OOZE MASTER 3000: NeoPixel Simulated Liquid Physics

This project lets you dress up a window, Halloween prop or wall decoration with eye-catching LEDs that simulate dripping liquid, but leave no mess behind…it’s a completely dry effect!

Also, just changing the color and the prop, this is perfectly usable for Christmas decor as well. This is one of those “sandbox projects” that can fit wherever your imagination takes it…I’m just really partial to Halloween, so that’s what’s demonstrated here.

Third: I’m a sucker for any project using age-old theatrical tricks with new technology…the simplest thing is suddenly indistinguishable from magic…

Each of our “drips” briefly makes a “splat” where it lands…but there’s an air gap there, not a contiguous strip of NeoPixels from top to ground. It’s like a one-pixel version of a film editor’s cutting on action: hero throws knife, cut to villain with knife in his chest. Timed just right, we see a continuous motion out of two separate shots. Similarly, our dot jumps from A to B just when you’d expect, and the brain fills in the story. Brains are hilarious.

Read through the whole guide before making any purchases…it’s full of tips and alternatives, and your build will probably end up slightly different. But in general you’ll need these items:

• Feather M0 Basic Proto and headers. This project can work with other “M0” (SAMD21) boards such as the Adalogger…but you may need to change some jumpers on the NeoPXL8 FeatherWing. We’re not using any special features here so it’s cheapest and easiest just to go with the Basic Proto. The project uses SAMD-specific features and will not work with other microcontrollers like AVR or ESP8266.
• NeoPXL8 FeatherWing. There’s also a breakout version if you’re using something like an Adafruit Metro or Arduino Zero. But for the Feather M0, easiest to use the FeatherWing.
• NeoPixel strips and pixels (explained further in guide)
• Lots of wire
• Soldering iron and related paraphernalia
• Sundry craft supplies and tools; this will vary with how you decide to implement the project. There will almost certainly be hot glue involved…but I also found myself using masking tape, a permanent marker, hobby knife and acrylic paint.