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, 2024

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, 2024.

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, 2024.

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, 2024.

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 kwanphil cho on February 25, 2015 at 12:58pm: Hi. thank you for letting me in the group. Just quick question. is there any way to bring mp3 file and play in firefly? I would like to extract data from specific mp3 file if it is possible. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank in advance.

Comment by Justin Hare on January 14, 2015 at 7:41am: Andy, I was previously running Windows via Bootcamp and it worked fine. I had an issue after updating to Yosemite that lost the partition so I reinstalled everything and decided to go the Parallels route. Might not have been the best idea.

Comment by Andy Payne on January 14, 2015 at 7:38am: Justin, was this working before on a different system configuration?

Comment by Justin Hare on January 14, 2015 at 7:26am: Help! Switched to using Parallels and now Kinect doesn't work. I know there is an issue with Kinect not properly connecting in other programs. I haven't had any luck finding a solution. Any suggestions?

Comment by Amaraa on December 2, 2014 at 11:32pm: Thank you for advice Mr.Andy. I am almost finished my project, however I have another question that is eliminating my pc from the entire work. Which means uploading these grasshopper codes to Arduino. I have seen the CodeGene component but quite not sure whether Ardiuno itself could handle the computing process of Leap motion data. Should i use arduino with usb connection? or other device that would be connection between leapmotion and Arduino board?
Here is my multiple Servo motor connection video.
https://vimeo.com/112353424

Comment by Andy Payne on November 12, 2014 at 5:56pm: Amartuvshin, please see this thread about controlling multiple servos http://www.grasshopper3d.com/group/fireflyplugin/forum/topics/servo...

Comment by Amaraa on November 12, 2014 at 9:16am: Thank you Mr.Andy. It really helps a lot!
I switched the cables, and now servo works fine. However still some problem with the LEDs. The reason is my resisters are not 220 in my opinion. I've checked resister calulator and i installed on my bread.
I have one more question. what if i want to control more servo motors individually. Do i need more arduinos or some other device to connect with my arduino uno?
This picture is showing what I am testing right now.Thank you. Have a great day!

Comment by Andy Payne on November 11, 2014 at 9:43am: Hi Amartuvshin. Thanks for posting the images... they're really helpful. I think what's going on is a hardware issue. Looking at your circuit, I think you have the 5V and GND lines coming from your servo connected to the wrong wires. If you look at the servo and the three wires coming from it, you'll notice a brown, red, and yellow. The brown wire needs to be connected to GND, but it looks like you've connected it to the 5V line. The red wire on the servo need to be conencted to the 5V line, but it's connected to GND. I think because these are reversed, it's causing the connection to your serial port to drop which is why you aren't seeing it show up under the Serial Ports in the IDE.

My suggestion would be to first close Grasshopper/Rhino. You don't necessarily need to do this, but it will ensure that you don't have the COM port open. Then, switch the hardware wires and see if the COM port shows back up in the IDE. If it does, then try to re-upload the Firefly Firmata to make sure it's properly loaded. If it gets uploaded properly, then go ahead and re-open Grasshopper/Rhino and see if the example file works properly.

Comment by Amaraa on November 11, 2014 at 9:34am: Hello? I am trying rotating objects using firefly. The thing is It's my first time using arduino and firefly plugin.
I am starting with the sample files that come with the firefly installation. which is Firefly_01_Actuation.
But I am facing problem relating to the serial port.
It works fine connected and suddenly after uploading the Firmata to the board, shows error on the grasshopper.
The Uno Write says no connection to the device. And i checked the Arduino program, surprisingly Serial port is not active.
More interestingly Arduino Uno shows the Uno is on COM10 port.
I installed WinAVR and followed all the instruction from Firefly-Primer_1006.
Please help me.
Thank you