The µPainter

Final Project for Microprocessor Based Circuit Design

Sept - Dec 2016

For this project, my lab partner (Eyassu Shimelis) and I designed an aparatus to render 2D images in 3-space using a precisely timed LED strip and long-exposure photography. We call it the “μPainter”

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The project was divided into two parts. A rotary encoder connected to an FPGA that tracked the position of the cart, while a Raspberry Pi dealt with controlling the LED strip, progressing through each column of the picture as the cart moved. The Pi also dealt with the interface for uploading images, and rendering those images to the proper format.

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​We found that cartoon characters produced the best images due to the limited resolution (limited to 144 pixels in the y-direction).

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​Possible improvements for the project would be varying brightness with speed, or forcing a constant velocity using a motor to drive the cart.

​(This idea was inspired by the PixelStick)