You’ve likely seen impressive sequenced Christmas lights in videos before. Very often, though, these setups use proprietary systems. Here, Processing makes it quick and easy to code lighting effects in a friendly, open-source environment. And, naturally, if you think you might want to do something like this and don’t want to wait for Christmas 2009, I can imagine quite a few other interesting lighting applications.Creator Jack Kern describes the project:
This is my first attempt at a computer controlled light show for our Christmas lights. Everything was DIY including the software which I wrote in Processing (processing.org). Simple wiring using parallel port output to switch some 120v relays. Only 8 channels, 1500w per channel max. Next year I’ll be trying for many more, dimmable, LED’s and DMX control of our RGY lasers!
It’s worth checking out Jack Kern’s projects page for other goodness. Think Java-based games (2D mobile and 3D desktop), a ray tracer, and source C/C++ code. And yet the man still has hobbies.
Big thanks to TJ Pallas on Facebook for the tip. And please, I do actually enjoy keeping in touch with readers on Facebook. (See my page / profile / CDM’s fan page.)
Processing rocks, i am learning procesing right now, and i would love to see some of these announced video tutorials.
I would love to see explained functions, arrays, loops and well as much as possble.
Thanx !!!
[…] The endless drones may put you in a sleepy trance, but that could be just what you need to recover from another holiday season. (Well, that or possibly dreaming about using Processing to code up A/V-synced Christmas lights next year.) […]
I very much recommend picking up a copy of "Processing" by Reas and Fry – they wrote the language, and their book is wonderful. There's a link in the learning section of Processing.org.
[…] not visualization of data, but Jack Kern used Processing to control the Christmas lights on his […]