I’m currently working on a short film about a cross country taxi ride. We are in need of a prop taxi meter that can run a fare on an LED display up to 99,999.99 (although… a real cross country trip is around $9,000.00!). I was curious if anyone on here may have any pointers on how to get in touch with a arduino expert who may be able to help us put this together?
We’re thinking our “taxi meter” will need to :
Turn LED digits individually on and off (have the possibility of LED digits illuminated or dark at the same time)
Set any LED to any digit at any time
increase the fare on meter incrementally higher from custom set number (just like a real taxi-is this possible?)
We would like to keep our LED digits around the following dimensions- 1.125" x .5"
We were curious how to approach these different functions and behaviors as well as which supplies would be needed? Any LA based Arduino gurus out there?
Are you looking for help building it or do you want to commission someone to build it for you?
If you need help, just keep posting here and we can help you with suggestions on what to buy, programming, etc. We can be a pretty friendly bunch and Sparkfun probably carries most of the parts that you will need e.g., https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11443 (probably need to swap in different sized digits).
If you want to avoid DIY and just have it done for you quickly, send me a PM and I’ll give you my email and we can discuss specifics. Shouldn’t take me too long. I’m not in LA, but I’ve build prototypes for people living anywhere from Australia to the UK without problems.
gkreutter:
Hey everyone!
I’m currently working on a short film about a cross country taxi ride. We are in need of a prop taxi meter that can run a fare on an LED display up to 99,999.99 (although… a real cross country trip is around $9,000.00!). I was curious if anyone on here may have any pointers on how to get in touch with a arduino expert who may be able to help us put this together?
We’re thinking our “taxi meter” will need to :
Turn LED digits individually on and off (have the possibility of LED digits illuminated or dark at the same time)
Set any LED to any digit at any time
increase the fare on meter incrementally higher from custom set number (just like a real taxi-is this possible?)
We would like to keep our LED digits around the following dimensions- 1.125" x .5"
We were curious how to approach these different functions and behaviors as well as which supplies would be needed? Any LA based Arduino gurus out there?
I discussed it with them earlier this week, but passed due to the tight time constraint. I couldn’t meet their deadline and also keep my existing project commitments.
Anyway, writing to say thanks for the heads up on LED/camera strobing. I was thinking of a muxing scheme and hadn’t considered camera interference. I’d like to get more involved in making film props and that’s an important thing to keep in mind.
stevech:
Here in So. Ca. there are several companies that rent/sell movie props. I’ve worked with some.
This gets the look you want. Then next is the special functions… remote wireless control probably so no cables to try to hide each scene.
Beware the LED multiplexing rate needs to be selected so as to not conflict with the camera frame rate and cause flicker.
PM if you want to discuss consulting arrangements.