Hi! I thought I’d let people know that there’s an App available that was designed to be used with the PB controller. It’s searchable as “Pixel Lights” in the Google & Apple App stores. This is our first version and it was made for 1D applications ie: permanent holiday lights, but I think it’s pretty handy.
Check it out, and if you have any feedback or suggestions for future versions I’d love to hear them! Big shoutout and thanks to Ben!
@mneilsen, this is excellent!
I just downloaded the Android version, will give IOS a spin later. First impressions:
Thanks for the feedback @zranger1!
Yes, we plan to make it so you are able to choose between different controllers when choosing a pattern. It works for now, but it will come in handy when users have different areas where they want different patterns. Such as house vs. garage, or later on when we release double sided lights for trees.
The live preview is pretty sweet, it’s a quick way to visualize what the pattern will look like on your house before applying it. The plan is to allow for the user to use a picture of their own house in the future.
Hi @zranger1 ,
Just a quick clarification, there’s no switching between different PBs right now, the app works on all Pixelblaze controllers it sees. The list in settings only links out to it’s page for advanced configuration.
That’s good to know this part wasn’t intuitive, and that the UX doesn’t really tell you that.
It works more or less like Firestorm, applying a pattern changes all PBs with that pattern, matching by name.
Likewise, brightness control and auto on/off controll all controllers at the same time.
Ah, that explains some strange behaviors that I just wrote off to it wrestling with my home automation software! It’s the right choice, given the target audience.
Eventually, I’d like to see the ability to not only work with individual Pixelblazes, but to edit,save, and recall “Scenes”, which would hold individual state information for each Pixelblaze.
This would make it easy to switch multiple Pixelblazes between different pattern sets when they’re doing different jobs - like holiday lights on one PB, landscape on another, and pathway lighting on yet another.
All the big home automation platforms do this sort of thing pretty well, but it’d be great to have it in a single, simple app too, for people who don’t want or need the complexity of a full HA system.
This app is EVERYTHING I’ve been hoping for! I was at EDC with our group running a dozen pixelblazes in our costumes. Incorporated a raspberry pi running firestorm and a WiFi AP. Very hard to toggle between it all. This app will streamline everything. And allow others to control!!
Can this app be modified to run the firestorm “sync pulse”? Is there a way I can donate or help? I suck at programming.
Hi @jetic16 ,
Thanks for the comment! I’ve only used Firestorm a little bit, so I don’t know much about the “sync pulse” pattern. As far as help, just test it out and let me know how it goes. I’m just happy to get feedback and if you make any 1D patterns, I’d love to check them out.
Is this app geo restricted? It doesn’t appear in the google android store (Australia). My phone is running Android v10 if it’s version restricted.
Hi @BarryH, I just added Australia. Let me know if it shows up in the store.
Love it, works great and is exactly what I needed. It is faster and more reliable on my phone for doing quick changes when outside vs coding inside. Looking forward to future updates, especially the custom preview. Thanks again and great work.
Wow this is fantastic and exactly what I was looking for! My only feedback so far is that however your meta data is set up in the Apple App store makes you a little hard to find. Searching “pixel light” for example does not find you, you have to search exactly “pixel lights”. And if you’re looking for more traffic I’d add “pixel blaze” to your search terms as well, as that’s what PB users are naturally going to search for unless they know your app’s name already.
If you have a Patreon or some other way to accept donations, you should share it (in the app, or here if allowed). I’m sure I’m not the only one who be willing to chip in to support future development. Awesome work!
Thanks @ironhalo, I’m happy to hear you like it! Yes, I went through store and that’s something I overlooked. I’ll update that with the next version release.
I appreciate the offer, but we’ll just keep it free. Feedback is really appreciated and if you make any 1D patterns that look cool, I’d love to check them out.
I just noticed that the current version of the app doesn’t recognize the Pixelblaze toggle switch UI elements in my patterns. Is this something you plan to add soon? Thanks!
Hi ironhalo, I’ve been doing the app updates as of recently. I was not aware that this was not in the app yet, I’ll add it in the next update! Thanks for the feedback.
@evanjsaun ,
See the 3.24 release for all the new controls: V3.24 Release - 2D/3D previews, more controls, backup + restore tool, low power options, and more!
Did the app get taken down? Pixel lights brings up some other propriety holiday lighting app in the google play store.
I think it’s only in some regions, doesn’t show up in the play store here in New Zealand either.
I just made some changes to add more countries. You should be able to find it by searching “Pixel Lights”. For the next update, I’m going to make it easier to find in the stores.
I’m curious to why no one have linked the google play page here like so:
This is it?
You bet, thanks @Pixelplanetarorcus!