Grace

A library for easily coding advanced NeoPixel light patterns with CircuitPython. Grace takes its name from not only allowing beginners to "gracefully" code complex light sequences, but also from Grace Hopper, a pioneer of computer technology.

Getting Started

Connect the microcontroller to your computer and copy the contents of the src directory into the root of the CIRCUITPYTHON volume. In code.py, update the grace.configure() command with your neopixel output pin and the number of neopixels you are using. The program will run as soon as you save the file on the CIRCUITPYTHON volume.

Customization / Methods

You can customize the light patterns by updating code.py. The following methods are available:

Speed / Timing

The following methods set the speed of the animations. The normal speed setting makes each simple command take 3 seconds.

• grace.slowest()
• grace.slower()
• grace.slow()
• grace.normal()
• grace.fast()
• grace.faster()
• grace.fastest()
• grace.wait(0.5) Waits for 1/2 second before the program continues

Controls

• grace.turn_on(1, color.red) Turns on the first LED to red
• grace.turn_off(2) Turns off the second LED
• grace.all_on(color.red) Turns on all LEDs to red
• grace.all_off() Turns off all LEDs
• grace.single(2, color.red) Turns on the second LED to red and turns all other LEDs off
• grace.pattern([color.red, color.green, color.blue]) Turns on the first LED to red, the second to green, and the third to blue

Animations

• grace.slide_out(color.red) Animates a red pixel moving from the first LED to the last
• grace.slide_in(color.red) Animates a red pixel moving from the last LED to the first
• grace.chase_out(color.red) Animates a red pixel from the first LED to all LEDs
• grace.chase_in(color.red) Animates a red pixel from the last LED to all LEDs

Complex Animations

• grace.rainbow_cycle() All pixels smothly change between colors
• grace.rainbow_chase() The rainbow moves through the LEDs
• grace.rainbow_slide_out() Does a slide_out for each color of the rainbow
• grace.rainbow_slide_in() Does a slide_in for each color of the rainbow

Colors

There are two modules providing easy-to-use colors and sets of colors:

grace.color

Provides a number of colors to use. Import it with import grace.color as color. The following colors are available:

• color.off
• color.red
• color.yellow
• color.green
• color.cyan
• color.blue
• color.purple
• color.white
• color.indigo
• color.orange

grace.colorset

Provides colorset.rainbow, a list of all colors of the rainbow and colorset.random(num), a method to provide a random list of colors from the rainbow. These are primariy for use within the grace animation library but they can also be used with grace.pattern(). Import it with import grace.colorset as colorset.