3D cube demo patterns

What is this?

This repository contains demo patterns for a 3D cube written in Python. It supports both an internal OpenGL renderer, and driving an external LED cube, either over a serial connection or a network.

The code should run fine under both Python 2.7 and Python 3.

Dependencies / Setup

The Python package numpy is required, and if you want to use the OpenGL renderer, also pygame and pyopengl. These can be installed in various ways depending on your OS.

Debian-like (inc. Ubuntu) Linux

sudo apt-get install python-numpy python-pygame python-opengl

Mac OS X / Other

pip install -r requirements.txt

Running

Demo patterns

python cube.py

Run the cube demo patterns using the default OpenGL renderer. It will cycle through all patterns in a random order.

Run a particular pattern

Add --pattern <name>, where <name> is the name of the pattern to run. Run a set of patterns by using a comma-separated list of names.

Connect to an external cube/simulator

Add --port hostname:portnum.

Examples:

--port 192.168.0.6:5000

--port /dev/ttyUSB0

Developing patterns

New patterns can be added by by placing a new Python file in the patterns/ directory, which implements the Pattern class. The init function is called when the pattern is started. It should return the delay between frames in milliseconds. For every frame the tick function is called.

The image is set using self.cube.clear and self.cube.set_pixel. To avoid flickering, double buffering can be enabled with self.double_buffer = True.

The easiest way to get started is to copy and modify an existing pattern. fade and wave are probably good starting points.

Problems installing pygame

Installing pygame on a Mac is apparently much harder than it should be. Mac users may be interested in the Node.js/WebGL browser-based cube emulator at https://github.com/ultrafez/ledcube-webgl