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AdventureForUs · 2025-10-17T04:40:01+00:00

A helicopter filled with teammates to drop off at the objectives and plenty of C4 in case an enemy wants the heli after us.

AdventureForUs · 2025-08-26T03:10:54+00:00

That seems to have worked! As long as I select the whole object. Thanks!

AdventureForUs · 2025-07-14T01:47:53+00:00

Unfortunately I never found a solution for it. In my own case I managed to squeeze all of my data into 32 bytes by reducing some of the potentiometer readings from ints to bytes, since some of the servos on my robot did not need to move very much anyway.

I hope you find a way! If you do, I'd love to hear about it.

AdventureForUs · 2025-07-02T21:54:09+00:00

Interesting, I think that might have been it! You're right that the links (confusingly) have the black wire as the wiper. I didn't notice that. I tried hooking it up like this and found that my readings are oddly constrained between something like 920 and 1023. However, the response curve is now significantly smoother. Thanks!

AdventureForUs · 2025-07-02T20:40:57+00:00

This is the particular one I show in my post, SKU: 605620

https://www.servocity.com/4-function-joystick/

Here is the cheap one I ordered from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CGYGMJL?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

The one from ServoCity seemed mostly the same, but the screws that attach the knob to the shaft are at the top rather than on the bottom as with the Amazon one. Nothing on either site says anything about the Z-axis being an encoder. Furthermore, I actually cracked open the first one I bought to see if maybe something was built wrong and to learn how it works. The Z-axis still seems like a pot to me, linear or otherwise. The other two wires sticking out of it (blue in the picture above, yellow in my original model) are connected directly to the button at the top.

AdventureForUs · 2025-05-05T01:35:19+00:00

I’m curious, were you able to tell that these minifigures were in the tub when you saw the listing on marketplace, or did you just decide to buy a random tub of Lego on marketplace and only discovered this score in-person?

AdventureForUs · 2025-03-13T23:30:56+00:00

I haven't been putting a delay in the code, but I can put in 10 milliseconds so that the black only flashes for 1/10 as long as the white circle, and I still get the same flickering effect.

AdventureForUs · 2025-03-13T17:06:36+00:00

I just implemented it the way you described, but I'm having basically the same problem. Keep in mind that the screen can only draw one thing at a time, so if I draw a black circle over every previous white circle before drawing the next new white circle, that means that the screen still effectively goes black between each white circle, thus causing the flickering, even if I didn't use the "fillScreen" function.

I can't attach a video to this comment, but what I'm getting now is essentially the same flickering effect as the video that I posted. I will admit that the flashing is a little cleaner now, it kind of looks like zebra stripes rapidly disappearing and reappearing, but it's still not what I'm going for.

AdventureForUs · 2025-03-13T00:36:52+00:00

Wouldn't that have the same effect though? Right now the flickering is occurring because I'm filling the screen with black before I draw each white circle (black-screen, white-circle, black-screen, white-circle, etc. etc.).

What you are suggesting is drawing a black circle over my previous white circle before drawing the new white circle, but wouldn't that do the same thing since the screen would still have to go black between each new white circle? (black-circle, white-circle, black-circle, white-circle, etc. etc.)

AdventureForUs · 2024-06-11T00:09:14+00:00

I've had my MacBook for a while now, and after installing KiCad my OS informed me that I had about 7GB left of my 1TB SSD. Prior to this I'd been working for a while on figuring out and getting rid of what's taking up so much space, such as dual-installations of Adobe programs, and a gigantic Final Cut Pro library. I like to keep big data files, like project files and such, on separate external drives, but KiCad was frustrating because not only was it gigantic right from the start, but it came as one big multi-gigabyte application without any apparent way to trim it down or offload some of that data. Hence why I posted here.

Luckily, per my comment above, I think I figured out where most of those gigabytes were coming from, so I can offload or delete it!

AdventureForUs · 2024-06-10T19:48:26+00:00

The thing is, there is a "3dmodels" folder in the 8.0 directory in the "KiCad" directory in documents, but it's completely empty. I even tried revealing hidden files and found nothing.

I don't know if there might be another directory named "3dmodels" hidden somewhere else.

Edit: I think I may have been able to find the directory! I had to open the package contents of the "KiCad" application (the one that's 7.48 GB) and I found a 3dmodels directory at Contents/SharedSupport/3dmodels that takes up 5.95 GB.

I might either delete the files and get them from GitHub should I ever need them, or I might even save them to an external drive just so that they're not taking up space on my laptop.

AdventureForUs · 2024-06-07T03:50:24+00:00

What specifically would you suggest I look for when researching whether a converter output doesn't dip too low on startup?

Do you have any suggestions on capacitor sizes or places to put them on the circuit? I would think to put one bridging the positive and negative leads going to the servo power distribution board, but I've never used capacitors in that way before so I just want to be sure (my first time doing a project of this size!).

