Loading New Patterns
Mode – A folder on your hoop/poi drive.
Pattern – A bitmap file in a mode.
To add or edit patterns and pattern settings, you will need access to a Windows, Mac, or Linux computer with a USB port. Use a USB micro cable to connect the hoop/poi to your computer. Once plugged in, the hoop/poi drive should appear in your computer’s operating system like a normal USB flash drive.
Make a New Mode (folder of patterns)
- Create a new folder on the hoop/poi’s flash drive.
- Copy in some bitmap (.bmp) pattern files.
- Bitmaps/Patterns must be inside a mode/folder or they will be skipped.
- Non-supported file types (.png, .jpg, .gif, etc) will also be skipped.
- There is currently a limit of 100 bitmaps in each folder.
How do you save certain patterns into a playlist/mode?
- Make a new folder/mode on the Hoop/Poi Drive.
- Add your selected patterns inside of the folder/mode.
- If you want patterns displayed in a specific order, change the name of each pattern by adding a number at the beginning of their names.
Notes about Making Modes
- If a bitmap/pattern isn’t inside a folder/mode then it doesn’t belong to a mode, preventing you from seeing it on the hoop/poi.
- Modes and patterns are listed alphabetically/alphanumerically on your hoop/poi drive, and will play back in that order.
- To customize the order of the patterns and modes you can rename them by placing a number at the beginning of the file name. This also lets you easily keep the most frequently used folders next to each other. We suggest using a double digit format ## (ex: 01, 02, 03).
- To Start up in a specific mode, use the StartupFolder option (in the options.txt file).
- Folders placed inside another folder will not display on the hoop/poi (i.e. a mode inside another mode) and it will be skipped.
Best Practices
Limit the number of modes for easy navigation. While there technically isn’t a limit to the number of modes you can create on your hoop/poi’s flash drive, navigation can be cumbersome with more than a dozen or so modes.
Keep backups of all your patterns and modes! We strongly recommend keeping backups on your computer, or even better, you can use a file sync service like Dropbox or Google Drive to back it up to the cloud. It would be really annoying to lose your hard work if the only copy of your pattern is stored on the hoop drive & it falls into a campfire, or gets hit by a meteor or something. It could be as easy as making a folder on your computer and, every time you make a new bitmap or a new mode, store a copy of it in there.
You aren’t required to use number prefixes to order your Modes and Patterns. Use whatever works for you. If the files appear in alphabetical order on your computer, they should playback in the same order on the hoop.