Controlling Interactive Projection with Arduino Leonardo
Join the conversation; call 1-877-763-3246, leave a comment below the video, or hit me up on Twitter (@PaulAlanClif)
Last week, I showed you how to make an interactive projection display. To control it, you could use a keyboard, but a better way is to make buttons on the wall which control it. This is how you use an arduino leonardo to send the keyboard signals to the computer.
This is easier than it looks. Download the Arduino IDE (see link below) and install it on your computer just like any other software. Start the IDE. Connect the Arduino Leonardo (see link below if you need to buy one) via USB. Open the code that you download from the link below. Click the arrow in the IDE and let the software program the Arduino. Once the arduino is programmed, quit the IDE. The arduino (and any computer it’s connected to, even computers it wasn’t programmed on) thinks it’s a keyboard.
Finally, connect your buttons (tutorial coming soon) to the Arduino between pins 2, 3, 4, or 5 (one for each button) and ground (which may be shared by multiple buttons.
When you press the button connected to pin 2 and ground, the Arduino sends “a” to the computer it’s connected to. Pin 3 sends “s”. Pin 4 sends “d”, and so on.
Just follow along with the video to see how to do it.
Click the button below so I can send you the code:
Click Here to get the Arduino code from this tutorial (for free!)
Other useful links from today’s show:
Emulating a keyboard on the arduino – tutorial
Arduino Tutorial #11: Leonardo as Keyboard
List of Arduino Boards (and their chip sets)
List of non-printing keyboard commands
The Arduino IDE programming software (free)
Hardware:
Arduino Leonardo (affiliate link)
Makey Makey (affiliate link). Use this instead of the Leonardo, if you don’t want to do any programming, but are okay spending a little extra money.
Join the conversation; call 1-877-763-3246, leave a comment below the video, or hit me up on Twitter (@PaulAlanClif)
If you’d like to chip in a few bucks, anything you do is appreciated. Just click this link to donate.
About this show:
This show started with Renewed Vision’s ProPresenter software, but might include Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, or any of the other web services that churches might use.
If you do tech at your church or you use computers to advance your church’s mission, this show is for you.
