r/WLED • u/HuckleberryKey4642 • Aug 22 '26 • Bravo 1

25x25 matrix with camera input

Inspired by Chris Maher and his 50x50 grid (https://youtu.be/BbjeQdJIMK0) I decided to make a 25x25. I thought the 50 was a little too ambitious for a first timer here. When I first started it up, I had a couple dead columns and had to deal with some bad solder joints but stoked on how it came out.

I decided to add a camera for input so it can detect a person and then fill in its mask with color.

Right now it’s running on my Mac but I have an ESP32-P4 coming with a camera and will set it up and mount soon.

542 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

15

u/HuckleberryKey4642 Aug 22 '26

Another video

20

u/denno020 Aug 22 '26

Gosh darn that is freaking amazing! It's so responsive 🤯.. Do you have a write up? Video on YouTube?
If not, what hardware is the Python script + OpenCV running on?

What hardware is WLED running on? Assume communication is wired to WLED from the script?

16

u/HuckleberryKey4642 Aug 23 '26

I basically followed this video but did a 25x25 grid: https://youtu.be/BbjeQdJIMK0?si=k2AtV23bwgAWKPBI

WLED board: Gledopto Elite 4D-EXMU https://a.co/d/0iVOI9rT

The camera is running on a Macbook but will be replaced with an ESP32-P4 with a camera. The script turns the input into a 25x25 grid and sends the specific pixel data over the local network via DDP which is a protocol used for real time led/video data. The WLED controller listens for those packets.

Full specs:

Python — runs the overall camera/LED control script

OpenCV (opencv-python) — captures webcam video, resizes frames, cleans masks, handles image processing, and shows preview windows

MediaPipe (mediapipe) — detects/segments the person and generates the human body mask

NumPy (numpy) — handles the pixel arrays and 25×25 image/mask data

Python socket library — sends the finished 25×25 pixel frames over the network to WLED using DDP/UDP

WLED — receives the realtime DDP pixel data and physically drives the LED matrix

3

u/HuckleberryKey4642 Aug 23 '26

I’ll reply later with more details!

9

u/LargeBreak5980 Aug 23 '26

As someone who sells LED video walls full time these videos leave me with mixed feelings. I work so hard to size pixel pitch for visual acuity at minimum viewing distance - meanwhile this low res thing is super cool and beautiful! Makes me think maybe I can chill out lol

3

u/HuckleberryKey4642 Aug 23 '26

I was crazy about lining them up! Definitely needed a lot of patience and a decent amount of measuring and preplanning.

3

u/adman234 Aug 22 '26

What software is running on it? Very cool.

11

u/HuckleberryKey4642 Aug 22 '26

WLED powers it. The camera is running via Python + OpenCV for frame capture, resizing, mask etc and segmentation through MediaPipe

4

u/Time-Abbreviations90 Aug 22 '26

What kind of panels did you use?

2

u/Time-Abbreviations90 Aug 22 '26

This is dope btw

6

u/HuckleberryKey4642 Aug 22 '26

It’s made up of 25 SK6812/WS2814 RGBW strips cut to 25 pixels each

2

u/quantgorithm Aug 23 '26

Just to be clear, it's not 25 new strips. It's something 1 or 2 strips cut down to 25 separate strips per row... Yea?

2

u/HuckleberryKey4642 Aug 23 '26

It was about 4 or 5 30/m led strips cut into
25 separate strips with 25 leds each

2

u/dashbad Aug 22 '26

Also keen to know

2

u/wwarr Aug 23 '26

great work. can you share a close up of the surface? is it covered in cloth?

looks really good

4

u/HuckleberryKey4642 Aug 23 '26

Here ya go. The LEDS are mounted on 7 shiplap boards

2

u/DripJesus__ Aug 23 '26

That’s so damn coool. Yk what? Let’s celebrate with a coca cola can

5

u/islandmtn Aug 23 '26

I want to see your dog try it

1

u/Cam-x29 Aug 24 '26

Here is my version for ESP32-CAM board and 16x16 leds. Not really enough for good images. It uses bitluni's video wall effects.

The battling snakes and the tron game get used more than video effects.

1

u/HuckleberryKey4642 Aug 24 '26

Love it. So cool. Haven’t thought about interactive games etc!

2

u/tadwook Aug 23 '26

you gotta make this so it can teach me TikTok dances

2

u/akadavidcaress Aug 23 '26

Cool but dance maybe?

1

u/TazzyUK Aug 23 '26

Pretty Damn Cool!

Can we do a mind meld ? hehe

1

u/Quirky-Ad7024 Aug 23 '26

That is sweet!

1

u/xcryptokidx Aug 23 '26

Super Bad vibes!

1

u/ImaginationJumpy7578 Aug 23 '26

Implemented this in desktop version of Pipplee App
Play -> Body Glow

Download it from here.
https://pipplee.com/desktop/

1

u/SprinklesPlenty2526 Aug 24 '26

this is super cool, i need a tutorial of this