I finally made the room I've ALWAYS wanted

[@JoeBlogster]

Those moving lights on the ceiling; imagine that only instead of triggered randomly, it's triggered by the activity LED on an ethernet port. So when you send a print to one of the 3d printers, you can actually "see" the data move from the computer to the printer.

[@theweirdsquid]

That’s such a neat idea!

[@JoeBlogster]

@@theweirdsquid Thanks!! I'm actually attempting it right now. Just gotta wait for the LED strip to show up :-)

[@keatr0n]

I had a similar thought! But how do you capture the status of the activity LED?

[@christianp1788]

Easiest way? probably a photodetector/photoresistor stuck right next to the activity led.

[@BrianSantero]

​@@christianp1788that's pretty clever

[@JohnHuber1898]

Nicely done, Bob! Window Alert ideas: 1) Low Filament - red and orange chase 2) Print Error - orange and white chase 3) Print 95% Complete - green and white chase 4) Print 100 % Complete - solid green 5) Doorbell - purple and white chase 6) On a call - solid yellow 7) Do Not Disturb - solid red (and change wifi status to red and white alternating) The Name l'atelier - French for "The Workshop" Bespin - Star Wars Holodeck - Star Trek Purgos - Tron

[@beaver.hacker]

Because the LEDs are individually addressable, you could horizontally (or radially) section the window into 5 segments representing each printer. That way the window can give the same information above but also indicate which printer the information is from.

[@sirteddy2100]

Maybe also CO2, TEMP & HUMIDITY levels?

[@jwvandegronden]

@@beaver.hacker EXACTLY!! Same thoughts here. Including the color codes suggested by @JohnHuber1898!! Well not the exact same color coding but using it for internal functions of the room! Some great minds here, not counting myself. Thanks for sharing and giving me the opportunity to thumbs up those suggestions!

[@MurphysSidekic]

Very fun room. Indicator idea: add some LED strips that go towards the center of the window (orthogonally to the edges of the window) to act as 'bar graphs' for each printer - they could 'count up' to indicate print progress, or 'count down' to indicate print time remaining, or filament remaining, or time remaining before a service interval, or whatever.

[@fastandadrift4858]

this 100% ^

[@doaks5050]

came to say the same thing. this is a winner right here. but find a way to make all of them happening 😀

[@volterslam664]

I was gonna say to use the window as a timer for the remaining print time, but this might be even better!

[@timothycrincic3199]

I was thinking something like this as well. A status ring to a 3D printer. Have the window light turn blue gradually and once it’s complete turn green. Then you limit the amount of time you enter minimizing dust.

[@kickinrocks101]

There could also be a unique color if the printer controller detects a failed print

[@John-rh7lr]

Went nuts when I saw your video years ago about automating a dust collection system. Super amazing to see how unbelievably far you’ve gone with your channel and skills! Please don’t ever stop!

[@danonod]

Same experience for me too

[@jaredhammonds8255]

You could etch a Tron pattern into the window. All of the lines will light up and look awesome. Since this is a Tron theme you can call it "The Grid".

[@plighting_engineerd]

YES YES YES to both ideas!!!

[@brentl5708]

The Grid is what I came here to say. Big +1👆

[@chaossdragon]

Great minds... the Grid was the first thing to pop for me.

[@ArtHistoryNstuff332]

Yup! Perfect name!

[@mikedurkee7296]

The Grid!

[@aidancarter5]

I love having clocks in my workspaces, I like the idea of the light illuminating in a clockwise or flashing in a way to signify the top of the hour

[@Iliketomakestuff]

hmmm, that's a really cool idea!

[@mieckers]

You could set it to indicate someone’s ringing the doorbell! It could be tough to hear when you’re working away in the basement.

[@RetroHGenX]

Or just do like we do and ignore the doorbell.

[@mieckers]

@@RetroHGenX Lol yeah or that! Haha

[@MikeWhitton]

Oh I remember there are also these for your cell phones ringing, because in high noise environments you can't actually hear your calls etc..

[@ativerc]

How would you detect the firing of a normal doorbell? The ESP32's inbuilt hall sensor?

[@mieckers]

@@ativerc probably not a normal doorbell but more like a Ring or Google Nest. Bob has a smart home that’s why I thought of that.

