Virtual Color Mixer

This example demonstrates how to send multiple values from the Arduino board to the computer. The readings from three potentiometers are used to set the red, green, and blue components of the background color of a Processing sketch or Max/MSP patch.

Hardware Required

  • Arduino Board

  • 3 Analog Sensors (potentiometer, photocell, FSR, etc.)

  • 3 10K ohm resistors

  • hook-up wires

  • breadboard

Software Required

Circuit

Connect analog sensors to analog input pins 0, 1, and 2.

This circuit uses three voltage divider sub-circuits to generate analog voltages from the force-sensing resistors. a voltage divider has two resistors in series, dividing the voltage proportionally to their values.

virtualColorMixer bb

Schematic

VCM schem

Code

The sensor values are sent from the Arduino to the computer as ASCII-encoded decimal numbers. This means that each number is sent using the ASCII characters "0" through "9". For the value "234" for example, three bytes are sent: ASCII "2" (binary value 50), ASCII "3" (binary value 51), and ASCII "4" (binary value 52).


/*

  This example reads three analog sensors (potentiometers are easiest) and sends

  their values serially. The Processing and Max/MSP programs at the bottom take

  those three values and use them to change the background color of the screen.

  The circuit:

  - potentiometers attached to analog inputs 0, 1, and 2

  created 2 Dec 2006

  by David A. Mellis

  modified 30 Aug 2011

  by Tom Igoe and Scott Fitzgerald

  This example code is in the public domain.

  http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/VirtualColorMixer

*/

const int redPin = A0;      // sensor to control red color

const int greenPin = A1;    // sensor to control green color

const int bluePin = A2;     // sensor to control blue color

void setup() {

  Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop() {

  Serial.print(analogRead(redPin));

  Serial.print(",");

  Serial.print(analogRead(greenPin));

  Serial.print(",");

  Serial.println(analogRead(bluePin));
}

/* Processing code for this example

  // This example code is in the public domain.

  import processing.serial.*;

  float redValue = 0;        // red value

  float greenValue = 0;      // green value

  float blueValue = 0;       // blue value

  Serial myPort;

  void setup() {

    size(200, 200);

    // List all the available serial ports

    // if using Processing 2.1 or later, use Serial.printArray()

    println(Serial.list());

    // I know that the first port in the serial list on my Mac is always my

    // Arduino, so I open Serial.list()[0].

    // Open whatever port is the one you're using.

    myPort = new Serial(this, Serial.list()[0], 9600);

    // don't generate a serialEvent() unless you get a newline character:

    myPort.bufferUntil('\n');

  }

  void draw() {

    // set the background color with the color values:

    background(redValue, greenValue, blueValue);

  }

  void serialEvent(Serial myPort) {

    // get the ASCII string:

    String inString = myPort.readStringUntil('\n');

    if (inString != null) {

      // trim off any whitespace:

      inString = trim(inString);

      // split the string on the commas and convert the resulting substrings

      // into an integer array:

      float[] colors = float(split(inString, ","));

      // if the array has at least three elements, you know you got the whole

      // thing.  Put the numbers in the color variables:

      if (colors.length >= 3) {

        // map them to the range 0-255:

        redValue = map(colors[0], 0, 1023, 0, 255);

        greenValue = map(colors[1], 0, 1023, 0, 255);

        blueValue = map(colors[2], 0, 1023, 0, 255);

      }

    }

  }

*/

/* Max/MSP patch for this example

 ----------begin_max5_patcher----------

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description: ''
featuredImage: ''
-----------end_max5_patcher-----------

*/

Processing Code

Copy the Processing sketch from the code sample above. As you change the value of the analog sensors, the background color will change:

virtualColorMixer output

Max Code

The max patch looks like this. Copy the text of it from the code sample above and paste into a new Max window.

max virtualColorMixer

See Also

  • serial.begin()

  • serial.print()

  • analogRead()

  • ASCIITable - Demonstrates Arduino's advanced serial output functions.

  • Dimmer - Move the mouse to change the brightness of an LED.

  • Graph - Send data to the computer and graph it in Processing.

  • Midi - Send MIDI note messages serially.

  • MultiSerialMega - Use two of the serial ports available on the Arduino Mega.

  • PhysicalPixel - Turn a LED on and off by sending data to your board from Processing or Max/MSP.

  • ReadASCIIString - Parse a comma-separated string of integers to fade an LED.

  • SerialCallResponse - Send multiple variables using a call-and-response (handshaking) method.

  • SerialCallResponseASCII - Send multiple variables using a call-and-response (handshaking) method, and ASCII-encode the values before sending.

  • SerialEvent - Demonstrates the use of serialEvent().

Last revision 2015/08/11 by SM