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The S.A.B.E.R. GUILD: Saber Manufacturers => Plecter Labs => Topic started by: erv on July 06, 2019, 08:27:42 AM

Title: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on July 06, 2019, 08:27:42 AM
Please Welcome the Crystal Focus(tm) V10 (CF-X)


(Pictures of the board pre-series, machine-assembled and produced at home. Minor labelling and silk-screening changes on the final version)
(https://www.plecterlabs.com/Media/Doc/CFx-TOP-web.jpg)
(https://www.plecterlabs.com/Media/Doc/CFx-BOTTOM-web.jpg)

yes, it took a while :-)
If you are a newcomer to this, you might first have a read to this thread, details and dev. backstories, and discussion, about the CF-X :
Crystal Focus X and some news from the Plecter house (https://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/index.php?topic=53696.0)

Here's a PDF version of what's below, I though it might be great to have it to share aside of the forums and avoids tons of copy/paste.
CF-X release notes / specs PDF
https://www.plecterlabs.com/Media/Doc/CrystalFocusX-Specsheet.pdf

Feature list (non-exhaustive)
•   ARM32 based board with 3.2W digital amplifier (constant power / volume over runtime), with 128x32 OLED support, 4 channel (RGBW) on-board drivers, USB serial port, SD card, activator + auxiliary switch, 9DoF motion sensor with MotionFusion, on-board (red) diag LED, temperature measurement and alert, voltage measurement and alert (PLI).
•   We use / kept as many as the former CF components, strong and reliable, easy and cheap to replace / service, less manufacturing issues, we try to avoid 0402 or smaller active parts which make them impossible to service by DIYers and would even make it even really hard for us (since we repair customer boards when drama happen), plus they increase / introduce manufacturing errors.
•   Dimensions: 34.30 x 20.75 mm. Black and gold PCB
•   SD card update with signed firmware. “Blind update” possible (on-going flashing process with the onboard diag LED) or with USB serial port monitoring (recommended). A firmware update takes about 1s or less.   
•   SD card in place sound editing / replacement
•   1 / 2 cell compatibility with no “voltage-hack” required, only a solder jumper to bridge, and only when using ledstrips with 2 cells (+5V buck regulation needed then for the strip)
•   Auxiliary serial port (like the former RICE / TTL serial port). Fixed and Auxiliary 3.3V power supplies
•   3 additional GPIOs (1 currently used for Tangible interaction / blade detection)
•   HB led or Ledstrip compatible (RGB / RGBW)
•   Enhanced accent sequencer with 8 configurable accent LEDs (blade mirror, even in ledstrip mode, crystal pulsing, scalable PLI, sequenced accents, self-pulsing, audio flicker)
•   8 Accents resistors footprints (0603) allowing for top or bottom on-board bargraph (board can be installed facing up or down)
•   Zero CPU Ledstrip driver with 2 outputs, with level shifters (compatible with 1 cell or 2 cell setups, or permanent +5V PSU for booth/demo mode).
•   SD card benchmarking routine ported from CF9 and made accessible via remote message / hook (formerly a dev tool)
•   16 bits / 44.1 kHz sample rate multi-track, low latency motion to sound (4.6 to 6ms motion to clash sound) with backward compatibility with 22.050 kHz sounds (monophonic font main player should have at least hum and Fx with the same SR, otherwise, non-mixed sounds can mix SR)
•   Polyphonic / monophonic font (backward) compatibility with existing fonts. Unlimited file numbers or font numbers.
•   Automatic font number detection and diagnostic – Ordered Font names
•   100 ms boot time average with 12-15 fonts on the SD card
•   Enhanced logging / debugging mode of all events of the board
•   Omnisabers ready (like CF8-9)
•   Software hooks to remotely control any aspect of the board (power on, power off, lockup, clash, blaster, on-the-fly font change, tracks playback etc) via the serial port(s) or external events (tangible, force sensing, user identification)
•   Extended tangible interaction with 16 slots including blade detection (saber enabled, disable, blade insertion / removal interaction)
•   AccuBolt / Multibolts engine
•   16 Color profiles and 16 blade profiles allowing mix and match, selection via Spectrum™ (angular) selection
•   10 bit color definition for more color accuracy in HB leds (and future ledstrips !) – [Legacy]
•   Color dictionary to name (web) colors
•   Hilt roll (twist) controlled lockup color (FoC / Lockup color blending). Think Qui-gon Ep 1 & Blast door.
•   Extended use of User Interface (UI) sounds and graphics. Fully skin-able.
•   SmoothSwing, implemented as described by Thexter with his public documentation, with a bunch of tweaks and heuristics to get it to my taste. Smoothswing font automatically detected, 3 Smoothswing mode legacy SS, hybrid font (using swings sounds) and (pseudo) pitch shifting mode. Per-font Smooth-swing configuration (doh)
•   Vocal menu for font selection, iSaber and (soon) parameters adjustment, with use of the OLED display (if attached), animated or static graphical font description.
•   Local tracks and iSaber tracks [description further] audio player(s) and double click play/pause
•   Sleep mode (accent stop, partially reduced current) with automatic wake (aux, movement) - Deep sleep with 240uA (18 months of shelf-time with a 3200 mAh fully charged cell). Board revived with either AUX or ACT
•   Support for NO and NC latching switch though some of the new features require ACT as momentary switch
•   Motion sensing for font selection (in menu or when blade is off)
•   Quick Ignite: automatically starts the saber when reviving from deep sleep (en./dis.)
•   Power-on sound interrupt with motion sounds (en. / dis.)
•   OLED Font graphic support (static or animated), or font name and number if no graphic provided.
•   OLED animation diversity (signal analysis, vu-meter, screenAccents™, midi-chlorian scanner)
•   OLED animated screen savers (currently 4), can be customized to taste.
•   OLED 3D files support (custom spinning 3D object on the screen, OBJ file format)
•   OLED PLI support (custom, examples provided)
•   OLED orientation parameter and custom boot / info strings.
•   OLED custom boot screen (static or scrolling) or font graphic
•   OLED animated blade and color profiles transition
•   OLED animated blade insertion, removal, tangible selection, saber disabling or low power
•   Reduced idle quiescent current: 42mA with SD card and all peripheral activated (not playing sound)
•   High temperature, low power, dead power, blade missing, blade inserted UI sounds & graphics.
•   Disable lockup and blaster for heavy duelers (Use 0 for lockup delay)
•   Font skipping for quicker selection in the vocal menu (when the SD card stores 1138 fonts but you don’t need all of them)
•   Spectrum™ “filtered” selection (per font) to reduce the selection to a limited number of color or blade profiles
•   Booth Mode (or mannequin / poser) with automatic ignition retraction with randomized blade & color profiles
•   Magic activation and saber locking / unlocking using a magnet
•   Easter eggs!
•   75€ price point (retail). Bulkers welcome. Price to evolve if quantities / bulks evolve.

[Configuration system]
We kept a big part of the former configuration system but mostly reorganized and split it (most of the parameters keywords you knew were preserved). The configuration is made essentially of 3 files:
•   A general config.txt file in the root directory. It contains all the general settings, motion sensing, sleep / deep sleep delay, volume etc. In addition, it contains up to 16 blade profiles which are the specific settings which used to be stored “per font”. Instead of limiting the use of specific settings (flicker speed / depth, pulsing, ledstrip effect etc) to that particular font it becomes part to a more general vocabulary, accessible to all fonts, and changeable in real-time
•   To this vocabulary we add a separate glossary of colors (formerly the color profiles that were in override.txt) and store them in a specific color.txt. That file contains up to 16 color profiles that have all the color aspects separated from the blade profiles: blade & FoC color, bolt color, lockup color, FoC mixing, trident channels, crystal chamber color. Same as for the blade profiles, those are accessible to any fonts, and changeable via Spectrum™ just like the blade profiles.
•   A font specific configuration file (font_config.txt) which now contains only the parameters that are specific to that font. That includes (mostly) the smoothswing settings (if it’s a smoothswing font), the bolt timing settings, font skipping in the menu, color and blade profile filtered selection, font glyph)
•   In addition, you’ll find the former prefs.txt file that saves the last use of the saber (blade & color profiles used, last font used etc) and a special.txt file storing manual override or very specific parameters that you want to add / edit by hand. This is typically where you’d store some of the OLED preferences, enable tangible font selection, activate the booth mode etc.

Timings & units:
Former HW allowed for a 2ms time base only hence the timings used to be defined in that unit. The new HW runs obviously faster and allows for a finer time base, now everything is metric: 1ms. Voltages (PLI) are stored in millivolts.
We also made a notable change with the bitfield notation we were using: defining FoC mixing was done previous with a natural binary representation, i.e. with the most significant bit being the left-most one. This goes against the natural numbering of the channel orders (e.g. for color definition, ch1, ch2, ch3 & ch4), so now the bitfields (FoC mixing, Trident delayed channels, accent leds states) are defined in natural order (my brain is now having a really hard time with this since it’s been hard wired for binary stuff for a long time but I’ll deal with it  :angel: )

Accent Sequencer
The new accent sequencer gives more flexibility on the use of each accent. Also, we merged all the different led files into a single one with proper sections (single leds.txt file) stored in the font folder.
Here are the various attributes each accent can have. To be noted that pulsing type of accents (self-pulsing, crystal pulsing, blade mirror, audio flicker limited to accents #2-5-6-7-8 since not all the HW pins can have PWM. You can *still* define non-PWM pins to those function but they will only blink like a digital pin when passing half of the PWM range (512).
•   1, 2, 3 or 4: defines a mirroring, whatever the order is. This ways, accent #5 could mirror channel 1 or 4 (applies to current color profile, real time color changing leads to real time update of the accent mirroring; obvious but…). Blade mirroring on those accents works also while in pixel blade mode.
•   p: accent is used for PLI
•   @: accent is used for audio flicker (flickers on the audio beat)
•   a: accent is used as regular sequenced accent
•   r: accent is used as random sequenced accent
•   ~: accent is pulsing on its own (between max and max - depth)
•   O (letter upper case O): accent is static ON when the blade is ON
•   o (letter lower case o): accent is static ON when not in deep sleep (identical to wiring it to the DS pad but configurable)
•   C: Pulses between CRYSTAL chamber COLOR[CHANNEL1] and depth (current color profile)
•   R: Pulses between CRYSTAL chamber COLOR[CHANNEL2] and depth (current color profile)
•   Y: Pulses between CRYSTAL chamber COLOR[CHANNEL3] and depth (current color profile)
•   S: Pulses between CRYSTAL chamber COLOR[CHANNEL4] and depth (current color profile)

The PLI is fully scalable and can take any LED, even non-contiguous ones. For instances, declaring accent 1, 4 and 5 as PLI accents will map the PLI range to those 3 leds (#1 being always the low end of the PLI, which blinks when you reach it).
The sequencer has now a simplified syntax and structure. It accepts repeat blocks and infinite loop blocks. A sequence (idle for instance, when blade is off) can be introduced with a repeat type of block with a particular pattern, followed by an infinite looped sequence. A block can have 32 stages and a sequence (blade on, blade off aka. Idle or lockup) can have a maximum of 16 blocks. We thought that 512 stages for an accent sequence is, if not slightly overkill, “enough & fair” for the least.
Blade ignition and retraction accent schemes are now part of the single leds.txt file in specific sections and can also have their own sequence, progression pace in the sequence being either manual (delays specified) or automatically computed based on the power-on sound duration or the quick-on parameter.
To simplify the accent animation writing / authoring, you don’t need to enter the stage duration for each stage anymore. If you plan a constant speed sequencing, just type the delay used at the beginning of the sequence and the whole sequence will use it. You can do partial updates as well, define one delay, use it for a couple of stages, update it, have a few more stages with that different pace etc.
Regarding accent types and priority: any specific mode has priority over the regular sequenced LEDs (‘a’). In other words, the state of a LED, even if defined in the sequence will be overridden by the PLI or the pulse or the blade mirror (etc) if the said LED is not a defined as a regular accent.

[splitting this over several posts]
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on July 06, 2019, 08:28:40 AM
Comments / notes
The configuration files support both C++ “//” comments and Emacs (or script) “##” comments at the beginning of a line to disable it. To make testing easier, we also implemented C block comments with “/*” to start a block and */ to end it.  Pretty handy for leaving various versions of a parameter set in a file before deciding which one to keep. It remains recommended to reduce comments at the end to limit the parsing (hence the boot) time but the MCU is fast enough to regardless deal with it.

Font naming and numbering
With a (now) full handling of the SD card file system, thanks to the faster MCU, sound banks can be named with the font name to have a more readable SD card structure. The font order is just defined by a leading number followed by a dash or underscore and that’s the only mandatory part of the naming, along with a proper contiguous ordering (no gaps in bank numbers).
There is no limit regarding the font numbers aside the SD card size and the expected / acceptable boot duration. That being said, fonts scanning is extremely fast and limited to the raw analysis of the root directory to find how many fonts are available so the impact on the boot time is limited. I tested a silly package with 64 fonts and it took 320 ms to scan, which remains acceptable IMO for such an amount of data stored. Since browsing such a font thesaurus in the vocal menu, fonts can be defined as “skipped” in the font_config.txt to make a short list selection for the fonts you want to enable at a time.
(check the PDF to see how the SD card folder looks like)

Local tracks and iSaber audio player

It’s been a reminiscent request that could hardly be done with the previous hardware, so I totally rewrote iSaber and merged it along with the saber app and made it contextual. We wanted to keep iSaber as a “special” audio player mode (think saber = portable player / MP3 player) along with some of the features people loved about it, like the audio bargraph on the accent LEDs, pulsing on the music. At the same time, users want to experience a full saber scenario (smoothswing, motion fx, ignition, retraction, blasters) while playing a back track (which isn’t new obviously).
As a result, we made the track player contextual to the font. If a /tracks folder is present in the font itself, it will automatically make the tracks available for playback using the activator double click as play/pause control, and long press to fetch the next track. If the local tracks folder isn’t there, the double click is automatically disabled.
The iSaber mode remains available from the vocal menu. Once selected it will use the latest used sound bank and will use this time the specific audio tracks stored in the former /tracks folder of the SD card (from the root dir, not within the font). In addition, it will use the bargraph as loudness level pulsing on the music beat like it used to be. Auxiliary switch use is preserved for the saber scenario, which remains fully accessible either in local tracks or iSaber tracks playback.
That split between local and iSaber tracks allows for having a specific playlist of tracks related to a specific font as well (d’oh) and have a narrative approach of the font with that audio contents (track playback to evolve soon with story playback). Conversely the /tracks folder offers in iSaber mode a totally different playlist that can be used with the blade off and some non-props related music.

Omnisabers
The Omnisaber v2 code is finalized and I’m going to make a small run of those during the summer. It communicates over Wifi and talks to a computer app with a sampler to play the sounds for live performance shows, with low latency and using Open Sound Control, like the devices I’ve been developing for my day job since the early 2000’s (Ethersense, WiSe Box). The board embeds a webserver available at all time for tuning parameters. When setting up the wifi connection, the module is set to Access Point mode to log to it with the computer or a smartphone and can be configured in the Web browser. It also features Alexa hooks allowing for vocally controlling the saber when at home (via internet) and can be controlled by your Home Automation System locally, such as Domoticz (without using the internet)


Availability
Manufacturing is on-going in the USA and in the EU. We hope to have the first batches out for early august.

Road Map
I’ll take a short summer break from the 8th of July to the 16th then I’ll come back to code to continue working on the road map. In the meanwhile, we’re manufacturing boards (USA and EU). I’ll probably push several updates of the FW during or short after the board release, as I have a lot of things I want to keep adding, and now the code structure and hooks are ready, it’s just a matter of adding scenario levels and layers. The default package will keep evolving quickly too. Some of the fonts in the default package have been already updated with smoothswing by their maker, others are in progress. (Betas and nightbuilds will be available on my website in the dedicated section)

To come (July, August)
•   User’s Manual (!). It’s not like I have a full rewrite to do but it’s a lot of work. I’ll publish updates of the document along the road, a draft to be published asap so that wiring and basic config is detailed to users.
•   Combos (pushed back as it’s was a “priority” feature to re-enable in the code)
•   Storyline telling mode (font based)
•   USB mass storage access to the SD card (structure is there, not finalized, but on the top of the TODO list)
•   Secondary accent sequencer with pixel rendering (secondary ledstrip output)
•   More ledstrip fx and options, now easy with the new code hooks and callbacks.
•   More motion / position selector. The computation, logic and glue are there, just not applied yet (stabs will be the first thing to benefits from this)
•   Full blown vocal menu. All the options are ready, but the Menu (C++) class is still WIP, I didn’t want to break the menu close to a release date, so more Beta stuff to come later during the summer.
•   RICE (!): I need to work on it, no time for this so. The (strong) base is there (CF9+PZ 5.5 RICE), I just need to sit down and work specifically on this (been busy with the code base, demos and my saber). Also, once I work on this, I’ll re-forge all the existing RICE for the recent boards so that their work on the recent macOS (their new file system broke compatibility with the older apps)
•   The ASCII art player over the serial port (playstarwars) needs more work to reduce frame flickering, not sure the port is fast enough to do that anyways but I’ll try to improve it. Not that it’s a fundamental thing (lol) I just love it.
•   Blade PLI (ledstrip)
•   Some sound work as I know I can improve my sound mixer for faster mixing and some better layering of the code
•   Multiple hum, lockup and “other” sounds. Nothing specially complicated or new, just making the stock font capability increasing
•   Tangible interaction will keep extending

To come (later)
•   Android app: I recruited a developer to keep working on this, he’s highly excited about the project. That will take time though (just like me he has a day job) but it’s on wheels.
•   More color tuning



First demo
I posted that a few days ago on FB, reposting a proper edited video here. Legacy feature "magic activation", enhanced.

Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on July 06, 2019, 08:34:30 AM

A demo of the ledstrip stuff, including Spectrum(tm) color and blade profile selection, new fire color mapping, and smoothswing.

Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on July 06, 2019, 08:42:27 AM
Now before going into some of the board details, a few things I've been working on, this one with Omnisabers and home automation  :azn:

Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on July 06, 2019, 08:45:34 AM
Some review of the features. Interaction scenario with the UI sounds and graphics, the OLED display, blade detection & removal, screen savers and all the stuff you can "skin". Pretty much *nothing* is set in stone in the FW, sound and graphic resources (UI, theme, interaction) are stored on the SD card.

Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on July 06, 2019, 08:51:00 AM
Now some of the remote control aspects of the board, as well as PLI and skinning. The PLI, like the rest of the resources, has its own graphics and configuration coming from the SD card, easy to edit and change (variants provided with the default package, all it takes is renaming the file you want to use)

Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on July 06, 2019, 09:01:46 AM
Another thing I've been researching on, Savi's workshop at Galaxy Edge being the trigger but not only. 7 years ago I make my home cinema room controlled by a HAL9000 unit and RFID
HAL 9000 working Panel - Demo 2 - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBnwwhPYSPg)

I wanted to experiment this with saber, the goal being to get more tangible interaction systems, and possibly wireless. So here's wireless identification, with glowing LED thanks to NFC support added to the CF-X. As mentioned in the video it's a custom companion board and a self-wound tuned antenna. (I yet have to make it smaller but it isn't bad for a prototype). I initially started with 125 kHz RFID scanned and parsed by the CF-X itself (yes, real time demodulation). It worked but those old RFID need a beeffer and bigger coil, so I decided to go NFC, which is also matching more "nowadays"

User identification is one of the obvious use in our saber scenario, as well as saber locking, unlocking or activation but also font change (tangible font or config selection) ! Glowing led with proximity as a bonus, we foresee lit crystals with those, maybe Darth Chasm can tackle this (I saw his resin cast crystals with LEDs)

Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on July 06, 2019, 09:07:00 AM
Bonuses and Easter Eggs !
Special props to my young friend Enzo who actively collaborated on the CFx Extra's spending hours on the small graphics and proposing and coding some of the extended / bonus for the OLED !
It's fully described in the default package of the board (that I yet have to post on my website) but if you wonder "why" about this... the main answer is why not ! There is also a backstory from my time at the electronic engineering school, we had Agilent oscilloscopes with such easter eggs and I promised myself I will add some to my electronics, one day  :cheesy: Now it's done !
For now the games are accessible only via serial commands, but once we get the full menu finished, there will be a specific access there to launch them. Not a reason to not demo them !  :cheesy:

Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on July 06, 2019, 10:01:08 AM
stay tuned ! 15 minutes to go for youtube !
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Yaraell_Ren on July 06, 2019, 10:55:23 AM
Just watched the Smoothswing demo. And WOW it is amazing!
This is by far the most powerful saber board :)
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Darth Chasm on July 06, 2019, 12:16:51 PM
...maybe Darth Chasm can tackle this (I saw his resin cast crystals with LEDs)

 :cool: :vader:
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Yoda on July 06, 2019, 02:17:56 PM
Excellent stuff going on here Erv

So it looks like it can toast the bread and butter it at the same time :grin:

Not to mention we can play old Atari games on it now as well  :cheesy:

Definitely looking forward to using this and utilizing some of the new Accent LED configurations
to go with the Blade set-ups.

I really like the temperature monitoring feature  :cool: as with so many hilts and chassis out there
that barely have any room for the electronics to breath / vent the heat... this will be helpful :wink:


I am wondering... if because the board size is small enough to be fit sideways in some hilts do
you think adding a "board orientation" designation for the accelerometer to determine if X,Y,Z
is facing top bottom or side would be useful to implement now that there is the smooth swing
and enhanced twist/rotational detection? :angel: (food for thought)


The Layout looks good as well, the only problem I see is it doesn't wire and install its self
but still, Simply Marvelous  :azn:


MTFBWY
always
YODA



Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on July 06, 2019, 02:22:29 PM
The Layout looks good as well, the only problem I see is it doesn't wire and install its self

On it Sir !! along with teleporting ! some dev delay could occur  :angel: :cheesy:
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Yoda on July 06, 2019, 02:27:57 PM
The Layout looks good as well, the only problem I see is it doesn't wire and install its self

On it Sir !! along with teleporting ! some dev delay could occur  :angel: :cheesy:

Ahhh well don't want to keep people waiting so maybe we can wire them ourselves :grin:


What are your thoughts on the accelermometer/board orientation / direction in the hilt suggestion?
Maybe something as simple as horizontal or vertical orientation so that motion and twist don't get
mixed up depending on how the board gets installed inline or sideways in the hilt?

If its not a practical feature or will mess with existing parameters don't worry as sideways
won't fit most narrow hilts but could be an option later on?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Machinimax on July 06, 2019, 05:39:28 PM
I don't want this....I NEEEEDDDDDD IIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Link on July 06, 2019, 08:18:05 PM
I am Beyond thrilled about this! :)  I will absolutely be supporting this new board. I need to get me one!
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on July 06, 2019, 09:45:05 PM
What are your thoughts on the accelermometer/board orientation / direction in the hilt suggestion?
Maybe something as simple as horizontal or vertical orientation so that motion and twist don't get
mixed up depending on how the board gets installed inline or sideways in the hilt?
If its not a practical feature or will mess with existing parameters don't worry as sideways
won't fit most narrow hilts but could be an option later on?

The board can be installed both sides (like in the past IIRC, for instance Vader's Vault installed their CS SD card socket up). I have orientation parameters used and coded in the firmware but it's not needed for the user to configure it, the only parameter defining orientation is the one called "gravity" which sign and range define how the angular selection works (power-on selection, spectrum).
Motion Fusion does the rest, so it's not (so) dependent on hilt placement.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: eastern57 on July 07, 2019, 04:32:49 AM
I just now realized that my love isn't for the lightsaber, nor the hobby - but for Crystal Focus! :azn: :huh:

...and, by proxy, Erv. :kiss:
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on July 07, 2019, 04:59:20 AM
I just now realized that my love isn't for the lightsaber, nor the hobby - but for Crystal Focus! :azn: :huh:
...and, by proxy, Erv. :kiss:

Thank you Eeez !  :azn: Props to the saber you build, always great use of the features, the latest corran horn with the tangible interaction, dual phase and the little "tuning fork" to adjust the crystal resonance shows that those *can* be useful. Pick features and help yourself!
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: eastern57 on July 07, 2019, 05:38:56 AM
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: JakeSoft on July 07, 2019, 08:00:16 AM
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: steoups on July 10, 2019, 05:36:47 AM
Hi Erv,
Is there a possibility to drive a rumble motor and activate it only on FOC ?
Thanks 
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Merik on July 10, 2019, 08:32:48 AM
Is “end-of-lockup” or “lockup release” sound a thing?  Is there a sound that’s automatically played to conclude a blade lockup?  If it isn’t on CFX for the near future, is this a feature which could be added later via firmware?

Sorry, I’ve been out of building a while, and can’t find where I read/heard about it.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on July 10, 2019, 10:51:19 AM
End lockup is of course implemented (ported from cf9). No reason to remove a legacy feature!
Noted for the motor (easy cheesy)
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: steoups on July 10, 2019, 12:37:50 PM
"Noted for the motor (easy cheesy)"
the cherry on the cake would be (regarding the power applied to the rumble motor) :
A percentage of power when the blade is off
A percentage of power when the blade is on
A percentage of power when there is a swing
A percentage of power for the FOC
I guess if this is possible the %age could be managed in the settings

If it is only an on/off, it would be great anyway
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Yoda on July 10, 2019, 01:40:57 PM
What are your thoughts on the accelermometer/board orientation / direction in the hilt suggestion?
Maybe something as simple as horizontal or vertical orientation so that motion and twist don't get
mixed up depending on how the board gets installed inline or sideways in the hilt?
If its not a practical feature or will mess with existing parameters don't worry as sideways
won't fit most narrow hilts but could be an option later on?

The board can be installed both sides (like in the past IIRC, for instance Vader's Vault installed their CS SD card socket up). I have orientation parameters used and coded in the firmware but it's not needed for the user to configure it, the only parameter defining orientation is the one called "gravity" which sign and range define how the angular selection works (power-on selection, spectrum).
Motion Fusion does the rest, so it's not (so) dependent on hilt placement.


Ahhh okay that makes sense  :cheesy:
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Sligs78 on July 19, 2019, 12:31:50 AM
Does this have the rainbow animation like on the Proffieboard?

(https://i.imgur.com/3gXYCod.jpg)

Can people make their own animations?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on July 19, 2019, 12:42:23 AM
the rainbow is coded indeed. I'll have more to say regarding custom animations once I've finalized the internal ledstrip fx structure in the code. For now, I'm trying to converge to a v10.000 firmware for the release, then quickly go incremental over august with new things :-)
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: sithslayer1 on August 15, 2019, 01:53:33 PM
Hi Erv,
Thanks again for this amazing new board! Is there a Aug release date yet?

Thank you.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on August 23, 2019, 03:05:18 AM
as posted on social media yesterday, we got a green light from our factory and boards are released today. I'll publish the user's manual over the week-end, it will probably remain "draft" for a couple of weeks as I keep adding things or reworking illustrations. RICE is pretty final now and I'll publish it too.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Darth Brooks on August 23, 2019, 04:44:45 PM
Totally just bought 2 of these CAN HARDLY WAIT! Thanks erv
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on August 25, 2019, 11:08:29 AM
Manual online. About 90-95% done but still technically WIP, I'm still editing the OLED and skinning sections that aren't included yet.
Article Info - Plecter Labs - Props Electronics (http://www.plecterlabs.com/shop/article_info.php?articles_id=125)

Default package:
Article Info - Plecter Labs - Props Electronics (http://www.plecterlabs.com/shop/article_info.php?articles_id=4)

RICE (Mac OS compile tomorrow when I get my Mac at the lab):
Article Info - Plecter Labs - Props Electronics (http://www.plecterlabs.com/shop/article_info.php?articles_id=126)

Apologies for the delay, reworking illustrations and merging the documents took more time that I expected.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on August 28, 2019, 05:09:32 AM
Many thanks Erv for putting up the manual and default package for the CF X - I’m familiarising myself in preparation for the preordered boards I have on the way - very much looking forward to getting the first install done, and experimenting with the new features  :smiley:

Quick question though: I’ve noticed that the qon / qoff parameters are under the section on blade profiles (and in the blade profile in the default configuration). Do these parameters have to be in the blade config, or can they be removed from this and entered in the font config file?

I think of qon / qoff as font related because they depend on the duration of the font poweron/off sounds so it would be great if these are optionally per font rather than per blade profile.

To a lesser extent this applies to blastm as well which I’ve tended to configure based on the nature of the font blaster sounds as much as the functional change.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Gallandro on August 28, 2019, 03:02:46 PM
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Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: EXAR KUN on August 28, 2019, 06:27:26 PM
The board is black!?

That's hot!
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: K-2SO on August 28, 2019, 06:44:41 PM
The board is black!?

That's hot!

You act as if you’ve been buried inside a temple on a moon, or something.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: RogueJedi21 on August 28, 2019, 08:26:43 PM
Looking to build my first lightsaber with the new CFX. Never done this before, and all the tutorials on youtube seem to only use nano biscotte.

To those who received theirs, can you give me a tutorial on how to solder their wires? The instruction manual posted doesn't have much to work with.

Just trying to do a basic tri-cree Red/Red/White setup with:

1. Flash on Clash
2. Lockup/Defelct on Auxiliary button
3. Using the DM1 kit

Have no idea how to wire this thing on the CFX board.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on August 29, 2019, 12:12:21 AM
Quick question though: I’ve noticed that the qon / qoff parameters are under the section on blade profiles (and in the blade profile in the default configuration). Do these parameters have to be in the blade config, or can they be removed from this and entered in the font config file?
I think of qon / qoff as font related because they depend on the duration of the font poweron/off sounds so it would be great if these are optionally per font rather than per blade profile.

yes, it's one of the thing that are going to change or be slightly modified soon. Either with an override parameter in the font config itself or by moving those to the font section.

Looking to build my first lightsaber with the new CFX. Never done this before, and all the tutorials on youtube seem to only use nano biscotte.
To those who received theirs, can you give me a tutorial on how to solder their wires? The instruction manual posted doesn't have much to work with.
Have no idea how to wire this thing on the CFX board.

You'll find the wiring of what you want to use with the saber on pages 20-23. If you have built saber with a NB or prizm before, the led and power supply wiring is identical and uses the same pads and terminology.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on August 30, 2019, 05:13:51 AM
Hi Erv - many thanks for the answer on qon/qoff - sounds perfect  :grin:

Received my first 2 CFX’s and I’ve got a quick upgrade install done as it was on the bench ready to go. Before starting I wanted to say thanks - the card is fantastic  :smiley:

I had some issues that I thought it was worth asking about to see if they are just me being stupid (entirely possible!). Apologies in advance if I’ve missed something obvious in the manual. If you would prefer to get these via email then please let me know - but thought it might help others to see the answers here.

The first saber I have installed is an upgrade from a PRIZMv5.1 with an RGB Tri-Cree. This saber has a latching activation switch rather than a momentary one, and I wanted to keep it that way. Install went fine, and I set ‘switch=1’ (which from the manual looks right, and it worked with the PRIZM). The saber acted really weird:

The saber would not ignite unless I treated the latching activation like a momentary switch (and clicked it on and then straight off again), and then it would power down straight away (with the power off sound etc.). The behaviour wasn’t entirely consistent though - occasionally by clicking the switch on and off rapidly the saber would stay ignited - weird! With the latching switch ‘on’ the aux switch would not take the saber to the menu, but with it ‘off’ it would - so in that way it was acting correctly (apart from the fact that the blade was not ignited with the switch in the ‘on’ position - you had to move it back to ‘off’ before it would ignite and then power down). Power on force etc. are all disabled - the settings and fonts are otherwise as in the default package on the website.
I got to a workaround on this:

* I tried setting the switch=0 just in case, but that didn’t fix it.
* I thought that the ground for the power switch may not be soldered correctly. Removed and re-soldered the ground. When this didn’t work I also re-soldered the activation switch wire.
* Second thought was that this could be as a result of the induction effect from the HP LED wires - the switch wires are all nicely braided, but they do run near the LED ones. I re-wired slightly (and ensured good braiding) to give some separation when I re-soldered just in case.
* Finally I set switch=2 (momentary) - and suddenly the saber works as expected if I just treat it like a momentary switch (i.e. switch it on and then off again quickly). No glitches, no random poweroff’s, it just works fine (other than the switch having to be treated like a momentary one). If I set the parameter back to 1 then it goes back to the weird behaviour. So I have a workaround, but wondering if there is something else I’m doing wrong/missing/could try to make it behave correctly as a latching switch?

I also noticed that in some fonts the saber didn’t seem to be playing the boot sounds, and was un-responsive to some aux switch presses for blasters sporadically. I tracked this down and solved it: in the affected fonts I had alternate sound versions re-named - so for example I had a blaster.wav and a blaster_default.wav (with the old blaster sound in it - left there in case I wanted to switch back). This seemed to mean that neither of those sounds were recognised by the board - so blasters didn’t play at all (making it appear like it was not responding), neither did boot sounds. I have done no editing ‘in place’ on the card - it was all done with re-formatting and copying the entire contents. Deleting the ‘_default’ versions fixed this entirely - maybe this is an issue with the config file parsing?

Lastly I set some blade setups with a qon/qoff and it does not act like previous boards. This is an in-hilt LED setup rather than a strip, so I was expecting it to fade in for the duration (set in ms on this board). Instead the LED seems to flash on brightly, and then fade in - is it supposed to do this?

Having great fun playing with the new features, and the board is otherwise amazing so far - once again many thanks for taking the time to create this great new card, and all your amazing support in answering questions :smiley:
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on August 30, 2019, 09:29:16 AM
Update on the flash when setting qon/qoff behaviour from the above - I was too quick to assume it was qon/qoff related - it seems to be related to the amount of flicker somehow (that's now the only difference between the blade configs that 'flash' on ignition). I'm doing some more testing to nail this down.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on August 30, 2019, 09:42:45 AM
Blade will return to main color before starting to fade, hence it could look like flashing it strong flicker or pulse.

For latching switch: use ond=0
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on August 30, 2019, 11:01:08 AM
Many thanks for the quick reply.

I tried setting ond=0, and set switch back to 1. Unfortunately that didn't fix it as the saber acts all weird again where it just powers up and down, so went back to switch=2 where it operates like a momentary switch again.

It's actually on the ignition that the flash is noticeable - it flashes very briefly, then turns off and fades in all in the space of the power file. The flicker is a bit stronger on those blade settings. I tried setting flkon=0 and flkoff=0 which removes the 'flash', but then the blade just turns on/off instantly without any fade on/off. Still playing with the settings on this one.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Obi Sconobi on August 30, 2019, 09:59:19 PM
Hi and thanks in advance. 

I’m installing a shiny new CFX soundboard in my daughter’s Enfys Nest Electroripper staff and have a wiring question. My intent was to use a single Neopixel strip because it needs to wrap around the edge of the business end of the staff. The CFX manual shows how to wire a double sided Neopixel strip to L1 and L4 with additional splicing to L2 and L3.    What’s the proper wiring of a single strip?  Is it even possible?

Thanks!

