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Control Pixo Devices

Contents

Setup App and Bridge

First, install the Pixo Bridge to allow the Control App to connect to Pixo Devices.

Instructions are in the Getting Started Guide

View Connected Devices

View all your connected devices in the "Devices" page. To open the page, click the "Devices" button at the top of the app.

The list of devices updates automatically as you connect and disconnect devices.

Control App "Devices" page
The "Devices" page in the Control App

Select the "Bridge" tab to view details about the connected Pixo Bridge.

Display details of conencted devices in the list by enabling the "Show details" option in the Devices page:

Show device details
Click the button, then "Show details"

Select one of the devices in the list to display details about the device, and edit the device's settings.

Selected device details
Selected device details

Set Effects

Open the Effects page by clicking the "Effects" button in the App header.

Select a connected device to control using the dropdown box at the top of the page.

Mode & Brightness

Select the "Device" tab.

Brightness

Use the slider to change the device's brightness. The brightness is updated in real time, as the slider is moved.

The brightness percentage is displayed alongside the slider. 0% is still on, but the lowest brightness that can be set. To turn the device off entirely, use the off effect, or the "Brightness" button on the device to cycle to the "off" setting.

Mode

Select one of the four built-in "modes". The modes are:

  1. "Happy" - the device displays one of the built in effects with a mainly green colour palette, and a moderate amount of animation
  2. "Excited" - the device displays one of the built in effects with a mainly red colour palette, and a high amount of animation
  3. "Sleepy" - the device displays one of the built in effects with a mainly blue colour palette, and a low amount of animation
  4. "Command" - the device responds to commands send over USB from the Pixo Control App

Mode Effect

Select one of the built-in effects within the selected mode, altering both the colour palette and intensity of animation. The effect is updated in real time, as the selection is changed.

Note: in "Command" mode, this has no effect.

The built-in effects are:

  1. Twinkle
  2. Rainbow
  3. Chase Band
  4. Wipe
  5. Fade
  6. Pulse
  7. Twinkle Fade
  8. Flicker
  9. Static

If the device seems to be unresponsive to the Mode Effect selection, it may be in "Command" mode.

Effect Palette

Select the "Effects" tab.

Select an effect from the palette by clicking it.

Click the button to apply the selected effect to the device.

Most effects have parameters to configure to way they work. This may include things like the colour palette, speed, decay rate, width, etc.

Effect colour parameters are be edited with the colour palette dialog, and numeric parameters are edited with sliders.

Automatic output mode can be enabled by clicking the button. When this is enabled, any changes to the effect selection or effect parameter values are outputted to the selected device immediately. This makes it easier to customise effects by seeing the updates live.

A submodel of the target device can be selected, if the device's persona has submodels that can be targetted. For example, the Mini Tree has the "star", "lights", and "trunk" submodels that can have effects individually applied.

Facial Expressions

Some devices have a "face", for example the Mini Tree.

Select the "Face" tab to display the palette of button to control the eyes and mouth

Eyes

Mouth

Further Reading