How to make Custom Pixel Art with NO CODE on Any LED Grid - GlowBit Matrix With WLED & ESP32/ESP8266

WLED is the greatest way to add IoT connectivity to fully addressable LEDs Grids like the GlowBit Matrix 8x8 or NeoPixels Squares. Filled to the brim with customisable light shows, purpose build for grids, it is truly one of the best open-source projects ever conceived ✨🔮 Absolutely No Coding Required! Plus I show how to display custom Pixel Art With a Single Click for ANY Size Matrix!

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To be clear, this guide will be all about controlling any Fully Addressable LED Grid or Matrix, in any size or shape, using any Espressif ESP32 or ESP8266 Development Board. These developer boards are the best way to get WiFi connectivity into any project. Your mobile phone or computer will then be able to tell the LED Nodes exactly what to do wirelessly. All through the local WIFI! This is all possible by WLED, one of the best open-source projects ever conceived.

Nothing beats bright shiny colourful lights and adding an extra dimension only makes them better.  This guide demonstrates the fastest and most customizable way to have WS2812B grids of fully addressable LED Nodes come alive. Exactly how you want. Even better, because as we are using WLED, there will be absolutely No Code Required. GlowBit Matrix 8x8 are fully addressable LED grids literally purpose-built for this task, built in-house, Australian-made, and this guide will use them extensively.

Know that WLED will work even if you built a Square or Rectangle shape from any WS2812B Strips or Any Other Fully Addressable LED Nodes. This guide will also make it clear how to inject extra power into a LED Light system. That way you can feel confident in lightning more than 30 LED Nodes. This guide will demonstrate how to set up WLED on a Single Glowbit Matrix 8X8 (that is 64 unique LED nodes) and provide all the tools to take it to the next level with a 3X3 GlowBit Matrix 8x8 Grid (that is 9 GlowBit Matrix components put together, totaling 576 LED Nodes)! There are even tips to make your system portable and sound reactive (check full article for more). Long Live Pusheen!

Core Electronics is located in the heart of Newcastle, Australia. We're powered by makers, for makers. Drop by if you are looking for:

0:00 Intro
0:49 Guide Overview
2:05 What You Need
2:50 Hardware Build
4:10 Software Set Up
4:46 WLED Set Up for 2D Matrix
5:14 First Success!
4:25 Not Getting Light? Do This
4:46 First Success!
5:35 More LEDs More Better
6:04 *Brenton Soldered (Thank You Mate)
6:10 Completed Build
6:22 BIG Success!
6:39 Custom Pixel Art How To
6:47 Whoops I Must've Bumped It
7:07 First Set WLED to Solid Colour
7:49 Completed Wizard Settings
8:30 Pixel Art Success!
8:49 Check Out That ART!
6:35 Creating a Custom Light Show
9:01 Make WLED Portable!
9:52 Outro

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"Core Electronics" and the Core Electronics logo
"Makerverse" and the Makerverse logo
"PiicoDev" and the PiicoDev logo
"GlowBit" and the GlowBit logo

[hwerkstrom]

Cool vid. FYI PixelArtConverter fully integrated with WLED code and will be generally available in next release.

[tyrush]

I’ve literally never seen this channel but somehow I was one of the first to find this video, youtube just knew this is EXACTLY what I was looking for. God bless you.

[MiVoodoo]

What a great channel. My son is now looking to making one, thanks for the inspiration. My son said he liked your cat pixel image.

[chrisbbc]

That sweater is FIRE, especially when you had the matrix match it 4:14

[Techno-eh]

Thanks your video is rich as all lasts

[Can_I_Have_A_Go]

Glad I made you aware of this and knew you'd make a video on it

[i-changeus]

Hi, great content, and really helpful to do this stuff! We are just getting into a WS2812. Small suggestion, it might help if you show the product, wiring and interface much more (than just seeing you talk) I think it's great to show yourself during the into, and end, etc, but for tech videos, it helps to see visuals that aid the discussion, even if they are not changing ever 2 seconds, because this is hard to learn all this!

[wildfox]

8:25 I didin't tried it yet myself but i believe that You can also copy the generated text and paste in as new preset in WLED controller so You can store multiple the pixel arts inside the controller.

Edit: Ok, I tried it but it looks like there's not enough memory per preset or something to remember all 256 pixels in it. But I found the go-around: I Created 2 presets: one with leds from 0 to 128, and second from 128 to 256. Then I created a playlist with short duration and transition times and with "repeat indefinitely" box unchecked. Now i can set certain pixelart by one click on certain preset playlist. Oh and you should use DEC as Color code format while generating the code, Hex for some reason didn't work for me.

Edit2: Simple Pixel Arts can "fit" in only one preset, and by creating playlist of different frames we can also create a simple custom animations inside WLED controller.

[daiduong]

thank you for sharing. I have a question: can I save that image on wled?

[jakemccoy]

Can I connect 2 led panels together in different frames and have them as 2 separate segments in wled?

[nika]

Im a little confused about the battery powered system.
Does it have 5V on the output pins? And how many LEDs can it power since they don't have a dedicated power supply?

[joaooliveira]

Hi nice tutorial.
Do you know a way to add animated gifs?

[aktoyourface]

The David Attenborough of the led World

[zarakikenpachi]

It is possible to make it portable by setting a built in power system like a battery setup, and skip the power cables?

[taranagnew]

can you do this with a nodeMCU and a 32x32 led matrix?

[TheTechRandom]

Awesome explanation! I just finished building a massive LED wall on my channel and I keep getting comments suggesting WLED. My setup is four seperate matrices made with ws2812b strips, each controlled by its own esp8266. I'm going to try this out and see if it's a better solution than my scuffed web socket server.

[fartovyi_exe]

Hello!
Is there a converter for converting gif images?

[volkinaxe]

is there something like this for hub 75 led i have had no luck with programing
them

[rnfvfob]

got any advice on how to make a scrolling led "sign" ? im thinking of using this to make a custom scrolling led sign for my car to put around it at a car show. i havent seen anyone do something like that and i think it'd get a lot of attention.

[ianacoustic]

hello sir can i request?please create a tutorial about how to set time and date using the buttons please help me im a student thankyouu