Android Software

package com.fusionyd.supernova;
public abstract class Animation implements Runnable {
    protected AnimationService animationService;
    protected volatile boolean running = false;
    public void terminate() {
        running = false;
    }
    protected void setAnimationService(AnimationService animationService){
        this.animationService = animationService;
    }
    public abstract int getMaxBrightness();


public abstract class FeatureActivity extends AppCompatActivity implements ServiceConnection {



    protected AnimationService animationService = null;
    FeatureSurfaceView featureSurfaceView;
    LinearLayout surfaceHolder;



    protected AnimationService getAnimationService(){
        return animationService;
    }

    protected abstract LinearLayout getSurfaceHolder();

    @Override
    public void onServiceDisconnected(ComponentName name) {
        animationService.setFeatureSurfaceView(null);
        animationService = null;
    }

    @Override
    protected void onResume() {
        super.onResume();
        //making sure the service is not stopped
        //https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1992676/activity-app-name-has-leaked-serviceconnection-serviceconnection-name438030

        ComponentName myService = startService(new Intent(this, AnimationService.class));

//        setImageView((ImageView) findViewById(R.id.emojiImageView));  //sma view???
        Intent intent= new Intent(this, AnimationService.class);
        bindService(intent, this, Context.BIND_AUTO_CREATE);
        surfaceHolder = (LinearLayout) getSurfaceHolder();
        surfaceHolder.addView(featureSurfaceView);
    }

    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState){
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        featureSurfaceView = new FeatureSurfaceView(this);
        //
    }

    @Override
    public void onServiceConnected(ComponentName name, IBinder binder) {
        AnimationService.MyBinder animationHandlerBinder = (AnimationService.MyBinder) binder;
        animationService = animationHandlerBinder.getAnimationHandler();
        animationService.setFeatureSurfaceView(featureSurfaceView);
        onServiceConnected_();
    }

    /**the purpose of this method is to allow doughter classes to do seomethign after the service is connected
     * this is e.g. in the SettingsActivity*/
    protected void onServiceConnected_(){
    }

    @Override
    protected void onPause() {
        super.onPause();
        surfaceHolder = (LinearLayout) getSurfaceHolder();
        surfaceHolder.removeView(featureSurfaceView);
        unbindService(this);
    }

    public FeatureActivity(){
    }
}

There are plenty of ressources on the internet explaining how APA102 LED strips work. So I suggest to google on this. On our costume it is the same: The LEDS are all in one row, but for our costume it is not a straight line, but more a zig-zag.

So somewhere we have to say, that the DOT in the Bitmap at position X=3 and Y=3 is the 23rd LED on the 4th strip. And this has to be specified for 1000 LEDs.

A first attempt looked like this:

{{10,3},{4,7}, {12,23}}

We realised, that our imagination is too small to map thousand of LEDs like this. So we decided to draw the mapping in QCAD, export it as an SVG, parse the SVG in the app and like this map it propperly. What sounds complicated was easy at the end:

As we assembled the costume out of different PCB, we created these PCBs as templates in QCAD. The templates contain the order of the LEDs. On the picture on the right one can as well see, that we used small pieces around the shoulder and big pieces in the front. As we did two differnt suits to accomandate our different dress sizes, there are two different constellations
The different elements where coupled with a simple line in QCAD. The start of the 7 channels is at the -1 position. This can be seen on the lower picture.
QCad allows to export this as svg. The outcome is an .XML file

The general concept

Background Service

Looping through Unicode

Mapping a bitmap to LED strips

Send it to the costume

ÜBERSCHRIFT 1