Project Summary
Logo design by Sierra Estrella
Debut
Event: Apogaea
Date: June 9-11, 2022
Description
LED logo-art signage for Resistance and the Flow Bats theme camp.
LED and jigsaw work by Jillian Estrella
LED and jigsaw work by Jillian Estrella
LED and jigsaw work by Jillian Estrella
Video of the completed art piece.
Process
Illustration
Initial proof of concept was sketched using an iPad and an Apple Pencil in Pixelmator. The final vector-based Illustration was also done on an iPad in Vectornator.
Wood work
The sign was built from 3/4 inch ACX plywood. The design was transferred from computer onto the plywood with a projector. It was then meticulously cut by hand with a jigsaw.
LEDs
Two separate strips of SK6812 LEDs light this piece. Each strip consists of about 85 LEDs. The LEDs are controlled by a Seeed XIAO RP2040 microcontroller and they were sequenced in CircuitPython. Asynchronous I/O was required to sequence both strips of lights simultaneously from the same microcontroller.
The outer strip uses a standard rainbow fade. The inner strip uses recursion to mimic fire/candle light. The recursion is used to make a fractal of the brightness over time - which is what gives it the simulated flickering effect of fire.
Credits
Sierra Estrella
Project artist; illustration
Jillian Estrella
Project artist; LED and physical design