Raspberry Pi GIF Player
This Raspberry Pi script makes it easy to play GIFs on an 32x32 RGB matrix.
On some level, you probably understand that a Raspberry Pi can control an RGB matrix, pushing out still or moving images. If you’d like to have your Pi play GIFs without having to go through a lot of “yak shaving,” then this script by DIYCharles may be the perfect solution.
To set things up, you’ll need to enter a variety of text commands, installing Pillow, and downloading the required repository. Once in place, you can then run a test that shows a rotating block on a 32x32 matrix, using the Adafruit RGB Matrix HAT + RTC.
From there you can upload GIFs to the proper directory, and edit the script to reflect the number of image files. Ideally, GIFs uses will be 32x32, but larger sizes can also be used if you’re willing to wait.
The system can conveniently be configured remotely via SSH, so if you’ve got your Pi/GIF display in some sort of display without a monitor connected, you can change things around at will. For that matter, one could potentially build on the setup to respond to stimulus like a PIR sensor, or even the time of day. Given the HAT’s built-in RTC capabilities, timekeeping functions seem like an ideal usage of this hardware.
More discussion and ideas for the project are found on Reddit.