Your Pixel Store

Ocular Vox

Animatronic Skull Controller

User Manual • Firmware v1.2 • ocularvox.com • Your Pixel Store

Contents

1. Hardware Setup

LCD Eye Displays

Connect the two round LCD displays using the FPC ribbon cables. The connectors are on the top edge of the board, labeled LEFT EYE and RIGHT EYE.

Board connectors (LEFT EYE / RIGHT EYE) — flip-type latch, lift to open

LCD connector — slide-type latch, pull back to open

Speaker (Optional)

Connect a 4Ω 3W speaker to the screw terminals labeled SPKR. Polarity matters — + and − are labeled on the terminal. You can also use the line-level audio output to feed powered speakers or an external amp.

SPKR screw terminals — observe + and − polarity markings

The onboard DAC is surprisingly good. You'll hear it.

Jaw Servo

Standard 50Hz hobby servo. Plug into the 3-pin vertical SERVO header. The connector is oriented with GND on top, +5V in the middle, and SIG on the bottom. Black or brown wire goes on the top pin (GND).

SERVO header — GND (top), +5V (mid), SIG (bottom)

Mounting

The board has a 40mm × 40mm mounting hole pattern using M3 screws. This is a standard spacing compatible with common prop mounting brackets and 3D-printable mounts available at ocularvox.com/resources.

Connector Reference

2. MicroSD Card & Audio Files

Card Requirements

• Format: FAT32 (exFAT and NTFS are not supported)
• Size: Up to 32GB. Cards over 32GB may need manual FAT32 formatting.
• Speed: Class 10 or better recommended

Audio Format

All audio files must be 16-bit PCM WAV format. We recommend 44.1kHz, Stereo for best results. Other formats (MP3, 24-bit, compressed) are not supported.

If your tracks don't play, the answer is almost always "it's not 16-bit PCM WAV." Every time.

Folder Structure

3. Power

The Ocular Vox has two power inputs:

4. Menu System

Controls

Full Menu Reference

5. Eyes

The Ocular Vox drives two round 240×240 GC9A01 LCD displays. Depending on the model, the displays may include precision-cut glass lenses optically fused for a seamless finish, or standard bare LCDs.

Built-In Eye Styles

The firmware includes 9 built-in eye styles stored in flash memory. They load instantly and are always available, no MicroSD needed. These include human, demon, reptile, alien, and more.

Flip & Swap

Depending on how the LCDs are physically mounted in your skull, the eyes might appear upside down or swapped left/right. Instead of rewiring:

• Flip L / Flip R — rotates individual displays 180°
• Swap Eyes — swaps which display gets the left vs. right eye image

Changes preview live as you toggle them. No need to save and restart.

6. Audio & Jaw Servo

Triggered Playback

WAV files in the /audio/ folder are your triggered voice tracks. When the skull is triggered (by the trigger input, AutoPlay, or Browse Audio), it plays the next track in sequence (or a random one if Shuffle is on).

Background Audio

Enable BG Audio in the Audio menu to play ambient loops from the /ambient/ folder. If you have multiple files in the folder, they play sequentially and loop back to the first when they reach the end. The jaw does not sync to ambient audio — it's background atmosphere, not speech.

Volume Controls

There are two independent volume controls:

• Voice Vol — controls triggered WAV track volume
• BG Vol — controls ambient audio + line-in passthrough volume

The encoder knob adjusts volume from the idle screen. During triggered playback it adjusts Voice Vol. At all other times it adjusts BG Vol. A popup shows which one you're changing.

They don't cross. Voice Vol won't turn down your ambient, and BG Vol won't touch your triggers. We thought about it for like five whole minutes.

Jaw Servo Setup

On first boot, the jaw servo is disabled. This is intentional — nobody wants a servo flailing around before limits are set.

