Cosplay Lighting Help

Samantha La rue

I am working on making a Corrupt Ysera cosplay; I plan on taking her corrupt dragon form:

And using the colors to replace her usual elven form:

I'm wanting to have the nightmare corruption glowing in the cosplay with red swirls on her bracers and greaves, the gem stones on her shoulders, chest piece and bracers as well as her horns.  I've done lightning in cosplays before, but the issue that I'm having with this one is I'm hoping to have all lighting locations being able to be wireless when it comes to turning on so they can all turn on at once.  I had and LED converter and remote for a previous project, but the receiver for the remote signal was really weak.  I'm not sure if anyone would have any recommendations on how to handle my light activation dilemma but thank you all for taking the time to look at this!

Chris Ellerby

Hi Samantha,

One option would be to heave each illuminated wardrobe piece contain a small micro controller (like an Arduino Micro or other small form-factor Arduino comparable micro controller) that has a wireless module like an Xbee.

This would allow you to have all the light sequences of the various wardrobe pieces sync up based on input form a "master" microcontroller.

Something like this requires some basic programming knowledge, but thankfully there are sites like https://www.adafruit.com that not only sell the various components, but also have code libraries that help you tie them together. 

Wireless communication is not without its challenges though.  Outside interference can cause problems, especially at large events where a lot of other wireless devices are operating.

I would try and use hidden wires where possible, as that could save you a lot of headaches.

/Chris

Samantha La rue

Thank you so much!  I will definitely look into that!

Darrell Green

Just wow. That was a seriously complete answer.