Sydney, Oz
Quoted from monkeyboypaul:And TWD, obviously!?
Quoted from delt31:... And TWD. That would be even better!
Demand seems to be swelling. I’ll have to pick up where I left off.
(Topic ID: 107609)
Linked Games
AC/DC (Pro)
Stern, 2012-
Iron Man
Stern, 2010
-
Iron Man (Pro Vault Edition)
Stern, 2014
-
Lord of the Rings
Stern, 2003
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Metallica (Pro)
Stern, 2013
-
Spider-Man
Stern, 2007
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Spider-Man VE
Stern, 2016
-
Star Trek (Pro)
Stern, 2013
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Quoted from JeffF:Can't wait to see what you have in store for Star Trek!
Didn't you sell yours? 
Thought about trading my LE for something.
Quoted from Kawydud:Didn't you sell yours?
Thought about trading my LE for something.
Couldn't do it. I had a weak "Iron Maiden" moment.
Ended up selling some other things instead. 
Quoted from JeffF:Couldn't do it. I had a weak "Iron Maiden" moment.
Ended up selling some other things instead.
STLE was the last Stern game I bought when it came out. I can wait till they get the games good to buy now. Iron Maiden has promise, will be better off waiting.
Well, here's the board that has 30 RGB outputs. It consists of six PCA9685 drivers that plug into the red board.
Each PCA9685 has 16 pwm outputs and the drivers are available individually for a few bucks.
20180418_011206 (resized).jpg
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The outputs from them won't drive the common anode LEDs properly, so I made the red board to convert the high side switching to low side. And, of course, to group 90 outputs into 30 convenient RGB outputs that are arranged with a power line so that bulbs can be plugged straight in. All the current limiting resistors are already on the board, so raw LEDs can be connected without getting blown up.
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It also does a nice job of housing all the drivers in one neat board, and is, itself, able to be daisy chained. There is literally the ability to drive three hundred RGB bulbs here.
20180418_011458 (resized).jpg
The board will mount under the playfield and jumpers will simply go out to the bulbs. Very simple to wire. I'll get some more pics up tomorrow of the whole kit.
Now back to working on the code.
Fort Wayne, IN
Whoa! That board is gonna be able to do some BIG things! Please get cranking on a badass TWD lightshow! This will prompt me to go out and buy one IMMEDIATELY and add this kit! I can already hear the Wife screaming at me lol.
WOW is right! I can only imagine what you're going to come up with for Iron Man with these boards. This is definitely worth the wait
Bravo!!! Would these mount on like 8 inch standoffs horizontally under playfield to allow exisitng wiring and mechs to exist under it.
Or are u thinking vertically hanging off back of the playfield where it woukd hang down a bit and be in a consistant place from game to game?
How does this connnect with TLS main board?
TAKE MY MONEY!
Quoted from Rickwh:Bravo!!! Would these mount on like 8 inch standoffs horizontally under playfield to allow exisitng wiring and mechs to exist under it.
Or are u thinking vertically hanging off back of the playfield where it woukd hang down a bit and be in a consistant place from game to game?
Probably like this..straight down vertically from the centre of the playfield, using vertical pcb mount guides. Depends on the game and how much room there is. Vertically it will fit anywhere. Very elegant solution.
You can literally do anything with that. It’s extremley impressive.
Since you’ll be free to come up with any lighting effects you can think of, actually coding IM might be the hardest part. Do you have any ideas how you’re going to code the bulbs for each mode, in conjunction with the ramp lighting? For example, GI bulb colors running in series up the playfield like runway landing lights during Bogey mode? Sparkle effects with monger hits? There’s so much potential here. Seems like a daunting (but fun) task to complete. Hope you don’t get sidetracked 
Quoted from HoakyPoaky:Hope you don’t get sidetracked
This project is DOING all the sidetracking!
Quoted from HoakyPoaky:Do you have any ideas how you’re going to code the bulbs for each mode
Too many ideas, lol.
The main thing I’m working on at the moment is memory management in the MCU. I have to make sure all the fundamentals to support it are in place before getting too involved in the creative bit.
Just testing how complicated I can get things. This is a constant flickering blue background, with a red, anticlockwise rotation concurrent with a green, clockwise rotation. I'm pretty sure now I can get just about anything done. I have to now clean up the communication between the main board and the expansion module, plus tweak my hardware design a little.
Maurik
Every factory GI bulb is out except the two spots and the back board row.
I mounted each new bulb with a rubber ring for shock and stability purposes.
IMG_0781 (resized).jpg
IMG_0782 (resized).jpg
It was ridiculously easy to drop the new bulbs in the old holes.
And this time I am going straight for the inlanes. No mucking around.
IMG_0783 (resized).jpg
Super easy to put these bulbs in under the flipper mechs. Just bend the headers over and, voila.
IMG_0785 (resized).jpg
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Check out my super-genius mounting position for the distribution board!
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Arduino in place..
IMG_0793 (resized).jpg
Jumpers to bulbs connected and tied..
IMG_0792 (resized).jpg
Shield fitted to Arduino and power-up..
IMG_0795 (resized).jpg
)I love the amount of thought you put into every aspect of your kits! I can't wait to hopefully install one in our Star Trek Pro someday.
-Jeff (proud owner of a Metallica Pro w/TLS & spinners!!!)
Quoted from TimeBandit:And this time I am going straight for the inlanes. No mucking around
Damn right!
Here's a big test. This is the first test of the GI module responding to signals generated by the machine. The previous machine test was just pre-coded test patterns rotating to show what it looked like in the machine.
