3.5 tft lcd arduino tutorial brands

In this article, you will learn how to use TFT LCDs by Arduino boards. From basic commands to professional designs and technics are all explained here.

There are several components to achieve this. LEDs,  7-segments, Character and Graphic displays, and full-color TFT LCDs. The right component for your projects depends on the amount of data to be displayed, type of user interaction, and processor capacity.

TFT LCD is a variant of a liquid-crystal display (LCD) that uses thin-film-transistor (TFT) technology to improve image qualities such as addressability and contrast. A TFT LCD is an active matrix LCD, in contrast to passive matrix LCDs or simple, direct-driven LCDs with a few segments.

In Arduino-based projects, the processor frequency is low. So it is not possible to display complex, high definition images and high-speed motions. Therefore, full-color TFT LCDs can only be used to display simple data and commands.

There are several components to achieve this. LEDs,  7-segments, Character and Graphic displays, and full-color TFT LCDs. The right component for your projects depends on the amount of data to be displayed, type of user interaction, and processor capacity.

TFT LCD is a variant of a liquid-crystal display (LCD) that uses thin-film-transistor (TFT) technology to improve image qualities such as addressability and contrast. A TFT LCD is an active matrix LCD, in contrast to passive matrix LCDs or simple, direct-driven LCDs with a few segments.

In Arduino-based projects, the processor frequency is low. So it is not possible to display complex, high definition images and high-speed motions. Therefore, full-color TFT LCDs can only be used to display simple data and commands.

After choosing the right display, It’s time to choose the right controller. If you want to display characters, tests, numbers and static images and the speed of display is not important, the Atmega328 Arduino boards (such as Arduino UNO) are a proper choice. If the size of your code is big, The UNO board may not be enough. You can use Arduino Mega2560 instead. And if you want to show high resolution images and motions with high speed, you should use the ARM core Arduino boards such as Arduino DUE.

In electronics/computer hardware a display driver is usually a semiconductor integrated circuit (but may alternatively comprise a state machine made of discrete logic and other components) which provides an interface function between a microprocessor, microcontroller, ASIC or general-purpose peripheral interface and a particular type of display device, e.g. LCD, LED, OLED, ePaper, CRT, Vacuum fluorescent or Nixie.

The LCDs manufacturers use different drivers in their products. Some of them are more popular and some of them are very unknown. To run your display easily, you should use Arduino LCDs libraries and add them to your code. Otherwise running the display may be very difficult. There are many free libraries you can find on the internet but the important point about the libraries is their compatibility with the LCD’s driver. The driver of your LCD must be known by your library. In this article, we use the Adafruit GFX library and MCUFRIEND KBV library and example codes. You can download them from the following links.

You must add the library and then upload the code. If it is the first time you run an Arduino board, don’t worry. Just follow these steps:Go to www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software and download the software of your OS. Install the IDE software as instructed.

First you should convert your image to hex code. Download the software from the following link. if you don’t want to change the settings of the software, you must invert the color of the image and make the image horizontally mirrored and rotate it 90 degrees counterclockwise. Now add it to the software and convert it. Open the exported file and copy the hex code to Arduino IDE. x and y are locations of the image. sx and sy are sizes of image. you can change the color of the image in the last input.

Upload your image and download the converted file that the UTFT libraries can process. Now copy the hex code to Arduino IDE. x and y are locations of the image. sx and sy are size of the image.

In this template, We converted a .jpg image to .c file and added to the code, wrote a string and used the fade code to display. Then we used scroll code to move the screen left. Download the .h file and add it to the folder of the Arduino sketch.

In this template, We used sin(); and cos(); functions to draw Arcs with our desired thickness and displayed number by text printing function. Then we converted an image to hex code and added them to the code and displayed the image by bitmap function. Then we used draw lines function to change the style of the image. Download the .h file and add it to the folder of the Arduino sketch.

In this template, We added a converted image to code and then used two black and white arcs to create the pointer of volumes.  Download the .h file and add it to the folder of the Arduino sketch.