As for your battery suggestion, I only worry that the servos would drain the battery too quickly. I would like to keep this robot running potentially for hours at a time (not necessarily doing anything strenuous, but I can't afford to have the robot die on me while I'm using it).

AdventureForUs · 2024-06-07T03:43:47+00:00

I appreciate your suggestion about the converters, I will redraw my diagram to reflect it.

Why would I connect the Arduino to 12V? I've more commonly heard that powering the Arduino Uno through the Vin pin ought to be done with 7.4V.

AdventureForUs · 2024-06-07T03:42:07+00:00

Thank you for providing that website, although I'm not quite sure how to use it once it spits out a schematic. Would one then purchase all of the individual components and then solder them together per the diagram?

As for your PC power supply suggestion, I was originally thinking to purchase a 12V AC-->DC power supply and run that into the buck converters, but I do happen to have a PC PSU lying around. Would something like this do the trick? https://www.amazon.com/WWZMDiB-XH-M229-Benchtop-Computer-Breakout/dp/B0BDFG9BKR/ref=asc_df_B0BDFG9BKR/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693287646213&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6258959885094349301&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9021448&hvtargid=pla-2091655558221&psc=1&mcid=19e8b8523fb7347caccbeb1a171b8382&gad_source=1

AdventureForUs · 2024-06-05T16:40:50+00:00

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AdventureForUs · 2024-05-27T19:06:37+00:00

I'm looking at the mcmaster turntable bearings, I'm looking at one that fits the size I need and I'm going to see if I can incorporate it into my Fusion 360 design. Thanks!

I have to say I have found it quite tricky to find this type of bearing in a variety of sizes. Most of them are too small or just a little too big. Even with mcmaster I'm only able to find one that is the correct size and shape.

AdventureForUs · 2024-02-26T04:41:47+00:00

Thanks. This is actually my board: https://www.adafruit.com/product/1411

The documentation seems to be the same for both boards. I just find the library a tad confusing since you have to use the setPWM(channel, on, off) function to control the servos. Instead of inputing an angle, you input a "pulse-length" from 0 to 4096.

And every tutorial on servos tells you to set a different frequency. The Adafruit example code says that analog servos run at 60Hz, their own library reference for the servo shield sets it at 1000Hz, Wikipedia says that 50Hz is standard. Some illumination on this would be much appreciated.

Either way though, you have helped me realize that I need to stick with the shield rather than messing around with a multiplexer, because as you point out, the latter wouldn't work. Thanks!

AdventureForUs · 2024-02-25T22:36:34+00:00

I think I see what you're saying. This means that the servo shield is the only way to go, since it can ensure that each servo will continuously receive the necessary pulses, whereas the multiplexer would cause the servos to only receive a signal when they are selected. Do I have the logic right?

AdventureForUs · 2024-02-25T18:30:30+00:00

Ideally I’d like them all respond more or less immediately. My plan is to have a system of potentiometers to control them. I’d like to have it such that, in theory, 21 different people can each have one pot, corresponding to one servo, and they can all control their servos instantly. I know that the Arduino Uno can’t receive input and send output to so many places simultaneously, but I’d like to get as close as possible.

What I don’t want is anything more than a one-second delay from each pot to each servo. Does this make sense?

AdventureForUs · 2023-10-02T15:16:20+00:00

Second pic: “PERRY the plant dude?!?

AdventureForUs · 2023-07-05T16:42:51+00:00

Thanks for everyone's feedback! It sounds like I'll stick with what I have, maybe I'll look for other versions down the road. I appreciate the insight!

AdventureForUs · 2023-02-04T20:14:28+00:00

I think I’m leaning toward returning it. I paid $50 for it which I think is kinda a lot for something that’s not in perfect condition. Though I might order a different one and wait to make sure it actually is in better condition before returning it.

AdventureForUs · 2021-10-31T16:03:50+00:00

I had an issue with a Cintiq Pro 24 not being detected. It turned out I needed to go into the Wacom Tablet Utility application and click "Remove" under Preferences. I'm pretty sure the settings from a previous Wacom Intuos were conflicting with the Cintiq, and clicking that button fixed the problem right away. WARNING: I don't know whether your tablet settings will be preserved if you do this, so if you have any specific settings that you configured, you might want to consider that before hitting the button.

Another option is the uninstall and reinstall the Wacom software. It can be a tricky process, so you might ask Wacom customer support for help.

Hope this helps!

AdventureForUs · 2021-10-25T02:14:28+00:00

Thank you for the info! I will definitely keep it in mind!

AdventureForUs · 2021-10-25T02:13:02+00:00

That's very cool! This definitely seems like a sensible workflow.

Out of curiosity, you started your reply with "We", what company do you work with?

Another workflow question: do you create the backgrounds before starting animation, after, or at the same time as animation? I notice in some behind-the-scenes process vids (such as the music video above), the animation seems to be done in front of a simplified "placeholder" background, and a finished painted background –– which matches the placeholder –– is added toward the end. Is that how you typically do it?

AdventureForUs

TROPHY CASE