We designed the Animator system of products to bring your layout to life.
Controller
It all starts with the animator controller. The controller is based on a Raspberry Pi Pico W. This version of the raspberry pi is very small and has wifi and blue tooth capability built in. https://datasheets.raspberrypi.com/picow/pico-w-datasheet.pdf
Motion Modules
Motion modules create the motion for your animation. Currently we have modules that rotate and tilt. The Animator – Feller product has a rotation function and a tilt function built in one module. We plan to offer these modules as separate parts so you can create your own animations.
Lighting Modules
All our lightning modules are based off of the WS2811 NeoPixel LED Driver Chip. The Neo pixel strip can be cut between any LED and extended using ribbon cable and simple soldering techniques. This means you can customize your lightning effect by placing LEDs in different locations.
You can also buy additional strips and animate your city by installing individual lights in different rooms of your buildings. You can make them appear to be on fire, have a disco party or simulate moving throughout the building. The possibilities are endless.
Kits
We currently have two kits the Animator – Feller and the Animator – Lightning. These kits come with everything you need for an out of the box solution.
The Code
Written in Circuit Python
The controller is easy to program with Circuit Python. https://circuitpython.org/
Open source make it your own
All the code for the animator is open source and can be found at https://github.com/JimmySoftLLC/jimmy-trains-animator.
This means you can modify the code and make it your own. However your code also must be open source and comply with the open source definition. https://opensource.org/osd/
This means all your code and modifications must be available to download on a publicly accessible code repository like gitHub or gitLab and and have the same open source license.
This is very important to me. Our hobby has two many closed technology systems. Here at Jimmy Trains we want to change that.
I am hoping that you will embrace this and help build a community of animators that will make amazing animated scenes for their layouts and share them with the community.
This is a bold call to action and I am hopeful you will want to jump onboard.
Free updates
When we add features to your Animator product you can find new updates on our updates page and download them for free. Updating your animator product is as simple as copying and pasting the unzipped files to the Pico and the microSD card.
Building the initial units
The following video describes the origin of Jimmy Trains Animator. Life can take us to fascinating places as long as we are open taking chances and seeing were it goes. This was the case with the Animator.
In closing
I hope you enjoy using the Jimmy Trains animator products. I had a lot of fun creating them for you. Bring your layout out to life and have fun animating.
Jim
P.S. the animator can serve a web page on your local network all you need to do is navigate to this ip address http://animator-feller.local/