[@Andre_the_Lion]

By far my favorite utility display for LED accent strips is a clock. Especially good for places that do not have enough natural light to give you a rough sense of time. Mine went dim red when I should be asleep and cycled through the rainbow on a schedule during waking hours. I started from an even split around 3 hours per color and I fudged some to align with daily milestones like the work day.

[@barrettdent405]

The TRONics Room I thought you originally planned to use edge lit engravings to light up messages on the window? If you could get printer status messages on the window, it would be cool. This could maybe be accomplished with an inset ring about 3-4 inches wide. Light up the type of status “finished” and then have numbers “1” “2” etc. changing the intensity of light could leave the numbers semi-visible or clearly lit.

[@91jmixes40]

I like this. TRONics, TRONica

[@MayotheMaker]

Electrician here, they sell PRE defused LED strips now, just found them myself not too long ago. In addition they also sell diffuser channel that you can lay the LEDs into. Both options work great

[@ADHDbuilt]

I usually don't comment cause it'll get buried, but with the flickering, the esp will put out a 3.3v data line. The led strips want 5v, so can flicker. If you get a logic level shifter (very cheap), you can take the 3.3v data line and increase it to 5v which looses the flickering.

[@henryferreira17]

I always add a logic level shifter in my led projects...except when I forget 😅 and sometimes it still works okay, why does it sometime works (without the logic level shifter) is something I would like to learn... 😀😉

[@klaernie]

This is a very probable cause for the flickering - noise on the 3.3V data line while the LEDs expect 5V levels.

[@Peter_Enis]

We feed the microcontroller with 5v wich gets stepped down to 3.3 and then back up to 5v? I always split the powercable into a part that feeds the microcontroller and use a solid-state-relay to feed the led. The adapter used to feed has enough amps to power the leds without hickups... Try and see if it works for you

[@fabiankluss]

You could also put a single LED with the same protcoll in the data line in front of the strip and pull its V_in down to 4.7V. The Chip in the LED will then work with the 3.3V from the ESP8266 as a "HIGH" Signal is given when V_d+ > V_in*0.7 : So originally the LED would need 5V * 0.7 = 3.5V to notice a "HIGH" signal. With a modified V_in of 4.7V it only needs 4.7V * 0.7 = 3.29V to detect a HIGH Signal. So 3.3 from the ESP8266 would be enough. The point of all of this is, that the D_out of the "Dummy LED" does send at it's V_in which would be 4.7V. Congrats you just build yourself a 0.1 Cent Levelshifter. Pulling down the V_in of the Dummy-LED is as easy a putting a diode in front of the V_in of the LED.

[@ctcummings21]

It was the giggles for me. Means the room is doing what you hoped making you have that feeling, and that is the win!!

[@VailsMom]

Bob's reaction laugh at 6:05 is completely worth the price of admission. I hope it was done in one take, because it sounds like it. Fantastic project, Bob. I'm "outside your target demographic" as a 65 year old woman who has found a love of watching makers in the last 10 years. You and This Old Tony are my faves. I saw the original Tron the week of the theatre release in 1982. I was 22, loved Bruce Boxleitner, Jeff Bridges and SciFi. Anyway, this project is a total win from the Tron perspective; WAY better result than I hoped for. Well done, you!

[@fiercegirldesign1]

I love this! So glad you’re here.

[@automaticprojects]

I remember seeing Tron opening week too

[@danonod]

The pure sound of success.😁

[@KrazeeKraftZ]

I'm not quite as old so I only saw Tron on TV or video, and whilst I'm an avid watcher of makers I'm also a maker girl. Bob is one of my favourites, along with Stillbeast Studios and a number of others. I LIKE TO MAKE STUFF TOO!!

[@JennieClagettGray]

I’m Bob’s sister and I love seeing other girl makers in the ILTMS family!

[@HowardPrice]

For the window, etch a PCB pattern with etching paste. You’ve built a TRON room so a PCB seems to fit perfectly. Love the build. I’ve been a huge TRON fan since the 80s, it’s so cool to see it come to life. Maybe replace the LEDs with EL tape for a hotspot free look. As for the room name, has to be Master Control. 😂

[@nathanconnaway1097]

Forbi deserves a raise. The edit on the video was 10/10. The music and B-roll were so good!! Very cool topic and it is awesome to see the space coming together!!!

