LED-Cube

8x8x8 LED Cube

8x8x8 Single Color LED Cube built with an AtMega32.

Building the Software

You need an AVR GCC Toolchain (eg. WinAVR) to compile both AVR firmwares. You need a C Compiler for your computer (only gcc tested, others should work) and a recent JDK with Java3D to build the PC Software, CubeControl. It should work on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. To compile a project, just enter it’s directory and run make. If you get errors compiling CubeControl, try changing the hard-coded JDK paths in the libSerial makefile, found in CubeControl/libSerial.

Hardware

This LED-Cube uses an AtMega32 for displaying animations and an AtMega8 for Audio Visualizations. I first built the Circuit on a 160x100mm hole-grid board. This was very cumbersome, so I created a dual-sided PCB Layout with SMD Parts. You can find this Layout and the Schematic in the Hardware folder, as PNGs and Eagle files. There’s also a partlist.

Software

CubeFirmware

CubeFirmware controls the AtMega32, which in turn displays images and communicates over USB. It’s in the CubeFirmware folder. Compile with avr-gcc, using the makefile (just run ‘make’).

AudioFirmware

This firmware controls the AtMega8, which interfaces the MSGEQ7 to get sound data. It is addressed by the CubeFirmware as a TWI-Slave. Compile it like CubeFirmware.

CubeControl

CubeControl is a PC software, written in Java and mostly platform-independent, to create Animations for the Cube and send them to it. It depends on Java3D to display a rotatable, clickable 3D View of the LED-Cube. It comes with it’s own Serial Library to communicate with the Cube. Compile it with the makefile. You need a working javac and gcc in your Path. To compile under windows get something like MinGW or try Microsofts compiler. A more or less recent Version of CubeControl can be found as CubeControl.jar. It includes a Mac and a Windows Version of the serial driver, so it is compatible with both of these platforms.

Warning: Java3D 1.5 is incompatible with more recent OS X versions and/or Java 7. Possible workaround.

Also the Windows build of CubeControl is not tested very thoroughly. If you’re on a 64bit Windows, you may also need to modify the libSerial makefile (add the -m64 flag in the gcc call).

HardwareEmulator

Allows you to test CubeControls up-/download capabilites. Unix only!

UploadTest

Allows you to send test data or animations saved by CubeControl to the Cube. Unix only!

License

See the included LICENSE file. This software is released as GPLv3. It incorporates some code from Peter Danneger (a button debounce routine) and Peter Fleury (TWI Library).