In this template, We added a converted image and use the arc and print function to create this gauge.  Download the .h file and add it to folder of the Arduino sketch.

while (a < b) { Serial.println(a); j = 80 * (sin(PI * a / 2000)); i = 80 * (cos(PI * a / 2000)); j2 = 50 * (sin(PI * a / 2000)); i2 = 50 * (cos(PI * a / 2000)); tft.drawLine(i2 + 235, j2 + 169, i + 235, j + 169, tft.color565(0, 255, 255)); tft.fillRect(200, 153, 75, 33, 0x0000); tft.setTextSize(3); tft.setTextColor(0xffff); if ((a/20)>99)

while (b < a) { j = 80 * (sin(PI * a / 2000)); i = 80 * (cos(PI * a / 2000)); j2 = 50 * (sin(PI * a / 2000)); i2 = 50 * (cos(PI * a / 2000)); tft.drawLine(i2 + 235, j2 + 169, i + 235, j + 169, tft.color565(0, 0, 0)); tft.fillRect(200, 153, 75, 33, 0x0000); tft.setTextSize(3); tft.setTextColor(0xffff); if ((a/20)>99)

In this template, We display simple images one after each other very fast by bitmap function. So you can make your animation by this trick.  Download the .h file and add it to folder of the Arduino sketch.

In this template, We just display some images by RGBbitmap and bitmap functions. Just make a code for touchscreen and use this template.  Download the .h file and add it to folder of the Arduino sketch.

Hello everyone to my new tutorial in which we are going to program arduino for tft lcd shield of 3.5" with ILI9486 driver, 8 bit. I found it important to write this tutorial as if we see we find tutorial for 1.44, 1.8, 2.0, 2.4, 2.8 inch shields however there are no or less tutorials available for 3.5" shield as its completely different from other smaller tft lcd shields -adafruit tft lcd library doesn"t even support ILI9486 driver in 3.5" tft lcd, it supports drivers of tft shields lesser then 3.5"

Go through the above link to know better, lets start with our tutorial however if we can"t use Adafruit_TFTLCD library which library will we use ?, there"s a simple answer to this that"s MCUFRIEND_kbv library which helps to use 3.5" tft lcd shield, if you see this library makes it much more easier to program arduino for tft lcd shield than adafruit as we have to simply create a tft object in MCUFRIEND_kbv library and then using that we can control the tft lcd shield however in Adafruit_TFTLCD library we will have to create the object and also define connections which makes it a very long task.

Once added, create the tft object using library name and a name for object, you can also define some color codes for text which we are going to type, using the define function and giving color code. This all is to be done before setup.#include#include#define BLACK 0x0000#define RED 0xF800#define WHITE 0xFFFFMCUFRIEND_kbv tft;

Its time to now start our tft lcd screen and change the background, this is to be done by using some simple functions by obtaining the tft ID and changing the background bytft.fillScreen("color_name");void}

Now we will be programming in loop for printing text on TFT LCD shield, for that we will be using a number of functions such as -tft.setCursor("x","y");x means the position from the x axis on screen and y means position from the y axis on screen of tft lcd shield.tft.setTextSize("number");number here refers to text size which take parameter as number you can give any number from 1 according to your requirements.tft.setTextColor("color");color here means to give the color name we had defined before setup, this makes the text color as whatever you give.tft.print("value");value is nothing but what you want to print, whatever you give as value must be in double quotes.void loop() {// put your main code here, to run repeatedly:tft.setCursor(0,0);tft.setTextSize(3);tft.setTextColor(WHITE);tft.print("my first project with tft -");tft.setCursor(0,70);tft.setTextSize(2);tft.setTextColor(RED);tft.print("welcome to the world of arduino and display , myself I love arduino and game programming very much. This is why I have my own youtube channel in which I share my arduino projects and games made by me , isn"t it amazing !");}

Graphics which we see in our phone is combination of square, rectangle, circle, triangle, lines. This is why here we will learning how to draw the following shapes.tft.drawRect(x,y,width,height,color);x means the position from the x axis of the screen, y means the position from y axis of the screen, width refers to set the width of rectangle, height refers to set the height of the rectangle and color means the color of rectangle you want it to be. You can use this same function by simply keeping the height and width same.tft.drawCircle(x,y,radius,color);x means the position from the x axis of the screen, y means the position from y axis of the screen, radius is a para to set the radius of circle and color means the color of circle you want it to be.tft.drawTriangle(x1,y1,x2,y2,x3,y3,color);x1, y1, x2 etc. are to set the position of triangle"s three points from which lines are drawn.tft.drawLine(x1,y1,x2,y2,color);x1 and y1 are to set point 1 from which line is made to point 2 which is set by x2 and y2.

