Sending Pixelblaze commands from a laptop

Ideas and Tips
1

Hi Wizards!

I recently got a bunch of Pixelblazes for my LED strips. I have them working well individually, but don’t understand how to send them lighting commands from a desktop. I want to use software like Resolume Avenue or Lightkey to control them.

I can output light values in various means like Art-Net, SACN, my enttec controller, etc, but how does that get to each Pixelblaze? Do I need a RPI or something running software to translate things or can I just send directly from a lighting software somehow??

Thank you much for any advice

2

Pixelblaze is not a DMX device, so you can’t send DMX commands to it directly.

You’d have to write a DMX interface for it, running on something like a Pi.

You could implement this using the websockets interface, and a specific pattern for DMX control.

I’m not saying this would be easy though.

3

Actually our resident wizard @zranger1 did a Artnet/sACN/e1.31 proxy
pattern/code

That said, at that rate, you might as well use a WLED flashed esp8266 or ESP32 (or other e.131 aware controller/firmware) You’re basically neutering all of the goodness of PB and making it into a pure pixel pusher for some other software, which yes it can do thanks to Zranger but not as efficiently as a dedicated solution for that task. (You’re running what is essentially an emulator of e131 via a python proxy which then is passing data via websocket to JSish code listening on top of PB’s own engine. A direct e131 listener written in esp code is going to be faster and cleaner.) [Corrected cause I forgot it’s a proxy, so it requires a Python running PC too]

Don’t get me wrong, LedFx and lots of other software that speaks e131 are awesome. But you’re basically turning your PB from a screwdriver into a hammer.

1 Like
4

Thank you both for the replies… I just learned a lot from your posts… I was not familiar with esp32’s, so am looking into this.

Regarding the relaying of signals, I regularly use nodered (nodered.org) on a Pi which has lots of options for translating things from DMX and routing via websockets…

I’ll report back if I get something working :slight_smile:

1 Like
5

If you run the proxy on your pi, you should be golden. Not saying you should replace the PBs with other esp32s, btw. Just that if you really solely want to use any e1.31 compatible software, other controllers would be more plug and play for this, not require a proxy, and run “natively”. Zranger’s code is an amazing hack, but it takes a system specially designed for amazing local pixel programming with a web UI interface and JS like code (the screwdriver) and gives it the ability to just listen for incoming [proxied] data [via websocket] and push it out to the pixels (the hammer]

1 Like
6

Replying here, rather than the other thread, as that thread is really about the proxy. This is about alternative controllers that are “better” e131 receivers.

I’d recommend the Dig-Uno or Dig-Quad (which both runs WLED, or anything else you want)
But there has been delays on getting any of those lately. See https://youtu.be/2iAbZfxvrfw

While you could reflash the PB, you’re going to be “blazing” your own path, and honestly using a controller with wide support is more desirable. (Nothing comes close to Ben’s Pico PB, or frankly even the size of the normal PB, but then again, more components means more circuitry for good reasons.)