[@C3DPropShop]

I liked the visualization of the LED segments too

[@DominusFeles]

The little details sprinkled through the video were so great!

[@Solid.Mirage]

For edge lighting accents clear acrylic, I've had good luck with putting white paint into whatever grooves are made in order to really make it pop with the edge light. You could also mask the sheet, laser/route off the areas, then blast it with white spray paint to catch the light. Another option is applying white vinyl, though it can be difficult to apply w/o any bubbles.

[@Ufphotography]

THE LAB is what came to mind 😀looks awesome!

[@scioli700]

Yes ❤

[@AustinHartt]

Was coming to comment the same thing

[@SanderMakes]

Hey Bob, just wanted to let you know I think you did the right thing splitting it up in multiple videos. Turned out awesome!

[@kubaczek20]

You can display status of print finished on printer in green. It does not matter which printer, you just go and check either way 👍👍

[@usafspaceguy05]

This is exactly what I came to say! Connect the lights and printers to Home Assistant (if connectivity is available) and it’s super easy to change the light color when any printer finishes (or have a specific color per printer)!

[@conradjacox]

Came to say this. You could number the printers and have a corresponding number of flashes to indicate which printer is finished

[@AgentJ1314]

I came to say this too! You could also add LED strips around the base of each printer to indicate the print status. Green for complete, Yellow for In Progress, Blue for Idle, maybe Red if the printer stops mid print. This would all take a lot of programming though.

[@usafspaceguy05]

@@AgentJ1314 If he used WLED and the printers were connected to home assistant via OctoPrint, it's VERY easy to do exactly what you stated! Not sure all of the printers can be connected to OctoPrint though.

[@LTGormanLV-426]

Gosh, can you imagine if he used Vantablack on the walls? Love how Tron is translated in the decor 🤩

[@jamesb5863]

Glad you made the making and transformation of this room into two videos. Would actually love to see more details, like for example, where and how did you end up connecting the LED all around the room to power and where did you place the Arduinos.

[@jerrylim6722]

the Tron world is called The Grid, so in keeping with that theme while still making standalone, you could call it either the "Geometry Engine" or "Voxel Matrix" as it's mainly a 3D printer occupied room... which if you think about it, is generating "geometry" or creating a "voxel" using the data you feed it.

[@loganeastgmail]

That's what I was thinking. The Game Grid or just The Grid. "I gotta pick up some prints off the Grid" sounds pretty cool.

[@austindale3129]

Love this! I have always been inspired by the asthetics of Tron Legacy and have tried to capture the feeling with some designs over the years and you did an excellent job. It's "sub-lumenal space". Gotta feel great to work in there!

[@masterricon]

That looks so cool!!! You could use the window lights to notify you when a 3D print is completed. The Arena or the Grid are both room names that harken back to Tron. I also like The Lab

[@muaddubby]

Anything "Tron" based is automatically awesome :) Indicator suggestion - if your 3D printers are wifi connected, maybe use it to display print status? If you have access to the "% complete" of a job, you could use that to colour that % of the lights green with the rest yellow or red. Or maybe just blink the whole thing green a few times when a print job completes?

[@SpudYT]

An idea for you to think about: You can engrave a message/symbol into acrylic and use LEDs pointing into the top/bottom of the acrylic to illuminate the message. Like "Print complete" - Look at "acrylic led signs".

[@LoganLovell]

I thought about something similar to this - i was thinking along the lines of some icons or something, but the actual text is a great idea

[@behrambajan1572]

WOW Bob just when I though you had done everything you blow my mind. Love your work. You should use the LED window for weather forecast or for breaking news.

[@CheveeDodd]

MCP - My Clean Place 🙃

[@Spikelike125]

Maker Chamber Printing

[@Roroxane]

Maybe you could use the window LED strip as a progression bar. It would gradually go from blue to green all around the window until the entire print you are running is complete, then it could blink between blue and green. You could also have colour coded status updates if you are running several prints at once, each would have a colour. Or you could split your strip into sections whenever you run several prints: the one on the left is for the first priority printer, the one on the right for the second priority printer. Also have alerts show up, if you run out of filament, if the fumes get past a certain point etc, that could also overlay with the progress bar information and blink on top of the normal progression bar

[@needamuffin]

You could set the direction randomly on the ceiling lights as well to make it look like information is being transmitted bidirectionally along the traces.

