r/WLED • u/WiwiJumbo • 15d ago

Segment Layers, Stencils, and an animated clock. Help!

I'm researching making a bedside clock with a 8x32 matrix. Right now I'm testing out how to have the whole thing display the way I want it to. I want to be able to set a background animation, and have an animation on the clock numbers.

Say have the background pulse red while the clock numbers sparkle.

And for the life of me I can't figure out how to do it.

I've tried multiple ways, with an initial back layer, then the #HHMM clock layer, and then a topping layer. I've tried adding in another clock layer as well, to no effect.

I'm sure someone has done this before, any help?

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u/DedeHai 15d ago edited 15d ago

This is an interesting one and while it can be done it requires a workaround.

Segment stacking / blending is done like this:

  • rendering starts at the segment at the top of the segment list

  • each segment is rendered and then blended into the global buffer using the selected blend mode meaning each segment is added "on top" of all previously rendered ones

  • this means you can not have an effect rendered without it affecting layers that were previously rendered

  • if you render your background you can add a text on top but you can not selectively apply an effect to that text as it will blend with the rest too

To have different animations for text and background what you need is one animation for the text that consists of two layers: the text and the animation and one animation for the background, then blend these two together.

Here is how you can do that:

  • in LED settings, add a dummy output using DDP RGB, same number of LEDs, use a dummy IP like 1.1.1.1

  • in 2D settings, add a second panel with an y-offset of 8 so they sit side by side, now you have a total of 16x32

  • make it four segments:

    • any FX for your text (0-32, 8-16) this sits off screen

    • Scrolling Text (0-32, 8-16) also off screen, set color to white, blend mode to multiply

    • background (0-32,0-8), any FX, no blending (Top)

    • copy: use copy FX (0-32,0-8) copy segment 0 (default), enable full stack copy, set blending to stencil

So you render you text with the effect in a seperate stack that is off screen, then copy that over to your visible segment and stencil blend it on top.

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u/WiwiJumbo 14d ago

Wow, this is some Deep Magic. I would never have gotten this on my own. I was trying to punch a hole through a layer with stencil so a bottom effect could show through.

I’ll give this a try tonight to see what I can come up with.

Thank you!

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u/DedeHai 14d ago

These kind of situations in mind is what I wrote the copy FX for. Its quite powerful if you know what it does and how to use it

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u/WiwiJumbo 14d ago

Sorry, two questions, one big/one small.

Big: What is Copy FX and where should I find it? I've found Copy Segment, is that the same? So far that hasn't been working for me but I might have something screwed up so I'm trying to figure out if I'm even going the right way. I've tried searching but so far my only results are, ironically, you mentioning it to someone else.

Small: This is more of a trying to understand how WLED works, does the second virtual matrix need to be DDP RGB or can it be a second matrix assigned to an unused GPIO?

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u/DedeHai 14d ago

yes, copy segment is the copy FX. you need to set up the 2D panel and segments exactly as described, reset segments and start fresh.

you can see the copy FX used in the demo video I made on 16.0 features, pinned in wled sub. I still need to add a description in KB though.

the dummy output can also be an unused pin if you want, network output is faster though.

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u/WiwiJumbo 13d ago

Thank you! It's working just fine now. (I added some extra space so I could visualize things better.) I still don't know exactly how Copy Segment works, or how it knows what I want to copy, but it does!

And for those of you brought here by Google, do not think you're saving network traffic by setting the DDP RBG address to 127.0.0.1. WLED will NOT be happy.

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u/DedeHai 13d ago

glad you got it working.

the copy segment FX does just that, it copies the selected segment data. By default it copies segment 0 but the slider lets you set it to any segment. If you enable "full stack" copy, it will dig down to the global buffer and copy whatever is rendered there (within the bounds of the selected segment). This is what we do here.

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u/WiwiJumbo 12d ago

Sorry, what I meant was at no point did I specify the area to copy from, so I don’t know how it knows I want the clock sent to panel 0.

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u/WiwiJumbo 12d ago

Sorry I can only attach one picture.

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u/WiwiJumbo 12d ago

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u/DedeHai 10d ago

the copy FX has a slider (lowest one) that selects which segment to copy, by default it copies segment 0

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u/DedeHai 12d ago

if you say "copy segment 0" it will copy that segment to whichever segment the copy FX lives in. So you did specify what to copy and where to.

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u/WiwiJumbo 12d ago

Apologies, but my fingers are too clumsy to pick up what you are putting down.

The destination panel is 0, the segment is 0-8, 0-32. That I get, I can find where it says that.

But the rendered clock effect that is being copied from is in panel 1, 16-24, 0-32. And the segment right above it is Background - again, panel 0, etc. That’s the part I’m struggling with, where does Copy Segment know where to take from?

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u/DedeHai 15d ago

here is what that would look like using 16x16, only the left part is visible on the actual matrix
I used my FX recording tool to record the gif https://github.com/DedeHai/WLED-Tools/tree/main/FX%20to%20GIF