This is the “LEDEdit-K” version of the LED Edit tutorial, as promised on our ledpixeltm site. As you know, LED Edit and LEDEdit-K are two premium versions with premium options and user interfaces. This guide is for you if you are using or planning to use the “LEDEdit-K” versions. We used the latest version of “LEDEdit-K V8.4” at the time of writing this article.
As in my first tutorial, I'm going to guide you step by step throughout the process of project creation to exporting the files. Let's get started. Run your “LEDEdit-K” program.
Starting a New LEDEdit-K Project
To start a new project, go to “File” and select “New“. In the new project window, this will appear. When creating the LED layout, select the controller you'll be using from the “Controller Type” list and type the maximum number of LEDs you'll be using per port in the “Max number lights of port” field (the amount you choose will cause automatic port change because it exceeds the maximum number you specified). Please refer to the user manual for your controller to determine the maximum number of LEDs per port.
Select a location to store the project by clicking “Browse” and then “OK“. In the “New Project” window, click “OK” once more.
Setting LED Layout
It's time to construct an LED layout, now that we've finished our LEDEdit-K project. The LED layout is a depiction of your LEDs' physical layout. we'll show you how to make a simple LED arrangement that looks like a panel. In this article, I'll show you how to make a simple LED panel layout using LEDEdit's “Automatic layout maker” feature.
On the left, click the “Automatic layout creator tool” icon. The “Automatic layout creator” window will appear.
By clicking on the “LED connection type” drop-down list in the Automatic layout, the creator window picks a Led connection type (You can choose whatever you like). In the width side text field, type the number of LEDs you'll be using, and in the height side text field, type the number of LEDs you'll be using. “OK” must be selected. To position the led panel you just made, click anywhere in the workspace.
Recording a Video For Text Animations
We've finished building the panel. It's time to program the LED panel by making a video for text animations.
On the right side, click the “Program” tab. The Program tab will now have “Program 1” added to it. To add as many apps as you wish, click the “Add” button below, give the program a name, and then click “OK“. You'll be able to conduct various animations under different program titles as a result of this.
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For various programs, use different labels. Repeatedly using the same label is not a good idea. Delete applications by using the delete key. The number in front of the “Program” label represents the number of frames recorded by the program.
Select the program label from the list that you want to record and click on “Effect” tab in the left side panel.
Here are the specific button actions:
- Open video: Used to open Video / Picture files.
- Speed+: Used to increase the frame rate.
- Speed -: Used to decrease the frame rate.
- Original: Used to reset the frame rate
- Screen capture: Used to capture the computer screen.
- Enter text: Used to Create a custom text Animation.
- Close/Video Capture: Used to exit the capture mode.
- Recording: Used to start the recording process.
- Fast Recording: Record in fast mode
- Stop Recording: To stop the recording process.
To record animation or movie with a LED Edit program, we must first open or choose it. You may either pick a movie or animation from your computer or from the Effects library by clicking the “Open Video” button. Unlike previous versions of “LED Edit“, “LEDEdit-K” versions support a wide range of video formats.
Effects Library on LEDEdit-K Tutorial
Some sample animations may be found in the Effects Library. You may also choose one of the animations from the list by double-clicking on the animations in the list. Don't worry, we haven't started recording yet. Select one by one until you discover the most appropriate one from the list.
If you've already completed the “LED Edit Tutorial: Creating LED Layout With AutoCAD Software” or “How to design custom LED layouts using Coreldraw” tutorials, you may skip the part below (Custom Text Animations) and get straight to “Recording“.
Create Custom Text Animations
If you want to put custom text in your panel click on “Enter text” button. This will bring up the “Add text” window .click on “Enable text input” radio button to enable text input. Type the message that you want to display on the Text Box and select the effect:
Monochrome: The text will be displayed in front of the background color that you selected, If you disable the background the text will be displayed in front of the animation that you are selected.
Full Color: The animation or the video you selected will be displayed in the text area only (like a mask or screen).
Horizontal and Vertical radio buttons are used to change the direction of your text scrolls.
- Change the font type, font style, size, and color by clicking “Font and color“.
- To make the backdrop monochromatic, tick the “Background color” check box.
- To change the background color, click the “background color” button.
- To allow the outline of the text, check the “Out Line” check box (only works on Monochrome mode).
- To alter the outline color, click the “Out Line color” option.
Recording Custom Text Animations
Now that we've chosen our animation or video and have the video playing in the background, it's time to record it. The animation can be recorded in one of two ways:
- Click on “Recording” button to record the video while it is played normally.
- Click on “Fast Recording video” to record the video while it is played quickly.
I suggest that you use the “Recording” option. To stop the animation or video from being recorded, click the “Stop Recording” button right before the start frame you want to record. Wait until it reaches the last frame you want to terminate the video and click the “Stop Recording” button. As the movie is being captured, you will notice that the total is growing.
To quit capture mode, click the “Close Video/Capture” button. You may now use the “Play” and “Stop” buttons to play and stop your recorded movie or animation. You can also use the time slider to go to a specific frame in your movie by clicking and holding the time slider bar while dragging it along it. The position in the captured video or animation will show you where you are.
Edit Mode
Now that we've caught or recorded the video (because it's a recorded video), we'll need to edit it to acquire the final result we want. I'll show you how to delete by removing the first 10 frames of my animation, then I'll show you how to copy and paste by copying 15 to 30 frames and pasting them after the last frame.
Click the “Remove Frames” button to delete frames. The “Delete Frame window” will appear as a result of this action. In the “Start” text area, provide the frame number at which your deleting frame range begins. Then, in the “End” text section, insert the frame number at which your deleting frame range terminates. It's 1 and 10 in my situation. If you just want to delete one frame, use the same frame number in both text areas.
The start text field number will be changed to the first frame number if you press the “First” button. The “End” text box will be changed to the last frame number of your animation if you click the “Last” button. When you're ready to erase the entire animation, these two buttons will come in helpful.
Click “OK” to delete the frames.
Click the “Copy Frames” button to copy frames. This will open the “copy Frame window“, which is similar to the previous one but has a distinct function. In the “Start” text area, provide the frame number at which your copying frame range begins. Then, in the “End” text area, put the frame number at which your copying frame range stops. It's 15 and 13 in my case.
Click “OK” to copy the frames.
It's now time to paste the frames that have been copied. Click on “Paste Frames” icon. This will bring up the “Paste Frames window” type the frame position that you want to place your frame or frames at in the “Paste position” text field.
Click “OK” to paste the frames.
Play the animation using the play button and see if it's the outcome you wanted. if not, Keep editing the video. If it's yes proceed to Export.
Exporting The Project
Click on “Export” in the top menu bar.
1- To generate the .led file (Generated file will be in your “/documents/LedEdit_K” folder).
2- To generate the .led file and save it to a specific path.
3- To generate your LED layout file in .dxf format.
4- To generate your LED layout file in .cjb format.
5- To generate your LED layout file in .bmp format.
7- To create an information text file.
8- Export your animation or video in .xdat format.
9- Export your animation or video in .mp4 format.
In order to export choose the 2nd option “Generate and export LED/Bin files“.This will bring up the export settings window.
Select the LED drive chip from the chip selection list. You can use this window to correct gamma (if your LEDs have incorrect gamma effects) and dim each R, G, and B channel by changing the brightness. For “channel order” and “Output Polarity selection“check your LED Driver IC datasheet. Click “OK“.
In the “Browse For Folder” window, Select a location to save your .led file, Keep this in mind every time you do this the program will delete the “led” folder and its content and replace it with a new one .for that reason if you are doing more than one program Export that “.led” files into different folders in your HDD.
