To install different “looks,” download and unzip this collection of eyeball graphics:

Inside the “eyes” folder are several sub-folders, one for each of our ready-made eye designs. “hazel” is our standard human eye from prior projects…then we’re adding more as Halloween approaches.

Each folder contains a set of .bmp images for that eye, plus a file called config.eye. Copy one of these folders to the CIRCUITPY drive — not the individual files, but the whole folder. Then copy or move the file called config.eye out of the folder and into the drive’s root directory.

Copy these files to the CIRCUITPY drive.

Remember that config.eye goes in the root directory, along with the hazel (or other eye name) folder.

Press the board’s reset button…

There will be a delay of several seconds as the eye code initializes. Then…animation!

If you get a flat-colored white eyeball with blue irises and no eyelids, something’s wrong! Verify that you’ve copied over a whole folder of graphics (not the individual files) and moved or copied that folder’s config.eye to the root directory.

Aside from the stock hazel eyes, some of the alternate designs include:

big_blue is a pair of large and friendly blue-gray eyes. The sclera doesn’t have all the veins of the hazel eyes, making this less creepy.

fish_eyes is the same unblinking eyes used in our Fish Head MONSTER M4SK project.

hypno_eyes have that cartoon mesmerizing look. “You are in my power!”

reflection looks like a pair of shiny spheres. No eyelids or pupils, just spheres looking extremely reflective. *ting!*

snake_green is perfect for dragons and other reptilian characters. Rar! This shows off the slit pupil option…also useful for cats and the like.

spikes is adapted from the guide CustomEyesation: DIY Monster M4SK Graphics and demonstrates a bit how the distortion of texture mapping works.

toonstripe is a different “mesmerizing eyes” look…candy colors, no eyelids.

doom-red and doom-spiral were designed for the MONSTER M4SK Toon Hat guide but might have other uses or tricks to learn from.

The demon eyes have swirling fire … a bit of an “Eye of Sauron” resemblance.

anime does its best approximation of The Quaking Moist Anime Eyes Effect™.

fizzgig resembles the fuzzy Dark Crystal character. These react to ambient light and were designed with the lenses in mind.

SECRET FEATURE: You can select among four different eye configurations on startup. Hold down one of the three buttons on top when powering on (or pressing reset) to load files config1.eye (inner button), config2.eye (middle button) or config3.eye (outer button) instead of the default config.eye. All go in the root directory for now (but graphics & such can go in folders).

If one of the ready-made designs does what you need…fantastic, you’re all done! If you want to make changes, or create your own custom eyes, read on…

This guide was first published on Aug 20, 2019. It was last updated on Mar 29, 2024.

This page (Ready-Made Graphics) was last updated on Mar 29, 2024.

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