Features

Pixel LED Studio Pro is a desktop application for creating animated LED light shows. Design physical LED layouts, sequence effects on a timeline, and export to MP4, AVI, or XDAT for LEDEdit compilation.

LED Layout Creator

Create and manage physical LED layouts on a virtual canvas. Every LED is represented as a positioned dot with port assignment and wiring order.

Canvas & Dimensions

• Physical canvas in millimeters (default 1000×1000mm, adjustable from 10×10 to 50000×50000)
• Grid snap from 0.1mm to 500mm
• Adjustable LED dot diameter and label height
• Background reference image with opacity/scale/offset/mirror/lock controls

Port Management

• Up to 64 ports, 1024 LEDs per port
• Port color coding — each port assigned a distinct color
• Active port selector — new LEDs are added to the active port
• Port table with color swatch, port number, max LEDs, used count
• Right-click port context menu: Set Active, Move LEDs To Another Port, Move + Delete, Reindex, Delete
• Validation with visual feedback — LEDs colored green (OK), orange (warnings), red (errors)

Tool Modes (7 modes)

• Select (S key) — Click, multi-select, group drag with collision detection
• Add LED — Place individual LEDs with snap-to-grid
• Draw LEDs (P key) — Continuous click-drag painting with configurable minimum spacing and ghost cursor preview
• Delete LED (Del key) — Click or drag to delete
• Connect — Click two LEDs to create a wiring connection; chains enforce max degree-2
• Erase Connection — Click a connection line to remove it
• Pattern Builder — Opens a dialog to configure grid patterns, then stamps them onto the canvas

Pattern Builder

• Rows and columns (1–512)
• Horizontal and vertical spacing
• 4 routing options: Rows Serpentine, Columns Serpentine, Rows Linear, Columns Linear
• 4 start corners: Top-Left, Top-Right, Bottom-Left, Bottom-Right
• 3 insert modes: Just LEDs (no port), Add to current port, Create new port

Grid Fill Wizard Quick dialog-based fill: specify columns, rows, spacing, and start position to generate a grid.

Wiring Modes (5 modes)

• Manual — Full control, draw connections one by one
• Serpentine Z — Row-by-row zigzag
• Serpentine S — Column-by-column zigzag
• Linear L-R — Left-to-right, row by row
• Linear T-B — Top-to-bottom, column by column
• Auto-wiring: new LEDs auto-connect in index order when auto mode is enabled

LED Operations

• Copy (Ctrl+C), Paste (Ctrl+V), Duplicate (Ctrl+D), Cut (Ctrl+X)
• Nudge with arrow keys or WASD (Shift = 5× snap distance)
• Context menu: Change Port, Set Index, Auto-Connect Selected
• Bidirectional selection sync with LED table
• Full undo/redo for all operations

Validation

• Per-LED validation: checks for port overflow, duplicate indices, missing connections, gap detection
• Status bar shows LED count, ports used, validation state, connection count
• Fix Wiring Gaps: reindexes consecutively, optionally regenerates manual connections

Import & Export

• Import DXF — CIRCLE entities on layer “LEDS” become LED positions; LINE entities on layer “WIRES” become connections; handles European comma-decimal format
• Export DXF — Layout to AutoCAD-compatible DXF
• Export PNG, BMP, CSV — Layout documentation
• LEDEdit Export — Push/pull to main app LED mapper for preview and video export

Effects Engine — Curated Effects

All effects render per-LED in real time. Organized into 13 categories:

Per-Effect Controls

• Each effect has dedicated parameters: speed, intensity, direction, scale, tail length, color count, and more
• Real-time parameter adjustment — see changes instantly in the preview
• Colormap selection from built-in color palettes (gradient palettes)

Timeline Editor

Sequence your LED shows on a multi-track timeline.

Clip Types (4 types)

• Video clips — Import MP4, AVI, MOV, and other formats
• Image clips — PNG, JPG, GIF, SVG with 22 animation types (pan, zoom, fade, bounce, etc.)
• Text clips — Scroll, fade, typewriter animations with font/size/color controls
• Effect clips — Choose from the current curated LED effect catalog with full parameter control

Timeline Features

• Multi-scene with tabbed navigation
• Drag-drop clip repositioning and edge-drag trimming
• Snap-to-grid with configurable snap step (1.0s, 0.5s, 0.25s, 0.1s)
• Rulers and markers for precise timing
• Timeline zoom slider with presets (45/90/135/180 px/s, Fit, Custom)
• Clip table view for spreadsheet-style editing with ID, Layer, Type, Start, Duration, Effect, Path columns
• Right-click context menu on clips: edit, delete, duplicate, change layer, transform
• Copy, paste, duplicate, split clip operations
• Multi-layer support with per-layer compositing

Canvas Drawing Tools

Edit per-layer content directly on the canvas.