Scott
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on September 01, 2019, 11:06:38 PM
A single strip wires just the same. The split over L1 to L4 will depend on how long your trip is. Even 120 pixel long, a single strip would only need to be current split over 2 channels like L1- and L2-
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Ridire Fíréan on September 02, 2019, 07:48:38 PM
Hey @erv  !  What type of USB connector is that on the CF-X?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on September 02, 2019, 09:36:22 PM
Hey @erv  !  What type of USB connector is that on the CF-X?

micro USB
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Ridire Fíréan on September 02, 2019, 10:26:14 PM
micro USB

Type-B or Type-C?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Mersenne on September 03, 2019, 02:49:09 AM
micro USB     (micro USB didn't have any "type" in their naming, whilst there was a micro UAB A and micro USB B, though nearly always micro USB B is referred to as micro USB)

type-B and type-C, these are totally different to micro USB
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: DrunkenDuck on September 04, 2019, 01:10:28 PM
First build and first post!

Quick question regarding the wiring. I tried to find in the manual if it is necessary to have an aux switch.

This is my first saber build and I'm putting electronics into a saberforge vanquish. With the curved design, there isn't an easy way to remove the chassis for charging without disassembling the entire thing.

So, I'd like to keep the 2.1mm recharge port in place of the aux switch area.

Does this sound do-able?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on September 04, 2019, 09:56:09 PM
I have single switch support in my update / todo list. It should preserve as many aspects of the board interaction. Still, Spectrum for instance is designed around the combo of act + aux, and I don't know yet how well the single switch approach will work with this, combined with all the other features.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: DrunkenDuck on September 05, 2019, 09:30:59 AM
I have single switch support in my update / todo list. It should preserve as many aspects of the board interaction. Still, Spectrum for instance is designed around the combo of act + aux, and I don't know yet how well the single switch approach will work with this, combined with all the other features.

Alright, I certainly am not intending to hinder the functionality and/or limit the interactivity with the board, but since I'm new to all this, in trying to figure out the best option to be able to fit an aux switch while still retaining an easy way to charge without completely disassembling the hilt each time. Hmmm...
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Sligs78 on September 25, 2019, 01:36:33 PM
Does the CFX have volume adjustment, as in using the buttons to change the volume?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on September 29, 2019, 09:43:00 PM
Does the CFX have volume adjustment, as in using the buttons to change the volume?

That menu option is being coded this week, now that the USB mass storage driver is finished and stable.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: crowtor on October 05, 2019, 04:23:23 AM
@erv
is CFx open source? Can I add functionality to it myself? I'd like to have an ambient light sensor dictate how bright the blade is, so its equally bright in day/night. If not I thought I'll just use a 'duino to run the blade and CFx to run the sounds. I'd definitely prefer to use just one board, yours.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on October 06, 2019, 03:27:00 PM
Just an update on the latching switch issue I noted earlier in the thread.

I've now successfully completed 5 CFX installs - 4 in hilt LED and 1 NeoPixel. Loving the board - so many options and features to play with  :grin:

I still have the issue with the latching switch saber though: with switch=1, and ond=0 if you turn the switch on then the saber does not respond. switch it back off again and the saber ignites, completes the poweron sound, and then powers straight back off again with the poweroff sound. I tried building a test rig on the bench with one of the boards I had before I installed it in another saber - this used a different type of latching switch (but still one that is open when off and closed when on) - it exhibited the same behaviour. When turning the switch on (closing the circuit) it seams to treat it like a momentary switch (i.e. it waits for me to release the switch again), and so when I turn it back off (open) it ignites. Then it changes and treats it like a latching switch again and thinks 'oh the circuit is open - I need to power down'.

If I set the switch parameter to 2 then I can make the saber work by switching on and then off again (i.e. tricking into thinking it is a momentary switch).

I'm totally stuck trying to resolve this - am I missing something, or is this a known issue?

All the other boards went in without issue (the others are all momentary switches).
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on October 06, 2019, 09:54:30 PM
I will definitely look at it. Since a lot of case forks went into the code (double click for tracks, menu selection) I might have glitched the latching switch support. I'll see if I can find something obvious and correct it ! Since you are using it, I might just compile a fw quickly and send it to you for testing before releasing the fix !
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on October 06, 2019, 10:51:37 PM
I will definitely look at it. Since a lot of case forks went into the code (double click for tracks, menu selection) I might have glitched the latching switch support. I'll see if I can find something obvious and correct it ! Since you are using it, I might just compile a fw quickly and send it to you for testing before releasing the fix !

Thanks for the quick reply Erv - it's still possible that I'm doing something stupid, but I've run out of ideas!

Happy to test if you find something and want me to try a fix - let me know. :smiley:
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: bridgeb3 on October 07, 2019, 06:40:22 PM
This is also my first build and I'm trying to use a CFX board with a neopixel blade. I'm building a Roman MK1 with the Rudy Pando Crystal Chamber and I am worried about wiring the board and getting it into the chassis since it is my first build. Any things or tips I should know? And is there anything out there that is helpful on how to wire this thing?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on October 07, 2019, 09:54:21 PM
For your crystal chamber, i suggest using the accent pads #5 to #8, that offers the most versatility in terms of blade mirroring, pulsing and sequencing
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Atapoti on October 08, 2019, 08:29:34 AM
I'm running into some issues when trying to use the shifted delay (tridentfx=1) on the CFX with a neopixel set up. The main blade ignites fine and within the tridenton time duration. However, only a few of the neopixels (3 or 4) light up on the quillions as if the saber isn't finishing the blade scrolling.

I tried various time settings for tridenton, qon, tridentquick, but it always seems to results in only a few neopixels on the quillion igniting, while the main blade is fully lit. The poweron sound file is about 1 second long and I've tried to set the above variables to between 100ms and 500ms. On a few occasion I had the saber even freeze completely.

The Simple Delay (tridentfx=0) works as described most of the of the time, with the main blade and side blades fully igniting within the given parameters, but only if there is a difference greater than 100ms between qon and tridenton. If that difference is less, the same issue as above occurs.

I am able to get it working with the simple delay, but I 'd love to know if there some way to get the shifted delay working with neopixel.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on October 08, 2019, 10:02:25 AM
I don't think the shifted delay was properly finished (even on prizm) to be honest. But the trident timelines are on my list to be totally redone and better aligned with the poweron timeline.
To be sure though, do you have the right number of pixel set for tridentstrip ?

[edit]: to be accurate, shifted delay *works* with HB leds but isn't fully compliant with ledstrip mode
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Atapoti on October 08, 2019, 01:13:46 PM
I can confirm that I have the tridentstrip set to the correct number. Simple delay works to light up all the neopixels correctly as long as their is >100ms separation between qon and tridenton.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on October 20, 2019, 05:51:11 AM
I've noticed a slightly odd difference between in-hilt LED and Neopixel CFX installs:

On all my in-hilt LED installs when igniting the saber if you move the saber during the ignition sound there are no smooth swings until the ignition sound has completed - at which point the smooth swings start mixing in - this can be start quite abruptly if I'm moving the saber as the ignition sound completes. I thought this might be set by the poi setting, but setting that to 1 or 0 makes no difference (and I don't think it should do as I assume this is related to interrupting the ignition for effects like clash or accent/normal swings, or is perhaps for monophonic fonts only).

With the Neopixel installs the smooth swings are mixed with the ignition sounds leading to a much more natural and realistic effect.

The behaviour is consistent whether the fonts are monophonic or polyphonic.

Is this deliberate, or is there a setting I'm missing?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on October 20, 2019, 11:32:58 PM
I checked the code and the smoothswing engine is started after leaving the power on ramp, and same way for HB or ledstrip modes... however (!) since the power on ramp is controlled by quick on and most of the time this value is made shorter than the power on sound in ledstrip mode (to make scrolling looking more accurate and natural) I think that's the reason why you feel it's more natural on the ledstrip install, since the ramp is shorter.
I coded it this way since, even though the multi track playback works and is enabled in both poly and monophonic mode, the hum (file) is still not played during the power on, so I start smoothswing afterwards.
I have to see how it sounds when it is started immediately
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on October 21, 2019, 03:22:58 AM
@MickeyX : I've enabled smoothswing from the power on state if power on interrupt (poi) is enabled. That preserves the "protected" power on during which nothing else can occur. With poi on, you can have smoothswing feeling from the start
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on October 21, 2019, 06:31:38 AM
Thanks Erv - you’re absolutely spot on in that qon is short on the NP installs and that is the difference. Can’t believe I didn’t think of that!

Thanks for the change - that sounds like a great compromise.

Did you have a chance to look into the latching switch issue I’m having?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on October 21, 2019, 07:09:20 AM
Thanks Erv - you’re absolutely spot on in that qon is short on the NP installs and that is the difference. Can’t believe I didn’t think of that!

NP, just by looking at the code, there was no ledstrip-specifics there, so I wondered (just like you)

Quote
Thanks for the change - that sounds like a great compromise.

seconded, and a lot of people asked for interrupting the power on sound to be quicker in action, so that's going in the right direction for this. Thanks *you* for spotting the issue and asking for a fix

Quote
Did you have a chance to look into the latching switch issue I’m having?

I'm actually working on it *now*. Found some of the issue, there's a minor fumble with momentary vs latching vs double click vs debounce in the switch class, but it's easy to fix and rewrite slightly.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on October 21, 2019, 08:19:42 AM
[addon]: latching switch support fixed and spectrum menu access with aux+act disabled in latching mode (you can still choose between aux+twist => profile +/- 1 or aux+twist => spectrum)
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on October 21, 2019, 12:08:12 PM
[addon]: latching switch support fixed and spectrum menu access with aux+act disabled in latching mode (you can still choose between aux+twist => profile +/- 1 or aux+twist => spectrum)

Many thanks for fixing that Erv. Sounds great - can't wait to try it and stop cheating the system by treating the latching switch like a momentary  :grin:
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Sligs78 on October 21, 2019, 07:54:39 PM
I got a few problems:

When using the "Mute power off" option on the General tab on the CFX R.I.C.E program, it keeps the saber muted after using the mute-on-the-go. I use mute-on-the-go when igniting the saber, turn off the saber with it still muted, then turn it on again without mute-on-the-go, but the saber stays muted until I reset the board itself or go change the font.

A couple folders in the default soundfont files say "poly+smoothswing version." Does the CFX automatically choose the smoothswing version, or do I have to manually delete the regular soundfonts and replace them with the ones in the smoothswing folder? If it chooses it automatically, how I get it to use the smoothswing version?

How do I up the volume even higher on the smoothswings? I turned up the volume on the smoothswings on the "gain" and "dampen" in R.I.C.E., but it doesn't have the same loudness as the Proffieboard to demonstrate the the new real-time smoothswing abilities.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on October 21, 2019, 09:52:41 PM
I got a few problems:

When using the "Mute power off" option on the General tab on the CFX R.I.C.E program, it keeps the saber muted after using the mute-on-the-go. I use mute-on-the-go when igniting the saber, turn off the saber with it still muted, then turn it on again without mute-on-the-go, but the saber stays muted until I reset the board itself or go change the font.

good point, I don't use that combo (mute off) very often, I'll fix that this morning.

Quote
A couple folders in the default soundfont files say "poly+smoothswing version." Does the CFX automatically choose the smoothswing version, or do I have to manually delete the regular soundfonts and replace them with the ones in the smoothswing folder? If it chooses it automatically, how I get it to use the smoothswing version?

replace or add the poly version in the font folder or create a new folder for those (properly numbered). Those are link's update fonts but as posted on FB, the hum is different enough to propose different versions but I didn't want any duplicates in the default package for now.
If I get a proper font BMP and descriptive font sound that differentiate it, I might add them in the font structure as variants.

Quote
How do I up the volume even higher on the smoothswings? I turned up the volume on the smoothswings on the "gain" and "dampen" in R.I.C.E., but it doesn't have the same loudness as the Proffieboard to demonstrate the the new real-time smoothswing abilities.

As posted I need to revisit slightly the audio output mixer to make that work / possible, I plan to do that once I get the pixel sequencer finished and published. Note also that some existing smoothswing fonts aren't optimized in terms of volume for the CFX and indeed sound low (hum pairs not normalized). For those, normalizing manually the pairs with an audio editor is an easy fix.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on October 22, 2019, 10:02:46 PM
fixed MOTG + muteoff combo, logic was there and flags were correctly reset, but the final unmute action was missing (sorry).
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Ridire Fíréan on October 24, 2019, 09:34:47 AM
Hey @erv  !  I'm looking at the CFX Manual reading about the capabilities of the Accent LED Pads.

On Page 72 it says...

     "Accent LEDs role
     The new accent sequencer gives more flexibility on the use of each accent. Here are the various
     attributes each accent can have. To be noted that pulsing type of accents (self-pulsing, crystal
     pulsing, blade mirror, audio flicker limited to accents #2-5-6-7-8 since not all the HW pins can have
     PWM. You can still define non-PWM pins to those function but they will only blink like a digital
     ping when passing half of the PWM range (512)."

...which suggests to me that Accent Pads 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are PWM capable.

But then on Page 75 it says...

     "Special Accent LEDs #2 and #5 to #8
     Not all accent LEDs can have extended roles such as blade mirroring or crystal pulsing: only accents
     #2 and #5 to #8 can use the roles involving PWM mirroring, pulsing or audio flicker. Setting another
     LED with that role can still partially work but the LED will be only turned on and off instead of
     behaving with continuous dimming."

...which suggest to me that Accent Pads 6, and 7 are NOT PWM capable.



I was hoping that the CFX would be able to handle my Cool Down Emitter Idea from 2017.
Crystal Focus Saber Core v8 "COOL DOWN EMITTER" ACCENT LEDS IDEA (https://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/index.php?topic=52354)

I've been trying to learn C++ in order to create the coding necessary for implementing my C.D.E.I. aka 'The Firean Effect' on either the CFX or the Proffieboard. 

Both boards have their positives and negatives.  The positive to the Proffieboard v1.5 and v2.2 is that the code is Opensource.  The negative is that I need to learn the code, HA!  But moreso, that I can't have both an illumitated Crystal Chamber AND Bluetooth.  And I don't think I can have a Motor in it either. 

The positives to the CFX is that I can have Bluetooth, and a Motor, and an Illuminated Crystal Chamber, and MAYBE a Cool Down Emitter capable of The Firean Effect.  The negatives are that the code isn't Opensource, and even if it was... I still have to learn the code, HA!

Though I've started to understand the "longhand" coding in C++, the "shorthand"(nesting?, and abbreviations, i.e. ++, --, %*/, etc.) of the code in C++ and the use of styles and templates, etc., which is used predominantly in the ProffieOS is still wildly confusing to me.



Anywho, if you would please clarify for me which Accent LED Pads are PWM capable, if the pads are still grouped 1-4, and 5-8, or if they're all separately addressable now, I'd appreciate it.

For a Tri-Cree, would it be possible to piggyback Crystal Chamber LEDs (0804's, or a 3mm/5mm RGB) off of the main LED pads?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: JediJesseS on October 24, 2019, 03:13:26 PM
I'm having trouble using RICE with the new CFX module. Windows 10 always detects it as a USB device (not a usable one, but still a USB device) and only wants to install drivers of that type. I can't figure out how to install as a COM device so that RICE can detect the board. The section in the manual said Windows 10 should have all the necessary drivers. Is there an intermediary step I'm missing? Thanks for any assistance! The board is beyond awesome but I'm wearing out the SD card springs every time I remove it and reinsert after playing with blade styles.  :cheesy:
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: pwrmac7600 on October 25, 2019, 04:04:19 PM
fixed MOTG + muteoff combo, logic was there and flags were correctly reset, but the final unmute action was missing (sorry).

When you say items are fixed, are you just updating the code in the default package posted on the plecter site or is there a new firmware posted somewhere?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Sligs78 on October 26, 2019, 01:18:55 AM
I got two more problems.

After I turn the menu volume down in the General tab on RICE, once I go to the soundfont selection menu, the menu volume goes back up. I notice that when I go to the soundfont selection menu while connected with the USB, the board disconnects with my computer; so maybe it has something to do with that.

The Pixel Blade FX "Fire Leg." always messes up on blade profile #3 for some reason. I think there were other ones. It shows up as a regular blade, but with flickering at the base of the blade.

Edit: I just had to mess with the Cooling Low and Cooling High settings for the flames to show up.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on October 28, 2019, 02:25:44 AM
Hey @erv  !  I'm looking at the CFX Manual reading about the capabilities of the Accent LED Pads.
     "Special Accent LEDs #2 and #5 to #8
...which suggest to me that Accent Pads 6, and 7 are NOT PWM capable.

#5 to #8 indicates a range, hence 5, 6, 7 and 8. All pads are now individualized, they just don't all have PWM capabilities.

Quote
For a Tri-Cree, would it be possible to piggyback Crystal Chamber LEDs (0804's, or a 3mm/5mm RGB) off of the main LED pads?
yes, you can still do this, wire them in parallel with the HB leds, with appropriate resistors. However, I'd rather suggest to use the PWM pads of each channels, which could also be less work

regarding the cool down emitter, I have to see how make that configurable in the accent sequencer. The coding of the effect per say is trivial (just a ramp), but I'd rather have it blended in config with the sequencer rather than proposing it as a "patch"

When you say items are fixed, are you just updating the code in the default package posted on the plecter site or is there a new firmware posted somewhere?

fixed in the fw I'm working on, soon to be delivered.

I'm having trouble using RICE with the new CFX module. Windows 10 always detects it as a USB device (not a usable one, but still a USB device) and only wants to install drivers of that type. I can't figure out how to install as a COM device so that RICE can detect the board. The section in the manual said Windows 10 should have all the necessary drivers. Is there an intermediary step I'm missing? Thanks for any assistance! The board is beyond awesome but I'm wearing out the SD card springs every time I remove it and reinsert after playing with blade styles.  :cheesy:

make sure you use a full USB cable, not a charging one. Check in the system => device list how your USB peripheral is detected and what is missing. Eventually install the adafruit drivers as suggested in the manual (as a fix for windows 7 users). Aside of this, I don't know, win 10 should indeed recognize the board COM port.

