The Vortex

This software for the Vortex is the framework for controlling the colors and flash patterns, feel free to use or modify it! The Vortex is Available here! https://stoneorbits.com/

User Guide

Basic operation

Your orbit has 3 buttons:

(A_B_____•______Power)

Turn on your orbit by flipping the power button and use A and B to cycle forward or backwards through the modes. That's it!

Your orbit comes with 14 pre-programmed modes.

Randomizer Mode

The easiest way to change the modes on your orbit is to let the orbit generate new modes for you. The Vortex knows color theory and will generate a matching color preset and pick a random pattern for you.

To enter randomizer mode, go to a mode you wish to change, and then press and hold A until you see white lights, then release. You're now in randomizer mode. The orbit will generate a random pattern for you every 8 seconds. Once you get a mode you like, press A to save it into the current mode. Press B to exit randomizer mode without saving.

Manualy creating a mode

Each mode is defined by a set of up to 8 colors, and a pattern for those colors.

Selecting the colors

To modify the colors, navigate to the mode you want to update, then press and hold A until you see yellow lights, then release. From here, you will see the current colors displayed on the orbit. Press A (next) and B (previous) to navigate to the color you want to change, then press and hold A to enter color selection for that color. From here, press A and B to pick the color range you want, then press and hold A to select. Next, press A and B to pick exactly the color you want, then press and hold A to select. Finally, press A and B to pick how saturated you want the color, and press and hold A to select. After you're done picking the colors, press and hold A to confirm.

At any time you can press and hold B to back out of where you are and cancel your changes.

Selecting the pattern

To modify the pattern, navigate to the mode you want to update, then press and hold A until you see blue lights then release. From here, A and B cycle through the different patterns for the mode. Press and hold A to confirm selection, or press and hold B to cancel.

Updating modes from your computer

If you want to modify themodes of your vortex with a keyboard and mouse, you can upload modes to it from your computer.

• Get the Arduino IDE
• Connect your Vortex via USB
• Open Arduino IDE
• Under Tools -> Port, select the vortex - Something like /dev/cu.usbmodem144. If you cannot see the vortex show up under ports when you connect:
  • Make sure you're using a cable that support data transfer. Try a few.
  • Make sure you have the driver (should come with your OS but who knows...). Google for Trinket M0 drivers and install them.
• Open Tools -> Serial Monitor
• Press and Hold Button B (closer to center) on your vortex
• You will get a list of patterns such as "<0, 9, 4, 192, 255, 170, 110, 255, 170, 160, 255, 170, 230, 255, 170, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0>"
  • The first number is the mode index - the first mode is 0, second one is 1, etc.
  • The second number is the pattern - 0 is ribbon, 1 is tracer, etc.. Try them and see!
  • The 3rd number is number of colors in the pattern
  • The next 24 numbers are the 8 possible colors in HSV triplets from 0 to 255. You can read more details about it at https://github.com/FastLED/FastLED/wiki/FastLED-HSV-Colors. For example 96, 255, 200 will be a bright green. 96 is green, 255 is how rich the color is, and 200 is how bright it is.
• To modify one of the patterns, paste a different set of numbers into the Serial Monitor box at the top and click send.

Developer Guide

If you want to modify the code or create new patterns, make sure you can do the steps above. After that,

• Download the code from this repo
• Open VortexDreamEcho.ino file with your Arduino IDE
• Download and install Trinket M0 board drivers:
• Add the "additional url" according to https://learn.adafruit.com/add-boards-arduino-v164/setup
• Then install from Tools -> Boards -> Board Manager -> Adafruit SAMD
• Select the "Trinket M0" from the Tools -> Board
• Select TinyUSB from Tools -> USB Stack
• Select USBTinyISP from Tools -> Programmer
• Install the necessary libraries: Sketch -> Include Library -> Manage Libraries. You will need to add FastLED, Adafruit_DotStar and FlashStorage. Maybe more but it will tell you what's missing in the next step.
• You can now upload the existing code into your vortex! Click the "->" button at the top, or Sketch -> Upload.