WLED Module¶

The photobooth-app integrates perfectly with WLED. Use the integration to add a nice LED countdown animation, still and video capture indication lights while the users interact with the booth. WLED is installed on inexpensive ESP8266/ESP32 modules to control NeoPixels like WS2812B, WS2811, SK6812 LEDs.

See an example using the 4x4 led matrix module:

This is a dummy frontplate. First a still is captured using the left "camera". Second is a multicamera capture to create a wigglegra. Last a video is taken.

Hardware¶

BOM¶

ESP board
- ESP32 boards are preferred nowadays: ESP32-C3 Zero/SuperMini is a decent option
- ESP8266 still work with WLED: Wemos D1 mini
LEDs:
- Ring light for the legacy 3d printed photobooth or
- 4x4 Matrix light for the latest 3d printed photobooth coming with the wigglecam addon.
some cables

Wiring¶

The ring light needs 5V, GND and a signal line to control the colors.

Use IO lines not connected internally

On the D1 mini board, the GPIO2 labelled D4 is closest to 5V/GND so it would be convenient to use. But it is connected to a builtin led. Since the LED is not needed, and might shine through the 3d printed case, it is recommended to use a different IO.

wiring overview — Wiring overview: ESP connected via USB to power the device and communicate with the app. The ringlight is mounted around the camera lens in the 3d printed box.

Setup WLED¶

WLED documentation

Head over to the WLED project documentation for more detailed installation instructions and hardware setup.

In short, follow these steps

Connect the ESP board via USB to the computer running the photobooth-app.
Install WLED using the webinstaller
Connect the WLED device to your WiFi. The webinstaller asks for the credentials and configures the ESP accordingly.
Visit the WLED website on the ESP and configure.
If you use exact the same items listed in the BOM, you can start using following
- Ringlight variant (all photobooth-app versions compatible)
  - wled_cfg Using GPIO4 labelled D2
  - wled_presets
- 4x4 Matrix variant (new since version 9 and the updated 3d print reference photobooth)
  - wled_cfg Using GPIO4
  - wled_presets
  - ledmap Check the WLED documentation how to upload the ledmap on the device.
In the photobooth-app enable the WLED plugin and select the serial port of the ESP in the admin config.

For more detailed instructions on the WLED device itself see the WLED website.

Define your own presets¶

When the photobooth-app starts a countdown, takes a picture or captures a video, it will send commands via serial interface to the WLED module. The presets are identified by the IDs as follows:

ID 1: standby (usually LEDs off)
ID 2: countdown (animates countdown)
ID 3: shoot (imitate a flash)
ID 4: recording (imitate a red light to visualize ongoing record)
ID 10: Initial preset after WLED gets powered. Used to display an animation until the app has booted and activates the standby preset.
ID 20: Countdown when stills are captured (new in v9)
ID 21: Countdown when videos are captured (new in v9)
ID 22: Countdown when multicamera pictures are captured (new in v9)

Define the presets on your own in the WLED webfrontend or use the presets/config from above. Once added, in the photobooth-app enable the WLED integration and file the serial port of the WLED module in the photobooth-app's config. Check the logs on startup whether the module is detected correctly.