Getting Started: Replacing A Dmd With Pin2Dmd (Using Sd Card)

[mgpasman]

I started with a Williams Getaway pin. I ordered kit #4 from user Rappelbox on flipperforum.de, it contains:

 

• PCB

• 2x RGB DMD 32x64 pixels

• STM32F407

• Mounting window

 

Next to that, you also need

 

• A 5V power supply (I used a 5V 9A arcade power supply)

• A micro SD card (I used an 8GB SDHC card formatted as FAT32 without any problems, although people report it is recommended to use smaller size)

Powering up

Connect the power source to the board and turn it on. It should show the PIN2DMD logo in color, together with the device ID.

Licence key

Note the device ID and follow the procedure on http://vpuniverse.com/forums/topic/2458-pin2dmd-v2-activation/ to obtain a license key. I received mine within a day.

 

The license is used twice. Once to unlock the display and once to use the pin2dmd-editor.

Pin2dmd editor

The editor can be used to set basic configuration, as well as control the palette. It also makes it possible to go ahead and attach your own custom colors to certain frames, but this manual does not cover that part.

 

Download pin2dmd-editor from here: http://go-dmd.de/2015/11/24/pin2dmd-editor/ . I used version 1.014. A recent version of Java (JRE) is required.

Getting started

Now you have all preparations out of the way, it’s time to make it work. Follow these steps:

 

1. License the display

   1. Rename the key you received to pin2dmd.key

   2. Put it on the root of an SD card

   3. Put the SD card in the display

   4. Power up the display (or reset it using the black button)

   5. It will now process the license file and display the firmware version and the currently selected modus (e.g. Virtual Pinball)

2. Configure the display for your pinball machine

   1. Start the pin2dmd-editor

   2. Go to Palettes / Mode > Configure the device

   3. Select the device mode (WPC or Stern)

   4. Select the desired color (VGA or one of the primary colors)

   5. Save the file as pin2dmd.dat on the SD card (in my experience it’s safe to remove it from the display while it is powered up)

   6. Put the SD card back in the display

   7. Power up the display (or reset it using the black button)

   8. It will now process the configuration file and display the firmware version and the currently selected modus (e.g. Williams)

3. Connect the display to your pinball machine

   1. Power off the pinball machine and the display

   2. Remove backglass and put the speaker panel flat

   3. Remove power cable from DMD (we don’t need this anymore)

   4. Remove data cable from DMD

   5. Connect data cable to display

   6. Power up the pin and the display

   7. The display will now receive data and act as your old DMD

Modify the palette

The first step in customizing your new color DMD, is to create a custom color palette. The old DMD used 3 shades of orange (33%, 66% and 100%) next to black (0%). You can map RGB values to those four colors, using pin2dmd-editor. The editor needs to be licensed for this to work!

 

4. License the editor

   1. Start the editor

   2. Go to Help > Register

   3. Open the key you received

   4. It should read the products that your license contains

   5. Press OK

5. Change the colors

   1. Locate the “Palettes” frame (containing 16 basic colors)

   2. Select 0-default from the first list box

   3. Select DEFAULT from the second list box

   4. On WPC pins, only colors 1 (black), 2 (33%), 8 (66%) and 16 (100%) are used

   5. Modify the colors to your liking (highlight a color and clicking on the button Color)

6. Transfer the palette to the display

   1. Go to File > Export Project

   2. Save the file as “palettes.dat” in the root of the SD card

   3. Put the SD card back in the display

   4. Power up the display (or reset it using the black button)

 

Repeat steps 5 and 6 until you are happy with the result.

 

I am fairly sure these steps can also be done using a micro USB cable, which makes it easier to see the result instantly. Once I am done experimenting with that, I might create a new topic about it .

[comicalman]

This is all good work.  I did want to point out that replacing frames \ adding > 4 colors (which should be the goal of all DMD colorist's)- is not as easy as it would seem.  I was working on AFM (as an example).  In order to achieve the below, one must replace colors and use the FrameSeq commands.  I have been able to do so (and save + export all the correct files).  However, even when copying the correct files to the SD-card, the replacement frames are NOT displaying.  NOTE: this technique only applies to non-Stern games.

 

This appears to NOT be working well with the PIN2DMD editor (as of build 82, ver. 1.0.17)

 

Here is an example of what we should all be attempting to do with PIN2dmd. Before is without frame replace. After is WITH frame replacment.

Without frame replacement working, I don't see a point in continuing developing DMD animations....

 

[lucky1]

There is a new version of the editor and firmware with a fix for frame replacement on github and bintray

Firmware is here

https://github.com/lucky01/PIN2DMD/raw/master/firmware/latest/PIN2DMD.bin

Editor is here

https://bintray.com/sker65/pin2dmd/Editor/latest/view#files