Introduction
The Light Messenger is a Persistence of Vision accessory for the Flipper Zero, allowing users to “paint” text and images into the air. It has a companion Flipper App that includes a fully-featured bitmap editor (for creating sprites without a computer), a text editor, light and animation controls – and even a flashlight function.
The Light Messenger can also be used for light-painting, allowing you to create incredible images that slips into your pocket.
Naturally, everything is open-source – and with 16 fully-addressible RGB LEDs, an accelerometer, and a feature-complete App, the Light Messenger was made to be customised and extended. Want to make colours change according to how you move the device? Totally possible. Want to show a different sprite with every swipe? Hack it in!
Persistance of Vision
Swipe the Light Messenger back and forth, and your designs wil appear to float in the air like magic!
Pocket-sized Light Painter
With infinite light, colour and animation options, your Flipper Zero is now a fully-qualified light-painting device!
How does the Light Messenger work?
The Light Messenger has an on-board accelerometer, and can calculate its position in real-time. As you wave your hand back and forth, the device calculates the limits of each “sweep”, and then triggers the 16 LEDs to paint “pixels” of light across the arc – which your eye determines as a floating image!
The smoother you swipe, the more stable the image is – it only takes a little bit of practice to become a pro!
1. Sixteen RGB LEDs
Sixteen powerful, individually controlled RGB LEDs for beautiful colour effects.
3. Light Messenger App
Easy-to-use App contains everything: Bitmap painter, text-editor, colour + effect selectors and more!
2. Accelerometer
The magic behind the Light Messenger, allowing the LEDs to reaction in real-time to your movements.
4. Open Source
Everything is open-source: Learn how POV code works, modify, customise and add your own features!
HOWTO: LightMessenger
The LightMessenger is slightly different / more powerful than other Persistence of Vision devices, because it can display images & text of varying lengths and varying distances.
For example, if you’re showing a text message, you might do longer, slower swipes – and the LightMessenger will calculate how big your swipes are to take advantage of the “full swipe” to show your message.
Alternatively, if you’re doing smaller, faster swipes, it will ensure that the message or image fits into your swipes.
To perform these calculations, the device needs three swipes to calibrate.
During these first swipes, it will calculate the distance of your swipes, and the speed of your swipes. Once these are calculated, the message will show.
Speed is not the most important factor – it’s being consistent. Try to make your swipes as uniform as possible. Don’t worry – if you change the swipe speed or distance during use, the LightMessenger will recalculate.
It might take a few tries to get the hang of it – but if you remember: 1, 2, 3 – Go! – this should help you get great results faster!
A family of accessories
The Light Messenger is ‘s first of several accessories for the Flipper Zero. We’re passionate about building innovative, useful and educational products, and the Flipper Zero is the perfect platform for development.
If you’re curious to read more read more about the development of the Light Messenger, and all the behind-the-scenes work, check out our Accessory Development posts!
Device Specifications
- LEDs: 16x SK6805 RGB LEDs
- Accelerometer: I2C LIS2XX12
- Resolution: 16 pixels vertical, “unlimited” horizontal pixels
What’s included
- 1x Light Messenger (FlipperZero NOT included)
- 1x Light Messenger App (Available in the Flipper App Store)
Light Messenger Resources
- Official Github Repository
- Light Messenger Application
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.