DeathStar animation on GC9A01 round LCD for CircuitPython

revengeofthefifth_code.py

# revengeofthefifth_code.py -- deathstar animation for CircuitPython
# 5 May 2022 - @todbot / Tod Kurt
# uses one big tilegrid
# 
# ImageMagick commands used to go from GIF to TileGrid BMP:
#  convert -coalesce deathstar40.gif -resize 240x240 deathstar-%02d.bmp
#  montage -mode concatenate -tile x1 deathstar-*bmp deathstar_tile_tmp.bmp
#  convert deathstar_tile_tmp.bmp -colors 8 -type palette -compress none BMP3:deathstar_tile.bmp
# Copy resulting file to CIRCUITPY drive

import time
import board, busio
import displayio
import gc9a01

# set up the GC9A01 round TFT LCD, wiring is for QT Py RP2040
displayio.release_displays()
tft_clk  = board.SCK
tft_mosi = board.MOSI
tft_rst  = board.TX
tft_dc   = board.RX
tft_cs   = board.A3
spi = busio.SPI(clock=tft_clk, MOSI=tft_mosi)
display_bus = displayio.FourWire(spi, command=tft_dc, chip_select=tft_cs, reset=tft_rst)
display = gc9a01.GC9A01(display_bus, width=240, height=240, rotation=180)

maingroup = displayio.Group()
display.show(maingroup) # put main group on display, everything goes in maingroup

# load up the big bitmap containing all the tiles
bitmap = displayio.OnDiskBitmap(open("deathstar_tile.bmp", "rb"))
deathstar = displayio.TileGrid(bitmap, pixel_shader=bitmap.pixel_shader, tile_width=240, tile_height=240 )
maingroup.append(deathstar)


i=0
i_inc = 1
while True:
    print("deathstar ranging ", i)
    deathstar[0] = i  # animate it
    i = i + i_inc
    if i==39 or i==0 : i_inc = -i_inc # bounce animation back-n-forth
    display.refresh(target_frames_per_second=24)

This is the GIF started with:

And what the result looks like in action:

revengeofthefifth_demo_nohdr.mp4

This is amazing! Would you be so kind to publish a video to show the steps you took in getting this to work. For instance showing the connections of the display and the phyton process. Thanks in advance!

Hi, and thanks! You can check out some display wiring setups for Raspberry Pi Pico and QT Py and general installation tips here: https://github.com/todbot/CircuitPython_GC9A01_demos

Not sure what you mean by "the python process" but if you're asking about how to install CircuitPython, this Learn Guide is a great place to start: https://learn.adafruit.com/getting-started-with-raspberry-pi-pico-circuitpython