
How to build an 8x8x8 LED cube - bvi
http://daid.mine.nu/instructabliss/?url=http://www.instructables.com/id/Led-Cube-8x8x8/
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makeramen
I wonder how much it would take to mass produce these and sell as programming
toys/tools? I'd buy one.

PS: if someone else would be serious about pursuing this, i'd love to be a
part of it

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mootothemax
Great idea! To be honest though I lean more towards toughening them and
selling as nightclub lights. Even the smallest of places spends megabucks on
their lighting rigs, and this would be a toy that _every_ bored sound tech
would love to play with :)

Edit: I'm not the only one to have thought about this:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cLLyfop3QI>

Edit2: This company appears to be offering them for sale in sizes up to
32x32x32: <http://www.seekway.com.cn/e/ledsys9.htm>

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jacquesm
<http://www.seekway.com.cn/e/3d/h32/video.htm>

Amazing video here!

Before you wonder about the 'crappy resolution' do the math, 32x32x32 is 32768
individual leds. The video appears to be of a 32x32x16 array.

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calloc
Those look to be RGB as well. So that is 4 connections per LED (red, green,
blue, ground).

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apu
Our research lab recently created a more involved version of this using fairly
cheap materials that's much more expressive:

<http://www.cs.columbia.edu/CAVE/projects/3d_display/>

(Don't miss the video at the bottom of the page.)

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mkeblx
Really cool. I really want to play that 3D maze-like game.

The link says this was created in 2006/7. Have there been any advances since
then in terms of resolution, or otherwise?

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apu
Not directly, but there was some work on animating speech in virtual
avatars[1] (constructed from a single image of a face) which uses the cubes to
make animated 3d avatars.

What I found especially interesting is that even though the point-etching in
the cubes is static (and of a generic head), faces are mostly similar enough
(and the animations required for speech small enough) that looking at the
animations actually looks very realistic in person.

[1] <http://www.cs.columbia.edu/CAVE/projects/avatar/>

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jrockway
The instructabliss site is almost as excellent as the LED cube!

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pstuart
They are stealing content from instructables.com -- how is that excellent?

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nollidge
Check the URL. It doesn't look like it's stealing content, just reformatting
it. Like Readability for Instructables.

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CWIZO
I'd love to have this. I'd make a 3D snake game out of it. Unfortunately I
don't have the time and knowledge to build something like this cube.

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msluyter
This is so cool, it makes me salivate a little. The author said it took 4-5
days for the construction and another 4 or so for the software. Anyone know
how long it takes for someone without much electronics background? I have a
vision of a bunch of unfinished components sitting around on my kitchen table
for... months.

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jacquesm
The level of the instructions is such that you should be able to hit the
ground running, debugging the circuitry might take you a bit longer, I'd start
off with a much smaller one to try to get some experience with soldering and
handling components, maybe build a few $10 kits to get proficient, then build
this. Shouldn't give you any problems.

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latch
We built a shitty oscillator in passive circuit classes. This type of thing,
and Mythbusters, always makes me think how awesome school ought to be.

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nickpinkston
Yea, I know. When I was in school I kept wondering why I couldn't just build
things using math / science instead of just learning the rote info / methods.

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lwhi
I'm currently building a 4x4x4 cube with full fading/multiplexing, using a
bunch of TLC5940 ICs. Placing it in a dark perspex obelisk; it's very dorky ..
but I can't wait to complete it.

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marksands07
Someone should implement Pong in this cube. Now that would be cool.

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yycom
1\. Could have put some more movement in the camera work to show off the
parallax.

2\. Next: RGB for 4D.

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imaginator
Das Labor (a hacker space) has been doing these cubes for a while. They even
have a multi-colour cube now: <http://www.das-labor.org/wiki/Blinken_Borgs>

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calloc
The amount of soldering for RGB LED's is absolutely insane.

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euccastro
Suggestion for cool side project: attach an accelerometer and do some fluid
dynamics simulation. A bit heavy on the math side; you'd need a good
foundation of calculus for engineering. All the rest is here:

<http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~rbridson/fluidbook/>

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fractallyte
Finest example: hanging from the ceiling of Zurich's Central Train Station.
25,000 lights in 24 bit color... Enthralling!

[http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/article/detail/1286/3d-led-
li...](http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/article/detail/1286/3d-led-lighting)

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Murkin
Any EBay mass seller willing to buy bulk and sell a package with all the
components needed ?

Don't mind paying extra to have it shipped in one box.

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HeyLaughingBoy
Sparkfun has a 3x3x3 kit for $69: <http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9867>

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daniel-cussen
You could make holograms with this.

