This is a quick demonstration video of my own custom-designed LCARS-style home automation interface. This is the first time I've done a video of this type, so please bear with me.
Why thank you! The one thing I've found while working on this project and others like it, is the sheer resources that whatever tablet you're using needs to have, just for the graphic load alone, not to mention the sound FX. I am actually on my second tablet, this time a WinBook for my v2 wall control tablet. At least the Windows version supports animated GIFs.
I'm just getting into home automation and HomeSeer, and heard there were some LCARS UI's....your video's the first I saw, and I'm a bit stunned. You did such an amazing job keeping it looking technical (okuda esque!) yet also functional...it looks true to the show, yet you setup navigation and worked everything in SO smoothly. Very well done, and thanks for sharing. I only have 3 dimmer switches and a garage sensor so far...I see I have a long way to go! The thing I liked most was the view of temperatures in each room...we have one zone cooling and I think that would be super handy for diagnosing which vents we need to alter to get a more consistent temperature.
Thanks for the compliments. I was lucky I used to have a Next Gen technical manual that described HOW the LCARS system works, how it's task-specific and how the terminals change configuration depending on task. And yes, you win the award for mentioning the guy responsible for the outstanding design, the venerable Michael Okuda! :)
That is the closest thing I've seen to a usable LCARS interface that isnt a toy. I've been looking to see if anyone has defined the display theme for actual use.
Thanks... I am actually considering rebuilding this in ASP and HTML and even making an installer of sorts, just to get around having to use HSTouch Designer.
What is the current status of your LCARS interface? have you finished up the last few things/details? If so, could you upload a new video? Also, are you planning to market that system? If so, I would like to know how much?
This is the MOST AWESOME THING I HAVE EVER SEEN. I am getting ready to move from Samsung SmartThings to HOMESEER - and this is what I WANT TO DO. I have old 12.2" Tablet that I want to mount to the wall (Android Tablet)....I am hoping that this will work. I may do more than one...May look at a 27" Master Panel in the kitchen running off a Windows 10 PC. What do you think?
Well, I used Corel Draw to build the graphic pieces and HSTouch to build the screens. I also created many virtual devices to reflect data in graphic format.
@@artstein2002 well that is impressive! I have the graphice but lost from there 🤣 i will need to look into HS touch i dont know what that is. Thank you very much for the reply
@@artstein2002 what tablets are you using at the new house? I’m building a new house and been trying to figure out best options. I want a modern look now a 1986 Honeywell
@@jonathancobb6084 well, the ones I am using now are Android tablets, 2 of them... www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09C5MJYTG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ... The tablet I used for this video was a different (older and slower) Android tablet. I am in the process of rebuilding this interface at this very moment and will be posting video of it as well. I'm trying to come up with a full graphics set and how-to for those who want to build their own in HSTouch. The tablets I have now, I just used velcro tabs to attach to the wall. Also, since I now use Alexa for all of my media stuff, I am pretty much excluding that whole functionality.
@@artstein2002 cool, im trying to go a route that it's POE from the back so no wires. So far only found stuff from china and somewhat scared of that option lol
Basically, I just designed the screens and graphics using both Corel Draw and Photoshop, then used HSTouch designer to turn them into working buttons and displays. How can I help? Also, on tablets, the LCARS font would be hard to load unless the tablet is rooted and font management software is installed. I avoided that hassle by including the lettering and such in the graphic pieces.
Amazing! Labeling each button was an exceptional idea. How did you keep some buttons pressed? Do you switch screens completely and copy each set of buttons?
Maicon Tambosi the button image sources are assigned by device values. Some buttons have more than on/off states so some devices will have several versions of the same button.
How did you go through the process of designing the lcars panel the way You did? You started with some pencil made scheme, then I suppose you used made Photoshop model and some vector. Are the buttons 2 times bigger and scales down to be crispie?
