Color Mixing & Diffuser

Submitted by lwang on Tue, 02/12/2013 - 22:15

 

Description

 

In this lab, we explore some of the digital features of the Arduino Board. Specifically, we’ll be looking at:

  1. Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) which “fakes” analog behavior using digital signals
  2. Serial communication with the laptop allowing for greater design flexibility

In exploring these features, we will use Arduino to not just blink a single LED, but to control and fade several LEDs at once.

For the first component of the lab, I created a diffuser using a kleenex box, tracing paper, cotton, and tape. 

For the second part of the lab, I altered the code so that pressing 'r' enter will increase the value by 30. Entering a value of the same color will increase the value by that amount. Entering a value for a different color will set that color to input value. 

Components Used

1 - Arduino Uno

3 - 220 ohm resistors

1 - Red LED

1 - Blue LED

1 - Green LED

1 - Breadboard

1 - Tracing Paper

1- Kleenex Box

Cotton

Scissors

Tape

Code

 

char serInString[100];  // array that will hold the different bytes of the string. 100=100characters;
                        // -> you must state how long the array will be else it won't work properly
char colorCode;
int colorVal;
int newVal;
char lastColor;
 
int redPin   = 9;   // Red LED,   connected to digital pin 9
int greenPin = 10;  // Green LED, connected to digital pin 10
int bluePin  = 11;  // Blue LED,  connected to digital pin 11
 
void setup() {
  pinMode(redPin,   OUTPUT);   // sets the pins as output
  pinMode(greenPin, OUTPUT);   
  pinMode(bluePin,  OUTPUT);
  Serial.begin(9600);
  analogWrite(redPin,   127);   // set them all to mid brightness
  analogWrite(greenPin, 127);   // set them all to mid brightness
  analogWrite(bluePin,  127);   // set them all to mid brightness
  Serial.println("enter color command (e.g. 'r43') :");  
}
 
void loop () {
  // clear the string
  memset(serInString, 0, 100);
  //read the serial port and create a string out of what you read
  readSerialString(serInString);
    
  colorCode = serInString[0];
  
  if( colorCode == 'r' || colorCode == 'g' || colorCode == 'b' ) {
    //my code
    // getting new color value
    newVal = atoi(serInString+1);
    
    // set color value to 30 if no input
    if(newVal == 0){
      newVal = 30;
    }
    
    // check if the last color code is the same and increment value
    // if not reset color val to the input
    if(lastColor == colorCode){
      colorVal += newVal;
    } else {
      colorVal = newVal;
    }
    
    // save last used color code so we can check every loop
    lastColor = colorCode;
    
    // don't let color value go over 255
    if(colorVal > 255){
      colorVal = 255;
    }
    
    Serial.print("setting your awesome color ");
    Serial.print(colorCode);
    Serial.print(" to ");
    Serial.print(colorVal);
    Serial.println();
    serInString[0] = 0;                   // indicates we've used this string
    if(colorCode == 'r') 
      analogWrite(redPin, colorVal);
    else if(colorCode == 'g')
      analogWrite(greenPin, colorVal);
    else if(colorCode == 'b')
      analogWrite(bluePin, colorVal);
  }
  
  delay(100);  // wait a bit, for serial data
}
 
//read a string from the serial and store it in an array
//you must supply the array variable
void readSerialString (char *strArray) {
  int i = 0;
  if(!Serial.available()) {
    return;
  }
  while (Serial.available()) {
    strArray[i] = Serial.read();
    i++;
  }
}
 
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