A 336-Digit 7-Segment Matrix Display
Chris Combs' Road Ahead features a large, handmade array of small numeric displays that show a sequence of numbers.
After sourcing 0.3" SMD 7-segment displays, artist Chris Combs decided that he could use these units to form a pixel grid. Like most projects, inspiration is only a small part of the battle — about 1% according to Thomas Edison — but after more than a year of work he did indeed produce beautiful artwork with 336 of these LED digits. The piece, named "Road Ahead," runs on a Raspberry Pi 3 and is powered by 14 display panels with corresponding ISI IS31FL3733 controllers.
Road Ahead is programmed in Cython — a sort of hybrid Python-like language with some C functionality for better performance — and reacts to observers in the room via an occupancy sensor. When movement is detected, it fades from showing random numbers into a driving scene taken from behind the wheel.
Everything is housed inside a metallic enclosure meant to evoke feelings of some sort of ominous mainframe pumping out data about who knows what. LEDs are concealed behind smoked acrylic, providing a very professional appearance, though an earlier iteration see here featured a wooden enclosure and no acrylic. While certainly less finished, it did give a better view of the LEDs themselves.
Either way, it's an epic project that should bring enjoyment to those who see it!