5 Drawing Tools

• Select (V) — Move and transform canvas content
• Pen (B) — Freehand drawing with adjustable brush size and alpha
• Eraser (E) — Erase with adjustable brush size
• Rectangle (R) — Draw filled rectangles
• Ellipse (C) — Draw filled ellipses

Canvas Controls

• Zoom slider and preset: fit width, fit height, actual size
• Brush size slider
• Brush alpha (opacity) slider
• Grid snap toggle and snap step selector

Mask Layers

Control per-layer LED visibility with drawing tools.

• Pen, eraser, rectangle, ellipse, polygon drawing tools
• Reference modes: greyscale, high-contrast, ghost (semi-transparent overlay)
• Layer color, opacity, visibility controls
• Merge layers, brush size adjustment
• Warning badges when layers have clips but empty masks
• LED preview overlay — see live LED layout overlaid on canvas content

LED Preview

See how your content maps to the real LED installation in real time.

• Load .rllayout layout files for LED position mapping
• Normal preview — canvas content with LED positions overlaid
• LED-only view — displays only what LEDs will show
• Brightness control slider
• Auto-detect red LED dots from reference image
• Dark/light background toggle for mask preview

AI Timeline

Generate timeline sequences from natural language descriptions.

• LLM-powered planning (OpenAI-compatible API: DeepSeek, Claude, Gemini, GPT-5, etc.)
• Create new timeline, extend existing, or replace layer
• Preview generated plan before applying
• AI colormap generation — describe colors and get matching palettes

Auto Animate — Generate clip sequences with 8 animation styles:

• Cascade, Blink, PingPong, Wave, Random Stagger, Alternating, Stack Build, Burst
• Configurable interval, duration, count, style, and repeat
• Background-thread generation, AI-powered variant available

Export Formats

Export your sequence for LEDEdit compilation or archival:

Export settings: resolution, frame rate, codec, quality. Progress dialog with estimated time.

Palette Editor

Create and manage gradient color palettes.

• Gradient editor with draggable color stops
• Add, reverse, invert, double palette operations
• Color picker for each stop
• Palette length control
• built-in color palettes included

Asset Management

Built-in asset browser for effects, shapes, and colormaps.

• Project-local asset collection — media files stored inside the project directory
• Category tree: video, image, audio, other
• Import, Refresh, Collect (copy external media into project), Open Folder
• Drag-and-drop assets to timeline
• Built-in asset store: effect previews, SVG shape library, colormap browser

Project Bundle System

Every project is a self-contained directory:

data/projects/<Project Name>/
  project.rlmproj      # Project file (JSON)
  assets/               # Imported video/image/source media
  exports/              # Rendered handoff files
  led_mapping/          # LED layout files (.rllayout)
  previews/             # Cached preview frames

• Open any project, tweak content, re-export in seconds
• Auto-backup on save
• Versioned project format
• Unsaved changes indicator with asterisk in title bar
• Configurable autosave timer

Settings & Customization

• Themes: Light and Dark
• Export profiles: Configure default format, codec, resolution, frame rate
• Default FPS: 10–60 FPS
• AI API configuration: API key, model selection, endpoint URL
• Data root path: Choose where projects are stored
• Autosave: Toggle on/off, configurable interval
• Timeline defaults: Default duration, clip spacing

Production Workflow Details

Pixel LED Studio Pro is designed around the work that usually happens before controller compilation:

• Import or draw the installation layout.
• Assign ports and confirm wiring order.
• Collect source media into the project folder.
• Build reusable scenes and layer-based timelines.
• Preview the result on mapped LEDs.
• Export the right intermediate file for LEDEdit.

Technical

• OS: Windows 10 and 11 (x86_64)
• Project format: .rlmproj (JSON)
• Layout format: .rllayout (JSON)
• License: Monthly or yearly license, email support