Perhaps you've seen those animated message board signs and perhaps you even wanted one. However, you may have noticed they tend to be fairly pricey and programming them can be complicated.

This project makes use of the powerful Adafruit MatrixPortal S3 and its large memory capacity to be able to pump out and blend graphics in real time using CircuitPython. It works by using CircuitPython's bitmaptools module along with displayio to blend, blit and buffer swap images and text together to produce smooth animations.

The code for this project is based on the OpenSign project, which was written for the Raspberry Pi, but the code was completely rewritten from scratch for this project to make use of strengths of CircuitPython. Certain features such as shadow and text stroke were omitted because of the lack of support at this time. Some library restructuring was also done to make it more expandable and avoid OpenSign's large library files for memory efficiency.

This project was featured on one of the livestreams for CircuitPython Day, which you can watch below.

Parts

This project requires the new MatrixPortal S3 for its speed and memory using four 16x32 RGB LED matrices.

For the LED acrylic, you can either purchase a 12"x12" sheet and cut it down to a size yourself. It will need to be cut to 3 equal width pieces approximately 101.6mm (4 inches) wide and the lengths of the pieces should add up to 776mm (30.55 inches).

Or you can get 1 large piece from TAP Plastics custom cut to size.

Optional Parts

To assemble, you will need some metal or nylon 10mm M2.5 screws and washers, M3 screws, and zip ties for wire management.

Extra Power Parts

If you need more power than the USB port can provide, you will want these parts.