There is a built-in microSD card slot on the FeatherWing, and we can use that to load bitmap images! You will need a microSD card formatted FAT16 or FAT32 (they almost always are by default), and an SD card reader on whatever computer you’re currently reading this with.

Its really easy to draw bitmaps. Lets start by downloading this image of pretty flowers:

feather_purple.bmp
photo by johngineer

Download these two smaller images as well:

The files should be renamed (if needed) to “purple.bmp”, “parrot.bmp” and “wales.bmp”, respectively, and copied to the base directory of the microSD card (not inside a folder).

(If it’s easier, you can also find these images in the “images” folder within the Adafruit_ImageReader library folder.)

Insert the microSD card into the socket in the shield. Now select the sketch file→examples→Adafruit_ImageReader→FeatherWingILI9341 and upload this example to your Feather + Wing. You will see the flowers appear! (Plus parrots…and if you’re using one of the more powerful Feather boards, a whole lot of dragons.)

The Adafruit_ImageReader library, which is being used here to display .BMP images, is fully explained in its own page of the Adafruit_GFX guide.

This guide was first published on Nov 09, 2016. It was last updated on Mar 29, 2024.

This page (Drawing Bitmaps) was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

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