I got two more problems.

After I turn the menu volume down in the General tab on RICE, once I go to the soundfont selection menu, the menu volume goes back up. I notice that when I go to the soundfont selection menu while connected with the USB, the board disconnects with my computer; so maybe it has something to do with that.

There is a specific setting for the vocal menu volume. beep parameter also separately controls the UI sounds.
When you go in the vocal menu, the board reboots, and USB disconnects (that is normal)
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Ridire Fíréan on October 28, 2019, 09:21:34 AM
#5 to #8 indicates a range, hence 5, 6, 7 and 8.


Oh geez!  Well, English is apparently my second language and DUH! is my native tongue.  I'll have to zoom in and slow down my reading next time.  Though I may have been reading it with a French accent which would explain how I read "to" (through) as "too" (also), because "to" with an accent becomes "tooooo".  Mais oui, non!? ;) HA!  Too funny!

Quote
All pads are now individualized, they just don't all have PWM capabilities.

O.K. So, which out of Accent Pads 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are PWM Capable?

Is it that we can only address so many as PWM, or is it that only certain pads are addressable as PWM.

And does using the Channel PWM Pads negate any of the Accent Pads from being PWM Capable?

Quote
regarding the cool down emitter, I have to see how make that configurable in the accent sequencer.

Get ready for a Bromance buddy, if you can do this... Je T'aime!  I've found several tutorials online that show different ways to make LEDs pulse without "delay" and some that use PWM, but I haven't figured out how to modify them to make the effect work the way I imagine it.  I know it can be done, I just don't have any mastery of C++ yet.  I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with for how to accomplish my idea!

The Firean Effect is on the To-Do List!  SUPER EXCITED!!!!!
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on October 28, 2019, 12:22:40 PM
O.K. So, which out of Accent Pads 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are PWM Capable?

Like I said / wrote : #2 and #5 to #8

Quote
And does using the Channel PWM Pads negate any of the Accent Pads from being PWM Capable?

no, they are independent pads (different from CF9 hardware)
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: JediJesseS on October 28, 2019, 02:44:06 PM
make sure you use a full USB cable, not a charging one. Check in the system => device list how your USB peripheral is detected and what is missing. Eventually install the adafruit drivers as suggested in the manual (as a fix for windows 7 users). Aside of this, I don't know, win 10 should indeed recognize the board COM port.

Thanks for the response, I'll try several different cables.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on October 28, 2019, 10:53:02 PM
The Firean Effect is on the To-Do List!  SUPER EXCITED!!!!!

actually, working in the train this morning on my way to work, I found a proper way to do this with the accent sequencer and #makeItReal
more on this once implemented
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Ridire Fíréan on October 29, 2019, 07:26:54 AM
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!   GREAT NEWS!  What a treat to wake up to this morning!

And thank you for the PWM Pad info, it's locked into memory now!

With 3 pads available for PWM, I wonder if it would be better to run RGB, or stick with a White, a Yellow, and a Red LED?

I've also been thinking, can we play a sound during cool down too?

I have some neat foley ideas for that if we can!
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on October 29, 2019, 07:40:38 AM
With 3 pads available for PWM, I wonder if it would be better to run RGB, or stick with a White, a Yellow, and a Red LED?

not sure what / if you are mis-reading but there are 5 PWM-capable pins (accents), not 3. As for colors, it's up to your taste, a color channel can be mirrored by several accents.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Ridire Fíréan on October 29, 2019, 08:55:09 AM
URGH!  I did it AGAIN!  I keep skipping the "to".  My apologies, I'm just REALLY excited you're working on this!

With 5, yes FIVE PWM Accent Pads, <--- see I GOT IT NOW! ;)  We could choose however many we like to be The Firean Effect, and have one or two left over for yet another effect!

Hmm, what to light up next?!  Off to find a space for another LED somewhere!
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on October 29, 2019, 12:09:40 PM
started coding 2 variants of the accent effect with new attributes. Fixed many details today, will finish this tomorrow morning.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on October 30, 2019, 08:27:20 AM
implemented 2 cool down effects in the accent sequencer, one uses the actual temperature against the "hot" temperature threshold from the config. Since the sensor provides only 1°C resolution, you won't see any smooth, continuous decay over the PWM (10 bit resolution, 1024 value) but I tested and you gets gradual steps as the saber internals *actually* cool down. Blowing or heating the board (with your hands or heatgun) produce the effect in real time.

Second method fakes the cool down as described / requested above : I use the accent pulse period and apply it to the decay of the accent.

Both attributes are available for all sequences, ie. power on, power off, blade on, idle or lockup. I played with it with the idle sequence since it's most "logical" (after power off).
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Ridire Fíréan on October 30, 2019, 11:06:53 AM
one uses the actual temperature against the "hot" temperature threshold from the config.

Hey @erv  !  That's so crazy!  I wouldn't have thought of that!

Quote
Second method fakes the cool down as described / requested above : I use the accent pulse period and apply it to the decay of the accent.

I can't wait to try it!  Off to order new parts!  Thank you so much for doing this!

Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on October 30, 2019, 11:09:54 AM
I can't wait to try it!  Off to order new parts!  Thank you so much for doing this!

You're welcome !
video posted on my page in the comments, if you want to see it in action
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: JediJesseS on October 30, 2019, 06:44:43 PM
No luck with any different cables, and I'm sure they are cables with full data transfer capabilities as they work with other devices. The error appearing is that the device descriptor request failed. The usbser driver is supposed to load automatically if the class code and subclass code are 02, but the device doesn't seem to be providing that information (or is isn't being read correctly). The usbser drives are present and installed. I just have a standard Windows 10 Pro install and I am in IT for a living, I can usually work my way with any issue. But this one I don't know where to go from here. Any other suggestions?

(https://i.ibb.co/k43Y0rp/unknownusb.jpg) (https://ibb.co/k43Y0rp)(https://i.ibb.co/7XhPSfH/unknownusb4.jpg) (https://ibb.co/7XhPSfH)
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on October 31, 2019, 03:11:50 AM
just to be sure, do you have a way to test it on a mac or another computer ? aside this, eventually inspect the USB connector solder joint in case one is weak or the connector bent.
From your provided pic (thank you) the PID and VID are incorrect like if it can't read / enumerate properly.
Please share macro pictures of your board so that I look at the MCU and USB connector
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: LyleStyle on October 31, 2019, 09:42:18 AM
This question was first posted at TCSS. Since FJK recommended I repeat it here, I humbly submit this to the Order of the Buttered Toast:

Would it be possible to link a blaster core to the CFX via IR or Bluetooth (etc) so that a blaster trigger also triggers the AUX effect on the CFX. This way my wife can blast away and my saber will respond according to her timing.

It would be fun to revisit this Lazer Tag vibe. (a toy I cherished as a kid!)

Thank you for considering!
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: pwrmac7600 on November 04, 2019, 10:25:02 AM
I seem to have alot of problems getting the Tip Drag to work. I am hitting my aux switch and tapping the tip in a downward motion to the floor, and 99% of the time I just get a clash.
What am I doing wrong?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on November 04, 2019, 01:47:51 PM
In case others haven't spotted this on Erv's Facebook page - he has posted updated firmware to the Plecter Labs website. There is also a video demonstrating the FW upgrade process on his YouTube.

As noted make sure to read the release notes - in particular if you have a LED strip build as the strip timings have changed and you must ensure to update the config file with the new timings.

I've updated a couple of sabers already - a Tri-Cree LED that has a latching switch (as this has FW has a fix for a latching switch issue), and a Neopixel - both without any problems. Really like the ability to use poi to allow the Smooth Swing to operate from the time you ignite. Also the LED 'flashes' that I had on the LED saber when igniting sometimes appear to have been fixed. Also liking the LED strip lighting effects in iSaber audio player, and the PLI on LED strip.

Erv - one for when you get back on-line: the latching switch fix has a small issue I think. I have switch=1 and it works fine. However if the saber goes into deep sleep and you wake it by switching the latching switch 'on' - I would expect it to boot with the boot sound (which it does), and then immediately ignite which it doesn't - instead it is then starts to operate weirdly: The saber ignites if you turn the switch back 'off', and retracts if you turn it back 'on' again (i.e. the logic is reversed from normal). Also there is no way to get to the menu by holding the aux switch while the saber is off. The only way out is to either wait for the saber to sleep again, or remove power and re-boot. If I ensure to wake the saber using the aux button then everything works fine.

Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on November 04, 2019, 01:50:45 PM
I seem to have alot of problems getting the Tip Drag to work. I am hitting my aux switch and tapping the tip in a downward motion to the floor, and 99% of the time I just get a clash.
What am I doing wrong?

If you have the hdrag settings right (and the fact that you are getting the effect sometimes implies you have - but note that the hdrag settings are dependent on which way round the card is installed, and also if it is at an angle in the hilt (e.g. curved hilt)) - then it should be the same type of feeling as getting the force clash to work, but just with the blade pointed downwards (or however you have hdrag configured). Can you get force clash to trigger?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on November 06, 2019, 09:02:51 AM
Would it be possible to link a blaster core to the CFX via IR or Bluetooth (etc) so that a blaster trigger also triggers the AUX effect on the CFX. This way my wife can blast away and my saber will respond according to her timing.

I did something similar on my millenium falcon coffee table project, really no problem. Also, I recall Frederick did just this on proffie for lazerTag guns to trigger blasters and it's a cool effect !

Erv - one for when you get back on-line: the latching switch fix has a small issue I think. I have switch=1 and it works fine. However if the saber goes into deep sleep and you wake it by switching the latching switch 'on' - I would expect it to boot with the boot sound (which it does), and then immediately ignite which it doesn't - instead it is then starts to operate weirdly: The saber ignites if you turn the switch back 'off', and retracts if you turn it back 'on' again (i.e. the logic is reversed from normal). Also there is no way to get to the menu by holding the aux switch while the saber is off. The only way out is to either wait for the saber to sleep again, or remove power and re-boot. If I ensure to wake the saber using the aux button then everything works fine.

hey mickeyX, thank you for your posts and tests, I'm glad that this update is providing some of the stuff you wanted !
All noted for the latching switch, I probably have a state machine / flag issue with this particular combo, will be on it asap. I haven't fully recovered yet, I expected the general anesthesia to have side effects on the mind and though it's been better today, I'm still very tired. I'm trying to return to coding or "do things" tomorrow
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on November 06, 2019, 01:15:17 PM
No worries - wasn't expecting to hear from you for another week or so - take it easy and don't worry about fixes for now! Hope everything went okay.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: pwrmac7600 on November 06, 2019, 04:18:23 PM
I seem to have alot of problems getting the Tip Drag to work. I am hitting my aux switch and tapping the tip in a downward motion to the floor, and 99% of the time I just get a clash.
What am I doing wrong?

If you have the hdrag settings right (and the fact that you are getting the effect sometimes implies you have - but note that the hdrag settings are dependent on which way round the card is installed, and also if it is at an angle in the hilt (e.g. curved hilt)) - then it should be the same type of feeling as getting the force clash to work, but just with the blade pointed downwards (or however you have hdrag configured). Can you get force clash to trigger?
So if I have it set to 0; 512 then any where from just under horizontal to straight down should trigger it correct?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on November 06, 2019, 10:41:05 PM
yes, that should be it !
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on November 07, 2019, 01:09:38 AM
No worries - wasn't expecting to hear from you for another week or so - take it easy and don't worry about fixes for now! Hope everything went okay.

I had the dumb for a couple of days but I think (moderate) activity heals more than just the couch. Everything went ok, pain still there for some of it, pain killers only on day one then now just the basic, gentle stuff and resting. Still a tad "low" but capable of doing the standard stuff

I was able to reproduce the described issue this morning, going to fix that and a few other details to push a beta before I break everything for the new power on time lines and auxiliary ledstrip output etc.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on November 08, 2019, 02:07:57 AM
I seem to have alot of problems getting the Tip Drag to work. I am hitting my aux switch and tapping the tip in a downward motion to the floor, and 99% of the time I just get a clash.
What am I doing wrong?

If you have the hdrag settings right (and the fact that you are getting the effect sometimes implies you have - but note that the hdrag settings are dependent on which way round the card is installed, and also if it is at an angle in the hilt (e.g. curved hilt)) - then it should be the same type of feeling as getting the force clash to work, but just with the blade pointed downwards (or however you have hdrag configured). Can you get force clash to trigger?
So if I have it set to 0; 512 then any where from just under horizontal to straight down should trigger it correct?

Provided it's an install with the SD card pointing towards the pommel (which is often the case to allow access via the pommel) then yes. If the SD card is reversed (SD card pointing towards the emitter - common with chassis installs where you reveal the entire chassis for access) then it should be -512,0. If you have it the wrong way then all it means is that you can trigger drag with a clash motion combined with holding aux with the blade pointed upwards instead.

The other possibility is that you have a curved hilt with the card installed at an angle - if that's the case then setting hdrag requires a bit more thought and experimentation..
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: pwrmac7600 on November 08, 2019, 01:52:03 PM
I seem to have alot of problems getting the Tip Drag to work. I am hitting my aux switch and tapping the tip in a downward motion to the floor, and 99% of the time I just get a clash.
What am I doing wrong?

If you have the hdrag settings right (and the fact that you are getting the effect sometimes implies you have - but note that the hdrag settings are dependent on which way round the card is installed, and also if it is at an angle in the hilt (e.g. curved hilt)) - then it should be the same type of feeling as getting the force clash to work, but just with the blade pointed downwards (or however you have hdrag configured). Can you get force clash to trigger?
So if I have it set to 0; 512 then any where from just under horizontal to straight down should trigger it correct?

Provided it's an install with the SD card pointing towards the pommel (which is often the case to allow access via the pommel) then yes. If the SD card is reversed (SD card pointing towards the emitter - common with chassis installs where you reveal the entire chassis for access) then it should be -512,0. If you have it the wrong way then all it means is that you can trigger drag with a clash motion combined with holding aux with the blade pointed upwards instead.

The other possibility is that you have a curved hilt with the card installed at an angle - if that's the case then setting hdrag requires a bit more thought and experimentation..
Yes It is a Graflex install towards the pommel. Still very hard to get it to activate. I figured leaving it at 0;512 would make it easier to trigger since anywhere just below horizontal down should trigger it. But still 99.9% of the time it just activates a regular clash.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on November 08, 2019, 02:24:55 PM
I seem to have alot of problems getting the Tip Drag to work. I am hitting my aux switch and tapping the tip in a downward motion to the floor, and 99% of the time I just get a clash.
What am I doing wrong?

If you have the hdrag settings right (and the fact that you are getting the effect sometimes implies you have - but note that the hdrag settings are dependent on which way round the card is installed, and also if it is at an angle in the hilt (e.g. curved hilt)) - then it should be the same type of feeling as getting the force clash to work, but just with the blade pointed downwards (or however you have hdrag configured). Can you get force clash to trigger?
So if I have it set to 0; 512 then any where from just under horizontal to straight down should trigger it correct?

Provided it's an install with the SD card pointing towards the pommel (which is often the case to allow access via the pommel) then yes. If the SD card is reversed (SD card pointing towards the emitter - common with chassis installs where you reveal the entire chassis for access) then it should be -512,0. If you have it the wrong way then all it means is that you can trigger drag with a clash motion combined with holding aux with the blade pointed upwards instead.

The other possibility is that you have a curved hilt with the card installed at an angle - if that's the case then setting hdrag requires a bit more thought and experimentation..
Yes It is a Graflex install towards the pommel. Still very hard to get it to activate. I figured leaving it at 0;512 would make it easier to trigger since anywhere just below horizontal down should trigger it. But still 99.9% of the time it just activates a regular clash.
Ok - back to a question from before - are you able to get force clash (force2.wav) to trigger repeatably? Drag should be just like this, but with the blade pointing down, and holding the aux button rather than just tapping it.

Also could you let us know your motions settings, in particular hclash.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on November 08, 2019, 10:52:46 PM
works as described by MickeyX, depends on (mostly) 2 things : the clash threshold (hclash) and the lockup trigger delay (too short, and you'll jump into lockup). If you end with a clash, you're not pressing your aux switch prior knocking the blade.

@MickeyX : beta round finished, I'll push a beta on my website this morning if I have the time, with the few corrections you suggested and a couple of additions.

[edit] : pushed (let me know !)
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Tatyana.o on November 09, 2019, 02:36:12 AM
Erv, would you like for this bata update to be announced in the Facebook group, so more people can test it (if they like to) or is this designed for specific people?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on November 09, 2019, 05:01:21 AM
works as described by MickeyX, depends on (mostly) 2 things : the clash threshold (hclash) and the lockup trigger delay (too short, and you'll jump into lockup). If you end with a clash, you're not pressing your aux switch prior knocking the blade.

@MickeyX : beta round finished, I'll push a beta on my website this morning if I have the time, with the few corrections you suggested and a couple of additions.

[edit] : pushed (let me know !)
I've tested the beta and the latching switch works perfectly now - thanks!  :grin:  Also tested it on an LED strip with the new setting for the bladeplisize setting which is also great. Gave the sabers a little workout and everything else seems fine as well.

With the latching switch saber I tried qkignite on and off and it works just how I'd want it to given those settings. Waking from deep sleep with qkignite=0 it plays boot sound and then ignites if you latch the main switch on, and the aux switch just boots it normally. With qkignite=1 if you press aux it also just plays the boot sound and is then ready to go, and if you latch the main switch it skips the boot sound and ignites as fast as it can - this is perfect IMHO.