1. Go to Menu › Jaw
2. Set Jaw Open to the position where the jaw is fully open (live preview — the servo moves as you adjust)
3. Set Jaw Close to the resting closed position
4. Optionally adjust Exaggeration
5. Save & Exit

How Jaw Sync Works

The Ocular Vox performs real-time FFT analysis on the audio output, measuring energy in the vocal frequency range. This energy level drives the servo position between your open and close limits. The result is realistic lip-sync with zero programming — as long as you feed it clean vocal tracks.

Exaggeration

The Exaggeration setting (100–200%) scales the vocal energy before mapping it to servo position. At 100%, the jaw moves proportionally to the audio. Crank it up toward 200% for more dramatic movement, especially useful for quieter tracks where the jaw might otherwise barely move.

200% exaggeration on a whispery ghost track is chef’s kiss.

7. Trigger Input

Wiring

The trigger terminal has three pins:

Basic Wiring (buttons & simple sensors)

Wire your button or contact closure between pin 1 (GND) and pin 3 (IN). When the circuit closes, the IN pin is pulled to ground and the skull triggers. That's it — two wires.

TRIG header — pin 1 (GND) on left, pin 3 (IN) on right. Basic sensors wire between pin 1 and pin 3.

Powered Sensors (PIR, etc.)

Pin 2 provides +5V as a convenience output for sensors that need power, like PIR motion detectors. Connect the sensor's power to pin 2, ground to pin 1, and signal output to pin 3.

Compatible Sensors

• PIR motion sensors
• Push buttons / momentary switches
• Relay contacts
• Prop controllers (PicoBoo, etc.)

Cooldown

After a triggered track finishes playing, a cooldown timer prevents re-triggering. The default is 30 seconds. Adjust in the menu from 5 to 120 seconds. The cooldown starts when the audio finishes, not when the trigger fires.

8. Line-In Audio

The 3.5mm audio input accepts line-level audio from external sources. This audio is passed through to the speaker and also drives the jaw servo — perfect for live puppeteering.

Compatible Sources

• Phone or tablet (headphone jack or USB-C adapter)
• MP3 player or other audio device
• Raspberry Pi or computer audio output
• Microphone with inline preamp (for live puppeteering)

Microphone Note

The input is line-level only. Passive electret microphones (most cheap 3.5mm mics) will produce no sound — the board doesn't provide bias voltage. Use a self-powered microphone, a dynamic microphone, or add an inline battery-powered preamp.

How It Works

• Line-in passthrough is active when BG Audio is OFF. When BG Audio is ON, the board plays WAV files from /ambient/ instead.
• Line-in volume is controlled by BG Vol.
• The jaw servo syncs to line-in audio just like triggered tracks — real-time FFT lip sync.
• During triggered WAV playback, line-in is temporarily muted. It resumes automatically when the track ends.

9. Custom Eyes

Eye Creator Tool

Design your own eye textures using our free online tool at ocularvox.com/eyes. No account required, no software to install. Everything runs in your browser.

You can:

• Generate sclera (whites) with customizable veins, colors, and bruising
• Generate iris textures with different patterns, colors, and limbal rings
• Upload your own images (photos, AI-generated art, etc.)
• Choose pupil shape (round, vertical slit, horizontal slit)
• Download the finished eye as a .eye file

Installing Custom Eyes

1. Download the .eye file from the Eye Creator
2. Copy it to the /eyes/ folder on your MicroSD card
3. Insert the card and power on (or reset the board)
4. Go to Menu › Eyes › Eye Style and scroll to your custom eye
5. Save & Exit

Custom eyes are scanned at boot and appear in the eye selection menu alongside the built-in styles.

10. Firmware Updates

1. Download the latest .uf2 firmware file from ocularvox.com/resources
2. While the board is powered off, hold down the USB_BOOT button on the RP2040
3. While holding USB_BOOT, connect USB-C to your computer
4. A drive called RPI-RP2 will appear on your computer
5. Drag and drop the .uf2 file onto that drive
6. The board will reboot automatically with the new firmware

11. Troubleshooting

If all else fails, try turning it off and on again. It’s a cliché for a reason.

12. Specifications