In this article, you will learn how to use TFT LCDs by Arduino boards. From basic commands to professional designs and technics are all explained here. At the end of this article, you can:Write texts and numbers with your own font.Draw shapes like circle, triangle, square, etc.Change screen parameters such as rotation.

fillScreen function change the color of screen to t color. The t should be a 16bit variable containing UTFT color code.#define BLACK 0x0000#define NAVY 0x000F#define DARKGREEN 0x03E0#define DARKCYAN 0x03EF#define MAROON 0x7800#define PURPLE 0x780F#define OLIVE 0x7BE0#define LIGHTGREY 0xC618#define DARKGREY 0x7BEF#define BLUE 0x001F#define GREEN 0x07E0#define CYAN 0x07FF#define RED 0xF800#define MAGENTA 0xF81F#define YELLOW 0xFFE0#define WHITE 0xFFFF#define ORANGE 0xFD20#define GREENYELLOW 0xAFE5#define PINK 0xF81F

Drawing Rectanglestft.fillRect(x,y,w,h,t);//fillRect(int16_t x, int16_t y, int16_t w, int16_t h, uint16_t t)tft.drawRect(x,y,w,h,t);//drawRect(int16_t x, int16_t y, int16_t w, int16_t h, uint16_t t)

Drawing Round Rectanglestft.fillRoundRect(x,y,w,h,r,t);//fillRoundRect (int16_t x, int16_t y, int16_t w, int16_t h, uint8_t R , uint16_t t)tft.drawRoundRect(x,y,w,h,r,t);//drawRoundRect(int16_t x, int16_t y, int16_t w, int16_t h, uint8_t R , uint16_t t)

Drawing Circlestft.drawCircle(x,y,r,t);//drawCircle(int16_t x, int16_t y, int16_t r, uint16_t t)tft.fillCircle(x,y,r,t);//fillCircle(int16_t x, int16_t y, int16_t r, uint16_t t)

Drawing Trianglestft.drawTriangle(x1,y1,x2,y2,x3,y3,t);//drawTriangle(int16_t x1, int16_t y1, int16_t x2, int16_t y2, int16_t x3, int16_t y3,// uint16_t t)tft.fillTriangle(x1,y1,x2,y2,x3,y3,t);//fillTriangle(int16_t x1, int16_t y1, int16_t x2, int16_t y2, int16_t x3, int16_t y3,// uint16_t t)

This code sets the cursor position to of x and ytft.setTextColor(t); //setTextColor(uint16_t t)tft.setTextColor(t,b); //setTextColor(uint16_t t, uint16_t b)

Note: The following picture is the connection diagram of the 2.8-inch TFT screen and Arduino uno, but this product is connected in exactly the same way.

If the Arduino board has an ICSP interface, set the SPI Config switch on the display module to the ICSP direction (default) (the company"s Arduino UNO motherboard has an ICSP interface, just plug it in directly).

Unzip the compressed package, and then open the folder, then open the Arduino folder, you can see three project folders LCD_Show, LCD_ShowBMP, LCD_Touch.

LCD_Show is used to display some patterns of different color shapes and time, LCD_ShowBMP is used to display pictures in BMP format, LCD_Touch is used to use touch function.

The display controller used in this product is ILI9486, we need to initialize the controller through the SPI communication protocol, and the initialization functions are written in LCD_Driver.cpp

The function functions related to the screen display are written in LCD_GUI.cpp. The function of each function and the parameters passed are explained in the source code. You can call it directly when you need to use it.

Before using LCD_ShowBMP to display pictures, first copy the pictures in the PIC folder in the data to the root directory of the SD card (you should understand that in the root directory, that is to save the pictures directly to the SD card, do not put them in any subfolders folder).

These functions are all written in LCD_Bmp.cpp. In fact, the image data in BMP format with a specific file name is read from the SD card, and then the display function written by us is called to re-express the data as an image.

In fact, you can also use Image2Lcd image modulo software to convert images of different sizes and formats into array data, and then use the functions we wrote to display them.

Note: The following picture is the connection diagram of the 2.8-inch TFT screen and XNUCLEO-F103RB, but this product is connected in exactly the same way.