Actually, I designed each screen as a "page" in Corel Draw (vector exported as png or jpg mostly) for the most part. A few of the buttons I did make just using Photoshop, but mostly using Corel Draw. I assume maybe either Adobe Illustrator or any other vector-based design software that can export jpg and png files would work. I scaled everything down to half-size actually, to conserve resources on the tablet running it because I noticed in previous builds of HSTouch interfaces, that the more the graphic load, the slower it responded and refreshed. So quite a few screens are mainly background images with just a few active buttons or indicators. The crisp appearance is in making sure the graphics I export from Corel had a full pixel edge, not dithered.
Where should I post such a thing? I'd have to gather all of the graphics I used, which is both in the Homeseer image folder and the working folder for HSTouch, plus the HSTouch xml file. Just keep in mind that reverse engineering that is not going to be simple, as I set up a lot of virtual devices to change graphics.
Great! What is your email address I will send you a dropbox invite to upload it to. Yeah I think i just need some of the graphics to help get me started then I will put in my own tweaks.
2 zips uploaded to your dropbox... The !!! LCARS 2016 (New) has all of the HSTouch project graphics and wavs in their respective folders (There are both the ones featured in this video and the newest ones I'm using in the upcoming upgraded version that's almost complete) and the one just called LCARS is what I have in my HS3 html/images folder. Good luck!
I have some questions if you wouldn't mind. I'm working on a home automation setup for a friend converting a school bus to RV. (Skoolie). I'm using a raspberry pi, and node red for the control side. I'm looking for a way to spice up the dashboard and make it more lcars like in nature. Are you using a static graphic and mapping or are you using hrm and CSS to creat the layout? I've been looking for an lcars layout template of sorts for node red, or theme, but am not having very much luck. A lot of people show their lcars screen, but don't say if they coded it, downloaded it, etc. If you willing I'd be interested in some help or direction. Thanks!
Well, to date, I have probably created about 5 different versions of LCARS displays on both Android and Windows tablets. What I did was create graphic pieces, some just buttons and some whole background graphics for the most part. For example, the "home" or idle screen shown in the video is a mixture of a background graphic and a few other graphic pieces. All of the graphics, I designed myself, trying to mimic colors and general layouts and shapes. I usually start with a layout in Corel, doing most of the design work there, and exporting the pieces.
I have watched this a few times. I also have read your comments to another poster below about using virtual devices in hs3 to change images back on HST. Did you use any of the functions in HST for opening and closing screens in HST based on a button push? Your transitions LOOK REALLY smooth. My transitions between screens is ok but not smooth like yours. I also was wondering about trying out LCARS SDK to build the screens, but then wondered if it would be possible to serve up the whole thing as a set of html....Too many questions.
Hmmm... I have some events triggering screen changes on the HSTouch clients, mainly for security camera display when motion is detected on the property. Other than that, the buttons for the screens are just on-release "show another screen by itself" to display the desired screen. The other is the "close a screen" which is what I use as a "back" button. All pretty standard HSTouch procedure as I gathered from the forums. You could surely use HTML if you wanted to, just present it in a box in the HSTouch screen and go from there, or even just use the chrome browser fullscreen. There are so many variations on how to do this stuff, since they made the designer and the overall H package itself, very expandable.
Hey Scotty, this is awesome. I am a massive TNG fan, even have the wide body pinball machine in my basement. I digress. I just got into HS3Pro and I have been designing a 2001:Space Odyssey themed interface panel. But their aren't enough "theme" ideas from that movie to do what I want to do with it. I have a HAL 9000 screen and a few screens. I never thought about an LCARS screen. I really don't want your screens to just do a drop-in an replace. My way and your way, different, just because of what we automate. But, I surely wouldn't mind the screens to base my development on. I am building them on 10 inch Win 10 tablets. Can I get at your graphics and layout ideas? I have a huge goggle drive I can give you a folder in. if not that is cool too.
