EXP Lights vs Pixel Mapper xModel
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
EXP Lights
Control your pixel lights with this app, compatible with Experience Lights Pixel Controllers. Design and schedule custom animations for professional installations or residential use.
- Bluetooth connectivity
- Custom animation design
- Schedule animations
- Compatible with Pixel Controllers
- Professional and residential use
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Compatible with Experience Lights Pixel Controllers, the EXP Lights App uses Bluetooth to control your lights. For professional installers, and residential customer alike, design and schedule custom animations directly in the App.
Pixel Mapper xModel
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Pixel Mapper turns your iPhone or iPad into an automatic layout tool for xLights. Point your camera at your light display, and the app lights each WS2811 / WS2812 pixel, finds it in the camera image with computer vision, and builds a ready-to-import xLights Custom model — no manual clicking pixel by pixel. Perfect for Christmas light displays, props, matrices, megatrees, and any irregular pixel layout that's painful to map by hand. HOW IT WORKS 1. Target — enter your controller's IP and pixel count. Output goes over DDP or sACN / E1.31, the same protocols xLights and FPP already speak. 2. Scan — choose a mode: • Fast (base-3): every pixel lights in every frame, colored by one base-3 digit of its index, so all pixels are identified in only ~log3(N)+2 frames (about 500 pixels in 8 frames). Two checksum digits reject misreads. • Sequential: light one pixel at a time and find the single bright blob. Slower, but dead simple and rock solid. Both modes subtract a black reference frame to ignore ambient hotspots. 3. Review — see the detected layout over your photo, drop bad points, tap to place or move a node, and re-scan individual pixels. Zoom and pan to fine-tune. 4. Export — save a standard xLights .xmodel file that imports into both old and new versions of xLights. WHY PIXEL MAPPER • No more mapping hundreds of pixels by hand. • Works with the gear you already own — any DDP or sACN/E1.31 pixel controller. • Fast base-3 scan maps large models in seconds of capture. • Checksum-protected so misread pixels get rejected, not placed wrong. • Best results in a dim room; the app locks camera exposure and focus where the device supports it. REQUIREMENTS • A WS2811 / WS2812 (or compatible) pixel controller reachable on your network. • The controller set to receive DDP or sACN / E1.31. • An iPhone or iPad on the same Wi-Fi network as the controller. Pixel Mapper is an independent tool and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the xLights project. xLights is a trademark of its respective owners.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Pixel Mapper xModel at 13.0 against EXP Lights's 18.4. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
| Parameter | EXP Lights | Pixel Mapper xModel |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 1.0 (2 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 2 — better | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.4 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 23 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Experience Lights LLC | S&B Designs |
In-app purchases
EXP Lights
No in-app purchases
Pixel Mapper xModel
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is EXP Lights free?
Is Pixel Mapper xModel free?
Do EXP Lights or Pixel Mapper xModel have ads?
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