ZevEisenberg
3817
14
4
Her idea, mostly my build, and whole-family paint. It perfectly matches her real Minecraft sneakers, and the lights on the costume blink in sync with the real shoes when she stomps her right foot.
We used two Adafruit Feather RP2040 microcontrollers: one on her ankle with an accelerometer to detect a stomp that would trigger her real light-up shoe, and one in the costume to drive the LED light strip. It’s my first time attempting a costume this elaborate, and while I learned a couple things for next time, I’m wildly pleased with how it turned out (and more importantly, so is my 5yo!).
Scale mockup in Blender, using a 3D scan of the shoe from Reality Composer on an iPhone and a generic kid model I found online.
Test fit after papier-mâché had dried.
Gesso base coat.
Painting progress. We learned a great trick for getting crisp edges: after you apply the tape, first paint around the edges with the color that’s already there. When that’s dry to the touch, paint your new color. It takes a little longer, but it makes a huge difference.
Finished left side. Props to my wife for meticulously hand-painting the halftone dots on the TNT block. The cover for the lights is a 7UP bottle that I roughed up with sandpaper. You can clearly see the light strips here, but at night, it looks closer to the real shoe.
Custom 3D printed case to house the Adafruit Feather RP2040 microcontroller and MSA311 accelerometer. It was bundled up with a small LiPo battery in a soccer shin guard velcro strap, and held in place with small pouches that her grandmother crocheted, so it could more comfortably wrap around her ankle.
The black and white twisted pair wire sends a simple on/off signal up her leg to the microcontroller in the costume, which picks up the signal and drives the lights. I did it that way because the accelerometer is connected via Stemma/QT, which isn't designed to send digital information over long distances. So I did the processing right there on her ankle, and sent the signal once I knew I wanted to trigger the lights.
The finished right side, and her friend the hamster. The velcro strap really works, with real velcro attaching it on the right side.
Mom and shoe.