Calling All Coders!

[CMBrandon]

Do you know C++?

Cooler Master is looking for teams to help us with our newest keyboard series, the MasterKeys Pro. We have released our SDK for individuals to create different lighting effects. Obviously we have RGB but we also need lighting patterns for White only.

What's in this for you? If a team wants to upload some effects to the site we can hook your team up with a free keyboard to test on and keep. We have a very limited supply for this project so first come, first serve.

http://maker.coolermaster.com/custom-lighting/

[DonRotolo]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to CMBrandon again.

Dangnabbit.

You guys are just too awesome.

[CMBrandon]

I forgot to mention to everyone, if your team is interested please have the lead mentor/teacher send me a message. They will have to sign off and approve this project. We love supporting the community and helping everyone with cool opportunities but I think some members bite off more than they can handle at times.

Thank you for understanding!

brandon_kovacic@coolermaster.com

[connor.worley]

Sent an email

[CMBrandon]

First round of keyboards are going out soon. Groups that miss first round will be in the second.

We are really excited to see what the groups come up with!

[CMBrandon]

Keyboards have been sent out! Please feel free to share your experiences in this thread. Happy coding!

If you missed this round, sit tight. We always have fun stuff we need tested.

[michaelyork]

Ours came in just a couple of hours ago! Right now, we're studying the SDK and ironing out some ideas as to how we can use it. Of course, that didn't mean we couldn't have a little bit of fun:



We're ready to get started on these effects!

[CMBrandon]

That's great! Can't wait to see what you come up with. Don't forget to upload everything to the site so others can use your effects.

http://maker.coolermaster.com/custom-lighting/

[snekiam]

I've been unable to get things up and running correctly. I was able to compile the SDKExample in visual studio, and the program runs just fine. But I am unable to control LEDs on the keyboard with it. I am running Windows 10 and VisualStudio, but do not mind switching to linux/eclipse/text editors.

[team-4480]

Originally Posted by snekiam

I've been unable to get things up and running correctly. I was able to compile the SDKExample in visual studio, and the program runs just fine. But I am unable to control LEDs on the keyboard with it. I am running Windows 10 and VisualStudio, but do not mind switching to linux/eclipse/text editors.

Make sure you set the control device AND Enable LED Control in the beginning of the program. For example, if you have the Masterkeys M White keyboard...

int main(void){

SetControlDevice(DEV_MKeys_M_White);

EnableLedControl(true);

//begin controlling LEDs with SetFullLedColor or SetLedColor

EnableLedControl(false); // don't forget this
}

[CMBrandon]

Originally Posted by snekiam

I've been unable to get things up and running correctly. I was able to compile the SDKExample in visual studio, and the program runs just fine. But I am unable to control LEDs on the keyboard with it. I am running Windows 10 and VisualStudio, but do not mind switching to linux/eclipse/text editors.

Make sure you are loading the program to a specific profile on the keyboard (there are 4). If you still have issues, PM me.

[snekiam]

Turns out the DLL file I was using was corrupt in some way. I replaced it with the one provided by one of the profiles downloaded, and now everything seems to work fine.

[CMBrandon]

That's great! Share a link once it's uploaded so others can see what you created.

[team-4480]

We created four different animations for our Masterkeys Pro M White.


The first one we created was a Keyboard alarm where you input how often you want to be reminded to get up and stretch(I personally use 60 minutes) and then it will flash every x minutes to remind you to get up out of your chair.


The next animation was what I call the Hadron Collider. This animation has two "atoms" flying towards each other until they explode. The explosion is bright where the two atoms meet, but the brightness goes down the farther away the explosion is.


The third animation we made was my personal favorite and it took by far the longest to make. What we did was we had the keyboard light up the letters of the alphabet in order with the beat of the Alphabet song. The Alphabet song actually plays as it does it! We even did the "Now, I know my ABCs. Next time, won't you sing with me?" where it lights up each word according to the beat.


Finally, we made one called Bouncy Ball where the "Ball" bounces around on the keyboard with the LED's behind it leaving a lighter and lighter trail.

If you want to download them, just go to http://maker.coolermaster.com/custom-lighting/ and scroll down to the Masterkeys Pro M White section!

Overall, we really enjoyed making these animations. The programming and SDK setup wasn't hard. I just have to thank Cooler Master and CMBrandon for giving us this opportunity.

[team-4480]

I just received a PM from a person wanting the code to know how we did it. Here is the Github page I made for it. There is a big disclaimer that goes with it. I just learned the basics of C++ for this project and most likely the code quality isn't the best because of my inexperience with C++. However, the code does work which is what matters to me the most.