This leads to a suggestion though - is it possible to get the qkignite to operate that way with a 'normal' dual momentary switch setup? I've tested the beta and it operates as before in that configuration - the aux switch ignites the saber as fast as it can just like the main switch does - it feels wrong to me for the aux switch to ever ignite the saber, and it would be great if it just booted the saber in that instance - maybe that's just me though - other opinions are available  :smiley:
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on November 11, 2019, 11:35:43 PM
thanks a lot for the testing and feedback ! yes, I just coded it this way but you are right, it would be better to have only act. bring the quick ignite. Probably an easy mod for this morning, as I'm returning to work.
That's definitely the usage / use cases tests I'm after, because I can't test or play with all of the combinations, even with a saber in hand, it has a lot to do with specific configurations from the users ! (cheers)
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: JediJesseS on November 12, 2019, 03:37:58 PM
Hello, I've tested the board on three different Windows 10 machines and the problem remains exactly the same on each. Failed device descriptor. I'm not sure if this would help diagnose the issue but I also have a problem with excessive power draw. Even though the board seems to go into deep sleep mode (settings correct for sleep and deep - activation switch press is needed to wake the board) if left overnight without charging the board will be dead by the next day. You will have a much better idea of whether these issues could be related at all. I've attached a picture of the board but there is a Sabertrio sticker over some of the area. Let me know if there are any additional diagnostic measures I can look into. Thank you for your help!
(https://i.imgur.com/m8uFMEZ.jpg)
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on November 12, 2019, 10:08:43 PM
Based on the chassis install I can't see the MCU side of the USB wiring but the port looks ok and soldering too. If you have over consumption issue, there might be a bridge somewhere in the install or on the board.
I suggest you contact sabertrio about this because I don't see other things to test, especially if you're not touching the install itself (chassis etc) which is totally understandable.
Could you eventually have a look to the latest version of the manual and locate the voltage map and check the audio amp +5V and the aux 3.3V, both are accessible on your board without disassembling. Ideally the permanent +3.3V as well but I can't see on the pic if you can probe it.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on November 15, 2019, 12:04:46 AM
still feeling quite low and in the recovery "back draft"  :embarrassed: I got warned that I would get a quick "high" after the surgery, then a little low after (scar tissues reforming and healing uses energy). Coding, but not as much as I'd want.
As mentioned on social media, I've well started deconstructing existing code for timeline and aux. ledstrip output to get this totally modular, some good progress. Overall, some of that code got inherited from prizm and CS (for the ledstrip aspect) and just got ported to C++ to get it to work with the CFX arch but didn't get much effort to refactor it (I can do so many things, right?  :angel:). Full day coding today and customers got taken care of yesterday, so I can move to this, will post a quick demo as soon as it works !
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: pwrmac7600 on November 25, 2019, 02:18:14 PM
Any near future plans for adding more blade style options?
plans to add items like localized lockup?
Something that would put the CFX on a more even playing field effects wise with proffie?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on November 25, 2019, 09:27:50 PM
Certainly, yes. Updates posted on social media, blade structure redone and former cs/primz code gone. Integrated power on-off styles and i'm now adding fx styles (lockup included).
I also need to finish single switch operation.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: pwrmac7600 on November 26, 2019, 02:35:40 PM
Certainly, yes. Updates posted on social media, blade structure redone and former cs/primz code gone. Integrated power on-off styles and i'm now adding fx styles (lockup included).
I also need to finish single switch operation.

Awesome to hear! Unfortunately I closed out all of my social media accounts years ago. and swore them off for good. lol
now just doing the old fashion message board thing.
But thank you for the update.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on November 26, 2019, 09:36:08 PM
NP, I try to combo-post things here as well and I like what forums have to offer !
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on December 01, 2019, 11:27:49 PM
Since Tatsuo posted a question about those on FB, I though I would make a quick video about those micro pixel. I sourced those about 6 months ago and mockup a quick PCB for them with the idea in mind to make a pixel accent demo with them. I first spider-wired one with thin wire as you can spot on the first picture :-)
Those are 2020 SMD package (20x20 mil) pixels. Enjoy !
(https://www.plecterlabs.com/Media/Divers/MicroBlade/PixelAccentsPliFront.jpg)

(https://www.plecterlabs.com/Media/Divers/MicroBlade/PixelAccentsPliBack.jpg)

Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on December 02, 2019, 09:44:43 PM
though it's (linked) in the manual (current version), I realize I haven't posted the video for FW upgrade on CFX using a serial terminal (dockligh on PC in my case). You can now do pretty much the same with RICE using the serial log area below the remote control buttons.

Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: J.E.D., I on December 06, 2019, 02:06:26 PM
Hello All,

I have a couple questions about magic activation. I calibrated my saber like the CFX manual instructed--my magic score was 350.

Is that to low? Did I do something wrong?

Assuming everthing was ok, I then changed Saber Lock to 1 and put the magic threshold at 350. This was all in profile 0. No luck--I tried every profile. Did I do something wrong? What is profile 0?

Thanks
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on December 06, 2019, 10:14:55 PM
the magic score give you the magnetic "situation" with nothing magnetic around aside what the saber is made of (hilt, speaker, battery etc).
350 is really low !
Did you log the calibration process via USB to see if the sensor was actually changing ?

Still, that situation at "rest" isn't the threshold. I usually put a threshold of about 20000. Start without using saberlock and magic only to see if you can get an activation. Keep in mind that saber lock needs the mag score to go < 0.5*the magic threshold to have the lock/unlock state machine to work correctly.
you can also use the serial commands logmagic and getfield to double check the sensor is working as expected.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Ridire Fíréan on December 10, 2019, 04:37:38 PM
Hey @erv  !  In the past (CF-8/CF-9) with a 2W speaker it didn't matter what pad was wired to whatever speaker solder tab.

With the new CF-X, and with a 3W WOW Sound Speaker that has a Positive Solder Tab, does it matter which CF-X speaker pad the positive side speaker solder tab is connected to?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on December 10, 2019, 10:22:38 PM
Individual speaker doesn't have a polarity. Used only for phase match with multiple speakers.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on December 24, 2019, 01:07:53 PM
I have a problem with the new 10.002Beta firmware - it's probably just me missing something obvious, but I can't figure it out.

I updated a NeoPixel saber to 10.002Beta without issue, including getting my head around all the new parameters. I like some of the new features including the begin/end drags, and the begin lock, also the ability to get multiple force and force clashes. qon/qoff being per font is also finally fixed :smiley: - everything worked fine.

Then today I updated a High Power LED saber and hit a problem. The settings are pretty much out of the box from the new default package. Ledstrip=0 so it should be in HP LED mode. However the saber fires up fine in terms of sound, but the LEDs are all completely dead whatever blade or color profile I'm using. I couldn't get the main blade LEDs to fire up whatever I did. I've reverted to the 10.001Beta FW (and back to the old settings) and everything works fine again. Are there any settings that I'm missing that could disable the HP LED blade?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on December 24, 2019, 02:13:48 PM
Disable strip power on all channels. During dev i considered have strippower automatically discarded when disabling ledstrip but it still has some use even in HB led mode, to control a load independently of color profiles
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on December 25, 2019, 01:55:08 AM
Thanks for the quick answer - wasn't expecting to hear until after christmas!

That fixed it!  :grin:

Reference for others - for High Power LED setups the two key parameters are now:

ledstrip=0
strippower=0000

(note that the default in the current package is ledstrip=0, strippower=1111).
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on December 25, 2019, 02:50:29 AM
all good ! yes, I left the defaults to 1111 for strip power to avoid people having xmas tree type of fx with the ledstrip, if left to 0000 (as it would keep underpowering the strips, inducing PWM flicker based on the blade color, mirrored to power drivers) while with HB leds, there's no risk of frying anything as the current to the leds is much less and limited by the external resistor.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: RavenXp on January 10, 2020, 11:59:04 AM
I have a couple of questions.  One, I plan on making a somewhat intricate lighting system and may need to set up some accent LEDs in parallel, I see in the manual the board only outputs a max of 15mA so what I want to know is if the power Xtender 2.0 that TCSS has would work with the accent pads like it did with previous boards.  I think it should, but I want to confirm with the expert before I proceed.  Second, I want to know if the PWM pads on the bottom of the board are active or disabled when using neopixel.

Edit: Upon thinking about it a bit more, I think the Xtender should work but I don't believe things like fading effect would translate through as it seems to be designed to be an on/off gate that feeds power through from the battery when it receives the boards 3.3V output
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on January 11, 2020, 12:33:03 AM
the PEX will work like before, fading/pulsing included
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on January 11, 2020, 02:40:56 AM
also, 10.003 is out there, supposed to fix some of the issues noticed in 10.002 and bring some more stuff for the angular ranges, including for stabs, force, force clash. More thresholds for accent swings, force, force clash.
And real time color tuning of the blade color in Spectrum, more spectrum modes as well.

I'm trying to find some time today to make a demo reel for this, I shot some video this morning, now I have to edit and put some comments
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on January 11, 2020, 07:41:07 AM
Thanks for updated firmware Erv.

I've had a chance to update a couple of sabers to 10.003 beta and give them a very quick run-through - one HP LED and one Neopixel. I haven't tried many of the new features (although had tried some already with 10.002 beta which was on both sabers), but I really like the new configs for force, force clash, stabs etc.

Based on these very quick tests I have a few points / questions:

* On the HP LED saber - occasionally the blade stays on after powering down. It's dimmed, but definitely still on. This seems to happen completely randomly, and I think may have happened on 10.002 beta as well. I thought it might be related to using qoff (the qoff is definitely shorter than the poweroff duration), but it also happened on a bank with qoff=0.

* I've had problems with Spectrum mode 1 on my HP LED setup. On the Neopixel it works fine (and I like the spacing between the changes when you have fewer profiles). On the high power LED it enters spectrum mode no problem, but then any movement to cycle through the blade colours just results in a 'skipped' sound and the blade never changes. I have tried extending the "used_profiles_color" and "used_profiles_blade" bitfields to 32 bits long (11111111111111111111111111111111) as noted in the change log just in case (I have <16 of both profiles configured at the moment) but this makes no difference. Thanks for extending the number of blades/colours to 32!

* I have a question / issue with the new 'orient' setting. The two sabers I have updated are mounted opposite directions, and I set them appropriately (orient=2 and 3). This works as expected for the drag and other angular configurations (drag is triggered correctly when pointed down with hdrag=500,-90,-20 on both sabers for example despite having opposite orientations). However in both cases the poweron ordering by hilt orientation has been flipped from what it was. So now with 4 poweron sounds hilt pointing up plays poweron4.wav and pointing straight down plays poweron.wav - this is the opposite to what I expected - have I misunderstood how it should work (if so I will flip all my poweron sounds?

* Suggestion for the poweron interrupt (poi). I'm aware that this is partially my fault as I suggested the change to allow smooth swings to play during a poweron (which you implemented with poi=1). This works great with smooth swing only fonts as it does not stop the poweron sound (which plays to the end), but it mixes in the smooth swing nicely with it in a very realistic sounding way (to me). However with hybrid (accent swing) fonts unfortunately the accent swings halt the poweron sound. This sounds wrong to me (although is completely in line with the poweron interrupt setting!) Unfortunately I can only do movement flowing powerons with smooth swing only fonts. Would it be possible to have a setting where accent swings as well as smooth swings are mixed in with the poweron?

Any / all of these might just be my errors/misunderstandings - apologies if that's the case.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: RavenXp on January 11, 2020, 08:18:32 AM
the PEX will work like before, fading/pulsing included

Thank you for the reply, that's good news actually.

What about my second question, the 4 PWM pads on the bottom of the board tied to channels 1-4, are those still usable for a crystal chamber LED when the blade is set up for neopixel?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on January 11, 2020, 08:39:50 AM
the PEX will work like before, fading/pulsing included

Thank you for the reply, that's good news actually.

What about my second question, the 4 PWM pads on the bottom of the board tied to channels 1-4, are those still usable for a crystal chamber LED when the blade is set up for neopixel?

yes, if you use strippower config. However, I would rather suggest to use the accent pads, which are more flexible for a crystal chamber. They can be both sequenced or mirror the blade
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on January 11, 2020, 08:54:04 AM
Thanks for updated firmware Erv.

I've had a chance to update a couple of sabers to 10.003 beta and give them a very quick run-through - one HP LED and one Neopixel. I haven't tried many of the new features (although had tried some already with 10.002 beta which was on both sabers), but I really like the new configs for force, force clash, stabs etc.

Based on these very quick tests I have a few points / questions:

* On the HP LED saber - occasionally the blade stays on after powering down. It's dimmed, but definitely still on. This seems to happen completely randomly, and I think may have happened on 10.002 beta as well. I thought it might be related to using qoff (the qoff is definitely shorter than the poweroff duration), but it also happened on a bank with qoff=0.

* I've had problems with Spectrum mode 1 on my HP LED setup. On the Neopixel it works fine (and I like the spacing between the changes when you have fewer profiles). On the high power LED it enters spectrum mode no problem, but then any movement to cycle through the blade colours just results in a 'skipped' sound and the blade never changes. I have tried extending the "used_profiles_color" and "used_profiles_blade" bitfields to 32 bits long (11111111111111111111111111111111) as noted in the change log just in case (I have <16 of both profiles configured at the moment) but this makes no difference. Thanks for extending the number of blades/colours to 32!

* I have a question / issue with the new 'orient' setting. The two sabers I have updated are mounted opposite directions, and I set them appropriately (orient=2 and 3). This works as expected for the drag and other angular configurations (drag is triggered correctly when pointed down with hdrag=500,-90,-20 on both sabers for example despite having opposite orientations). However in both cases the poweron ordering by hilt orientation has been flipped from what it was. So now with 4 poweron sounds hilt pointing up plays poweron4.wav and pointing straight down plays poweron.wav - this is the opposite to what I expected - have I misunderstood how it should work (if so I will flip all my poweron sounds?

* Suggestion for the poweron interrupt (poi). I'm aware that this is partially my fault as I suggested the change to allow smooth swings to play during a poweron (which you implemented with poi=1). This works great with smooth swing only fonts as it does not stop the poweron sound (which plays to the end), but it mixes in the smooth swing nicely with it in a very realistic sounding way (to me). However with hybrid (accent swing) fonts unfortunately the accent swings halt the poweron sound. This sounds wrong to me (although is completely in line with the poweron interrupt setting!) Unfortunately I can only do movement flowing powerons with smooth swing only fonts. Would it be possible to have a setting where accent swings as well as smooth swings are mixed in with the poweron?

Any / all of these might just be my errors/misunderstandings - apologies if that's the case.

thanks a lot for testing all those things ! (and glad you like the new stuff)

question 1):
noted, I need a better cleanup of the blade state at the end of the ramp. I didn't notice on the bench board cause it's hooked to small leds currently. Easy fix (the cleanup exist on the ledstrip I think).

question 2): make sure you use the latest fw. I noticed the issue of profile selection and it would remain stuck due to some side effects and upgrade to 32 profiles. I picked up soon after releasing yesterday, and the version online is supposed to be fixed. I just tested on my dev board with spectrum_mode=1 and it selects the profiles correctly in real time. Please double check the version date and time, fixed version has been released under the same name

question 3) : yes, that's the aftermath of the orientation war. Someone picked that up very early as well and I corrected it right away. Next release will fix that. I won't wait until 10.004 for the little things, the goal is to fix those minor issues and put a stable tag on that version.

question 4) : not addressed yet but on my list. I haven't allocating more players and there will be one for the power on so that it better plays with the other fx during ignition. It easy
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on January 11, 2020, 09:24:07 AM
Thanks for the quick reply  :smiley:

Also thanks for looking at the issues.

Regarding 2 - I re-downloaded fw and noticed that it has a timestamp of a few hrs later (I must have just checked the site right after you uploaded the first version by chance!). I've loaded the new one on the LED saber with no other changes at all and spectrum mode 1 works fine  :grin:

Regarding 3 - I will wait for a fw fix then rather than switching sounds around - thanks for letting me know,.

Looking forward to further updates - it just keeps getting better  :grin:
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on January 11, 2020, 09:28:54 AM
thanks a lot for confirming, I indeed grasped the bug a few minutes after releasing, then it took sometime to figure out correct, and build another signed fw and push it.
relief that it's working on your side as well, thank you for taking the time to (re)install.
Yes, some tangible progress in some short time and I have more to bring to the party !
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: RavenXp on January 11, 2020, 10:25:37 AM
the PEX will work like before, fading/pulsing included

Thank you for the reply, that's good news actually.

What about my second question, the 4 PWM pads on the bottom of the board tied to channels 1-4, are those still usable for a crystal chamber LED when the blade is set up for neopixel?

yes, if you use strippower config. However, I would rather suggest to use the accent pads, which are more flexible for a crystal chamber. They can be both sequenced or mirror the blade

Actually, I think it should work just fine. The actual crystal chamber I'm designing will use neopixels, but I wanted an RGB led near the buttons as an accent but also have 6 accent LEDs for various other parts of the build. The RGB is more for general color that matches the blade color profile.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on January 11, 2020, 10:29:09 AM
pixel chamber = perfect in this situation and preserves your other accents use => win
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: RavenXp on January 11, 2020, 11:57:08 AM
Also saves me from having to add in a PEX or three into the hilt. Thanks for the quick responses
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: JediJesseS on January 11, 2020, 01:07:08 PM
Just an update to my previous issues. The board itself/USB port was faulty and I was issued a replacement by Sabertrio. Their customer service is excellent! Plugging the new saber in after it arrived today it worked straight away, no more USB/COM connectivity issues. Your help with troubleshooting was great.

