload it to google drive and put the shareable link here like the others. See for yourself.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2XVx1m67zCcbGsycUU5X1g4RFk/view?usp=sharing

So much for the sunday morning.

[Jack]

The phone camera 15 cm from the tube. The sound you hear are fans and music coming out of a headphone.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2XVx1m67zCcVVdma0Z6WWZmc3c/view?usp=sharing

[Jack]

In case someone wants to know which tube is used here is the link to the shop: 

http://plexiglasstunter.nl/plexiglas-xt-buis-satijn-licht-opaal

The demo tube is 80mm in diameter. 

Because filming the Tube is giving me some problems I thought about making a picture to show the pixels through the Tube. 

So, I put the Tube on full power, every pixel giving white light. 

Then I put the Galaxy 7 phone close to the Tube and made a picture. 

And there was a surprising moment again.. it looked different than I expected. A bit blue-ish, but the tube itself looked ribboned. 

The satin look of the tube maybe is because of this ribboning.. but you can not really feel the ribbons when touching the tube.

Very mystical. 

[Jack]

Link to the picture (Galaxy s7) of the tube all leds turned on maximum.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2XVx1m67zCcTG40SmJMQVdGWHc/view?usp=sharing

[Zachary Rogers]

Very cool!

[Jack]

I have filmed two tubes in broad daylight.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2XVx1m67zCcUFQ3YjVSNmp6Mkk/view?usp=sharing

[Jack]

Daylight Tube

[Mathieu]

Really nice :)