The Bay Area Maker Faire was a great event, and we talked to lots of people who were interested in the Aurora Display. These were some of the most requested features by people visiting our booth:

• A board that doesn’t require soldering
• Software to configure the display that doesn’t require programming
• Onboard memory to display pictures and animations without being tied to a computer

We are working on the next version of the Aurora Display with these features in mind

SmartMatrix Shield

New Distributor: SmartMatrix Shield is now available for purchase from Adafruit

Adafruit was our top choice for distributor as they sell everything you need to put together a complete project with the SmartMatrix Shield: The Teensy 3.1, power supply, 32x32 and 16x32 RGB LED Matrix displays, and plenty of breakout boards for sensors and radios to add to your project

Arduino Library

One of the most requested features for the SmartMatrix Library is to support chaining two or more display panels from one Shield, to make a larger display. With help from one of our beta testers (Thanks @ncortot!), the next release of the Library will be able to support chaining up to a maximum size of 32x128 pixels. Look for that release announcement in the next few weeks via the Pixelmatix Blog, Twitter, or Facebook.

In parallel with the Fadecandy firmware port, I have been working on an enclosure design that protects the panel, while adding nice looking diffusion and color contrast. After testing many different materials, I found a white plastic that provides good diffusion, and in combination with a light gray transparent acrylic, good color contrast.

The Aurora Display is a combination of SmartMatrix Shield, and an enclosure with an adjustable diffusion screen that can be separated from the RGB matrix panel. By putting the diffusion screen close to the panel, the screen shows a pixelated effect. By separating the diffusion screen from the panel, the individual pixels lose focus and blur together. The images that can be made with the out of focus panel don’t look like they could be made by such a low resolution display.

Unmodified photo of the display (other than cropping out the background):

I am showing the initial prototypes at the Bay Area Maker Faire, and will have a limited number available for sale. More information and videos of the display will come in the next few weeks, as well as information on preordering from the first production run.

Subscribe to the Aurora Display email list to get be the first to know when the display will be available for pre-order, as well as get access to early-bird discounts.

The SmartMatrix Library is an Arduino library written for the Teensy 3 that makes it easy to add great looking graphics using an RGB LED Panel to your Arduino project.

SmartMatrix Library - Pixelmatix Docs

The SmartMatrix Shield is the best way to connect the Teensy 3.1 to compatible Large RGB LED matrix display panels. The shield makes it easy to connect the 13 signals required to drive the display, connects an external power supply to the display and Teensy, and brings out the Teensy’s free signals to a convenient header.

SmartMatrix Shield - Pixelmatix Docs

The shield is available for purchase and is shipping now, visit docs.pixelmatix.com and use the “Shop” link in the header to buy one now.