Guide Pixel box PSA

[ekinator]

Happy 1.4.4 everybody! I am making this thread for anyone who hasn't read the changelog.​

Pixel box behavior is changed and they can be bought from the Mechanic now.

As the tooltip says, Pixel box state can only be changed by a crossed signal. Both wires have to come from the same source (switch or gate), no buffers inbetween!
Examples: This will turn the pixel on and off;

..but this will not:

The new behavior means we can make pixel box screens in whatever size we want, and control them directly! Previous method was restricted to 24*N (a Youtube video)

"Just throwing some ideas" section.​

Thinking of how these new displays could be utilized for displaying animation, I believe that some kind of cache would still be required, just not a gigantic driver.
Just testing out the waters, trying to make 7-segment style digits, I immediately created a mess of wires just trying to make an 8.

There definitely needs to be a circuit between the driver and screen with lots of space for wires.
First example is a buffer that one would load with the frame data and show the frame when it is ready. Possible downside is that you *must* clear the screen before loading the next frame.

The second example features a dedicated clear screen function, but shows the frame data as it is written to the buffer.

I hope this inspires you all to make something cool. Maybe someone will update their old builds!

 

[CostlyHornet]

Huh, I didn't know about the single source being important.
I made a small animation already but I now realize that I can compress the wires down 5 times with this method, thaaaaanks

 

[SolarPH]

For those who may pass through this and looking for making a resettable pixel board, there is a way to basically make the buttons as if it was directly connected to the screen, like this

There are several important components that should be placed in order to make this work

1. Key Resetter

This component works to reset the signal the wire has thrown.
It is built by connecting the same wire to the faulty lamp and the blue logic gate in order to reset the lamp for an AND gate in the next component.
This component is smokey (because it produces smoke too much).

2. Pixel Box Switcher

This component is responsible for switching the state of the Pixel Box. It is built with a Grid Reader, Resetter, and the Switch Output

See the circuit in action with this 2x2 sample with the Key Resetter being used (unlisted video on Youtube):
Pixel Box Switcher with Key Resetter

And before you ask.... Solar, why the need of Key Resetter?
Watch this short video where Key Resetter isn't even connected to the circuit (yes, I did just cut the wires out but never removed the actual circuit)
Pixel Box without Key Resetter

That is all for this mini-guide, Thank you for reading!

(Also, I know its loosely wired... Again, it's for demonstration lol)

 

[TWillyH]

Wait, what DID it do before 1.4.4?

 

[Heath04🌳]

Wait, what DID it do before 1.4.4?

rot in the files because they couldn't get it to work correctly, so it was just unobtainable for a few years.

 

[TWillyH]

rot in the files because they couldn't get it to work correctly, so it was just unobtainable for a few years.

So was its intended purpose always the one it has today?

 

[Heath04🌳]

So was its intended purpose always the one it has today?

mostly yes, the original quote from yoraiz0r is "Pixel Box was an attempt at a single-block light that would be easier to use to make things light up or not, but it ended up not satisfactory" in a Q&A back then