I remember watching this years ago when it was uploaded, then being completely caught off guard actually walking into the hall with it installed. It looks so much better IRL than in the video... Yikes, and credits to you Mike.
Even though we talked about this a bunch and I had the opportunity to see the installation in person...man, the SCALE of this thing. Crazy! Not just the size of the individual element (which was much bigger than I assumed) but also the number of drops/nodes and the overall number of LEDs. Very impressive, like usual. Can't wait to hear more about it in a few weeks!
I'm not the brightest bulb in the box, but watching this, I now know that 'paying attention at school' wouldn't really have helped! Mike, you are one seriously clever fella, your work is incredible!
This is absolutely impresive. I love the problem solving of the tiniest of details, the debugging, the little engineering challenges. Sadly, most if not all, of these will largely be ignored by most people; but we do notice and we give your a huge tip of the hat. And to make it better, these engineering solutions do not end in a inert grey box tucked in a dark corner, but serve a beautiful, bright, and evocative aesthetic piece. Beautiful. This, and some of your other videos are amazing, educational and inspiring. Thank you!
Every single aspect demonstrated in this video is brilliant from start to finish. Thank you Mike for taking the time to share this thing with us in such detail, and looking forward to what you show us in future.
I was sitting at that seafood restaurant very recently eating some unacceptably expensive food and staring up at this lighting structure completely mesmerised. What a small world this is. A really really amazing job. Well done
Wow, this is like watching a documentary but better. It's really great to see how you engineered your way through the various stages, and how well planned everything was. Thank you for taking the time to put the video together.
Very nice! I stood and watched that installation last time I passed through Heathrow, but I had no idea it was made by one of my favorite TH-camrs. Great job as always!
Mike, as someone only recently getting into the world of microcontrollers, I find your videos really illuminating (sorry) for the kinds of issues you deal with when scaling projects up and ensuring they're robust. The preset patterns on the PCBs to prevent needing to send bitmap data to each arc was really cool. Thanks for taking the effort to document the kind of work you do, it's really inspiring and helpful.
You are absolutely killing it with the LED art installations! Massive respect, and thank you for all the in-depth information about your projects. It's been an absolute pleasure watching every video you upload.
Mike, I can adequately express the gratitude I feel for the time and effort you obviously put into the detailed explanation of this project. I will watch this multiple times to be able to get all of the pearls of wisdom from it. These extended videos that go into depth do really help those of us that do similar projects but on a smaller scale. mucho gracias
As soon as you mentioned the bubbles in the encapsulation I said "ESD". I have a vague memory of coming across the same thing but ATM can't remember where. And yes, back when I found myself doing customer support on stuff I'd designed I too found that questions with a Yes or No answer - and particularly Yes - were to be avoided. Brilliant piece of work. If only my career had gone differently...
I love these installation videos, its all often way over my head but its really cool seeing all the work and thought and trouble shooting that goes into one of these installations.
Doing this sort of thing is sure better than working on some boring production line in some factory. The kids at school should be inspired, they could be doing something awesome like this if they put their minds to it.
Thanks again Mike for taking the time to make another amazing video. It's so good to hear why certain design decisions were made, how you managed to manipulate the hardware to obtain the comms protocol required and how you overcame problems in production - not to mention all the optimisations you applied with those spreadsheets!
Very nice piece of art in many ways. A lot of thought has been put in to all the effects and looking at the quality of the build is another form of art as far as I'm concerned.
Truly impressive work there... the attention you've given esthetics, durability, flexibility, power economy, serviceability, etc., etc., is mind-blowing. Another demonstration of why you are at the top of your craft. Thanks so much for sharing all the details -- every bit is fascinating.
Thanks so much for posting these with all that detail; a fantastic resource of practical tips; the boards getting fried by static was a good one. The "magnet as cable puller" also a great trick. Nice art piece too!
This is so well designed. Ive been thinking alot about this. But unfortunately limited in knowledge yet. But this would be how I would do it. Its just perfection. A proper well designed limitless design that gives the artists all possibilities. Thanks for insight in this project.
What a great video. Thanks for taking the time to explain everything is such great detail. You are truly an engineer. Capable of great design, smart enough to work around blocks that come your way, as well as understanding why an issue is happening and how to prevent it. Well done!
Amazing stuff there white wing, fascinating behind the scenes info and brief insight to the design thought process! The end result must have brought a satisfied smile to your face, looks great!
Holy shit that is incredible, I've got to stop watching because I can't watch the hole thing right now but I'm already hooked. You have one amazing job.
Another great video Mike, thank you for sharing all of your knowledge and experience from these builds. Invaluable! Fascinated by this stuff, I have worked with an interactive artist on small lighting projects but this stuff is amazing! I always spend way too long staring at lighting installations!