[@chiparooo]

Very cool project! Well done. Thanks for sharing!

[@Ddimmen]

You could make the lights around the window be the indicator of the percent of progress of a print that's going on. Kind of like a circular progress wheel, if the print is half done, the light is halfway around the window. 👍

[@RachidElBoukiouty]

For the room I would suggest "Dashroom", for the indicators using the led stripe in the window, there are many ideas also given in many comments of this video, the only thing I would add is that as the led stripe is a series of segments, you can use each segment depending on its location around the window to give an indication about the location equivalent of each equipment, for the sections left can be use to give weather indications blinking for rain, red when it hit a temp threshold, blue when it's cold, also could indicate if your phone is ringing urgent calls while you've put it to silent....etc etc etc

[@DanteNava]

Someone's probably already said this, but lighting acrylic from the side won't do much, you have to etch something into it for it to catch the light. You'd probably need a larger or different laser than the one you have, but you could etch different images on the acrylic then light it in different colors for when it's printing, stopped, maybe even include a button you press near the printer to show you've removed the print, or for whatever other device you're using at the time. I really hope it isn't the last time we see this room and any upgrades to it. I REALLY want a room like this now, especially with the "data" lights on the ceiling. Being a lighting nerd, this is truly amazing, it'd be awesome to see it in person some day.

[@adamvancampen2509]

That was awesome! Loved the creative use of the black light to make those surfaces pop! Brilliant!

[@ytec3d]

Regarding the led strip not working with the ESP. Most addressable led strips run on 5V, but the ESP modules run on 3.3V. This usually does not give issues, but it is on the limit of a high signal for the addressable led strips, and you might have found the limit. The Arduino R4 has an ESP on it, but the IO comes from a 5V microcontroller on board, so you send the signals with 5V. To make an ESP reliably work you might with 5V addressable leds want to look into 3.3V to 5V level shifters for the signal line.

[@ge2719]

was going to say the same. 3.3v to 5v level shifter should solve it.

[@kennyhubbell813]

Or look into having a "sacrificial" led that gets 5v power and 3.3v signal, but it steps up the signal to 5v on the output of that first led/pixel. I've done it successfully several times and it's a bit less hassle than using a level shifter. Google "sacrificial led hackaday" and click the first result for a better explanation.

[@ChrisPurser]

Also power injection to deal with line loss.

[@RichardMarks-1701]

This ⬆️. Exactly what I was going to say. I actually had a problem with the ESP running too many relays. One to four relays worked fine, but I ran out of current heading up towards nine relays. I was making the world’s first WiFi menorah. 🤣

[@darkbielz]

i've had the same problem years ago, i was running a strip of WS2112b leds, first i thought that this difference in the signal voltage was the problem, but then I connected both ground wires, from the ESP to the strip power supply, and it worked, flicker free since then!

[@LoganLovell]

Im sure others have already suggested this, but somehow linking the window to octoprint and having it blink green or have a green loop flash around the window would be cool to show you when a print is done, or have a red flash if you have spaghetti on a print. Definitely endless possibilities here, great build Bob!!!

[@eugenechun72]

Name the room Master Control...a la the MCP from Tron

[@jasongardner4261]

How about “The MCP Lab” ?

[@hellboundspectre]

This or The Repository.

