Arduino + OLED screen display bitmap

original

There are already many projects using Arduino to drive a 0.96-inch OLED screen to display various information. If we need to drive OLED to display images, logos, etc. whatever we want, here is a simple and general method. You need to use Image2Cp, a tool for converting images to CPP code.

Component list

Arduino×1
0.96-inch OLED screen × 1
Dupont line × several

Screen wiring

Wiring is simple, requiring only 4 Dupont wires. Just connect the 4 pins of the screen and Arduino according to the table below.
Vcc-5V
Gnd – Gnd
SDA – SDA
SCL – SCL

Prepare the program framework

Open Arduino IDE
If this is the first time you use OLED, you need to install the code library through the sketch menu, include library, and manage library options. Search for libraries named SSD1306 and Adafruit GFX, download and install them through the library manager.

Create a code framework
Add 4 required libraries to the code. Wire, SPI, Adafruit GFX and Adafruit SSD1306.

1 2 3 4

#include #include #include #include

Define reset parameters.

1 2	#define OLED_RESET 4 Adafruit_SSD1306 display(OLED_RESET);

Then in the setup() function add

1	display.begin(SSD1306_SWITCHCAPVCC, 0x3c);

Where 0x3c is the I2C address of the OLED display. If you have multiple I2C devices, you can use an I2C scanner to find the I2C address of each device. The scanner can be downloaded from the project’s file library:
Arduino + OLED picture display – MAKE Fun Endless

Clear the screen with the code below.

1 2	display.clearDisplay(); delay(200);

In the loop() function, add the bitmap display code. where myBitmap is an array of bitmaps converted from images.

1	display.drawBitmap(0, 0, myBitmap, 128, 64, WHITE);

The first two parameters are the starting coordinates of the image, the 4th and 5th parameters are the length and width (pixels) of the image, and the last are the color parameters.
Then use the following command to display the image.

1	display.display();

Convert image to bitmap array

The last thing we need to do is make an array of bitmaps to replace myBitmap above. For this we need to convert the required image into bitmap or code. Use the image2cpp tool to convert an image into a bitmap array:
image2cpp

Select an image file to upload, then set the canvas size. Since we are using a resolution screen of 128X64 pixels, I set the canvas size to 128X64 pixels as well.

After that, depending on the background, there are 3 options to choose from. I’m going to use a black background, so I select black background and Invert image colors.

Another important parameter is scale, choose scale to fit, keeping proportions.

Now, in the preview box, check the results and adjust the brightness threshold to fine-tune the details. Then select the code output format as Arduino code and click Generate Code.

Complete the process

Place the program code converted in the above step above setup(). The complete code is as follows.

#include <SPI.h>
#include <Wire.h>
#include <Adafruit_GFX.h>
#include <Adafruit_SSD1306.h>
 
#define OLED_RESET 4
Adafruit_SSD1306 display(OLED_RESET);
 
// this is the bitmap, change this variable for your specification.
const unsigned char myBitmap [] PROGMEM =
 
{
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};
 
void setup()
{
  display.begin(SSD1306_SWITCHCAPVCC, 0x3C); // here the 0x3c is the I2C address, check your i2c address if u have multiple devices.
  display.clearDisplay();
  delay(2000);
}
 
void loop()
{
  display.drawBitmap(0, 0, myBitmap, 128, 64, WHITE);
  display.display();
}

After burning it into Arduino, you can see the screen display by powering on Arduino.

The code files used are downloaded in the project file library:
Arduino + OLED picture display – MAKE Fun Endless

If you have any questions or better ways to display images, please feel free to share.