The demos are developed based on the HAL library. Download the program, find the STM32 program file directory, open STM32\XNUCLEO-F103RB\lcd3in5-demo\MDK-ARM\ lcd3in5-demo.uvprojx

After this demo runs, it first displays some characters and patterns, then displays four pictures, and finally displays the touch drawing board function. In fact, it is the integration of the three projects of the Arduino platform code into the main function. The functions are placed in order and TP_DrawBoard(); is placed in an infinite loop to achieve the above functions.

Before using LCD_ShowBMP to display pictures, first copy the pictures in the PIC folder in the data to the root directory of the SD card, and then insert the SD card into the SD card slot on the back of the screen to start the download program verification.

In fact, you can also use Image2Lcd image modulo software to convert images of different sizes and formats into array data, and then use the functions we wrote to display them.

This small 3.5-inch touch screen module is designed specially for Arduino UNO. This is ideal for DIY anywhere, anytime, and does not require any separate power source or case to hold it. The screen also comes with a stylus to interact with the small screen.

Now, I have bought 3.5" TFT LCD display for my Arduino Mega 2560 R3 to try whether I could run the screen or not, and it is not working now! I am so depressed and angry for these two"s misbehaviors. I have already checked website and a lot of Arduino IDE code examples and libraries such as UTFT.h, UTouch.h, UTFT_MEGA, UTFT_CTE, TFTLCD. I tried these and I can not run my 3.5" screen. Where am I faulty? There is something below the screen shield: www.mcufriend.com and 3.5" TFTLCD for Arduino 2560. Are there any basic code or have anyone tried to run Mcufriend"s displays correctly?

Displays are one of the best ways to provide feedback to users of a particular device or project and often the bigger the display, the better. For today’s tutorial, we will look on how to use the relatively big, low cost, ILI9481 based, 3.5″ Color TFT display with Arduino.

This 3.5″ color TFT display as mentioned above, is based on the ILI9481 TFT display driver. The module offers a resolution of 480×320 pixels and comes with an SD card slot through which an SD card loaded with graphics and UI can be attached to the display. The module is also pre-soldered with pins for easy mount (like a shield) on either of the Arduino Mega and Uno, which is nice since there are not many big TFT displays that work with the Arduino Uno.

The module is compatible with either of the Arduino Uno or the Arduino Mega, so feel free to choose between them or test with both. As usual, these components can be bought via the links attached to them.

One of the good things about this module is the ease with which it can be connected to either of the Arduino Mega or Uno. For this tutorial, we will use the Arduino Uno, since the module comes as a shield with pins soldered to match the Uno’s pinout. All we need to do is snap it onto the top of the Arduino Uno as shown in the image below, thus no wiring required.

This ease of using the module mentioned above is, however, one of the few downsides of the display. If we do not use the attached SD card slot, we will be left with 6 digital and one analog pin as the module use the majority of the Arduino pins. When we use the SD card part of the display, we will be left with just 2 digital and one analog pin which at times limits the kind of project in which we can use this display. This is one of the reasons while the compatibility of this display with the Arduino Mega is such a good news, as the “Mega” offers more digital and analog pins to work with, so when you need extra pins, and size is not an issue, use the Mega.

To easily write code to use this display, we will use the GFX and TFT LCD libraries from “Adafruit” which can be downloaded here. With the library installed we can easily navigate through the examples that come with it and upload them to our setup to see the display in action. By studying these examples, one could easily learn how to use this display. However, I have compiled some of the most important functions for the display of text and graphics into an Arduino sketch for the sake of this tutorial. The complete sketch is attached in a zip file under the download section of this tutorial.

As usual, we will do a quick run through of the code and we start by including the libraries which we will use for the project, in this case, the Adafruit GFX and TFT LCD libraries.

With this done, the Void Setup() function is next. We start the function by issuing atft.reset() command to reset the LCD to default configurations. Next, we specify the type of the LCD we are using via the LCD.begin function and set the rotation of the TFT as desired. We proceed to fill the screen with different colors and display different kind of text using diverse color (via the tft.SetTextColor() function) and font size (via the tft.setTextSize() function).

That’s it for this tutorial guys, thanks for reading. If you made some cool projects based on this or you just want to ask questions about this tutorial, feel free to reach out via the comment section below.

The TFT LCD Touch Screen Module for the Arduino is a version of a liquid crystal display(LCD) that uses thin film transistors(TFT) electronic that allows a user to create an interact-able interface between the user and the system. As the name may suggest, this screen module has the touch screen function.