Fire Works

CALLING ALL BETA TESTERS

We have just finished designing a graphics program used to make custom patterns for the PEGS and we want you to try and break it! Or you could simply use it for its intended purpose of creating animated graphics, either way works :) The ultimate goal for this software is to create patterns, share those patterns with others and upload them directly to your glasses.

Link to download

We used the free Visual Basic Express to create it and we would like to share the source code but don't know how. Should we post to Git Hub? If you have any suggestions let us know! Also if there are any java programmers out there who want to make something like this, drop us a line, we'd love to have something cross platform.

VIDEO TUTORIAL

Caleb has also put together a quick video tutorial on using the program. Check it out before you get started.

As always if you have any suggestion please leave them in the comments below. Also don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss an update :)

Form vs Function

THE LOOK

The first order of business is to upgrade the 'look' of the PEGS. The original PEGS are big, boxy, and as some people put it, UGLY. We want this pair to look good with the lights on or off. After several designs and a lot of tweaking the following outline was chosen.

They will maintain the same shutter shade design featuring large horizontal slits for looking through them. The nose has also been changed slightly to allow room for a cushion so the glasses wont tire your nose out.

THE LIGHTS

With the frames shaping up, it's time to consider what LED to use, how to drive them (power them) and what arrangement to place them in. One of the most popular suggestions by you was to make them brighter, so a new driving technique is needed. Last time the micro-controller (brain) directly powered the LEDs with the help of a single 595 shift register (a simple chip that allowed us to power more LEDs). With this setup each LED was receiving about 5mA, 1/16 of the time (numbers that mean things). The LEDs used can take twice that much power so a new technique is needed to drive them. MOSFETs (high power switches) and constant current shift registers (like the 595 shift register about but WAY better) will will work and allow for more LEDs. With more LEDs possible the question is how many is too many? I did some budget analyses and found 20 or 24 delivered the most bang for the buck. A quick rendering in my favorite CAD program, MS Paint :) and it was easy to see 24 is much better.

Old PEGS on top; 24x7 middle; 20x7 bottom; Proper aspect ratio maintained.

Have something to suggest? Please leave it in the comments! Also don't forget to share us on facebook :)

First!

WHAT WE DID WRONG AND HOW WE WILL FIX IT!

The Kickstarter for PEGS was not successfully funded but work on them is far from over. We identified many mistakes on our part in marketing and product design that we plan to fix on the next go round. This blog will be dedicated to showing off progress of the product redesign and is intended to be interactive. We want your feedback every step of the way so we can build the glasses you want. Subscribe and share so you don't miss a thing.

WARNING SCIENCE CONTENT

Some of the information post here will be very technical but we will strive to give you a higher level explanation of it (dumb it down). If you don't know anything about electronics, embedded system design, PCB layout, computer programming, design for manufacturing or a wealth of other geeky content that will be covered here this will be a great resource for learning some of those concepts.

WHATS TO COME

We will leave you with a list of improvements we will be implementing in the coming weeks.

• More and brighter LEDs
• Auto adjust LED brightness depending on ambient light
• PC software to create and upload custom patterns
• On-board microphone with music visualizations
• Rechargeable batteries
• Make them less ugly :)
• Plastic frame for comfort and style
• Open source

Got anything to suggest? Please leave it in the comments!