Hello everyone.
I’ve been following magic mirror projects and wanted to build one myself for quite some time. This past summer I decided to make my own version of this mirror. I had couple of my friends help me do it.
Software and features
Here’s what makes our mirror little different:
- Helps you pick clothes
- Can record videos
- Voice controlled
- or Smartphone controled
- custom software, developed slowly over couple of months
Virtual Wardrobe
We wanted to improve software a little bit and introduce unique features. One such feature is a stylist, or a virtual wardrobe to be exact. Using build in raspberry pi camera you can photograph yourself and create a database of your looks. Each item has a dress code assigned to it automatically (casual, business-casual, sportswear etc.), that dress code is later used to recommend you clothes, based on it and weather outside. When you add an item, you can also record live view of yourself. You turn around the mirror capturing full 360 of the outfit. Later you can play it back, sort of like Harry Potter image. You can also assign custom tags to clothes and search thought them.
The Build
Materials used:
- One way mirror (6mm) thick
- 8mm plywood
- 20" Samsung 2032MW (16:10 aspect ration, 1680x1050 resolution)
- LED strips and driver (To upgrade CFL blacklight in the LCD)
- Raspberry PI
- Pi Camera
- USB microphone
Tools Used:
- CNC machine (Carver)
- 3D Printer (Utimaker)
- Laser cutter
- Drill/Screwdriver - the usual stuff
The build seemed easy enough, but we did stumble on some challenges.
First I’ve dissembled the monitor. On the right we can seen the mirror with monitor and to the left LCD controller.
After this dry fit we’ve realized that our monitor is a) not bright enough; b) light transmission of mirror was a bit low; Naturally we’ve decided to swap out old burned out CCFL backlight for a more powerful LED one. I’ve torn down LCD assembly, tried multiple LED variations, util found one that suited me. Using some duct tape I’ve secured LED strips in place and put everything back together. Sadly didn’t photograph the whole process.
Next we’ve moved on to making the case. I’ve used a CNC machine to cut 3mm grooves in 8mm plywood and then stuck them together using angle brackets. Adding a little duct tape to secure everything in place ghetto-mirror-1 was born! (Sadly, that’s the best photo we’ve had)
Time to make it thinner. I striped away metal casing and next big challenge came in. This monitor has an awful HDMI connection, so we had to use DVI to HDMI adapter. To make things worse DVI connector is not right angled, that means very thick unit. Me feeling extra brave, went ahead and tried to solder HDMI cable directly to the dvi connector pads. For some odd reason that did not work, so I tried to re-solder dvi connector itself to be right angle. To my surprise this thing works perfectly. Thats how ghetto-mirror-2 came into life.
Next thing on the agenda was more prettying up. We went ahead 3d printed custom raspberry holder, case for pi camera, hot glued required boards for the monitor in place, added in power supply, secured in the monitor with best in town technology (duct tape). This mess of cables would definitely pass all of the required safety tests)
And then I had to disassemble everything, cover it in wood varnish and put it back together again. As a bonus we’ve engraved back the of the case. That was fun :)
We later on replaced that ugly grey case with much smaller one and covered it in soft touch paint. That’s pretty much how we build it.
Links
- Software repository on GitHub
- Fastest way to reach me on Twitter @techblogogy
- People who made it possible Fedor Bobylev, Tanya Batsenko, Zhenya Kravchenko
- Special thanks to our local Fablab for providing all of the necessary tools and materials. If you live in Kyiv, Ukraine go check them out.
- Huge thanks to Michael Teeuw for inspiration.
Closing word
We would definitely like to improve the product, so feel free to commend on what you think. Thanks for reading!