Story
Do you like Eyecandy?
Do you like to listen to music? GlowPop is crossing psychedelics with winamp!
GlowPop is a continuously running animation
All within one little cube. Filled with wondrous colors it will immediately catch your eye and uplift your mood! Sounds bring this little wonder to life. In it's rested state GlowPop has a calming effect.
You can adjust the brightness with a dimmer - be it day or night you will witness the vibrant GlowPop colors! The internal battery can be charged via the USB port and lasts up to 24 hours.
GlowPop has two windows for more 3D perspective
I am using a holographic diffraction film to diffuse the LEDs - has a very '3D' look. The light will go from very calm, relaxing, and smooth to fast and psychedelic. The built-in microphone will pickup sounds and make that transition from night-light to club-like.
GlowPop comes in five colors and different paper qualities:
- Red
- Green
- White
- Kraft
- Black
Red and green is a more robust material of 1mm (0.04 in) thickness, the other materials are about half of that. The white paper is made of hemp and has fine stripes. The paper ist produced in Munich and is made of recycled paper under the FSC certificate. The paper is not water resistant.
Here are some side-by-side examples of how GlowPop is changing the animation - left side silence, right side music (the GIFs take a while to load, then it runs a smooth animation):
Technical Details:
- 25x WS2812 LEDs, powerful enough to shine in full daylight
- Runs on ATtiny85
- Processor on socket so you can re-programm it
- 5V/1A Micro USB charging port
- Microphone to react to sounds
- On/Off switch
- Knob to adjust brightness
- 18650 standard battery holder for 3.7V LiPo battery (battery included, 2300mAh)
- Integrated battery monitor to prevent over/under charge (2 charging status LEDs)
GlowPop has nine different patterns and eight color schemes which mix to 72 different animations (they will repeat in about two hours).
Depending on the brightness setting it runs up to 24 hours of a fully charged battery but you can of course run if of the USB power for unlimited time.
Watch the video:
Development Story
It was during the first wave of the pandemic when I sat - basically grounded for months - in a tiny room. On a video call a friend showed me these colorful programmable LEDs and it clicked ...
See for all details on my Kickstarter page. The original project only got 55% funding:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/markusloeffler/glowpop-a-sound-reactive-light-box
