Best practise to get xLights model to line up with physical lights

[gholm]

Hi all
I have 2x strings of 1000x LEDs ( WS2812 at 5v) that run around the edge of my house, and I'm using a Raspberry Pi to drive them directly (via 3.3v to 5v convertor).

I built the models and sequences in xLights, and myu LEDs play just as I expect whenever a sequence is rendered as Layer Settings / Single Line, but for the life of me, I can't line up my software model with the lights on the house in order to use Layer Settings / Per Preview.


What is best practise to get each corner of my house EXACTLY as the xLight model??
I've marked up the Preview window to show the corners I want to specify EXACTLY which LED should be there.


How can I do that?

 

[Skymaster]

XLights renders in 2D, in other words, as if you're always viewing it perpendicular to the front.

Any photo you take of your house is from a point with angular perspective. The same as your eyes viewing it.
So the way you line up your props on the screen to match a photo will never be 100%

The best thing you do is create a sequence that runs a bars effect, say RGB, both horizontally and vertically, and from any viewing perspective, check the assignment and adjust the props on screen as appropriate.

 

[Indigogyre]

So, you have 2 1000 pixel lengths of ws2812 strips? Strings and strips are two different things. Like anything you need to count the different segments and assign the proper number of led segments. Normally ws2812 have 3 led pixels per control chip. It would have been better if you used the Layout window to show what you want because it is going to all come down to how you designed everything in the layout.

Did you use a single strand to do everything? Did you use multiple single strands or a polyline with segments?

Also, you will only be able to render sequences at 20 frames per second due to the number of pixels per string.

 

[Skymaster]

Normally ws2812 have 3 led pixels per control chip.

That'd be 12V strip running WS2811.

WS2812 is 5V, with the chip built into the LED, so airways a 1:1 mapping between Pixels and LEDs

 

[gholm]

Theses are definitely WS2812 chips. and yep, 20fps is the limit.
I have 2 strings of 1000 pixels each, one string for the left and one for right of the house.
In the xLights layout each string is setup as a polyline in the layout window. The screen shot I showed above is a screenshot of the Layout window.

I"ll try using a Bars effect, up/down, and left/right to see if I can identify what's going wrong.

What would be good (I'm just spit-balling here) is to have a Mode where I could roll my mouse wheel (or use Left/Right arrows) to move a red/blue/green/white signal from one pixel to the next all along the string, up and down the string.
Then I could sit outside with my laptop and interactively discover where my Layout corners are on the House.

 

[Skymaster]

What would be good (I'm just spit-balling here) is to have a Mode where I could roll my mouse wheel (or use Left/Right arrows) to move a red/blue/green/white signal from one pixel to the next all along the string, up and down the string.
Then I could sit outside with my laptop and interactively discover where my Layout corners are on the House.

Within xLights - goto Tools -> Test
Then go to Controllers tab
Open up your Controller, then the First Pixel Port
You will see your PolyLine model
Open that up, and you'll see the individual nodes
As you select them, they will light up in turn.


For example, here is going down to the individual nodes of my Left Bedroom Window model:

 

[Indigogyre]

That'd be 12V strip running WS2811.

WS2812 is 5V, with the chip built into the LED, so airways a 1:1 mapping between Pixels and LEDs

Oops, this is what happens when you respond before coffee in the morning. Thanks for the catch.

 

[gholm]

Within xLights - goto Tools -> Test
Then go to Controllers tab
Open up your Controller, then the First Pixel Port
You will see your PolyLine model
Open that up, and you'll see the individual nodes
As you select them, they will light up in turn.


For example, here is going down to the individual nodes of my Left Bedroom Window model:
View attachment 24734

Oh THIS! thank you! Will try this tonight

 

[MikeKrebs]

I think part of your question is can you tell xLights how many pixels per segment when using polyline. Yes, you can. Select the polyline and look for Indiv Segments. Click the checkbox. Now you get the pixel count for each segment. Adjust to match your layout.