Interactive LED Art Display

This project will give an exciting and creative way to have a piece of illuminated art that is both interactive and immersive. The LEDs will change dependent on the interactions in the environment surrounding it, giving an interesting and exciting piece of art to add to any room.

“Light Art is an interactive wall art piece that physically connects individuals to art through interactive sound input and flowing LEDs.”

• 32 LEDs of various colors (# depending on art size)
• 24 330 Ohm resistors
• 8 2k Ohm resistors
• Arduino Uno
• Cardboard (enough for the desired size of the piece)
• Small Microphone compatible with Arduino Uno
• Acrylic front piece
• Sand paper
• Soldering Tools
• Loctite GO2 gel (adhesive)
• (button)

For this project, the base can be any shape or size. We decided to go with a circular styled piece. Take note of how this piece is cut so that the acrylic top can be the same size. Wood is the easiest and most versatile material which is why this is used as our base. Make sure the base is something that can easily puncture/drill holes through. as this will be what the LEDs are being placed through.

Since this piece will be using LEDs to illuminate the art itself we need to make sure that holes are evenly spaced around it to secure each LED. Begin by sketching out the area of each LED. In this case, we measured out each LED space individually before puncturing the cardboard. Once spaces are finalized, start opening up holes barely big enough for these LEDs to fit through. We use 8 rows of LEDs across the entire piece.

Place each LED and the microphone inside of the puncture and organize each to your liking. Each LED will need to be soldered and configured together with corresponding resistors as seen in the schematic above. Ensure that all LEDs are correctly placed before soldering. The Mic will be centered and also connected to the Arduino. All 8 rows of the LEDs are connected to the 8 pins 13-6. A0 is the output of the microphone which is getting 3.3V for input.

Code for this will be posted here within Github.

Since the front panel will be made of acrylic, we need to make sure that the lights underneath are being diffused properly to get the right look. Sand it down carefully and test the acrylic against light to make sure it is showing the desired effect. Cut the acrylic to match the size of the base and secure the front to some with metal screws as seen in the photo. The sides of the project will be a light material such as paper. Here we used a nice light blue paper to cover the sides and all of the wiring inside.