What a wonderful piece of engineering!! Since I am a radio RF guy I did wonder if the structure which is probably a good antenna at some frequency would suffer from nearby RF transmissions present at the airport. Maybe the next time I am at Heathrow I will bring along my HT and see! Well Done!!!
BigClive brought me here, The really, really cool design made me watch the entire video. The in depth description on the components and pieces made me subscribe and like! Awesome piece of engineering and design Mike glad I stumbled upon your channel!
I'm looking to do a redesign of the popular GH60 keyboard PCB with individual per-key RGB backlighting, and was planning on using a few 12/24 channel drivers, but those ones look much more promising. Fantastic video Mike, your design talks are really out of this world.
Thanks for the detailed explanations. Nice work diagnosing the static discharge fault, and even more thanks, and thumbs up, for reproducing on a smaller scale.
I was going to compliment on the lack of bubbles, and ask if they used a pressure pot, but you addressed that. Ive worked with aluminum and nonmetallic honeycomb at a previous job, vacuum bagging it and baking it for a few hours for normalizing and adhesive bonding made for quite similar circumstances to the resin in a mold. Pull off the plastic bag and it would build one hell of a charge on the metal table (on hard rubber wheels) We'd try to debag them without touching the table, and after 2-3 parts were debagged, the next person to touch the table was in for a decent zap. Usually a wad of the bag sealing tape was thrown by the person getting zapped at the other person 'helping'
I'm loving the firmware update method you describe here and in another video. I'm thinking I may have to do this in a project that I am working on at the moment. I was wondering how I might achieve something of the sort, and you've given some great theory to work from! Love this installation too, will keep an eye out for it if I ever go through T2!
+Julian Dymer I had that problem, had to use 'right arrow' on keyboard to skip 10 seconds ahead. Chunk of video didn't encode properly to the tubes. :(
I remember watching this years ago when it was uploaded, then being completely caught off guard actually walking into the hall with it installed. It looks so much better IRL than in the video... Yikes, and credits to you Mike.
Amazing on so many levels, physically and electronically. "Well done" just doesn't cut it. "Fuckin' wow" is probably closer.
Even though we talked about this a bunch and I had the opportunity to see the installation in person...man, the SCALE of this thing. Crazy! Not just the size of the individual element (which was much bigger than I assumed) but also the number of drops/nodes and the overall number of LEDs. Very impressive, like usual. Can't wait to hear more about it in a few weeks!
I'm not the brightest bulb in the box, but watching this, I now know that 'paying attention at school' wouldn't really have helped!
Mike, you are one seriously clever fella, your work is incredible!
Yeah, and what he does requires skill!
Many TH-camrs talk a good talk. But only a small number actually walk the walk like this. Excellent stuff. The perfect CV / resumé!
This was a really awesome video, thank you so much for sharing your incredible talents!
This is absolutely impresive. I love the problem solving of the tiniest of details, the debugging, the little engineering challenges. Sadly, most if not all, of these will largely be ignored by most people; but we do notice and we give your a huge tip of the hat. And to make it better, these engineering solutions do not end in a inert grey box tucked in a dark corner, but serve a beautiful, bright, and evocative aesthetic piece. Beautiful. This, and some of your other videos are amazing, educational and inspiring. Thank you!
Amazing explanation and beautiful, thanks for sharing!
i just saw this the other day as I sprinted to my flight the other day. Very well done. :)
I was super impressed about the install, then I was blown away at the pcb design and coding! Amazing work
I Want to ask only one thing. Never stop teach us. Thanks for sharing.
Mike the attention to detail is amazing. A master of your art.
Every single aspect demonstrated in this video is brilliant from start to finish. Thank you Mike for taking the time to share this thing with us in such detail, and looking forward to what you show us in future.
I was sitting at that seafood restaurant very recently eating some unacceptably expensive food and staring up at this lighting structure completely mesmerised. What a small world this is. A really really amazing job. Well done
Just sat in terminal 2 watching this and marvelling at it at the same time. Fascinating watch. Thanks for sharing!
I sat watching this for an hour at T2 waiting for a flight - simply brilliant design and programming.
Your attention to detail always impresses me. What a pro.
Wow, this is like watching a documentary but better. It's really great to see how you engineered your way through the various stages, and how well planned everything was. Thank you for taking the time to put the video together.
That's very impressive. It must feel great knowing so many people have stopped at that airport to admire your work.
Very nice! I stood and watched that installation last time I passed through Heathrow, but I had no idea it was made by one of my favorite TH-camrs. Great job as always!
I"m always impressed by the attention to detail and thoughtfulness of your firmware design!
7 years later I finally came across the light installation. Still going strong. It was funny, I recognized it in an instant.