[@tyranavalon]

You wanted some suggestions so here goes. Static build up on the shop side of the window: I hear that there are a number of "anti-static" acrylic cleaners that leave a transparent film that reduces static build up on acrylic surfaces. Programs to add to the window lights: An indicator when one of the printers runs out of filament or has an error that stops it from working. Depending on how responsive the LED strip is, you might even be able to code it to light up a specific section so you can determine which one is faulting. A timer function, perhaps a button you can press in the room that starts a specific count down timer so that when the count down ends, it will flash a specific color or series of colors. For fun, a function that sends a pulse of different colored light around the edge of the window starting at a random location and going to a random location. (Not sure if you would be able to send it past the end/begining of the line, but that would make it look better.) Interesting things to put in the window. Or around the room: Spray painting or etching circuit board patterns on the wall and window. (For added effect, you could stack multiple different patterns on the window or in different colors on the wall) if they were painted with blacklight/florescent paint the blacklight lamp would have greater effect. (One of the long bar lamps would cast more light and give a greater effect.) There are several vehicles in the Tron franchise (such as the recognizer) that could be easily duplicated with either 3D printing or made flat and cut out of etched acrylic. By running belts or fishing line attatched to motors you could give them the illusion of moving around the room. A small projector could be used with an angled piece of acrylic to project ghost images of code running across the window. (This could also give you status updates on things in the room.) A second or third set of LED similar to the first can be placed behind the first and can sandwich layers of etched acrylic letting you light different sections with different light.

[@glensafro]

You could call the room the Enhanced Nano Clean Object Manufacturing room. Or ENCOM if you prefer.

[@RaccoonHenry]

that is GENIUS😮😮

[@alandahlstrom7213]

I was going to suggest ENCOM too, but i was having a heck of a time reversing the anagram. Your suggestion is outstanding.

[@moroccanmaker8126]

Great job and great video, we missed this type of videos, IMO you could use the light on the window to indicate the progress of work of machines (3D printing, ...) or you can apply the same idea of quality of air inside the room and indicate it onto window light

[@Billybob09871]

The "Construct" springs to mind, like from the matrix. and because of the printers

[@jeff5551]

Wrong franchise, but similar vibe I suppose

[@Billybob09871]

I know, but the grid seemed to much on the nose

[@groeneribbroek]

Like, matrix printers? =)

[@Billybob09871]

@@groeneribbroek oh, I didn't think of that, works on many levels 😆

[@timothyjackson1779]

Awesome Idea really cool room. Not sure if you will see this or if someone else has thought of it but... If you cut and plexiglass shapes the height of the window that resembles a circuit board. Then scuff the edges of each shape but not the top and bottom. If you address the lights under and over it each shape it should highlight the edges of the shapes. Maybe you can use it as a status marker of each printer. you could mark things with fiber optic light as well.

[@ericbaier]

Add a centering line laser line to the other side of the black light stepper motor to make the look of something scanning the room.

[@Mordeaux]

Love all your vids Bob. Been watching for a long time and live vicariously through them. I grew up with TRON as well and they're both in the short list of my favorite movies. I'd like to toss my suggestion for the room name to be The Hub

[@billygrow3d]

@14:35 🤣First off hilarious, secondly, thank you so much for including this kind of moment, so real. Thank you for all the awesome content and inspiration. 👍 Room name suggestion: "The Grid" (Also a great song from the Tron Legacy Album)

[@quyreansoulsealer4002]

The Grid is a perfect name. I denotes electronics, which is what this room is for vs the wood shop which is less techy.

[@nathanhiggins860]

Big fan of the Tron aesthetic myself and love how you incorporated that into your work space. If I had a workshop I'd probably do the same.

[@kunaljain7096]

Laser etch some icons in the window acrylic at the bottom edge like 3d printer status, cnc machine status, internet status etc. Doesn't need to be big enough. Just enough so u can see from the far and the specific section of the light will change the colour as per the status of that specific system. And this etching makes the light pop out of acrylic very nicely.

[@DonNoddingPolitely]

yeeeah. Make it look like a heads up display.

[@FoxxyMomma]

Love it! Would maybe recommend a air purity sensor of some sorts, and have that reflect on to the window. I know when running my printers, the room can get warm, stuffy and probably a little toxic without air circulating and being filtered. that being said, some sort of air filtration, a duct like a bathroom fan or something similar is something I would add into this room. Good work, and inspiring as always!

[@Chewbode]

To start: What an excellent idea, Bob. It' looks SO good. Envious! :) My vote for a name: Ortus. It's latin for birth / source / beginning. And it sounds kind of TRON-y. :) LUX would also be great.

