[HN Gopher] XLights - open source light sequencer and show sched...
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XLights - open source light sequencer and show scheduler
Author : danboarder
Score : 76 points
Date : 2023-12-16 05:59 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (xlights.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (xlights.org)
| speps wrote:
| Neat! I recently stumbled upon the docs that support DMX in
| Unreal Engine 5 as well: https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.3/en-
| US/dmx-previs-sample-pr...
| asicsp wrote:
| Source code: https://github.com/smeighan/xlights
| spdustin wrote:
| Pretty much everyone running a Christmas light show on their
| house is sequencing it with this, and playing it back on a
| raspberry pi or beaglebone black, sending signals to a bunch of
| ESP32s to control their lights.
|
| And many of them buy their "shows" rather than sequencing their
| own with XLights.
| tootie wrote:
| I've not done home christmas lights, but have done some DIY
| lighting and I really liked the DMXKing devices. They are full-
| on XLR DMX light controllers, but they are controlled by USB so
| it's possible to just code them using JavaScript or Python or
| whatever. Just write commands to USB and you can control 1 or 2
| DMX universes per device.
| techplex wrote:
| The DIY Lighting community is quite impressive. Last year 938
| displays in 27 countries participated in a project called
| https://xlightsaroundtheworld.com/ where we all play the same
| song and sequence and a montage is created.
| https://xlightsaroundtheworld.com/category/all-projects/
| axiak wrote:
| I did a few things with xLights and it's a ton of work to do
| well.
|
| I've been wondering if with models such as AudioCraft from Meta,
| if we're getting to a point where sequencing with xLights could
| be automated?
| jroseattle wrote:
| I used to run a fairly good-sized light show, until it became too
| much work (job change, kids/family, etc.) xlights powered my
| shows and taught me a lot about the protocols and hardware and
| everything else that comes with it. It's amazingly good software
| with input from a lot of talented individuals.
| grawp wrote:
| Wake me up when it can do precise 400led 2D mapping under
| 10seconds and even not be picky about ambient lighting conditions
| at all like Twinky.
| igor47 wrote:
| I'm super curious about this. I recently tried a one day
| install with twinkly on a boat and the LEDs were too far away
| and moving too much to map with my phone. I was thinking about
| how I would do it differently, maybe with some manual work. Do
| you know any exciting open source work in the space?
| punkybr3wster wrote:
| What is the point of posts like this?
|
| What's stopping you from putting in the effort into an open
| source system so it can compete with a feature set of a closed
| source commercial product?
| loufe wrote:
| I completely agree. Whether grandparent meant it or not, that
| language gives an entitled vibe which doesn't fit for open
| source projects.
| janci wrote:
| So much this. It seems to detect any bright spots as LEDs. It
| should make a difference of the current frame with all-leds-off
| frame and then detect the LEDs.
| loufe wrote:
| Strong recommendation for Xlights, I used to program patterns for
| my dreamcoat.
|
| I started with a 3D scan of me wearing the costume using my
| wife's iPhone when the first version with LIDAR came out. After
| cleaning up the scan (iPhone 12 LIDAR wasn't the best quality) in
| Blender, I spent a good many hours in Xlights placing every
| single light at its correct 3D position using the imported mesh
| as a reference. Laborious work, but with all 1300-odd WS2811 LEDs
| mapped in all 3 axes, it makes for a pretty beautiful product.
|
| Using Xlights is great. For open source it's pretty smooth.
| There's a small learning curve for the technology, but making
| sequences a strong resemblance to video editing. The project has
| frequest updates, I haven't seen any project-breaking format
| changes in the 3.5 years I've used it, and it's clearly
| maintained by people who use it. Push new rendered sequences to
| my FPP-running raspi on the costume through wifi then editing the
| running playlist through a web interface on FPP on the laptop is
| a dream.
|
| If anyone's curious:
|
| FPP: https://github.com/FalconChristmas/fpp
|
| My dreamcoat sequenced to Holst's Jupiter:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWzdUJsAMa4&pp=ygUNbGVkIGRyZ...
|
| Timelapses of me making the costume:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PODWVIsqwwA&pp=ygUNbGVkIGRyZ...
| Gabrys1 wrote:
| What's Xlights? I found the website and your recommendation
| inspiring, but at the same I have no idea what this thing
| actually is...
| loufe wrote:
| Sorry if this is too verbose, but here's my attempt:
|
| XLights is nearly a one-stop-shop for your programmable LED
| lights. You map channels in the data streams you send to
| lights (handles many different data types), organize (for
| instance placing them in groups like left-arm in my case) and
| qualify them however you want (x,y,z position, etc.), and
| create "sequences" which are mappings in time of different
| pre-designed patterns to your previously configured model
| (for instance, a bar of light going left to right, a wavy
| undulating rainbow wave, etc.).
|
| With all that setup, you can render (compile to whatever data
| format the predetermined sequence of lights) you can play
| back on whatever device controls your lights.
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(page generated 2023-12-18 23:01 UTC)