How to control LED Strips with Arduino - Cosplay Tutorial 

I love the “buy my books” outfit

Note that the LED strip used is WS2812B. They're individually addressable LEDs that have the WS2812B chip inside each one. The signal goes into *signal in* and goes out of "signal out" into the next strip's "signal in". Note that the Arduino is incapable of driving a long strip. For that you'll need to add 5V power to the strip. The reason why you have to specify the length of the strip and how the chips determine how many LEDs are in the strip is because after the signal passes through one LED, a bit of data gets added that tells the next chip how many times the data has previously passed through a chip. The Arduino needs to know how many LEDs there are so that half of the strip isn't dark if not enough LEDs are specified. If the number of LEDs falls short, the next LED won't know what color it should be, what brightness etc. It defaults to all colors off because the data isn't *addressed* to it or the following LEDs. If you want extra modes in your code, you can use *variables.* You can change the state of a variable based on an event, and then call a variable and execute the function it matches. Let's say you make a variable called Mode. You can add a number to the variable. Let's say each time you press a button, the variable number grows by 1. The variable will be set to 0 at the start of the sketch. When you press the button the variable reaches 1 and an animation code is executed. If the variable reaches 2, a different animation is executed. You can now press the button again to set the variable to 3. Now another animation will be played. But when the variable gets to 4, a different code is executed. Now it sets the variable to 0. When the variable is 0, no animation is played and all LEDs are off. Don't forget to add the part that resets the variable to 0 or it will continue to grow until you either reset or the variable can't fit into the memory of the Arduino anymore. You can have the variable start from 1 and get reset to 1 if you want the animations to cycle instead of turning off. You can add as many variables as the memory of the Arduino permits to perform a lot of modes.

Also a small note, if you want to 'disable' multiple lines in your code you can type /* 'whatever code you don't need' */ For example: /* rainbow(20); rainbowCycle(20); */ This will disable everything between the two 'markers' in your code. It's just a neat shortcut if you have to disable lots of lines which are right after each other :)

btw if you're getting an error with the "old" strandtest code from the link in the descrpition make sure to add after #include at the top :)

I love how much energy you manage to pack into your videos! 🤩 Adorable and informative, I enjoy playing around with code, but never thought to put it into my clothing. I need to start a new project now. Thank you for your videos. :-)

This definitely takes some practice but is an awesome elevation to any cosplay. Also, I don't know which of you does the editing of your videos but it cracks me up...I love it. You two are so creative and cleaver with your videos. BHB.

I think your top worked on me. I just went and bought the complete digital set of books. After a quick scan through I can say I'm already happy with my purchase!! Love your work!

Thank God my husband went into programming and knows all about writing codes. He showed me that me made a simple calculator for a project once, so I have faith he can help me with this when I get things wrong.

Anyway! Now everybody know that we are all going to continue to have a hard time until Kamui explain how to do stuff!!!! So today I propose officialy to create the ultimate source of knowlege: Kamuipedia PS:

I am studying electronic engineer, I am otaku and I like to do cosplay, this video shows me my true destiny

This came up exactly when I was looking for a tutorial on the code! Thank you!

lol.. I must say that is a cute dress! It's been fun over the past couple years that I've been watching your videos waiting for you to somehow promote your books.. but this is by far the best! You are awesome and I love your work.

Programming 101: Google the code, don't write it yourself. Seriously.

I needed this video to make the cosplay of my dreams exactly as I imagined, and now that I can and that I know that its not as hard ad i thought, i can finally cry tears of joy 😭 Thank you Svetlana, you and Benni will always be my favourite crafters and cosplayer ever!

Neopixel LEDs are also used in the lightsaber community to get realistic Blade effects :)

!!!!!! aaaa I wanna make light up stuff now!!! This is so exciting!!! thank you so much for making awesome tutorials!!! Also the corgi animation are adorable!!!

Тот случай когда ищешь идеи на английском, а тут Светлана рассказывает забавную идею достаточно подробно. Спасибо, пойду дальше кодить свои поделки.

I love the corgi animations!

This is an awesome tutorial. I've always been scared to look into arduino, but you made it simple. As soon as I get some funds I will try it. Thank you so much, and thanks for sharing.

this is very similar to working with prim code in 'second life' some years back and this is very handy for where to find the board + run program

Super helpful! Looks like there are some things in the book I can revisit, too.

Wow ive been working with microcontrollers for uear but your project is the first time ive seen anything this creative. Great video.

Love the dress. I think you are definitely sending a message about your books. 😀

Make more books and I'll buy them! I have almost all of them hahaha

Holy snap! I really hope I can find someone who knows what they are doing when I get this far in my cosplay. I quit programming over forty years ago. I used to know BASIC and APL pretty well, but... Can imagine I'll be watching this one over and over again... Wow.

Your videos are so informative and fun!!! Thank you for making them!!!

This girl and this channel are awesome! She explains so well and always has a big smile ok her face. She has a really good vibe! Thanks for all the tips and videos!

should have known your channel would have the best answer for my question. thanks !!

I know very little about LEDs and I’m planning to do some Bioshock Big Sister/ Big Daddy cosplays and wanted to make the light in the helmets change between red and white so this is absolutely perfect, thank you Kamui!! I’m definitely gonna look into your LED book, I feel like I’m getting the hang of this : )

Her genuine unbridled excitement is adorable.

Love your vest😂 Also thank you for the vid

Code is absolutely terrifying to me but you made this so easy! Thank you so much!

I love you and you are the best!!!! Why can’t I meet someone with your energy and knowledge! So cool and nice videos

Hi Svetlana this has been a massive help and so simple. many thanks

Love the corgi animations!

Nach genau so einem Video hab ich gesucht !!!

