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: 626
Latest Activity: Mar 23

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

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.

Writing to SPI/I2C devices through FT232H 1 Reply

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 DanaHill Aug 1, 2022.

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.

problem while reading/writing 2 Replies

I hawe a problem with writing/reading data in Firefly.I thought it is mine problem with board, but cant understand this stuff Continue

Started by Philipp. Last reply by Jame jim Apr 5, 2022.

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Comment by CarloMaria Ciampoli on August 21, 2012 at 7:46pm: Thanks for your reply Andy!

Comment by Andy Payne on August 21, 2012 at 6:22am: Hi CarloMaria,

Unfortunately, Firefly isn't yet supported on 64-bit applications. Well, to be more accurate... the computer vision and audio tools aren't supported on Rhino 5 64-bit. This is because the C_sawapan_media.dll which is what Firefly uses to tap into the video capture devices and microphones isn't compiled for 64-bit applications (this was noted as a known bug in the ReadMe.txt file in the download zip file). It's on the list of things to work on over the next few months (it's actually a relatively big task to update that library)... but for now, if you want to use the Computer Vision and Audio tools, you have to use either Rhino 5.0 32-bit or Rhino 4.

Sorry for the confusion.

Cheers,

Andy

Comment by CarloMaria Ciampoli on August 21, 2012 at 4:09am: This is not really the way it should look, right?

Is Firefly supported on R5 64-bit?

Thanks Andy

Comment by Carlos B.M. on August 2, 2012 at 1:38pm: Ok Andy!! thank you very much for your suggestions, any way I changed my strategy, and I have used an other arduino board in the computer of my partner, to save up time. I will check forward these steps to try to knwo What-the-Fck is going on with mine!

Thanks for all!!

Comment by Andy Payne on August 1, 2012 at 2:44pm: Hi Carlos,

For future reference, it's probably better to start a discussion (above) for more detailed questions... that way we can start a thread about the topic and track any questions all the way through. Nevertheless, the description of your problem makes me think that for some reason the data being sent from your arduino isn't being formatted correctly, and thus the Uno Read component is throwing an error when the incoming data doesn't match the expected format. You may have already tried this, but can you double check that you have loaded the Uno Firmata properly onto your board. You might have loaded the Mega Firmata onto your Uno board, in which case it may not be sending the right data over to Grasshopper. To see if the firmata is working properly, load it onto your board and then launch the serial monitor in the Arduino IDE (make sure your port is closed in Grasshopper and that the serial monitor baud rate is set to 115200). You should see a long string of data (separated by commas) streaming down the page. That is the string of data that is being sent over to Grasshopper... so if this is working properly, then you should be able to open the port in Grasshopper and then use the Uno Read component to retrieve that data and parse it up.

If this doesn't work, could you post a screen shot of your circuit, or provide more information about what type of sensor you are using? You mentioned a sound sensor (is that a microphone?). Hopefully we can figure this out before your deadline (although I'm currently out of town and do not have regular access to my computer... so I may be a little less responsive than usual).

Cheers,

Andy

Comment by Carlos B.M. on August 1, 2012 at 10:28am: Hi!!!

I'm having problems With the "UNO READ": it 's red all the time and no data is collected. I can "Write" and control manually some Leds, but not through the data collected by my sensors. I have developed an equalizer definition, And I need to control it With a sound sensor.

Even When I change the position of the USB in other sockets, always recognize that I'm using COM 3. Is this normal??

I hope you could help me to make it work, before Friday! It's my project delivery day.

Thanks,

Carlos

Comment by Mohammad Azinkia on March 28, 2012 at 3:36am: Thanks andy!

Comment by kleerkoat on March 26, 2012 at 9:40pm: @Andy... this is really odd. it didn't work with my laptop's camera, plug in the PS Eye, and the laptop camera then works and it doesn't use the PS Eye. Tried disabling the laptop camera and it stopped capturing. No complaints, just thought i'd share that oddity. Main thing is, I can get it working now!

Comment by kleerkoat on March 26, 2012 at 9:11pm: @ Andy... Got it working flawlessly with my PS Eye, guess my laptop's webcam is bunk.

Thanks for your help and the plugin!

Comment by Danny Boyes on March 26, 2012 at 9:32am: I don't actual use Firefly that much I just joined the group to give you my insight on the uploading issue. I would suggest you start a discussion and use a website like Mediafire.com to upload your files to then you can post the links in the discussion.

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In the interest of neutrality I would like to say that there are other file uploading websites available :))