What is this?

The photo stick is a DIY project to build an LED-based light-painting device
Using long exposure times, the photo stick allows you to project arbitrary images into the air
The images are BMP files loaded from a microSD card
The photo stick provides comfortable touchscreen-based navigation and configuration
The project requires very basic soldering skills
The total material cost is around 150€ (but you might already have some required parts)
The photo stick is a DIY clone of the Pixelstick

Example shots

Install the Arduino IDE
Clone the repository
Install the following libraries via Arduino's library manager:
- FastLED
- SdFat
- Adafruit_GFX_Library, Adafruit_ILI9341, Adafruit_STMPE610, Adafruit_TouchScreen
- GUISlice
IMPORTANT: Modify GUISlice's configuration in the following way:
- Open Arduino/libraries/GUIslice/src/GUIslice_config.h
- Remove the comment in front of the line #include "../configs/ard-shld-adafruit_28_res.h"
Open Photostick.ino in the Arduino IDE
Compile, load, and use
Optional: Adapt settings config.hpp, especially if you used non-standard pins

1x Arduino Mega or compatible (Example)
1x 2.8" TFT Touch Shield for Arduino (Example)
2x WS2812B LED strip with high LED density, ideally 144 LED/m (Example)
1x DC/DC Converter, at least 100W rating (to be on the safe side) (Example)
1x LiPo 2S battery, 7.4V (Example)
1x LiPo compatible charger
1x XT60 connector (male)
1x cable conduit 40mm x 60mm, length: 30--40cm
2x aluminum profile rail, length 2 meters, with plastic cover, not fully transparent
1x switch (Example)
1x microSD card
Cables
Soldering iron
Multimeter

Solder jumper 3 on touch display
- This enables backlight toggling from software
- https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-2-8-tft-touch-shield-v2/backlight-touch-irq#
Solder the two LED strips into one
Solder LED data wire to data pin 2 of Arduino
Connect LED shield to Arduino
Flash software

Compact assembly with external battery:

User interface: