Programming/Changing the Image
Innovate
Now it's time to put a custom image into the POV toy. Using your favorite text editor, for example, Wordpad, open up the file mypov.c in the minipov3 firmware directory you extracted earlier.
Near the top of the file is a table called image[]. Each entry in the table is an 8 bit number (which is displayed in binary: B8(00000000) through B8(11111111). The 'B8()' just indicates to the compiler it's in binary not in decimal). When the microcontroller starts up, it basically goes through the table and uses the value to determine whether each LED is on or off. For example, if the value is 01010101, then all the odd LEDs are on. If the value is 00000011, then the bottom2 LEDs are on.
After drawing the desired design on graph paper, go through each line and edit image[], adding or removing lines to make the table the right length. The table can be more than 500 lines long. (Hint: the easiest way I've found to do this is to copy enough 'B8(00000000),' lines to fit the size of your design, then enter in the 1's in insert/overwrite mode, which almost all text editors have). If this seems a little confusing, try opening up minipov.c to see how the minipov message is made.
After drawing the desired design on graph paper, go through each line and edit image[], adding or removing lines to make the table the right length. The table can be more than 500 lines long. (Hint: the easiest way I've found to do this is to copy enough 'B8(00000000),' lines to fit the size of your design, then enter in the 1's in insert/overwrite mode, which almost all text editors have). If this seems a little confusing, try opening up minipov.c to see how the minipov message is made.
Compile mypov.c by opening a command window as you did before, cd'ing to the minipov3 directory and typing in del mypov.hex (or rm mypov.hex) and then make mypov.hex. This should create a new mypov.hex which you can upload to the MiniPOV by typing make program-mypov just like the way you programmed in the minipov.hex code before.
Or this one that will make largeimage.c with a custom text message, just rename it to mypov.c when you save it to use the above instructions.
If you're running windows, Magician Soft has written their very own POV message generator! Awesome!
Automated solutions!
Don't want to poke at the code with wordpad? Generate the table using Repulsor's handy website! Just copy it into your mypov.c table.Or this one that will make largeimage.c with a custom text message, just rename it to mypov.c when you save it to use the above instructions.
If you're running windows, Magician Soft has written their very own POV message generator! Awesome!
