For this assignment, we are asked to create an artificial candle or lantern using a NeoPixel jewel with a base and a shade or diffuser, and we should try to capture the colors and behavior of a real candle in programming our candle. I decided to work with Lingyi for this assignment.
We tested a few types of materials as shade to see which one has the best effect, including bubble wrap, parchment paper and translucent plastic film. We found that the parchment paper and the plastic film have better results, while the bubble wrap would cast the shadow of the bubble within its layers.
We even found a piece of acrylic board with thin strip pattern from the junk shelf, and the result turned out perfect when it layered with the plastic film, since it somehow projected an illusion similar to a real candle behind the acrylic.
Then we started to fabricate. At first, we tried to bend the acrylic board into a container for the LED, but the material is super limited that it’s not enough for bending. So we laser cut the board into four pieces and glue them together.
We put two LEDs back to back to make sure people can see the light better from the front and the back. We also adjusted the height of the plastic film for better result.
For the top of the case, we tried two materials of shade including the plastic film we used inside the case, and another light diffuser film. It turned out that the plastic film looks more natural.
We also designed a base to stabilize the acrylic case, the plastic film and the LEDs.
In terms of the colors of LEDs, we set the bottom two LEDs as a bluish color, the center one as orange, and the rest as yellow. However, when the blue color merged with the orange, it looked like a bit of purple, which doesn’t really look like the candle flame. So we added some green color into the blue LEDs to balance out the red.
Here are the comparison of the Kelvin value of a real candle and our LED candle.
