Image map

Sample a picture into a grid of LED positions, then place the parts on them. Leave the board out to preview the sampling on its own until the shape looks right.

Image

PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP or BMP. An SVG map exported to PNG works well.

Sampling

How the picture is turned into cells.

Sample size px per cell

One LED per block of this many pixels. Smaller means more LEDs.

Inspected area 0–1

How much of each block to look at, measured from its centre. Below 1 keeps thin gaps between shapes open.

Fill threshold 0–1

Fraction of the inspected pixels that must be lit before the cell gets an LED.

Brightness cutoff 0–255

Only used by the darker-than detector.

What counts as a lit pixel

Anything not transparent — For artwork on a transparent background, such as an SVG map exported to PNG.

Anything darker than the cutoff — For artwork on a white or light background, where transparency will not tell you anything.

Board

Optional. Without one you get the sampled grid to check, and nothing is placed.

Placement

Horizontal spacing mm

Vertical spacing mm

Origin X mm

Where the top-left cell of the image sits on the board.

Origin Y mm

Numbering path

Row by row — Left to right along each row, then jump back to start the next.

Row by row, snaking — Left to right, then right to left on the next row. Shortest wiring for a serial chain.

Column by column — Top to bottom down each column, then jump back to start the next.

Column by column, snaking — Top to bottom, then bottom to top on the next column.

Numbering stride

Advanced. How far the LED number jumps between neighbouring cells; 1 is consecutive. Only strides that share no factor with the LED count are used.

What to move

Only needed when you upload a board.

Group

Offset X

Offset Y

Rotation

No. offset

Group is the designator prefix to move, so LED covers LED1…LED338 but never LED_A1. Offsets are millimetres added afterwards, so a decoupling cap can sit 6 mm above its LED. Rotation is degrees counter-clockwise, or blank to leave each part as it is. No. offset shifts the number match, so 10 makes C1 follow LED11. Leave a row blank to ignore it.

Labels

What happens to the silkscreen text on the parts you place.

Keep the labels off the finished board Hides the value and the fabrication-layer copy of the reference, then moves the reference itself onto the fabrication layer — KiCad's F.Fab/B.Fab, EAGLE's tDocu/bDocu. The designator stays readable while you work and never reaches the silkscreen. Text is hidden rather than deleted, so nothing is lost.

Without a board this only samples the image.