PC Pixel box display

mikhail kerman

Terrarian
I recently made a pixel box display. If someone doesn't know what a pixel box is, they can check here
It works by clicking a switch on the top and left, and a pixel at the crossing lights up. Do not forget to flip the switches back before moving on to the next pixel. The other switch is reset
It doesnt fully work though (yet) because when you light a pixel, all the other pixels in the row turn off due to how pixel boxes work
I'm open to suggestion on how to fix this (if possible)


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My setup
upload_2019-2-8_19-40-41.png

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That looks like a hell of a lot of wiring for a simple 4x4 display, but then again, I don't dabble much with pixel boxes, so for all I know, this could be a highly compact design. Either way, it looks interesting, and I don't understand it.
 
That looks like a hell of a lot of wiring for a simple 4x4 display, but then again, I don't dabble much with pixel boxes, so for all I know, this could be a highly compact design. Either way, it looks interesting, and I don't understand it.
Its actually 5x5 :)
And yeah, I know its not compact. I am just starting with complex wiring designs

here is an explanation drawing
 

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Its actually 5x5 :)
Sorry, seem to have momentarily lost my eyesight

Still uncertain as to how I can help fix your issue, but I do have a question. For your output circuits, why did you use an OR gate with 2 lamps, instead of an AND gate with 1? They should function the same, and would make the design just a bit more compact.
 
For your output circuits, why did you use an OR gate with 2 lamps, instead of an AND gate with 1? They should function the same, and would make the design just a bit more compact.

I did it to make sure the input doesn't merge with the output, but yeah, now I see that they are different colous. So that would work

EDIT: Fixed it. Thanks!
 
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Personally, I always try to find a way to compact my designs, mostly because its less stuff to break if I scrap it, but also because if I don't, it just pesters me constantly.

About the entire row turning off except for the single pixel, what I would do if this was a torch display, would be to store the data for the display using logic gates, so whenever I input a point, a signal stores that point as an activated logic gate lamp, before sending a second signal across the entire storage, to check for active points. If one(or more) is found, then as it displays all the stored points, it toggles the ones in the same row again, to activate them again. It probably won't work though, since from what you said, the wiring only allows for a row toggle, not a point toggle, so probably the last point inputted for each row would be the only one shown in that row. But hey, at least I can say I tried.
 
That's confusing :)
And only the rows turn off, not the columns. That's because pixel boxes turn off from horizontal wires. this means that we can have multiple lit pixels in a column, but not a row as you can see in this pic:
upload_2019-2-8_20-43-44.png


But yeah, storing inputs and reactivating them later would work. I have to try it

Also. this wiring does allow for point toggle, as pixel boxes toggle from crossed signals. So when you trigger two rows at the same time, a pixel box at the intersectin lights up
 

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That's confusing :)
And only the rows turn off, not the columns. That's because pixel boxes turn off from horizontal wires. this means that we can have multiple lit pixels in a column, but not a row as you can see in this pic:
View attachment 216595

But yeah, storing inputs and reactivating them later would work. I have to try it

Also. this wiring does allow for point toggle, as pixel boxes toggle from crossed signals. So when you trigger two rows at the same time, a pixel box at the intersectin lights up
These pixel boxes are so complex compared to the 7 segment display I'm currently working on, I've got to give them a try one day. Make sure to let me know if my idea worked:happy:
 
Ok, but Im not entirly sure how to store and reactivate the signals. do you have a schematic?
Not right now, but I might be able to make one for a simpler display( or even something else, since the concept is basically the same) in a bit, but I might not succeed. I'm better at theory than the actual wiring, so in case I don't manage to, or don't have enough time, I'd suggest contacting a better more experienced user than me.
 
Pixel boxes can be used to build a matrix display with its width of no more than 24 tiles. There is no restriction on the height. This is an example:
The wiring is so complicated that it's not practical in general.
 
Thanks, but we were trying to 1) do it our selves, 2)my design uses switches from top and left to cross the signals
okay, but take care because pixel boxes are sensitive to signal sources: if a pixel box receives signals from different sources, it only reacts to the last source. Can't understand why developers gave them such a bad feature.
 
I've explored every way i could think of to control these displays, including your design, before I stopped making terraria contraptions. You would need to hard code every row, which would quickly get limited by the wire color amount and, if you want to make a big display, take up the whole world. There is currently no way of making anything worthwhile from pixel boxes. I suggest not wasting your time trying to do the impossible.
 
Ok, I just found out that we can turn on two pixel boxes in the same row, but only if we do it at the same time and the signals come from the same source
upload_2019-2-9_12-8-28.png

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I thought that if we run the same length of wire from two different sources, it might work, but even if the design is completely symmetrical we get strange results.
does anyone know why this happens?
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I suggest not wasting your time trying to do the impossible.
That's sad, but you are right. That's Propably why they didn't include pixel boxes in the game XD
 

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I thought that if we run the same length of wire from two different sources, it might work, but even if the design is completely symmetrical we get strange results.
does anyone know why this happens?
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Visualized by the MechScope mod. Short answer is: you absolutely have to make the pattern come from a single gate.
in the animation you see how the games logic fires the right gate first and then the left after it's done, erasing the right pixel.
 
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