Firefly

Information

Firefly offers a set of comprehensive software tools dedicated to bridging the gap between Grasshopper, (a free plug-in for Rhino) the Arduino microcontroller and other input/output devices. It allows near real-time data flow between the digital and physical worlds – enabling the possibility to explore virtual and physical prototypes with unprecedented fluidity.

Website: http://www.fireflyexperiments.com/
Location: Cambridge, MA
Members: 628
Latest Activity: Dec 12

Firefly Experiments

As a generative modeling tool, Grasshopper offers a fluid visual interface for creating sophisticated parametric models, but by default, it lacks the ability to communicate with hardware devices such as programmable microcontrollers or haptic interfaces. Firefly fills this void. It is an extension to the Grasshopper’s parametric interface; combining a specialized set of components with a novel communication protocol (called the Firefly Firmata or Firmware) which together enable real-time communication between hardware devices and the parametric plug-in for Rhino.

Key Features

Read / Write to Arduino microcontrollers and other devices
Visualize Sensor Data within Firefly / Grasshopper
Control LEDS, Lights, Motors, Valves and more
Control Stepper Motors (for 3d Printers and end effectors)
Stream Web Cams and connect with Mobile Devices (iOS + Android) using OSC and UDP
Connect to Internet Feeds and search XML Feeds
Generate code to upload to an Arduino Board
Basic sound input and processing tools
Datalogging, counting and playback
Machine Vision toolkit including edge detection, color filtering, convolution filtering and much more
Kinect toolkit including skeleton tracking

A notable distinction for Firefly is that it is the first visual microcontroller programming environment designed specifically for a 3-D parametric CAD package (such as Rhino). This feature means that real-world data, acquired from various types of sensors or other input devices (video cameras, internet feeds, or mobile phone devices, etc.) can be used to explicitly define parametric relationships within a Grasshopper model. Firefly completes the communication feedback loop by allowing users the ability to send information from Grasshopper back to the microcontroller in order to incite specific actuations (ie. lights, motors, valves, etc). Ultimately, this workflow creates a new way to create interactive prototypes.

Discussion Forum

Writing to SPI/I2C devices through FT232H 2 Replies

Hi all.I'm recently working on a kinetic project involving a number of hobby servo motors controlled by a I2C PWM controller PCA9685. (or some of you refer to the famous Adafruit 16 channel 12-bit PWM/Servo Driver - I2C interface )I realize it would…Continue

Started by Victor Leung. Last reply by KieshaEFrederick Dec 12.

Firefly media types: raw video bitmaps vs ordinary firefly bitmaps. 2 Replies

I have a prerecorded video clip that I'd like to run through the 'optical flow' component to generate an extra layer for my video.using the 'video player' as the input for the 'optical flow' component makes the outcome appear bumpy because the video…Continue

Tags: mediatypes, rawvideobitmap, opticalflow, framerate

Started by Johanna Jõekalda. Last reply by yogamaja Nov 25.

How to Sync with ABB robot controller? 3 Replies

Hey There. A quick question: is there any way to synch Arduino/Firefly with HAL?I have a tool attached to my robot arm and I kinda manually control it through Arduino. I need to use Firefly to parametrically and maybe in almost real time (if…Continue

Tags: IRC5, Arduino, ABB, Firefly, Robot

Started by Mehdi FarahBakhsh. Last reply by GabrielaSullivan Mar 21.

Serial read problem in Firefly 7 Replies

Hi guys,I'm communicating with a 3D printer via Grasshopper / Firefly (and eventually) Silkworm.So far, I can quite happily send G-Code move commands to the printer - which is a Leapfrog Creatr, based on Arduino Mega / RAMPS electronics - via the…Continue

Tags: GCode, Read, Serial, Firefly

Started by fergal.coulter. Last reply by Aaron Porterfield May 16, 2022.

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Comment by hassan.orion on March 24, 2011 at 12:22pm: i m uploading standat firmata2_2_for uno_3... just mentioning if there s any prob with that.

Comment by hassan.orion on March 24, 2011 at 12:10pm: could you please giude me step by step. i ll be very thankfull

Comment by hassan.orion on March 24, 2011 at 12:07pm: i download " easy drive stepp potentiometer code" its still not working... can u send me any simple def. that just roates a 4 wire stepp motor.Untitled.png... m a newbe n m stuk since 2 weeks

Comment by Andy Payne on March 24, 2011 at 7:17am: Hassan,

The generic Serial Write component allows you to send any string you want out to the board... So, you can send the value (1000 0100 0010 0001 ) very easily just using the generic serial write (as in the stepper example). The only tricky part is you have to parse through the data being sent over the serial port and get it into a format that can be read by the board. Please look through the stepper example code, as this is taking the data sent over from the board and processing it so it can control the easy driver board. I'm assuming that since you know exactly how you want the data to be sent to the board, that it shouldn't be too hard.

Comment by hassan.orion on March 24, 2011 at 7:12am: Can the definition work without the Easy driver board. ? Please guide me how to run it through grasshopper?? i cant buy any more boards...i just need to feed (1000 0100 0010 0001 ) numbers in sequence to stepper through Gh. i hope this will get it running... isnt this possible in gh....?

Comment by Andy Payne on March 24, 2011 at 4:59am: Hi Hassan,

Sorry for not responding sooner. Jason posted a stepper solution on the Firefly Experiments website. Check out this discussion and let us know if you need more help:http://www.fireflyexperiments.com/discussions/post/1438445

Comment by hassan.orion on March 24, 2011 at 2:51am: can anyone tell me how to run a stepper motor from arduino uno??? its working fine in processing and ardunio sketches

Comment by hassan.orion on March 7, 2011 at 11:21am: Hi,

I bought Arduino UNO just 2 days back. i tried some LEDs it was fine. now when i am upto Stepper motor, i cant afind any logic to feed numbers in grasshopper that does cyclic rotation. i have moved it in Arduino software ( processing type) . now i want to have controlled radian rotation.

hassan

Comment by Andy Payne on February 27, 2011 at 11:27am: Hi Hassan,

Unfortunately... there was a big shift in the core infrastructure between the older builds (0.6.0059) and the newer ones 0.8 and higher. The move was made to make Firefly compatible with the newer version because all future versions of GH would be using this new Rhino common... so unfortunately, Firefly will not run on older versions of GH. You could try to download and install an evaluation version of Rhino (http://download.rhino3d.com/rhino/4.0/evaluation/download/). This is a fully functional version, but it will only allow you to save 25 Rhino files.

HTH,

Andy

Comment by hassan.orion on February 27, 2011 at 9:09am: Hi ,

Thanks for helping me out... i just checked , i have rhino Sr7. my error is same as this one http://www.fireflyexperiments.com/discussions/post/1232576.

Error something about newer version ... SDK...

Its mentioned over there that firefly will work on 0.7.0053, but this version is asking for SR8. Now the prob is SR8 s askin for Key which i hav lost ... where can i find SR8 or is there any way of running Firefly on my current settings ( SR7 + 0.6.0059) as this version is supporting geco and rabbit too