There is one (seemingly?) straightforward feature that would be helpful. Is there a way to play a random poweron sound instead of the selection being made by hilt angle? As I understand from the manual the choices are either angular hilt selection or a motion activated ignition playing a specific sound. (POM=0 or 1) I like the idea of hearing some different powerons even if the hilt angle remains the same, often in the movies each ignition has some slight variation and character of its own. Similarly, are the new multiple poweroff sounds added in the 10.003 beta selected by hilt angle or randomized? The choice to randomize both of these sound categories would be excellent.

Thank you for the rapidly progressing feature set and firmware releases. I can't wait to play with all of the new effects!

Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: scott on January 11, 2020, 08:54:32 PM
The videos for the new features on the latest FW are awesome!  I have been playing with it for a few weeks and read the release notes but seem to have missed a ton...looking forward to playing with all the new configs. Thank you Erv!
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on January 12, 2020, 02:10:40 AM
* On the HP LED saber - occasionally the blade stays on after powering down. It's dimmed, but definitely still on. This seems to happen completely randomly, and I think may have happened on 10.002 beta as well. I thought it might be related to using qoff (the qoff is definitely shorter than the poweroff duration), but it also happened on a bank with qoff=0.

on that specific point, I double checked the code that didn't a dime for a long time, there's a specific "all-off" call at the end of the ramp turning the blade off as safety.
Would you mind checking if it's happening on specific channel(s) ? Dim HB led could happen sometimes if the power driver is either getting weak or if it has a wiring issue, ie. after some use, heat on a joint will lead to a ground path for the L- pad. I've also see some leds with leaks but never explained it totally. I'm not excluding a HW issue and I'm happy to debug this with you.

I'm currently working to produce a 10.003C in order to call it as stable as possible
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on January 12, 2020, 06:37:50 AM
* On the HP LED saber - occasionally the blade stays on after powering down. It's dimmed, but definitely still on. This seems to happen completely randomly, and I think may have happened on 10.002 beta as well. I thought it might be related to using qoff (the qoff is definitely shorter than the poweroff duration), but it also happened on a bank with qoff=0.

on that specific point, I double checked the code that didn't a dime for a long time, there's a specific "all-off" call at the end of the ramp turning the blade off as safety.
Would you mind checking if it's happening on specific channel(s) ? Dim HB led could happen sometimes if the power driver is either getting weak or if it has a wiring issue, ie. after some use, heat on a joint will lead to a ground path for the L- pad. I've also see some leds with leaks but never explained it totally. I'm not excluding a HW issue and I'm happy to debug this with you.

I'm currently working to produce a 10.003C in order to call it as stable as possible

Interesting - that's a new one to look out for.

To note - I haven't seen it happen yet since uploading the newer FW (the one that fixed the spectrum issue - would that slightly updated FW have had any change which could have affected this issue as well?). I also don't remember ever experiencing it with the previous FW version.I will note down what channel it happens on if/when it happens again. However I do remember it happening on one particular font/color bank which was configured as a cyan type colour (where it is wired as RGB in that order - so blade colour is mainly green with a bit of blue):


[color=8]
color=0,1023,200,0
fcolor=900,900,900,0
lcolor=900,900,900,0
bcolor=900,900,900,0
xcolor=0,1023,200,0
mcolor=0110
tridentm=0000

I don't remember it just holding one of the colours dim - I think it was still mixed as a dim cyan type colour. However I will do some more experimenting. I also have some other HP LED sabers that I could upload the beta FW to and test as well.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on January 12, 2020, 06:52:47 AM
let's see if that happens and thank you for putting the color profile here for reference. Loads of rendering issues in 10.002 (truly beta) to be honest but so many things to introduce and put for testing. I know it's not "so problematic" as long as it converges quickly toward something usable and "not too buggy" I suppose
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on January 12, 2020, 12:04:21 PM
let's see if that happens and thank you for putting the color profile here for reference. Loads of rendering issues in 10.002 (truly beta) to be honest but so many things to introduce and put for testing. I know it's not "so problematic" as long as it converges quickly toward something usable and "not too buggy" I suppose

So after a bit more testing:

* The issue is not that the blade stays on dim permanently - apologies, my bad. It appears to stay on dimmed for a while after the saber should have powered off - but it does eventually turn off entirely.
* After more testing it seems to only happen on fonts with pstoff files. I think what it is actually doing is that it does not power all the way down during the poweroff/pwroff2, and is finally shutting down after the pstoff has finished. The pstoff files I use have subtle effects for a while afterwards in some cases (up to 5-10 seconds) - this is why it appeared as if it was staying on .
* It's not reliably reproducible - it seems to happen randomly. I don't think it was related to the files it was playing, but it's hard to nail that down without more extensive testing.
* It happens with qoff=0, but I've tried setting qoff for a lot less than the duration of poweroff/pwroff2 - it still does it occasionally.
* It's not LED die dependent - I have reproduced it on Red Green and Blue - but this is not surprising given the above as I think it's pstoff related.

Hope that helps.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on January 12, 2020, 12:47:50 PM
oh very cool and you brought the solution. The blade cleaning is subject to the accuracy of the ramp down effect, which sometimes leads to a few ms off during the ramp, depending how busy the board is. Still, for HB leds, the cleanup occured after the post-off quotes, which I rarely use. I moved it next to the ledstrip cleanup and before the quote, for a proper retraction ending.
I haven't tested yet but I'll put that in the changes
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on January 13, 2020, 12:02:03 AM
couple of fixes in 10.003C which looks like a potential release candidate. I fixed the above including blade power off cleaning. I'm sure it's not hiccups free, but it's pretty stable so far :-)
Compiled this morning and updated on the website, minor fixes / addons in the default package.

Published on YT and FB, reposting here :

- Firmware + demo reel configuration files used in the video
Articles - Plecter Labs - Props Electronics (http://www.plecterlabs.com/shop/articles.php?tPath=10)

- Initial demo (non talkie and bad filming conditions, but some info)


- Blade Fx demo reel (dark + talkie)


- Power on/off + blaster styles & fx demo (dark + talkie)


- OLED animations / BMP multiframe while blade is On



Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on January 13, 2020, 01:06:07 PM
Thanks for putting up the fixes so quickly - haven't had a chance to test, but looking forward to when I do have some time later this week or the weekend.

One quick note: I notice  that you have posted a link to a new CFX tech support etc. group on FB. However it is a closed group which means that those of us who are not on FB cannot see any of the posts. As a non-FB member we can at least view your Plecter Labs FB page and the posts made to it, but the new one is a closed group for members only.

Unfortunately I can't join FB (long story - short version: it is difficult with my current job) - so maybe this just affects me  :sad:
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on January 13, 2020, 11:26:54 PM
I post as much as possible here as well. The FB group isn't "new" per say and got created like 2 months ago. There's obviously a need for this, especially when forums don't really allow for "easy posting" of pictures or media in general. The downside is the fact it doesn't stick much but it's also great to have continuous testing done, a lot of people using their phones at any time of the day (even if posting on forums is obviously possible with a phone, prolly not as "fluent").

the FB group doesn't mean that support isn't done here anymore, I'm there on both platforms. I linked the group on my page to encourage users to join, if they can/want to.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: RavenXp on January 19, 2020, 10:48:18 AM
Just saw the release notes for the latest firmware build. Makes me wish I could get started on my new saber now, would love to have this board just to play with all the functions. Sadly, have to wait a couple months to save up for it. Any advice on figuring out timings for neopixel? I'm planning on using some RGBW strings and want to be sure I understand what to look for in the data sheet and correctly set it in the CFX config.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on January 19, 2020, 10:04:12 PM
as far as I remember, I used stock timings for the RGBW (same as RGB) and just change color space to 4 in the timing param line of the config. With the current fw, timings are now (finally) in nano seconds (SI units) and respectively 350,700.
Worse case, you can always play with the timings in real time with RICE or the serial terminal to adjust them but default settings usually work and the strips have a quite wide tolerance on those timings.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: RavenXp on January 22, 2020, 10:35:55 AM
Another strange question for you.  Have you tried making a custom USB cable adapter so you can mount an externally accessible Micro USB or USB-C plug on the hilt that connects to the board Micro USB?  That way you don't need to remove parts of the hilt to connect and update?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on January 22, 2020, 10:55:41 AM
I think someone asked this elsewhere in this thread, or close, answered by JK burma among others. You can make your own custom USB "export" connectors out of ebay empty USB plugs to remotely send the USB connector on the side of the chassis. Also, you can use a stereo jack for this, just like legacy RICE since you only need ground D+ and D- from USB. I haven't tried this but based on the custom USB cables I've done in general electronics, it's not a problem to have a few centimeters of "non perfectly USB graded twisted" wires. Heck, flat USB cables aren't twisted neither, and the board is "only" USB 2.1 full speed.
Vader's vault have a custom addon to bring USB-C to the hilt side in the saber they sell.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: RavenXp on January 22, 2020, 11:17:55 AM
I was actually looking at some of the breakout PCB USB connectors on amazon to use for making a remote USB port in a activation box next to the screen, been kinda going back and forth on whether I just want to make it a regular Micro USB connection or convert it to USB-C since it's getting more common in the way of USB cables these days.  And I must have missed that in this thread, sorry about that.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on January 22, 2020, 11:22:53 AM
yes, you can use those breakout. Pololu makes some as well. Don't be sorry, it's now a "long" thread, you'll find JK burma talk and links about it
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: RavenXp on January 22, 2020, 11:38:38 AM
I'm betting by the time I get all the parts and tools I need for this new build I'm designing the CFX will be on like fw version 10.010 or something like that  :laugh:  Guess it all depends on how long it takes for me to get the tools then hopefully when I'm ready for the parts TCSS has them in stock.  Though, I may get the board first, that way I have one to work with.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: scott on January 24, 2020, 06:13:23 PM
I have done a lot of builds at this point, and in my experience, the board is the last thing you need!  I am sure others have better ways of doing it, but you can design where you want everything to go from a picture in the manual, then wire up everything else and the board goes in and gets all connected up in 15 minutes, assuming your wiring is well thought out.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on January 25, 2020, 04:27:35 AM
I’ve been using 10.004B with no real issues, and it’s great to have the improved poweron sound mixing - very cool.

I have a question relating to the clash style settings - apologies if I’ve missed it in the manual or elsewhere, but I cannot find a list of the different style_clash settings. There is a section in the manual on ‘Clash Fx and Lockup Fx’ which mentions Fade and local fade styles in terms of clashes, but it doesn’t mention what the style_clash setting should be. The lockup styles I was able to figure out from the change log which has the listing: legacy, localized, local noise I, local noise II - which I just assumed was in order starting at 1, but I didn’t see the style clash settings referenced in the change log.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on January 25, 2020, 08:27:42 AM
Glad you checked (and enjoyed) the improved player. Actually, it had some tailing issue if you retract immediately (for long power on sounds), cleaned in the version I'm working on.
Yes, manual needs some work on those, didn't detail too much the lockup neither.
For now:
- legacy clash is just the non localized clash mirroring directly the blade color during FoC, as defined by FoC and shimmer settings
- clash fade bring foc color then fade over time (focd), all over the blade
- Local fade make it fade but changing of location randomly on the blade
- localized clash is the same, but the same size and location as the lockup
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: scott on January 25, 2020, 11:42:27 AM
Hi all - minor issue playing around with the latest betas...updated FW to 4b and studied Ervs demo reel settings and reread the manual. Update works well and everything works as expected EXCEPT no smoothswing (tried smooth_mode 1,2 and 3 with several smoothswing fonts.)  I then tried the latest sd package and Ervs demo reel configs with no changes except to move the smooth fonts to each fonts root and getting rid of the legacy ie in the crystal focus font folder.). Again, everything works perfectly except no smoothswing (clash is great so motion sensor is good.)

I am rereading the release notes and manual assuming there is just a config that I am missing...anyone else experience this and/or aware of a possible mistake that I have made?  Again, to avoid questions on a custom config, I used all stock from the download section of Ervs site. Thanks!
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on January 25, 2020, 02:24:14 PM
What if you downgrade?
Do you get regular swings in non smoothswing fonts?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: scott on January 25, 2020, 02:28:34 PM
I tried the 10.002, and then the 10.003b (since that version was in the file name for your reel package, figured from a config point of view the FW/should be spot on.)

In each case, all functionality seems spot on, but smoothswing does not work.

I was going to go back to the original stable version and the stock config that came with the board, or WORST case, swap the board out for another I have on the bench, and then hook this up to the test rig for further analysis.

Appreciate the time, and any pointers!
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on January 25, 2020, 02:34:13 PM
If the swings work (accents or regular) then the gyro is ok. Check your smooth gate.
Also not all fonts are smooth swing. Shatter point is, shoto too, about half of the default package
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: scott on January 25, 2020, 03:11:12 PM
Yep...swing and clash sounds work. Gate and smooth_gate are both 50, which was stock, and works perfectly on my last 5 CFX builds.

I looked through each font and only kept the smoothswing fonts on there.

Very puzzling!
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on January 26, 2020, 01:11:08 AM
please PM me your full card structure as it is (zipped + dropbox link or equivalent) and I'll have a look.
Look at your board logs from the very beginning and look for the sensor init lines, and paste them here
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: scott on January 26, 2020, 06:37:32 AM
Thank you Erv...will do!
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: scott on January 26, 2020, 10:13:24 AM
Hi Erv -

Working on posting the config files so they are available to you...in the meantime, here is the boot, with debugging.  I also tried dropping smooth_date all the way down, and still didn't get a smooth swing...I apologize in advance if this is causing you to spend time based on a dumb mistake!  Update - I posted a bunch of the beginning, but the boot log was too long to post, so will include the full log in the config post on dropbox.