This test is in attract mode. I have locked a bunch of the GI bulbs to nearby inserts. While the attract patterns are animated around the playfield, the GI mimics the inserts. When the insert behaviour changes to group flashing, the GI senses the new behaviour and goes to a static full white. This will give you a taste for how natural the machine looks in full white, plus the capabilities of the setup when it gets moving.
I have messed around a lot with this prototype board, so a bunch of fets are blown and not every colour on every bulb works properly. I have thirty bulbs in there all able to be driven, but a few aren't included in this test.
Hamilton, ON
TimeBandit I'm working my through all your threads and amazed at what you've accomplished. I picked up a MET Pro recently and I'm considering the Total Light Show kit. There were previous posts that said there was a 'pinside' discount, is that still available? Or is the pricing on the site current?
Quoted from TimeBandit:Check out my super-genius mounting position for the distribution board!
There is no issue with the magnet being so close?
Quoted from roar:timebandit I'm working my through all your threads and amazed at what you've accomplished. I picked up a MET Pro recently and I'm considering the Total Light Show kit. There were previous posts that said there was a 'pinside' discount, is that still available? Or is the pricing on the site current?
Quoted from Koos:Wondering this as well! I want a Met Pro mium as well!
Glad you like it! That pricing was launch pricing a couple of years ago.
Quoted from gweempose:There is no issue with the magnet being so close?
Nope, nothing to worry about.
Quoted from HoakyPoaky:Will be something special
Hope so. I'm going to tie my apron inserts to the ramps as well.
I think that experimentation will be everything. Regardless of what ideas I have they will have to look good to get used. For this to work, the effects have to be energetic and interesting, but also tasteful. I think I have a reasonably well developed sense of taste with lighting, and will always be thinking of the overall machine, and not just throwing something in because I thought of it.
Quoted from TimeBandit:For this to work, the effects have to be energetic and interesting, but also tasteful. I think I have a reasonably well developed sense of taste with lighting, and will always be thinking of the overall machine, and not just throwing something in because I thought of it.
Agree.
Put yourself in Stern's shoes and think - if this was the Premium or LE model, what would we do that was cost effective, but also looks 'premium' and adds an extra element of coolness? (don't forget to remove it from the Pro though, naturally).
With MET, AC/DC & TWD (as examples) there's something to benchmark against with the Prem/LE, but for IM & SM (other examples) you have a blank canvas & free rein. The world is your RGB oyster.
Quoted from TimeBandit:My ten year old daughter populating her first board.
I miss those days when I could do close work like that without using a magnifying head set. 
For those running drop targets in AC/DC, I have updated the code to work better with the latest update of the machine's code. It works better with the previous AC/DC code as well.
You can download directly using this link without having to visit my website..
https://redshiftled.com.au/resources/Total_Lightshow_Game_Code/ACDC/Pinball.hex
It's taken me all week to get the damn flicker out of the full playfield colour fade cycle, but it's out. This thing is as smooth as a 50 yr old single malt, mixed with warm caramel butter, sliding over an oiled teflon ball bearing.
The iPhone of course doesn't pick up the whole colour spectrum. But a lot of different colours are gone through in this cycle.
Lots of hardware updates with a full board redesign as well during the week, which will make it cheaper. And I also squeezed two more bulbs into it. It now drives 32.
I think I finally have all the fundamentals in place properly and can now concentrate fully on game code again.
I have just put up a 2 minute video of how to prepare the fiber optic ramp clips to make them really tidy once installed. And you should watch it, because for the first time in three years I talk in it!! Haha.
Quoted from TimeBandit:And you should watch it, because for the first time in three years I talk in it!! Haha.
Holy shit! Your Australian!!!
1 week later
Sneak peak! Total Lighthshow now does inserts.
While doing the game code for Iron Man I wasn't happy with the way the inserts were interacting with the controlled GI. Well I think I've fixed that. I can now selectively intercept and control the inserts as well. I now control every light on the playfield, so effects can be more fully choreographed.
The game will still control the inserts for information purposes, but playfield sweeps etc are going to be done by me. And a whole heap of new patterns are going in there.
This has of course held up Iron Man a bit, but I think whenever Iron Man gets held up it's for something that will be worth the wait.
Quoted from epthegeek:This is going to cost me a bunch of money.
The great thing is that adding the ability to control the inserts will only add about $20-30 to the overall cost of a kit. Maybe less.
Quoted from TimeBandit:Sneak peak! Total Lighthshow now does inserts.
While doing the game code for Iron Man I wasn't happy with the way the inserts were interacting with the controlled GI. Well I think I've fixed that. I can now selectively intercept and control the inserts as well. I now control every light on the playfield, so effects can be more fully choreographed.
The game will still control the inserts for information purposes, but playfield sweeps etc are going to be done by me. And a whole heap of new patterns are going in there.
This has of course held up Iron Man a bit, but I think whenever Iron Man gets held up it's for something that will be worth the wait.
» YouTube video
Soooo nice!!
Any chance you will work on IMDN some day? I’d like to see the premium Lightshow from that game on a Pro as well!
Quoted from TimeBandit:Sneak peak! Total Lighthshow now does inserts.
While doing the game code for Iron Man I wasn't happy with the way the inserts were interacting with the controlled GI. Well I think I've fixed that. I can now selectively intercept and control the inserts as well. I now control every light on the playfield, so effects can be more fully choreographed.
The game will still control the inserts for information purposes, but playfield sweeps etc are going to be done by me. And a whole heap of new patterns are going in there.
This is amazing stuff! I can't fathom how many hours you must have put into all this.
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