Mike, as someone only recently getting into the world of microcontrollers, I find your videos really illuminating (sorry) for the kinds of issues you deal with when scaling projects up and ensuring they're robust. The preset patterns on the PCBs to prevent needing to send bitmap data to each arc was really cool. Thanks for taking the effort to document the kind of work you do, it's really inspiring and helpful.
Flew from t2 the other month, saw it and thought 'I wonder if Mike had anything to do with this'... Now I know, brilliant work
You are absolutely killing it with the LED art installations! Massive respect, and thank you for all the in-depth information about your projects. It's been an absolute pleasure watching every video you upload.
Mike, I can adequately express the gratitude I feel for the time and effort you obviously put into the detailed explanation of this project. I will watch this multiple times to be able to get all of the pearls of wisdom from it. These extended videos that go into depth do really help those of us that do similar projects but on a smaller scale. mucho gracias
As soon as you mentioned the bubbles in the encapsulation I said "ESD". I have a vague memory of coming across the same thing but ATM can't remember where. And yes, back when I found myself doing customer support on stuff I'd designed I too found that questions with a Yes or No answer - and particularly Yes - were to be avoided.
Brilliant piece of work. If only my career had gone differently...
That is amazing! So much work to do that but it looks incredible.
I love these installation videos, its all often way over my head but its really cool seeing all the work and thought and trouble shooting that goes into one of these installations.
Doing this sort of thing is sure better than working on some boring production line in some factory.
The kids at school should be inspired, they could be doing something awesome like this if they put their minds to it.
+Green Silver - And they would know they building something useful for humankind!
Mike - thanks for taking the time to explain this, it was fascinating. Not sure when I'll be traversing T2, but I'll certainly look out for this.
Thanks again Mike for taking the time to make another amazing video. It's so good to hear why certain design decisions were made, how you managed to manipulate the hardware to obtain the comms protocol required and how you overcame problems in production - not to mention all the optimisations you applied with those spreadsheets!
Wow, saw this last year at Heathrow T2. It was delightful to watch. Clever stuff thank you so much for taking us through the design I learned a lot
Very nice piece of art in many ways. A lot of thought has been put in to all the effects and looking at the quality of the build is another form of art as far as I'm concerned.
Truly impressive work there... the attention you've given esthetics, durability, flexibility, power economy, serviceability, etc., etc., is mind-blowing. Another demonstration of why you are at the top of your craft. Thanks so much for sharing all the details -- every bit is fascinating.
Thank you very much for taking the time to make these videos. It's very fascinating to see the thought process of developing such a system.
Saw this at the weekend as flying out to Zurich, looks even better in person, well done.
Thanks so much for posting these with all that detail; a fantastic resource of practical tips; the boards getting fried by static was a good one. The "magnet as cable puller" also a great trick. Nice art piece too!
That's a dream project. Well realised. You're a lucky chap to have such a cool job!
That is so interesting to see the project steps involved. A lot of work involved!
A stunningly gorgeous project! I am impressed at all the design decisions you had to contend with and the solutions you arrived at.
Impressive project, thanks for sharing some of the challenges.
Great work Mike, the thought, planning and skill required to execute this is well, bloody awesome.
Outstanding, thank you for blowing my mind.
Just seen this at heathrow. Looks stunning.
Thank you for sharing your design process. Always enlightening, your designs are very thoughtful, clever and elegant.
Great installation Mike! I admire your work. Something I could only dream of. Thank You for the great videos.
Wow what a great honor it must have been to create something like that for the airport
This is so well designed. Ive been thinking alot about this. But unfortunately limited in knowledge yet. But this would be how I would do it. Its just perfection. A proper well designed limitless design that gives the artists all possibilities. Thanks for insight in this project.
What a great video. Thanks for taking the time to explain everything is such great detail. You are truly an engineer. Capable of great design, smart enough to work around blocks that come your way, as well as understanding why an issue is happening and how to prevent it. Well done!
That is amazing, Mike, what a fantastic bit of work. Awesome!
Awesome project and a great level of detail on the description!
Thanks for showing us your amazing work , that must of cost a lot of money ,looks great.Next time I'm working at Heathrow i will take a look.
Saw this in person a couple months ago, really cool!
Very enjoyable to watch the installation and fascinating how you did it. Brilliant job and I hope you got paid well for it.
Thank you Mike, you are doing a very good job.
Amazing stuff there white wing, fascinating behind the scenes info and brief insight to the design thought process! The end result must have brought a satisfied smile to your face, looks great!
Holy shit that is incredible, I've got to stop watching because I can't watch the hole thing right now but I'm already hooked. You have one amazing job.
Awesome work Mike. Thanks for sharing.
Learning a ton from this. Thank you very much for taking the time to explain everything.
Very cool video as always! Lots of wonderful insight you'd only get with years of experience in the field.