[@Randoneering]

I cannot smash the like button enough. Now you just need to have the sound track from legacy play in the background. Something that would be cool to do is have something fire off as you walk into the room, kick off "The Grid" song, and have the lights pulse more aggressively everywhere, including the window. Another idea would be if you could setup something with all the printers to fire an error if a print failed to a receiver, and the window turns a color to indicate which printer needs attention.

[@fen0221]

I think you should buy a second hand 65-inch lcd tv. Remove the backlight and laminate the lcd screen itself to the glass. So whatever notification you want it could show it on the window

[@XaviusNight]

Laser-cut or Dremel-engraved acrylic with frosted edges will glow when LEDs are pointed into them, you can use this to make some visible displays such as "print in progress" or "printer A idle" etc. Or just have neat little tron lines in the window, either-or.

[@Liquidspaceman]

Great video. You should call it Flynn's, like the arcade. And you can have the light around the window react to a "ring' from your front door. If someone pushes the doorbell, the light in your window can respond and you will be notified when you are down there.

[@KevinFreitas]

Yeah, this all looks fantastic! Always fun to see your process. For the indicators: what if you have sections at the bottom of your window that each indicate something different. Bonus: 3D print little icons to represent each status (wifi, printing, streaming, etc). Cheers!

[@benddeg]

I like the name Print City. Simple and sounds somewhat futuristic but yet still realistic

[@prozacgod]

The Pixels in the top of your window can be used to represent the time of day, via color, there could be several ways to do this. "simple way" have colors for 0-9, and 4 leds could show the time of day as colors via a direct digit to color. "harder way" have the color hue, attached to a in-out curve for the hour of the day, and a repeating g b fade for 0-60 for the minute incorporate red into the color for even/odd hours to make the more discernable,.

[@Grim-Aces]

Love the Tron look, but you have got to do something with the outlets and pipe for the electrical. They just clash with the room. An idea would be to 3d print some outlet covers, maybe use a combination of black filament and one that glows in the black light. You cover the pipes with more of the plastic you used to hold the lights. You could glue 3d print brackets inside the channels that use magnets to hold them to the pipes.

[@nicholas6349]

Started watching this guy a few months ago. And I can concur, that he definitely likes to make stuff.

[@BadAppleWoodwerx]

"If the internet goes out, like it does every single week...." Oh, you have Comcast huh? 🤣😂🤣

[@oliverbrunt1]

You should be so incredibly proud of this build. It’s a joy to watch Bob being Bob. (Also… display flashing green when a print is finished!)

[@rockinkcreations127]

I love it Bob, I'd like to see scrolling text on the window with various bits of information. e.g. Machine status, family schedule, ticker info (sports, financial), or any other types of notifications you have on your phone or watch. As for a name, I simply like - "The Lab"

[@kuztomix]

Great build as always ! Maybe you could add an air quality checker on top of the connection display ?

[@Dumplin42]

I like the movement on the ceiling. Would be cool if it continued down the wall to each piece of equipment. I like MurphySidekic's idea of having the window be a progress indicator for one or all of the printers in the room. Perhaps having light strips at each station that shows it's in operation with something that would indicate its progress in the window. Room name suggestion: The Codex

[@MikeWhitton]

Re the Window, indicating print progress or 3d print completion etc would be a good use for it. I like the fact that different colours can have different meanings.

[@SimonGould1024]

The Lab.

[@Rev-Kit]

That is so awesome! Also, love that you have Windcharger in front of your monitor.

[@Fries101Reviews]

Call it " THE ELEC-TRON-NIC ROOM "

[@adamglendye]

Great video! Don’t have a name suggestion, but highly recommend programming in audio whenever the door opens to some cool Tron inspired music/sounds that keeps playing until you leave the room. Might need some kind of motion sensor involved. This also gives you a reason to play/record music.

[@forby_]

c o o l b e a n s

[@JonathanRansom]

The C.O.O.L. B.E.A.N.S. Room

[@vectoredwolf]

For the indicator, you could easily assign certain section to relate to specific things inside the room, and each section could have a color that means something different. Could put text on the acrylic (in an on-theme way) that identifies each one.

