LEDtern

New hotness 🔥 I just finished printing a newly designed top + bottom for the LEDtern — tighter fit, cleaner look, and one step closer to the final version.

I’m building in public and documenting the full maker journey from prototype → product → Kickstarter.

#LEDtern #3DPrinting #BuildingInPublic

Prism Drift 🌈🌀 — a twirling prism of color spinning into endless patterns.

On-screen captions say it best: 500+ animations… unlimited possibilities.
This is the LEDtern, powered by an on-device visual engine.

#LEDtern #Animations #GenerativeArt #LEDs #BuildInPublic #Maker #IndieHardware #Prism

This weekend I’m upgrading the LEDtern with a brand-new 3D-printed lid and bottom.

New side-by-side: the SAME vibrant pink animation running in two modes on my LEDtern 💖

✨ Infinity Mirror = deep, layered, “endless tunnel” look
🌫️ Diffusion = soft, smooth, glowing panel vibe

#LEDtern #InfinityMirror #Diffusion #LEDs #ESP32 #BuildInPublic #Maker #IndieHardware #PinkVibes

Diffusion vs Infinity Mirror ✨ | This One’s DIFFUSION (LEDtern)

Most of my videos feature the infinity mirror effect, but this clip is the diffusion setup — softer glow, smoother blend, and a totally different vibe.

Which do you prefer: Diffusion or Infinity Mirror? 👇

Meet the Orange Foursome 🍊 — a set of 4 fresh LEDtern animations I just created.

This is the LEDtern: ESP32-S3 powered, smooth, responsive, and ready for action…and illumination.

#LEDtern #ESP32S3 #LEDs #Animations #BuildInPublic #Maker #DIY #IndieHardware #CountryMusic #OrangeVibes

I didn’t want to do this… but it fixed everything. 😬
Swapped ESP32-C3 → ESP32-S3 in my lantern build.

S3 is 2–3x more $, but C3 = animation stutter + slow BLE updates.
Now it’s smooth + Bluetooth feels instant.

Next: how do I make the cost tradeoff worth it? Ideas?
#buildinpublic #esp32 #hardware

Versatility check. 3 new modes on the #LEDtern:

🌿 Green Vine Spiral (Organic) 🔊 Blue Pulse Waves (Rhythmic) ❄️ Frost Chevron (Geometric)

The visual engine makes the possibilities endless.

Sign up for the Kickstarter launch alert at LEDtern.com 🚀

#BuildInPublic #ESP32 #Maker #LEDs

Exactly, it was designed to accept bitmap/sprites but also you can do just a palette and an equation, like the following.

Believe me though it is much more colorful and vibrant in person...still trying to figure out how to solve the blown effect out while recording.

gist.github.com/JaronKing/cf...

This allows for unlimited animation possiblities. I communicate with the lantern via a phone app over bluetooth. So there is no need for an internet connection, just your phone and the lantern.

I use a visual engine that interprets a json object on the lantern. The animation itself looks like the following

gist.github.com/JaronKing/a9...

The lantern only interprets the data.

New animation: The Upvote. ⬆️⬇️

Watch "karma" materialize and float around the #LEDtern. It’s a particle system simulation of the internet's judgment—classic orange vs. blue—running live on the ESP32 engine.

Are you giving this an upvote or a downvote? 🤔

#Maker #CreativeCoding #GenerativeArt

My first email subscriber just became my first beta tester.

It’s a small milestone, but it feels huge.

Building LEDtern in public — experimenting with light, math, and motion, and sharing the process as I go.

Eldritch Cthulhu palette experiments.

These animations are math-driven, but the same editor also supports sprites and bitmaps. No mode switching — just different ways to think about motion.

Building LEDtern in public.

#buildinpublic #creativecoding

10,000 emails. 12 Months. One Kickstarter. 🚀

The LEDtern hardware is solid. The math engine is powerful. Now the real work begins.

I’m documenting the entire sprint to launch—every win, fail, and stress.

Join the waitlist in bio. 📩

#BuildInPublic #Hardware #ESP32

Two new modes: Classic Psychedelic & Pixel Lighting. 🌀⚡️

The secret? The #LEDtern isn't running hardcoded scripts or video files. It’s a Visual Engine digesting small JSON objects to calculate math equations in real-time.

Join the journey. 🛠️

#BuildInPublic #ESP32 #CreativeCoding #Maker

Start running equations. 🛑

I programmed the #LEDtern to generate these "Rotating Wave" effects using raw math in real-time.

🔥 Fire Scroll (Heat maps) 💧 Water Scroll (Fluid sines) ⚡ Neon Scroll (Interference)

#CreativeCoding #ESP32 #GenerativeArt #BuildInPublic