So this was my first time watching a Kamuicosplay video and my initial thought was "Gee she needs to cut back on the caffeine in-take", and I was going to close the window but I'm so glad I stuck through and watched the whole video. Super informative and the cosplay costumes are simply amazing.

Woah! Thank you so much for this! I was racking my brain figuring out if i wanted to dip my toes back to coding or just build separate machines to light ip my gun project. This simplifies it so much.! Fan of your cosplay on fb. You are so magnificent! So far i build for fun but I’ll eventually move towards selling.

That's a really great explanation! Thank you so much! That helps me a lot :)

Inspired? Love you just "killed" me ;) Im rebuilding the interior on my old Audi TT and you just showed me a total new way to do so! Thank you and keep up the good work, it´s amasing to see your costumes they look fantastic!

Amazing Kamui!

Oh, thank you! I have arduino now in my studies :D

Another interesting and well-presented video. You have a great technique

Thank you so much this extremely helpful. This answers some problems i had.

Best tutorial video , subscribed

You are awesome and I am totally buying your books!

I love that you’re doing Arduino

I wanna make a zinogre suit in the future that has the exact build of the monster for the body and lights up exactly like the real thing does. It will take some time until I have the practice (started using a dremel for my second project now so still a bit rough with skills) but that is a big dream of mine. I hope and will work hard for it

LOL.. Nice dress.. Thumbs Up just for the dress

Really helpful tutorial!!!! Thanks a lot from Belgium. And BTW, really cool dress :p

All the programmers in the chat complaining about googling the code. Dont feel to bad this video was made for cosplayers that want to add more to there outfits XD. People that dont know coding normally dont want to spend time learning coding to make 1 aspect of a fn cosplay. 😂😂

Ok, thats the book that i need

AMAZING! Thanks a lot for the tutorial!

Just bought this book!

Just have to say that the top she is wearing is the best! :)

OMG! I already Loved you when I saw all your costume stuff, Now you are my FAVORITE person!!! I messing with LEDs right now and ran into this looking for button examples.

Great work as always !!

My brother just graduated as a computer engineer (programmer) and my dad worked for ten years running an electrical power plant (making circuits for light dimmers) so I’m just gonna recruit them :D

you can also use a pushbutton and have it change a variable when pushed, which will also work to switch modes (you should supress (with if) further pressing for like 200ms afterwards though, because buttons usually aren't as binary as one would think (usually the voltage will be unstable for a bit when pressing which can trigger more button presses at once)

I love your enthusiasm! Thanks for the video, I found it useful. I'm now less afraid to dabble in coding now.

I just love your positive vib you have wen you teaching us lol

Great instructional video! Thank you for posting this! God bless.

It's also helpful to note here, most especially for beginners, that this guide applies to 5-volt (3 wire) type neopixel led strips. If you are using an analog 4 wire 12-volt led strip the code given here will not work. The example sketches will run but the LEDs will be extremely faint and almost impossible to see.

Just want to say you are so talented

I really do love watching your video you are very informative and bring up subjects I would not have thought about thank you you're helping make my cosplay so much easier seriously thank you I've even been using your information for items and remakes of items in my man cave I have used your ideas thank you for Fallout helmets Bluetooth motion speakers and countless others thank you

This is what I needed! Thanks!

Parabéns pelo trabalho eu adoro assistir seus vídeos 😍 sou do Rio de janeiro (Brasil)

Me encantan tus videos y tus cosplays, me ayudas a ver que aun tengo mucho que aprender

I'm going to buy your book. So excited.

Amazingly explained!!

You uploaded this a few years ago, so you may or may not know about this already, but when you use the switch you can pretty easily add code to the rainbow loops that would interrupt the loops and bail out of the functions. One of the cleanest ways would be to just pass in information about the state of the switch when you enter the function, then at the top of every loop just check if the state of the switch has changed, if so, end the loop.

Just what I needed thanks heaps!!

oh gosh, just what I wanted to watch 😁😁

I am sure my husband would enjoy this and he would say "pff... too easy". He works with huge machines and he can program and fix them hahahah. I however, has been playing with website codes since younger but I didn't enjoy doing it lately. Still, kinda of easy to understand. Thank you very much!

Thank you sooo much! trust me I'll put led's everywhere!

Thank you! That makes it much less confusing.

Я только только занялась этим вопросом для новой брони и тут твоё видио, Камуи ты просто Невероятна♥️ ✨Обажаю✨

I love your personality so bubbly ☺️

Fantabulous!! Thank you!!!

Simply amazing!!!

Something is telling me to buy your books but i don't know what it is....

Impressive! Now, to buy the strips!

Thank you for another amazing video

Wow that was alot and feel like raging but I always get like that when am trying something that looks hard.This is very informative and I will use this leds in agni and rudra.I usually get thought it.

Definitely gonna ask my boyfriend to translate this talk for me lolol, I understood what it meant but it flew out of my mind as fast as it came in

beautiful and smart

Amazing as always!!!

Must buy book! 😁

Very Useful

So in love with this woman!😁😍

very useful, thanks

Great tutorial. Love using arduinos. Best way is to mess and have fun as you say! Good guide 😊😊

Thanks cool video!

what material are you putting on top of the leds so it diffuses like that - at 5min in for example? Is it just normal eva foam?

Thank you so much keep it going

I am not into Cosplay at all, but i have an (my first acutally) upcoming DIY project where i want to code some LED stripes to fade between two specific colors and it was described perfectly in this tutorial so thank you Svetlana!

Excellent!

you are awsome. SUBSCRIBED!

Does the Arduino need to stay connected to the LED strip in order for the programming to work, or does the strip have memory built in?

If you use a Node MCU ESP 8266 D1 Mini you can do this on an even smaller scale. The chip is way smaller, and way cheaper than the board you used. :)