Another great video Mike, thank you for sharing all of your knowledge and experience from these builds. Invaluable!
Fascinated by this stuff, I have worked with an interactive artist on small lighting projects but this stuff is amazing! I always spend way too long staring at lighting installations!
Impressive use of micro electronics. Keep up the good work.
I remember seeing this and thinking it was cool. Nice work and nice video!
Thanks Mike, you just blow my mind!!!!
Absolutely extraordinary !
This one's definitely going in my favourites. I learned a lot from this.
Mike, I've yet to watch the entire video but the installation looks amazing! A beautiful piece of tech art. Great work.
Impressive project! Looking forward to see more of these in the future!
incredible work here Mike. will visit Heathrow just to see this. it's much more amazing once you know the finite amount of work involved.
+Mark Dutton You'll need to take a flight out of T2
Awesome work Mr. Electricstuff - Thanks for sharing. Cheers!!
What a wonderful piece of engineering!! Since I am a radio RF guy I did wonder if the structure which is probably a good antenna at some frequency would suffer from nearby RF transmissions present at the airport. Maybe the next time I am at Heathrow I will bring along my HT and see! Well Done!!!
Magnificent sir, love your videos
BigClive brought me here, The really, really cool design made me watch the entire video. The in depth description on the components and pieces made me subscribe and like! Awesome piece of engineering and design Mike glad I stumbled upon your channel!
incredible, thanks for taking the time to share this amazing project. I was particularly impressed with your testing techniques..
Outstanding job!!! thank you very much to share the design process, good contribution to the comunity
nice to hear back from you! was worried something bad happened... haven't seen a video in awhile.
I love these videos. Thanks for sharing this.
Great work and good explanations, really appriciate the time you take to share this with us.
I'm looking to do a redesign of the popular GH60 keyboard PCB with individual per-key RGB backlighting, and was planning on using a few 12/24 channel drivers, but those ones look much more promising. Fantastic video Mike, your design talks are really out of this world.
Thanks for the detailed explanations. Nice work diagnosing the static discharge fault, and even more thanks, and thumbs up, for reproducing on a smaller scale.
I was going to compliment on the lack of bubbles, and ask if they used a pressure pot, but you addressed that.
Ive worked with aluminum and nonmetallic honeycomb at a previous job, vacuum bagging it and baking it for a few hours for normalizing and adhesive bonding made for quite similar circumstances to the resin in a mold. Pull off the plastic bag and it would build one hell of a charge on the metal table (on hard rubber wheels) We'd try to debag them without touching the table, and after 2-3 parts were debagged, the next person to touch the table was in for a decent zap. Usually a wad of the bag sealing tape was thrown by the person getting zapped at the other person 'helping'
I would love to see more videos like this one!
I enjoyed this immensely
Great design video! nice deep dive into the interesting details.
Amazing project. Thanks very much for sharing the details!
Nice work. I will have to keep an eye out when I am next up there.
That's awesome! Love your videos, great to see this type of project. ... I kinda want one
The BOM cost before adding engineering and assembly is astronomical. I hope their sushi is doing well :)
Yeah. If I'm ever there I'll make sure to buy something from them ... unless it's insanely expensive. Which it probably is.
Paul Hendrix You guessed it. Insanely expensive
That's insane! Great job!
Amazing installation. Thanks for the details and troubleshooting info!
very very cool! amazing toughs about every design step.
you did make some interesting stuff over the years!
Great work, informative video. Now I need to see if I can get my next flight overseas routed through the terminal.
I'm loving the firmware update method you describe here and in another video. I'm thinking I may have to do this in a project that I am working on at the moment. I was wondering how I might achieve something of the sort, and you've given some great theory to work from! Love this installation too, will keep an eye out for it if I ever go through T2!
just amazing!
well done
Thats a fantastic piece of electronic art Mike, you really are unique :)
incredible work mate!
awesome, very interesting project and great tips! keep up your videos!
Great video, It was really interesting to hear about your fault finding after the LED's being potted. I bet this installation cost a absolute fortune!
The video stops at exactly 27:40 on all browsers, and wont play past that point no matter what. I guess I'll have to try again later
+Julian Dymer I had that problem, had to use 'right arrow' on keyboard to skip 10 seconds ahead. Chunk of video didn't encode properly to the tubes. :(
+frollard I've just watched the whole video on my iPad with no problems.
+Julian Dymer switch the playback resolution, you can switch it back after. my video froze at that point on 720p
+Julian Dymer Might be worth Mike tweaking the video brightness or something, ANYTHING that triggers a re-encode by YT.
Runs past it fine mate on Windows 10 x64 Chrome version 55.0.2883.87 m (64-bit)x Cheers from Australia.
Great design Mike