LOL! 2001 was my first HSTouch theme... Well, back with HS2 and a touchscreen and some custom web pages... But I digress... I could send you graphic sets I suppose, but all I did was google images of LCARS and just kind of designed mine off of the concepts for certain types of station controls. Here's the trick though, FONTS... I have the LCARS.TTF font that I CAN use on a Windows tablet, in which case, most of my graphics were just background images for buttons and then one master background for the screen itself. Then I just place whatever buttons I need in there, and thanks to Michael Okuda, most of the buttons are pretty much rectangular for the most part. In the case of indicators, I just made images for the different states of certain devices. You can also "cheat" by using just a colored button, straight out of HSTouch Designer, stick text on it and you're done. The one thing I had going for me is that in the Next Gen Tech Manual, there's a description of how the LCARS system works, so I kind of based the functionality of the whole app on that.
Also... I have been toying with again, doing a 2001 themed project... I think the key is those CRT-looking displays plashing various things, such as CRM or SYS or some other 3 letter acronym. Other than that, the definitive HAL "eye" module, and maybe, just maybe, some use of the "brain" room where Dave shuts HAL down... I dunno, LOL!
Ron Linder... it's a generic 9 inch Android KitKat tablet. it's running the HSTouch app linked to Homeseer HS3 running on my main control PC. Of course the tablet could be used and mounted in many other ways. in fact, I've recently designed a version for the Windows WinBook 10 inch tablet. I'll be doing a demo of that soon as well.
Ron Linder as far as voice control, not really, because of how HSTouch talks to Homeseer, however, I have found that an Amazon Echo works nicely to control Homeseer by voice.
Scotty Steinhoff I actually have a Nexus 9" tablet but there are no in wall mount for it... also thinking on getting the Google Home rather than the Echo Dot, my aim is to control lights, thermostat, macros, security, doors and ir devices via voice. Basically a full voice control of my hs3 system...
Ron Linder I built the wall mount frame myself using wall trim strips. Also, there really isn't much I can't do with Alexa and the Homeseer plugin. I made virtual devices that can be voice controlled that can trigger events. I can voice control anything attached to Homeseer.
Scotty Steinhoff since you can call the Echo "Computer" that would be a really nice way of integrating it if it was behind or adjacent to the tablet running lcars
Well, I built it all from scratch. A lot of people have asked for the source files, but since everyone's home automation system is different, their needs may differ from what I had to custom create from scratch.
I am trying to work on a LCARS display as well did you just made it all a background then put buttons over it. Or did you make each button then in bed it in hstouch.
Matthew Barrett... a little bit of both. in cases where the button should be lit if a device is on. I made it a separate graphic either in HSTOUCH or setting the device status images in HS3 to the button graphics.
Well, I would be happy to share my graphics, but I don't know how many would be compatible with your particular needs or devices. I had to make a lot of them for very particular device names. Since Android tablets are tough to load fonts into, I had to embed the labels into the buttons. My best advice would be to try to make your own buttons for that. Of course you'd need to download the LCARS font which I found multiple sources for online via google search. Basically what I did was design the whole screen, with labels and everything, then select the buttons I would need to have dynamic and export them as individual graphics which I could then load into HSTouch as button source images. It's a tedious process no matter how it's done.
It's not so much programming as it was making graphics and using HomeSeer's HSTouch Designer application. That being said, I did put in many hours designing each screen and figuring out what I could and couldn't do.
Most likely yes... Although this version is Android, I suppose a touchscreen monitor could be added to it using HDMI, but I don't know if there are Android drivers that would accommodate that. BUT, HSTouch also has support for Windows interfaces and I have designed a few smaller LCARS-based apps for a couple windows tablets as well. Of course those could be run on a full-blown PC with a touchscreen attached. So, simple, short answer to your query would be "Yes".
It's all HomeSeer as far as the interactivity goes. It has devices and events that can be controlled from an app on a tablet. I purchased their design tool for that app and designed my own graphics and set up those graphics for on click events and set properties of the graphic pieces to change depending on status of a HomeSeer device.
Oracle331 it only cost me the prices for HS3 with HSTOUCH and about $100 for the tablet. On top of the misc z-wave modules for device control and sensor data. Basically, if you have a home automation system core already on place, it doesn't cost much to do what I did.