SeeSerial:: SDHC init
SeeSerial:: Init SD failed - Insert valid SD card
SeeSerial:: SDHC init
SeeSerial:: high speed turbo mode clock = 50000000
SeeSerial:: SDHC turbo clock mode
SeeSerial:: File System Mounted OK
SeeSerial:: SDHC Init success
SeeSerial:: SPECS:Sectors 15523840 (7680MB)
SeeSerial:: SD Clock (CSD) 25000000 Hz
SeeSerial:: SD Clock 50000000 Hz
SeeSerial:: Type SD
SeeSerial:: SD Version 3.
SeeSerial:: High Speed
SeeSerial:: Card Installed
SeeSerial:: Initialized
SeeSerial:: Plecter Labs Crystal Focus
SeeSerial:: v10.003C - 01/2020
SeeSerial:: Init Motion Sensor
SeeSerial:: WHO_AM_I_M = 3D - WHO_AM_I_XG = 68
SeeSerial:: XG boot ended
SeeSerial:: MG boot ended
SeeSerial:: Success
SeeSerial:: Allocating DMA channel...DMA Ch# 0
SeeSerial:: Status: OK
SeeSerial:: I2S DMA Ch=0
SeeSerial:: I2S CLOCK source = 90312500
SeeSerial:: Setting up audio DMA transfer
SeeSerial:: Adding Audio DMA callback
SeeSerial:: [BOOT] Scanning SD contents:
SeeSerial:: Found 6 FONT(S)
SeeSerial:: Found tracks folder : /tracks
SeeSerial:: (Last) Selected Sound Bank : 2
SeeSerial:: [DEBUG] Enabled
SeeSerial:: [DEBUG] Log Msg to PORT(s):USB
SeeSerial:: Font Volume:100%
SeeSerial:: Menu Volume:100%
SeeSerial:: Beep volume:40%
SeeSerial:: sleep:100000ms
SeeSerial:: deep:360000ms
SeeSerial:: orient=0
SeeSerial:: switch polarity/type=2 / Mom. Switch
SeeSerial:: Delayed offd=200 ms
SeeSerial:: Delayed ond=20 ms
SeeSerial:: swing_flow flow:360ms
SeeSerial:: clash_flow flow:300ms
SeeSerial:: spin_flow flow:400ms
SeeSerial:: [SMOOTHSWING] smooth_flow:1000ms
SeeSerial:: [MOTION] lockup activation=400 ms
SeeSerial:: iSaber loop: 1
SeeSerial:: iSaber shuffle: 2
SeeSerial:: plilh range (mV)={3400 ; 3900}
SeeSerial:: omnisabers Enabled
SeeSerial:: bladepower:100%
SeeSerial:: LedStrip Mode with = 115 LEDs
SeeSerial:: Allocating DMA channel for Ledstrip generator...
SeeSerial:: DMA Ch# 1
SeeSerial:: Status: OK
SeeSerial:: Ledstrip DMA Ch=1
SeeSerial:: Adding Ledstrip callback - instance #0
SeeSerial:: dragstrip:20
SeeSerial:: strippower:15
SeeSerial:: ls1 {0}=350 {1}=700 {L}=24
SeeSerial:: ls1 Color Order: 1-GRB
SeeSerial:: ls1 Color Space: (3)-RGB
SeeSerial:: ls2_timings {0}=350 {1}=700 {L}=24
SeeSerial:: ls2_timings Color Order: GRB
SeeSerial:: ls2_timings Color Space: (3)-RGB
SeeSerial:: [MOTION] gate=50
SeeSerial:: [SMOOTHSWING] smooth_gate:50
SeeSerial:: [MOTION] hclash=850
SeeSerial:: [MOTION] hswing=450
SeeSerial:: [MOTION] hhybrid=550
SeeSerial:: [MOTION] hforce=300
SeeSerial:: [MOTION] hfclash=650
SeeSerial:: [MOTION] hstab=500, -20, 20
SeeSerial:: [MOTION] hspin=750
SeeSerial:: [MOTION] htwist=350
SeeSerial:: [MOTION] hdrag=500, -90, 0
SeeSerial:: [MOTION] htemp=40
SeeSerial:: Profile Selection method #0
SeeSerial:: Dial Axis: PITCH
SeeSerial:: Reference Magnetic Field {10 ; 10 ; 10}
SeeSerial:: [BLADE] Profile Section #0 found
SeeSerial:: Wakeup En.
SeeSerial:: ColorRandomizer:12%
SeeSerial:: Random mode=2
SeeSerial:: saberlock Saber:0
SeeSerial:: Blaster Random=2
SeeSerial:: shmrd dur.:150ms
SeeSerial:: shmrp period:12ms
SeeSerial:: shmrr Random:24ms
SeeSerial:: shmr% Min Depth:9%
SeeSerial:: shmr% Max Depth:26%
SeeSerial:: focd dur.:450ms
SeeSerial:: focp period:10ms
SeeSerial:: focr random:15ms
SeeSerial:: foc% Min Depth:2%
SeeSerial:: foc% Max Depth:52%
SeeSerial:: focl w/ Lockup
SeeSerial:: focb w/ Blasters
SeeSerial:: focf1 w/ Force
SeeSerial:: focf2 w/ Force-Clash
SeeSerial:: flks Period:6ms
SeeSerial:: flkd Depth:25%
SeeSerial:: tridentflk:0%
SeeSerial:: PWR ON w/ Flicker
SeeSerial:: PWR OFF w/ Flicker
SeeSerial:: pulsed Depth=0%
SeeSerial:: pulsel Dur.:0ms
SeeSerial:: LedStrip On Fade
SeeSerial:: LedStrip Off Fade
SeeSerial:: unstable:0
SeeSerial:: style_pon:2
SeeSerial:: style_poff:6
SeeSerial:: style_lockup:1
SeeSerial:: style_drag:2
SeeSerial:: style_blaster:2
SeeSerial:: style_flicker:1
SeeSerial:: style_clash:1
SeeSerial:: style_stab:0
SeeSerial:: over_pon:0
SeeSerial:: over_poff:1
SeeSerial:: mapping_unstable:1
SeeSerial:: mapping_lockup:1
SeeSerial:: mapping_lockup:1
SeeSerial:: mapping_flicker:1
SeeSerial:: mapping_color:0
SeeSerial:: pos_lockup:60
SeeSerial:: size_lockup:40
SeeSerial:: hcool:70
SeeSerial:: lcool:0
SeeSerial:: sparkf:120
SeeSerial:: sparkd:10
SeeSerial:: drift:1
SeeSerial:: mapb:100
SeeSerial:: mapc:70
SeeSerial:: Strip FX Update @83 FPS or 12ms
SeeSerial:: sbolt={8 , 20}
SeeSerial:: dbolt={40 , 810}ms
SeeSerial:: lbolt={15 , 30}
SeeSerial:: fbolt:1%
SeeSerial:: rbolt=100%
SeeSerial:: qbolt:50%
SeeSerial:: [BLADE] Profile Section #1 found
SeeSerial:: Wakeup En.
SeeSerial:: ColorRandomizer:12%
SeeSerial:: Random mode=2
SeeSerial:: saberlock Saber:0
SeeSerial:: Blaster Random=2
SeeSerial:: shmrd dur.:150ms
SeeSerial:: shmrp period:12ms
SeeSerial:: shmrr Random:24ms
SeeSerial:: shmr% Min Depth:9%
SeeSerial:: shmr% Max Depth:26%
SeeSerial:: focd dur.:200ms
SeeSerial:: focp period:10ms
SeeSerial:: focr random:15ms
SeeSerial:: foc% Min Depth:2%
SeeSerial:: foc% Max Depth:52%
SeeSerial:: focl w/ Lockup
SeeSerial:: focb w/ Blasters
SeeSerial:: focf1 w/ Force
SeeSerial:: focf2 w/ Force-Clash
SeeSerial:: flks Period:6ms
SeeSerial:: flkd Depth:25%
SeeSerial:: tridentflk:0%
SeeSerial:: PWR ON w/ Flicker
SeeSerial:: PWR OFF w/ Flicker
SeeSerial:: pulsed Depth=0%
SeeSerial:: pulsel Dur.:0ms
SeeSerial:: LedStrip On Fade
SeeSerial:: LedStrip Off Fade
SeeSerial:: unstable:0
SeeSerial:: style_pon:5
SeeSerial:: style_poff:9
SeeSerial:: style_lockup:2
SeeSerial:: style_drag:2
SeeSerial:: style_blaster:6
SeeSerial:: style_flicker:1
SeeSerial:: style_clash:2
SeeSerial:: style_stab:0
SeeSerial:: over_pon:0
SeeSerial:: over_poff:1
SeeSerial:: mapping_unstable:1
SeeSerial:: mapping_lockup:0
SeeSerial:: mapping_lockup:1
SeeSerial:: mapping_flicker:1
SeeSerial:: mapping_color:0
SeeSerial:: pos_lockup:65
SeeSerial:: size_lockup:90
SeeSerial:: hcool:70
SeeSerial:: lcool:0
SeeSerial:: sparkf:120
SeeSerial:: sparkd:10
SeeSerial:: drift:1
SeeSerial:: mapb:100
SeeSerial:: mapc:70
SeeSerial:: Strip FX Update @100 FPS or 10ms
SeeSerial:: sbolt={12 , 18}
SeeSerial:: dbolt={0 , 400}ms
SeeSerial:: lbolt={40 , 40}
SeeSerial:: fbolt:80%
SeeSerial:: rbolt=80%
SeeSerial:: qbolt:20%
SeeSerial:: [BLADE] Profile Section #2 found
SeeSerial:: Wakeup En.
SeeSerial:: ColorRandomizer:12%
SeeSerial:: Random mode=2
SeeSerial:: saberlock Saber:0
SeeSerial:: Blaster Random=2
SeeSerial:: shmrd dur.:150ms
SeeSerial:: shmrp period:12ms
SeeSerial:: shmrr Random:24ms
SeeSerial:: shmr% Min Depth:9%
SeeSerial:: shmr% Max Depth:26%
SeeSerial:: focd dur.:450ms
SeeSerial:: focp period:10ms
SeeSerial:: focr random:15ms
SeeSerial:: foc% Min Depth:2%
SeeSerial:: foc% Max Depth:52%
SeeSerial:: focl w/ Lockup
SeeSerial:: focb w/ Blasters
SeeSerial:: focf1 w/ Force
SeeSerial:: focf2 w/ Force-Clash
SeeSerial:: flks Period:6ms
SeeSerial:: flkd Depth:25%
SeeSerial:: tridentflk:0%
SeeSerial:: PWR ON w/ Flicker
SeeSerial:: PWR OFF w/ Flicker
SeeSerial:: pulsed Depth=0%
SeeSerial:: pulsel Dur.:0ms
SeeSerial:: LedStrip On Fade
SeeSerial:: LedStrip Off Fade
SeeSerial:: unstable:0
SeeSerial:: style_pon:7
SeeSerial:: style_poff:4
SeeSerial:: style_lockup:2
SeeSerial:: style_drag:2
SeeSerial:: style_blaster:8
SeeSerial:: style_flicker:1
SeeSerial:: style_clash:2
SeeSerial:: style_stab:0
SeeSerial:: over_pon:0
SeeSerial:: over_poff:0
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: RavenXp on January 26, 2020, 02:21:24 PM
I have done a lot of builds at this point, and in my experience, the board is the last thing you need!  I am sure others have better ways of doing it, but you can design where you want everything to go from a picture in the manual, then wire up everything else and the board goes in and gets all connected up in 15 minutes, assuming your wiring is well thought out.

The reason I want to get the board in the first half is I'm worried it'll be sold out when I'm ready to order parts.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: RavenXp on January 27, 2020, 07:25:24 AM
Hey erv, and chance on releasing the wiring diagram or a basic how to for the RFID functionality you demoed for the CFX? That has me extremely curious.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on February 01, 2020, 03:13:52 AM
I have a minor issue (I'm using 10.004b): I've configured a blade profile with focb=0 with the intention of disabling the FoC on blaster - however the FoC still happens when triggering a blaster block (in line with the bolt timings which are still configured). Am I missing something?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on February 01, 2020, 03:27:13 AM
I'll check in a minute (and fix if I can before releasing 10.004D and call it "stable", because overall it's a strong fw even if I have lot on my plate to bring new things to that board).
Is that for a HB blade build or ledstrip ? (I could guess you're building a spectre6 ?)
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on February 01, 2020, 03:31:49 AM
I'll check in a minute (and fix if I can before releasing 10.004D and call it "stable", because overall it's a strong fw even if I have lot on my plate to bring new things to that board).
Is that for a HB blade build or ledstrip ? (I could guess you're building a spectre6 ?)

Sorry - should have noted that it's an HB LED saber - haven't tested on NP (but could). Actually it's a Game of Thrones font on a customised 'Nord Steel' GCS Badaxx - the font has blasters which are more effects than blasters so would work better without the FoC  :smiley:
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on February 01, 2020, 04:50:44 AM
that's indeed a good point. Disabling clash and blaster FoC on those was actually implemented for "steel sword" sound font from novastar.

thank you for catching this, looking up in the code I had a clash Fx triggered for the blade (in HB mode) instead of proper BlasterFx method called, that's why the focb flash wasn't processed.
Seems to work now and fix will be part of 10.004D
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on February 01, 2020, 06:47:06 AM
that's indeed a good point. Disabling clash and blaster FoC on those was actually implemented for "steel sword" sound font from novastar.

thank you for catching this, looking up in the code I had a clash Fx triggered for the blade (in HB mode) instead of proper BlasterFx method called, that's why the focb flash wasn't processed.
Seems to work now and fix will be part of 10.004D

Fantastic - thanks, looking forward to it.

I have Novastars Steel Sword on there as well. Also used some of the sounds from it as temps for my home brew Witcher font before sampling Witcher ones directly. All of them will benefit from the focb fix  :smiley:
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on February 01, 2020, 06:59:03 AM
you might want to try 10.004D I just published and let me know if that works for you. I marked this version as "stable", I'll start working on a new beta tomorrow with some of the todo list that is pending, but for now, I have house duties to finish, jedi costume to pack and tools to put back to storage !
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on February 01, 2020, 09:15:51 AM
you might want to try 10.004D I just published and let me know if that works for you. I marked this version as "stable", I'll start working on a new beta tomorrow with some of the todo list that is pending, but for now, I have house duties to finish, jedi costume to pack and tools to put back to storage !

Thanks - just tested and focb=0 works fine on HB LED saber  :smiley:

However tested on NP saber and it doesn't seem to work - focb=0 and it is still flashing with blasters I think.

On the plus side the ability to put the saber into deep sleep manually is one of those dull sounding but incredibly useful features!  :smiley:
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on February 01, 2020, 09:28:21 AM
For ledstrip, you need to select blaster_style 0 (disabled). Remote Deep sleep is nice indeed (I though, at least IMHO). Mass storage remote access is a plus too !
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: MikeyX on February 01, 2020, 09:34:04 AM
For ledstrip, you need to select blaster_style 0 (disabled). Remote Deep sleep is nice indeed (I though, at least IMHO). Mass storage remote access is a plus too !

Ah - thanks! Sorry missed that!
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: JediJesseS on February 05, 2020, 10:02:33 AM
Reading the change log this morning for the new firmware and I saw that the random mode for poweron I mentioned earlier had been implemented! Thank you Erv for taking the time to interact with us so directly and the swift updates and support. Not many other developers can say the same. You are very much appreciated!
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on February 05, 2020, 10:10:46 AM
Reading the change log this morning for the new firmware and I saw that the random mode for poweron I mentioned earlier had been implemented! Thank you Erv for taking the time to interact with us so directly and the swift updates and support. Not many other developers can say the same. You are very much appreciated!

NP, my pleasure. I would usually just put things on the (never ending) todo list and implement when I have a chance. Now that I have a proper structure, it's actually quite easy to add parameters or modify profiles but it still takes time when it comes to update RICE as well. For the power on modes, I took the time to ponder how to do it, not really "code-wise" because it's not difficult, but rather to avoid adding another parameter, and just extend one instead, reduced headaches for users.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: TomatoDog on February 15, 2020, 08:10:15 PM
Is it possible to control CFX with a single button on my saber?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on February 16, 2020, 01:32:24 AM
yes
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: RavenXp on February 20, 2020, 10:11:35 AM
Hey erv, any chance of getting ahold of how you have that NFC reader set up on the CFX in the video on page one of this thread?  Wiring diagram, anything.  I really want to attempt to pursue setting this up with a CFX but need a base to start with on how it would be wired into the CFX and set up.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on February 21, 2020, 12:04:34 AM
my bad, I recall your first message and missed the opportunity to answer.
The CFX has support for the NXP PN532 chip to read NFC, wired in I2C, like this board. It can work along with the OLED display on the same bus.
PN532 NFC/RFID controller breakout board [v1.6] ID: 364 - .95 : Adafruit (https://www.adafruit.com/product/364)

The issue is that currently, I didn't have time to write a dynamic / configurable ID system for this. Not difficult, but I just did that for the demo. I look forward implementing saber lock/unlock and messages (OLED / UI sounds) like in the demo. I only have 2 hardwired IDs in the code right now, it just needs to be made dynamic in a config file (like specials.txt)

The current fw *does* print out a successful read of NFC tag though, so if you hook a reader to it, you should be able to see it in the logs (use slow boot, it's at the very beginning of the logs, along with detecting the OLED), then perform reading with tags and see it in the serial console
[edit] currently it doesn't work along with the display (changes needed)

I'll try to tackle this again, I have to finalize the new batch of thermal detonators and sonics, plus a freelance work for a designer before I can have again saber time. Doing all those things this week to free up some time for next week.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: RavenXp on February 21, 2020, 10:57:41 AM
Yeah, I was thinking along the lines of how the Savi saber's work, different crystals with NFC chips would trigger different profiles.  I'll look over the board you linked, by share the bus of the OLED, I assume you mean the data lines that go to the OLED from the CFX (sorry, might be a basic question but I'm somewhat out of practice).
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on February 21, 2020, 11:23:07 PM
yes, the NFC shares the SDA / SCL from the OLED, correct. Tangible font selection comes indeed in mind for that thing in addition of saber lock or magic ignition, that was the goal when I implemented this. Just needs maturity in the code.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Reian on March 08, 2020, 01:24:59 AM
First build and first post!

Quick question regarding the wiring. I tried to find in the manual if it is necessary to have an aux switch.

This is my first saber build and I'm putting electronics into a saberforge vanquish. With the curved design, there isn't an easy way to remove the chassis for charging without disassembling the entire thing.

So, I'd like to keep the 2.1mm recharge port in place of the aux switch area.

Does this sound do-able?

I have single switch support in my update / todo list. It should preserve as many aspects of the board interaction. Still, Spectrum for instance is designed around the combo of act + aux, and I don't know yet how well the single switch approach will work with this, combined with all the other features.


First Posting on this forum.

Like the OP of this question, I have an older Saberforge shoto I'm rebuilding that is very limited on space and the way it looks I won't be able to fit an aux switch in this saber. I noticed in the reply from Erv, there was a mention of an update for single switch support. Has there been an update on the CFX to support a single switch. I realize I may loose some of the functionality accessing certain menu options, blaster deflections, lockup etc and that's okay. I'm really looking to keep the install fairly basic but, still having the smooth swing.

thanks!
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on March 08, 2020, 06:21:23 AM
It does support it, it is covered in the manual and in the changelog
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Reian on March 09, 2020, 12:13:25 AM
It does support it, it is covered in the manual and in the changelog

Thanks so much for the reply Erv, I downloaded the most recent manual and I had looked through the change log but, obviously I missed it in both places, my bad. Thank you for the confirmation.

Reian

Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: JonKClark on April 14, 2020, 05:54:40 AM
Hello,

I am very interested in the Bluetooth capabilities and I was wondering if there is any news on the Android App for this? I did a quick search and did not see anything.

Thanks,
Jon
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on April 14, 2020, 06:40:50 AM
Hello,
I am very interested in the Bluetooth capabilities and I was wondering if there is any news on the Android App for this? I did a quick search and did not see anything.

progressing a great deal during confinement, hope for beta soon
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: JonKClark on April 14, 2020, 08:37:11 AM
Hello,
I am very interested in the Bluetooth capabilities and I was wondering if there is any news on the Android App for this? I did a quick search and did not see anything.

progressing a great deal during confinement, hope for beta soon

Erv,

I cannot wait.. I am ordering the BT909 to use with R.I.C.E. remotely anyway and this would be a great new feature :)

Thanks
Jon
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: JonKClark on April 19, 2020, 03:17:11 AM
I had one more question I see in the wiring diagram you need a latching switch. Is it really necessary or is this just to prevent draining the battery with the Bluetooth on if you hooked it to auxiliary power.

Thanks again,
 Jon
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Mister_TSquared on May 25, 2020, 03:34:36 PM
Erv: fantastic job on this board.

Does anyone know where I would purchase a rumble motor compatible with the Crystal Focus X, and where on the board would I solder the relevant connections?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on May 25, 2020, 11:17:39 PM
you can hook it up to L4 power driver and use the color profiles to control it. In the case of using a ledstrip, use strippower=1110 to free driver #4 so that it reflect the color profile channel 4 as PWM to drive your motor (allows for controlling motor speed between normal and lockup for instance, based on color profiles)
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: ScionOfTheCircleOfNine on September 06, 2020, 02:41:27 PM
Recently got my hands on this board and I'm getting together the final bits and pieces to proceed with my build but have run into an issue I've been trying to solve for sometime now. I figured this was the best discussion to field this question and its about switches for auxiliary.

