It's like fireworks in a box!

The 4Cube by Hypnocube is an animated, dynamic, and mesmerizing light sculpture. It is comprised of a 4x4x4 lattice of LEDs arranged inside a Plexiglas cube. The magic of the 4Cube, however, lies within its programming.

The designers of the 4Cube are über-dorks — which is a good thing. Remember, über-dorks invented the Internet, internal combustion engines, transistors, and Hot Pockets. Respect the über-dork.

So, it is with our utmost respect that we hail the clever programming behind the 4Cube's meditative light display. Simply put, this thing is a stoner's nirvana. And for the rest of us, it's simply awesome.

The 4Cube by Hypnocube is part lamp, part art, and part meditation aid.

A dazzling array of animated light effects

The heart and soul of the 4Cube rest within its programming. The aforementioned über-dorks designed 51 visualizations (think animated sequence). Each visualization, however, is simply a framework to which speed, color, and symmetry randomizations are applied.

This ensures that the 4Cube is always morphing from one hypnotic spectacle to the next.

Patterns will never repeat

After a brief startup sequence, the 4Cube's randomization kicks in to high gear.

Generally speaking, the 4Cube selects one of its 51 visualizations, applies a series of arbitrary affine transformations and symmetry changes, calculates and applies random color values, and randomizes and smooths that visualizations' speed changes. The process automatically repeats until you shut it off (if ever). This design ensures that no two visualizations look the same.

Basically, we could have turned this thing on at the dawn of the universe, and it still wouldn't have repeated itself yet. That is what makes the 4Cube so awesome.

Each LED is capable of displaying 4,096 colors

Each three-color LED is capable of 16 distinct levels per color channel (16x16x16 = 4,096 distinct colors).

Because each of the three channels is individually programmable (64 LEDs x 3 addressable channels = 192 addressable channels), the über-dorks are able to create some amazing effects. However, none of the effects would look all that awesome if it wasn't for their ability to smoothly move from one color to the next.

Film and TV are typically presented in either 24 or 30 frames per second in order to create the illusion of smooth motion. The 4Cube displays over 6,500 frames per second in order to modify its colors. Über-dang.