Screamager - a dot matrix LED message scroller

TheMarco · 08/30/2009, 03:49 PM

A realistic looking dot matrix LED screen that can show messages.

http://www.precentral.net/homebrew-apps/screamager

I'm still trying to increase the scrolling speed and get rid of some stuttering.

WANNA MAKE FONTS?

Fonts are defined as JS arrays that describe a matrix. If anyone wants to create fonts I'll be happy to add them.

Sample letter:

Code:

'G':[
[0,0,1,1,1,1,1,0],
[0,1,1,0,0,0,0,0],
[1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0],
[1,1,0,0,1,1,1,0],
[1,1,0,0,0,1,1,0],
[0,1,1,0,0,1,1,0],
[0,0,1,1,1,1,1,0]
],

Fonts shouldn't be more than 12 lines high.

NEW in 0.7:

This version adds three built in dot matrix animations and the ability to play any remote hosted Blinkenlights BML animation. All 1 bit Blinkenlights animations should work including ones that are smaller than the available 26x18 pixels. Larger ones of course won't work.

To try it out I placed a bunch of BML animations here:

Index of /stuff/bml

These animations are from the Blinkenlights project. They will all play in Screamager 0.7.

This also means you can write and run your own animations! For more information about the Blinkenlights Markup Language, look here:

Blinkenlights Markup Language | Project Blinkenlights

If you've made a cool animation please let me know and I'll add it to the built in animations! As said before, currently only 1 bit color depth is supported. Variable frame duration times are supported as well. While animations smaller than 26x18px work you're of course encouraged to use all available space for your animation.

Complex Pants · 08/30/2009, 04:10 PM

Very cool looking app. I will try it out once you can make your own messages!

milominderbinder · 08/30/2009, 06:38 PM

Marco,

This is wonderful!

- Craig

TheMarco · 08/30/2009, 08:02 PM

Functional app is up!

You can now enter your own message and pick display colors.

The only issue right now is that the scrolling sometimes stutters a bit. I am not sure why that is. I'll try to figure it out.

d0lph1nK1ng · 08/30/2009, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheMarco

Functional app is up!

You can now enter your own message and pick display colors.

The only issue right now is that the scrolling sometimes stutters a bit. I am not sure why that is. I'll try to figure it out.

I had the sa,e problem on my screamit app... Seems to slow up whenever there is like a background update activity. Check the logs on the actual device. U'll see output when ur app slows down

TheMarco · 08/30/2009, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by d0lph1nK1ng

I had the sa,e problem on my screamit app... Seems to slow up whenever there is like a background update activity. Check the logs on the actual device. U'll see output when ur app slows down

Hmm interesting. Thanks for mentioning this. I thought it has to do with the complexity of this matrix thing but I guess it affects everything. Maybe this is the source for general slowdown in games as well?

Annoying!

d0lph1nK1ng · 08/30/2009, 08:23 PM

Yea my stopwatch and coinflip apps even had this issue, and they don't use the animation api, a real big bummer that the deficiency in the api reflects poorly on our apps

milominderbinder · 08/30/2009, 11:12 PM

I am sure you have it on your to do list...

Wish list:
1. Make clicking the Preferences menu option go back to the screen you use for the current splash screen for initial setup.
2. Make tapping the screen when the message is playing also bring up the Preferences screen (currently the initial splash screen).
3. Use cookies to remember the last message and colors.
4. Store messages and let the user pick an old message or do a new one.

- Craig

TheMarco · 08/30/2009, 11:20 PM

Craig, at some point, possibly. I did this mostly as a small break from my calculator which I now want to fully finish first. I figured I could leave Screamager alone for a while now because it does to what people expect it to do in it's current state

milominderbinder · 08/30/2009, 11:23 PM

Good enough.

I am really excited to see the finished Scientific RPN Calculator.

- Craig

Elysian893 · 08/31/2009, 11:07 AM

It doesn't handle punctuation, it won't scroll anything if you put a . in.

TheMarco · 08/31/2009, 12:28 PM

Version 0.2.0 posted with support for:

, . : ; + - ( ' " and )

Hope that covers most needs!

TheMarco · 08/31/2009, 01:47 PM

Also, I'm hereby attaching the font file. If anyone would like to contribute new fonts please change this file accordingly and send it to me. Make sure you implement all characters in this file.

Note: You CAN have more lines and you CAN have the lines be wider in pixels. So a 10x10 grid font would be absolutely fine. Please don't exceed 12x12 as a grid size.

kayanox6 · 08/31/2009, 03:34 PM

wow this is cool

TheMarco · 09/01/2009, 04:23 AM

Found some time and posted 0.3.0, implementing some of Craigs suggestions:

- Make tapping the screen when the message is playing also bring up the Preferences screen (currently the initial splash screen).
- Use cookies to remember the last message and colors.

Enjoy!

b.t.w. Craig I don't understand suggestion 1...

TheMarco · 09/01/2009, 04:56 AM

Nevermind. Reverted uploaded version to 0.2.0.

This is the first time ever I have something that works fine on the emu but breaks on the phone. Will have to investigate.

TheMarco · 09/01/2009, 05:14 AM

OK I guess this is what you get when you code in the middle of the night while sleepy.
I got it sorted out. The new features are a go.

Version is at 0.3.2 and it contains the new features I listed earlier.

In case someone got the broken version: sorry for the mess!

milominderbinder · 09/01/2009, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheMarco

Found some time and posted 0.3.0, implementing some of Craigs suggestions:

- Make tapping the screen when the message is playing also bring up the Preferences screen (currently the initial splash screen).
- Use cookies to remember the last message and colors.

Enjoy!

b.t.w. Craig I don't understand suggestion 1...

Marco,

Why thank you!

As to #1 Make clicking the Preferences menu option go back to the screen you use for the current splash screen for initial setup.

When you press volume up or down you get the Screamager menu. The second option used to be Preferences. I am asking if the Preferences button in the app menu could bring up the setup menu. Now that this happens with a screen tap, it is not needed. Also, you have removed the Preferences option on the app menu.

Thank you! This is cool!

- Craig

TheMarco · 09/01/2009, 06:58 PM

Uploaded 0.4.0

NEW: Rainbow colors

TheMarco · 09/01/2009, 08:49 PM

Uploaded 0.5

- new icon (with rainbow colors)
- configurable scrolling speed

I think it's fairly complete now.