[@ashlardarned2540]

For the ceiling lights, I'd program some lights randomly going back the other direction, so it looks like days being written and read from different sectors. Could do data monitoring on your network or a specific device, so with high network traffic it plays the animation faster/more often, and the default animation with low/no network activity. For the window, you could do air quality monitoring, if an air quality sensor in the clean room reads above a certain value, it flashes the lights on and off in the window red (and maybe the wall light?). I would also add ventilation to that room, heated plastic gives off fumes that aren't healthy, so you want to be bringing in fresh outside air. Have the clean room be slightly higher pressure than the rest of your house so that dust gets blown out of the room instead of being sucked in through the door.

[@tylersanders6080]

I could you see you incorporating more ideas from Tron for this room! Maybe the landscapes and shapes, or characters. Maybe call it the "Master Control Room". When you open the door or start printing, have it where a smart speaker plays music from the soundtrack. A great idea for the window light indicator would be to let you know when your printing jobs are done. Such an awesome room!

[@4-6-3DP]

Bob - I LOVE this! Would like to see an in-depth video about the code you wrote. Wouldn’t get a lot of views, probably, but would be fun for geeks like me to watch!

[@nomorehate9176]

Pretty dang cool, Bob!! Wish I could connect into your brain and siphon off a fraction of your fantastic creativity!!

[@joshuazuniga7131]

With the windows, you can put a code on the left or right side of the window to show the state of the printers (finished, working, or even the real-time progress of the work). You can divide the left side of the window into 3-4 separate parts, and every part should check the status of the desired printer.

[@nathanpowell1500]

Octoprint (and I am sure others) has a rest api, and a homeassistant integration. You could definitely use those to monitor print jobs/filament etc.

[@AuntJemimaGames]

One of the best options for visible strips is probably the GOVEE rope light made for the perimeter of desks. They are NOT cheap (almost $100 for 5m), but produce a really good result.

[@dereknykamp1208]

Definitely needs to be called "The Grid", as many others have also mentioned already. Thanks for sharing the journey!

[@niminpatel]

You can use the old ESP and run WLED on it. Connect it to your home automation environment such as home assistant and now you can use the lights not only for internet outage, but also other status indication.

[@Prairiesentry]

in the window you should overlay separate pieces of acrylic in funky shapes, one for each device in the room. you can puzzle them into the window and have led indicators show print progress or flash error codes such as filament out.

[@moslaf]

You could make some cool effects in the window and elsewhere in the room using an EL Wire or EL Tape product.

[@pauloamador5521]

U can use the lights on the window as an progress bar to your prints or something u need to keep doing while u do other things (Don't if it is possible, but i think is a good application) U can also segmentate te corners to use it as a a multi progress bar, like: Left corner is printer 1, Right corner printer 2 and etc.

[@MrDigitalWorks]

Awesome project! Would love to have a room like that for my crafting stuff!! Name proposal: The Grid - Adresses the TRON style and your grid of 3D printers!

[@trentevans8820]

This is soooooo cool! I'm hoping to finish part of my basement soon to create an office for myself and I might just have to take some of these ideas and adapt them for my space. So many cool thoughts!

[@urbanlucky98]

One way to achieve more of that moving on the wall is to use some spy glass/mirror, if you put this where you would mount the strip and mount the strip on the most outer/side that is off the wall, you can either face the mirror or let the LED face the wall. The colors and their brightness bounce of the mirror differently, thus creating more effect.

[@paulcharette6400]

This is so awesome Bob, and inspiring. I've watched your arduino course but haven't found the time yet to try things out for myself. Hopefully one day I will will learn to implement half of the capabilities that you do. Thank you!

[@NewtonMakes]

Such a cool, inspiring room in which to work. Idea on the lights - It can be a bit jarring to all of a sudden see someone standing in my shop when I'm wearing headphones and running tools. It would be cool to have the lights act as proximity sensors, like in a movie. Gradually turn a specific color when someone has entered the space. Could be tied to a door or a laser grid across the stairs.

[@michaeltiebout7092]

This is such a cool project. I remember when Legacy come out in theaters and I took my dad to see it. He told me that he remember the original movie coming out and how much technology it used.