For my NBV4 build, I used this as the power button but if I'm not mistaken read elsewhere that it wouldn't be a good idea for an Aux switch in my next saber upgrade with the CFX.
https://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Black-momentary-switch-P558.aspx (https://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Black-momentary-switch-P558.aspx)

I'm hoping someone can steer me into the right direction because I'm working on some cram-fu when it comes to the chassis I'm building, and want to take as full advantage of the features as I can with this next setup. If this switch is fine to use or requires a little tweaking thats fine, or if there is a similar low-profile switch I can use I'm open to it. Once we get to a switch as big as a 12mm one that's the limit of what can clear in my build.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: K-2SO on September 06, 2020, 06:40:13 PM
That switch is perfectly fine to use as an Aux switch on a CFX.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Darkmatter73 on September 07, 2020, 12:39:25 AM
If space is an issue, use something like this.
Dual Micro Tactile Switch Assembly v2 | Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/listing/772193282/dual-micro-tactile-switch-assembly-v2)

Darkmatter73
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: TechoMancer on March 16, 2021, 10:18:10 PM
Hey all.  Lurkin' for a while and decided to finally register.

Just a couple of quick questions:

I downloaded fw v10.005I-stable-14-02-2021 and searched the change log for "pixel", "accent" and "sequence" but didn't find what I was looking for.

Has neopixel sequencing been implemented yet (I'm guessing it would work similar to the led pad sequencing)?  If so, is there a sample set-up somewhere (the latest manual actually has a page titled "Pixel accent sequencer [WIP – place holder]", but it's blank.  :tongue:

Thanx in advance.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on March 16, 2021, 10:33:05 PM
Conclusion ?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: TechoMancer on March 17, 2021, 01:00:18 AM
Conclusion ?

It's working and ready to go in all it's glory and you forgot to update the place-holder page in the PDF (?)

 :wink:

My apologies for the ignorant question.  Just making sure.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on March 17, 2021, 01:05:42 AM
Conclusion ?

It's working and ready to go in all it's glory and you forgot to update the place-holder page in the PDF (?)

 :wink:

My apologies for the ignorant question.  Just making sure.


NP, and I *LOVE* the tone lol. It's a recurrent question, I have a lot going on ATM (day job). I'm going to release a new fw soon, pixel sequencer isn't in there yet, I've been touching foundations of code but it's well placed on the road map. Spatial flicker is implemented and working pretty well, along the road (next fw) => more fx, then fw after that => pixel sequencer. I have to square up a bunch of things for my day job before I can commit more to Plecter Devs, which is, sorry if I have to repeat it, a side job / garage business (I owe my employer 40 hrs a week at least)
cheers
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Sligs78 on April 17, 2021, 03:37:15 PM
Hey there's a new high density neopixel LED strip that's 332 LEDs per meter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhIEV2S4nhA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhIEV2S4nhA)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz-kUi6ekDc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz-kUi6ekDc)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaHNKGQZVis (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaHNKGQZVis)

I heard that the CFX is limited to 144 pixels. Can you up the limit for these?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on April 18, 2021, 01:44:20 AM
not sure where you've heard that but it's crap. Blade length limit is RAM only. Current RICE slider has been increase to 280 for ease of use. Manual edit of the blade length can be anything RAM would support.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: TechoMancer on April 20, 2021, 11:20:51 AM
Quick question: is the 9th accent LED PWM or just normal?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on April 20, 2021, 09:13:14 PM
Quick question: is the 9th accent LED PWM or just normal?

Pwm capable!
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: vargose on May 15, 2021, 12:56:09 PM
I have a couple questions. First, Is the SD card accessible via the USB port? The manual mentions that it will be, but was wondering if current firmware supports it.
Next question is trickier. My next saber I am thinking about making a removable "power cell". The trick with the design is the battery will need to be disconnected to be able to connect the USB. I'll be using one multi pin connector to facilitate both, with some pins for the battery and some for the USB access. Disconnect the "power cell" and connect a "diagnostic" port. The manual mentions that the board does not support powering it via the USB. However could I still power the board via a PC's USB if I ran the USB wire's power lines to the board as well. I wouldn't be running the LEDs in that configuration, I'd run a separate positive line for the LEDs through the connector to the battery. So the board will be the only thing powered.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on May 17, 2021, 01:13:40 AM
Hello,

sure, mass storage was implemented long ago now).
The board needs the battery input voltage to be operated. Still, you could hook up the +5V of the USB port thru a shottky diode to the positive pad, that would power the board via USB, if you don't use the led that's ok
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: vargose on May 17, 2021, 08:58:29 AM
Perfect, thanks @erv. I assume that is to keep current flowing the proper direction.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: vargose on May 17, 2021, 09:01:43 AM
And the negative pad?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: taitlar on November 22, 2021, 09:32:33 AM
Hey, quick question, im running jsut a single WS2812B neopixel strip that has around 128 pixels on it, its ground is connected to L1,L2,L3,L4. when i turn it on i get only 1 colour, red. (unless i change the color order than i get jsut Green). ive seen people only use l1 and L4, would htat be the reason im getting only 1 color? (yes i am using a 330 ohm resitor on data pin, and also using powersupply for power right now)
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: scott on November 22, 2021, 06:26:34 PM
Same response as on the vault group.  You need to provide more info.  Negative from the pixel is not the problem.  It could be blade wiring, config, or a number of other issues. 
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on November 23, 2021, 12:20:14 AM
Same response as on the vault group.  You need to provide more info.  Negative from the pixel is not the problem.  It could be blade wiring, config, or a number of other issues.

seconded and I think it's just config of your colors. Stock colors are giving you 32 different colors. Real time adjustment in RICE allows to change them or at least see a change.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: TechoMancer on December 08, 2021, 09:12:58 AM
There's a change log for CFX that shows ver CFX v-10.006G and CFX v-10.006H, however, the last FW that I see for download is CFX v-10.006F.

Were F and G pulled or not up yet...or?

Thanx
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on December 08, 2021, 09:43:16 AM
not there yet, in testing
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: TechoMancer on December 08, 2021, 10:06:50 AM
not there yet, in testing

Cool.  Thanx for the quick reply.

There's a YT vid from late october showing the accent sequencing.  Is that in one of these FWs?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on December 08, 2021, 10:13:57 AM
yes, changelog of 6F. But things change rapidly. Coming soon
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: TechoMancer on December 08, 2021, 10:27:38 AM
yes, changelog of 6F. But things change rapidly. Coming soon

Erv, man, I want to thank you so much for all your hard work.

I suffer from a health condition that limits my ability to leave the house.  This saber building hobby, and tinkering with the CF board, brings a level of distraction that alleviates my boredom.  :smiley:
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: TechoMancer on December 23, 2021, 08:13:19 PM
POSTED IN WRONG THREAD.

SOLVED.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: TechoMancer on March 19, 2022, 01:43:00 PM
Hello fellow smiths.

Yesterday I upgraded the firmware from 6B to 7D via the Crystal FX desktop program (as I've done several times in the past).  However, after completing the upgrade and rebooting the board, I could not connect to Crystal FX again.  Upon going to the Device Manager, I see that the board is now reading "TinyUSB Serial" with a driver issue.

I tried disabling Driver Signature, but that's not helping.

The saber works fine; it's not bricked.  But what happened to the drivers?

This is on a Win7 x64 laptop (yes Erv, still...  :laugh: ).  Any help would be appreciated.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: TechoMancer on March 19, 2022, 10:04:04 PM
Well, I think that now I DID brink the board.

I went to my Win10 Gaming PC and the board was recognized immediately.

I was using Crystal FX desktop program to update the boot loader.  I was watching the YouTube video by CrystalFocus and following the instructions step by step.

I used the serial command UNLOCK and everything seemed to be going fine, but when the update started, it hung.  The last console message was "Do not in" (I'm assuming it was going to say "Do not interrupt power" or something like that).  I let it go for like 30 mins and I got no other messages.  The video showed the update taking like 1 second, so obviously, something went wrong.  The battery on the saber was at 97%. 

I know the instructions say something like "You'll have to send it in to have it reprogramed", but am I supposed to unsolder everything to send it in?

I have a couple of programmers.  Can I reload the bootloader myself?   :cry:

Thanx
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on March 19, 2022, 10:32:45 PM
check if you can still go in bootloader mode with the switches.
you can't reflash the bootloader yourself
as for the driver itself, I don't know. The USB stack changed since like 6.X (would need the changelog to find out when exactly) but it's still a CDC serial port so win 10 should have no issues with that

for your bootloader crash, do you have a OLED and did you have the screen savers enabled ?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: TechoMancer on March 21, 2022, 03:53:46 PM
check if you can still go in bootloader mode with the switches.
you can't reflash the bootloader yourself
as for the driver itself, I don't know. The USB stack changed since like 6.X (would need the changelog to find out when exactly) but it's still a CDC serial port so win 10 should have no issues with that

for your bootloader crash, do you have a OLED and did you have the screen savers enabled ?

Thanx for the quick reply Erv.  Don't worry about the drivers.  I'm just gonna use my desktop from now on.  It has Win10 and gives me no issues.

I do have an OLED connected and, yes, I had screensaver enabled.

I didn't try going to bootloader with the switches.  I wanted to get some help/instructions to see if the board was still "salvageable" before trying things and making matters worse.

I'm going to hold off on trying to get to the bootloader with the switches until you reply to my situation with having the screensaver enabled, in case there's something else I need to do, before proceeding.

Thanx
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on March 23, 2022, 11:29:21 PM
keep me posted, the bootloader might have been wiped out. I'm going to add that you should disable screen savers and actually sleep / deep sleep as well, good points
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: TechoMancer on March 28, 2022, 01:14:11 PM
Unfortunately, I think it's bricked.  I power the board and nothing happens; not even blinking led.  Can't get it to boot with the switches and Windows does not recognize the board.

I tried:

disabled the screen saver...nothing.
a fresh SD card with only the default package (screen saver disabled)...nothing. 
putting the fw.dat file on the SD card...nothing. 
JUST IN CASE, I renamed it to update_fw.dat and tried booting...nothing. 
I put the boot.dat on the SD card with both fw.dat and update_fw.dat...nothing.

Did I miss anything?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on March 28, 2022, 09:39:48 PM
go in bootloader mode with the switches, see if it mounts on the USB port, and do a monitored (serial port) update of the fw as described in the manual
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: TechoMancer on June 30, 2022, 11:47:27 AM
So, I haven't put much thought into this, so it might a bad idea or not even be possible (I know it would cause extra battery drain):

Could there be an option to play, or not play, a sound while the board is in idle mode?  Possibly at a selectable interval, e.g. ever X seconds?

I think it would be cool for the saber to give off sounds while some lights are flashing or something (e.g., MB chassis with the cycling lights).
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Scorpion on July 01, 2022, 09:21:00 AM
So didn’t even know my cfx saber had drag fx
But apparently it does,
Unless I’m doing something wrong what exactly is the gesture for it?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on July 01, 2022, 09:28:17 AM
It does. For like 2 years. The quick interaction guide will tell you pretty much everything

https://www.plecterlabs.com/shop/article_info.php?articles_id=125



So didn’t even know my cfx saber had drag fx
But apparently it does,
Unless I’m doing something wrong what exactly is the gesture for it?
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: Scorpion on July 01, 2022, 01:49:42 PM
thankyou
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: TechoMancer on November 28, 2023, 11:37:52 PM
@erv ...HELP!  :(

Stats: CFX MK3, v10.008A fw.

So I've been struggling with this for two days now.  I don't know what else to try.

I have two other boards working perfectly with v10.007F.  What I'm trying to say is that I've been successful setting up two boards (with ACCENT PIXELS) to work exactly how I want.

In short, I can't get LS2 to drive my ACCENT PIXELS in the expected manner.  Based on everything I've tried and the weird behavior I'm getting, it's like the extra\PIXIES\[content folder] isn't being accessed.  Maybe I'm setting it up wrong, based on the new firmware.

It's weird: In IDLE, the ACCENT PIXELS are just OFF. When I turn the blade on, the ACCENT PIXELS connected to LS2 light up, indicating the pixels are not defective and seemingly power and data are being transmitted via LS2.  But it's like they are part of the main (LS1) blade and they "flicker", "clash", etc. in the manner the main blade on LS1 is set up, but do not behave in the manner expected based on the contents of extra\PIXIES\0-GREEN (the folder name that works fine on my other two sabers).

As an experiment, I changed the number of ACCENT PIXELS in the config to see if the data line is transmitting correctly, and indeed, the correct number of ACCENT PIXELS light up based on the config.  I also tried several combinations of numbers between auxstrip and accentstrip (just in case) with no results.

When I turn the saber OFF, the IDLE sequence is not engaged...the pixels just turn off.


I'm using the config that came with v10.008A, with only the following alterations:

vol=90
menuvol=90

ledstrip=132 (length of my blade)
auxstrip=0 (unchanged)
tridentstrip=0 (unchanged)
accentstrip=-11 (total of my accent pixels, using a negative number to designate LS2, as I understand it)

[profile=0]
pname=green_profile

style_accents=0 (not changed, just showing in case this causing a problem)
style_pixies=0 (index in extra\PIXIES\)
style_grafx1=-1 (not changed, just showing in case this causing a problem)
style_grafx2=-1 (not changed, just showing in case this causing a problem)
style_grafx3=-1 (not changed, just showing in case this causing a problem)

Everything else in the config is unchanged.  So if it's one of the parameters not listed that's causing the problem, please let me know which one(s).

Can't figure out if I'm doing something wrong or the board is defective.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on November 29, 2023, 07:05:24 AM
thanks you for the super detailed (and useful) explanation and config. Please PM me a SD card zip archive (we transfer or else) so I can test that with 8A and see if I can replicate, thanks. You don't need to include every font just a few of those, along with the rest of the package. Configuration looks correct to me. Idle has been tested too on LS2 as well as other sequences.

have you enabled / included the [IDLE] in your grafx / pixies file ? have you looked at the log of the board in debug mode to see which files / sequences are triggered and where ? (index folders)
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: TechoMancer on November 29, 2023, 02:12:33 PM
@erv

Your quick replies are always greatly appreciated.

I totally spaced debug mode. I'll try that tonight before I trouble you with my sd package.

I'm embarrassed to say that I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "enabled" the [IDLE] in your grafx / pixies file. The [IDLE] element in the pixels.txt file is NOT commented out. The "accents" parameter is configured for 11 pixels and "many" is set to "1" for all the elements as I only have one sequence for each. The "stop" is set to "0". Everything else I left alone.

I haven't touched the GRAFX folder as all style_grafx(N) are set to "-1" in the blade profile.

Is that what you mean?

Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: TechoMancer on November 29, 2023, 08:28:56 PM
OK, so, I'm a colossal idiot.

I went into RICE to check the debug log and noticed that the firmware that I "updated" in Crystal FX, did not take. The fw was still 10.006E.  Crystal FX has worked flawlessly for me, so I have to assume I did something wrong in the update process and it was not Crystal FX's fault.

Anyway, I updated the fw manually and everything is working fine, up to this point.

Thanx @erv
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on November 29, 2023, 11:39:29 PM
that makes it very "logical" at the end then. I tend to prone **monitored** fw update with a log of the output thru the USB serial terminal (can be done in RICE) to see if everything went well. Depending on the fw you're upgrading from, the automatic fw update could work too including with an audio notification of the result (from a UI wav file).
Also, fw version can be obtained, like you said, via RICE or with the serial command version.
Fw update leaves a version file on the SD card too after updating, so you know what you're on. Finally, version=1 prints it and stores the version on version.txt too like the fw update does
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: TechoMancer on January 06, 2024, 11:17:07 AM
I'm having an issue with the board (v10.3) reading the battery level after the update to v10.008A.  Unfortunately, it's a new board and I immidiately updated the firmware before doing anything else, so I'm not sure if it's the board or the firmware.

My hobby charger shows a fully charged 18650 (4.2v).  However, the board will not read above 2 or 3 bars on the OLED screen AND I get the "energy critical" audio warning after about only 10 minutes of use.

When it happened I didn't think anything of if and I stuck in the charger, and the charger read 3.98v...I'm pretty sure that's not critical.

I tried reflashing the firmware, just in case, but the board still won't go above the 2 or 3 bars on a fully charged battery.

Is there a way to calibrate the board or check possibly a capacitor or resistor that might be bad, or does it sound like it's faulty hardware?

Thanx

Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on January 07, 2024, 01:07:11 AM
hi res pictures needed. The PLI measurement line is probably messed up. That could be a short on the board, or on the MCU.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: TechoMancer on January 11, 2024, 09:45:46 AM
So I'm considering adding a feedback motor to my next build, but I have a couple of questions:

1. The latest manual suggest connecting the motor to L4.  The diagram on page 137 shows bridging L1 and L2, then L3 and L4, for a pixel blade. The manual mentions "Strip power usually deals well with 3 drivers when properly bridged together", but I don't understand how the connection would look.  Do I bridge L1 L2 L3 and connect both blade negative leads to L3 or....?

2. The manual also mentions an accent LED pad can be used but that "wiring a power extender to an accent pad with PWM capability" will be necessary.  My question is, if the motor is only 1.5v-2v and the pads output 3v (if I understand the manual correctly), why is a power extender necessary?  I'm probably not understanding the instructions.  Couldn't you just connect the motor to the accent pad with a resistor?

Sorry for the uninformed questions. I don't dabble that deep into electronics.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: erv on January 11, 2024, 10:49:33 AM

1) You bridge L1 L2 L3 and splice your negs to the ledstrip (emitter side) PCB respecting gauge. You keep L4 for your motor indeed

2) the 15 mA of the accent pads aren't sufficient to drive you motor, it's not about the voltage, but current.
Title: Re: Crystal Focus X (v10) specs, demo and discussion
Post by: TechoMancer on January 11, 2024, 03:28:07 PM

1) You bridge L1 L2 L3 and splice your negs to the ledstrip (emitter side) PCB respecting gauge. You keep L4 for your motor indeed

2) the 15 mA of the accent pads aren't sufficient to drive you motor, it's not about the voltage, but current.

Awesome.

Thanks Erv, as always, for your quick responses.