Learn about lasers, GIFs and LEDs at these Hive76 workshops

If your New Year’s resolution involves learning about lasers, GIFs and LED lights, kooky makerspace Hive 76 has you covered.

Throughout January, the makers of that giant Connect Four machine and the character known as HiveLord have a pretty cool lineup of workshops set up. All classes will take place at Hive76’s space in the Bok building.

• Make your own GIFs 

Talk about a pitch: “Learn about the anatomy of GIF encoding, be introduced to the spiritual ancestors of GIF technology, and discover the GIF’s place in art and pop culture.” We’re down. On Jan. 12 and 19, instructor Erin Franke will deliver this crash course on GIFology using an open-source image editor called GIMP. (Message to our GIF-loving Brooklyn reporter Tyler Woods: c’mon down.)

• Laser-cut your own trinkets

On Feb. 2, join laser-cutter wiz Chris Thompson for a class on design and operation of the Hive’s CO2 laser cutter.

• Program and control LED lights

Learn about RGB LED’s (aka NeoPixels) and how to use a microcontroller to program them with the help of instructor Matt Yarema.  NeoPixels and microcontrollers are included, just bring a laptop.