[@clipit1719]

For indicators you could get a frosted vinyl sticker and place them around the borders of the windows. Then selectively change those regions' colors based on what happening. For example printer 1 logo , green = running, red = error, blue = standby, green flash = print complete. Wifi logo in the upper corner. Would also be cool if you could put a spinning hologram display. On a wall or recessed in the window would be cool. Could be a clock, text notifications, sub count, etc

[@balancedben]

I learned fusion through their course and have since used it to model and make a custom pantry. It's a pretty good course and I would recommend it.

[@WhiskeyHunterVAT69]

very cool. I'm to old to learn all this stuff, but it's still fun to watch your VOD.

[@LEdHeadW]

I had a LED matrix project that has been on the back burner for a long time, ever since I got into modular synths. But one piece of functionality I always dreamed of was a "weather station". Since you're in the basement, sometimes it's nice to know what's going on outside. Little chaser lights mimicking raindrops when it's raining, and maybe they go faster when it's windy. Colors that fade from blue to red (or whatever) depending on the temperature. Etc. This was all supposed to be part of a wildly ambitious sunrise alarm clock that would slowly change from dark blue to purple to red to yellow as I woke up, or maybe for your case to correspond to sunrise/sunset each day. You can probably easily scrape your local weather data to get the corresponding values to link to your chosen lighting animations/colors. I still dream of this project but in a format for my synthesizer. Weather data that I can patch into my synth so I can "listen" to the weather. Temp, windspeed, precipitation, cloud cover, fog, snow... All modulating pitch/filters/envelopes/note triggers/harmonics/wave tables/effects... You get the idea. Nice work!

[@LAbeauty316]

you could have a section of lights for each printer in the room that indicate the status of the printer. for example, if the printer is off, the light is blue. if it's in progress it could be white. if it's done, it's green. if there's an error, it could be yellow. someone mentioned engraving the acrylic with tron patterns (which i totally agree would look awesome) but you could also engrave each printer number onto the acrylic right beside/under its section of lights.

[@WillSpires]

So cool man, you did an incredible job.

[@juliemac5604]

We had an extra bedroom that required walking through the workshop. There was always a slight layer of dust/fine sawdust. If you want this room to actually be clean, you want to have a porch-like room to remove your shoes, and create a buffer. Also, you really need to seal every joint of the wood. Since you've already finished the room, you need to seal the seams surrounding the clean room. Especially the ceiling.

[@Scarecrow1965]

Hey, Thanks for telling me about this LED Effects Generator since I have been working on doing some random LED effects on my computer workstation (3 addressable LED strips) and trying to come up with ideas but had to try programming it first to see if it would work. THANKS!!!!

[@jamesgirardi5098]

I think it could be useful to see a progression bar in the window depending on the percentage of completion for whatever 3D printer you’re utilizing at the moment!

[@PearlJam2k6]

"Synthetics Lab" seems fitting since you're mostly using plastic printing there. One interesting idea i think you could do for the glass section is have smaller, inscribed/engraved panels behind that with their own set of LED lights under them that trigger under say 3 different parameters. "Printing, Error, Finished" for example, each one for the separate printers like P-1, P-2 etc. Since you can have separate arduinos linked to each printer technically, or even hook them all up to the WiFi together and let the code sort it out, you could essentially have a viewable, physical notification system from outside when some event happens. It would link with the visual aesthetic of the Tron-vibe but also be useful as well so you dont need to go back and forth into the room to check prints.

[@makernova8160]

That room is looking awesome! I definitely want to use some of those ideas for lighting in my work area. As far as the window is concerned, I think one of the easiest ideas might be to just make the Arduino that controls the lighting into its own web server. You can have an API where you could just pass in what color and light pattern you want the window to be and maybe a command for on/off for the light. That way you can get the window all buttoned up and not have to worry about changing / reprogramming the Arduino when you change or add notifications. All you need to do is have one or more devices / Arduinos decide what the conditions and logic are for a given notification and then send a call to the window Arduino's API. I did something similar with an ESP8266 that sends me text notifications. Any device I want a notification for just has to send a call to my Arduino notification hub with the device name and the message to text and off it goes. It's infinitely scalable and doesn't require me to reprogram the hub!

[@jesseeagleton7329]

I feel that the window would work best as an indicator for a finished print with different colors or patterns for each seperateprinter. It would also be great to call the room "Tron 3D" or "ElectroLife"