WIP - sending images (static/animated) to SKY #22

helgek · 2026-06-18T00:52:46Z

helgek
Jun 18, 2026

This script works well for me to test various streaming examples, incl. images (static and animated) + text, also mixed. Next step would be to figure out how this can be maybe integrated also in HA in a useful way. But also without further integration into HA this allows for more interesting scenarios that can e.g. be used inside HA automations, or just as standalone script.

lmsp_send.zip

LaMetric SKY — Pixel streaming via Python (images, GIFs, text)

Stream static images, animated GIFs and text directly to a LaMetric SKY device
from the command line using lmsp_send.py. No cloud required — communicates
directly over your local network using the LaMetric Streaming Protocol (LMSP).

Prerequisites

Python 3.8+ and Pillow:

pip install Pillow

Files

Download or copy lmsp_send.py into a folder on your computer. The example
commands below also use these bundled example files:

File	Type	Description
`africa.jpg`	Static image	Example landscape photo
`alarm.gif`	Animated GIF	Alarm animation
`fire.gif`	Animated GIF	Fire animation

Place all files in the same folder and run commands from that folder.

Your API key

Your device API key is shown in the LaMetric mobile app under
Device → Settings → Wi-Fi → API Key.

The app displays it as a hex-encoded string — pass it exactly as shown,
the script decodes it automatically.

Replace YOUR_API_KEY and 192.168.0.x throughout with your values.

Identifying tile positions

The SKY canvas is a pixel grid. --region X Y W H targets a rectangular
area using pixel coordinates — there are no named tiles in the API.
Use this technique to map your physical tiles to canvas coordinates.

Step 1 — Find your canvas size

Run any command. The script prints the canvas dimensions on startup:

--- Querying canvas size ---
  triangle canvas : 45x22

Step 2 — Light up a probe block

Send the built-in rainbow demo to a small region and move it around until
you find each tile:

# Top-left corner
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY --region 0 0 6 6 demo --duration 10

# Move right
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY --region 8 0 6 6 demo --duration 10
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY --region 16 0 6 6 demo --duration 10
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY --region 24 0 6 6 demo --duration 10

# Move down
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY --region 0 8 6 6 demo --duration 10
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY --region 0 16 6 6 demo --duration 10

Step 3 — Fine-tune bounds

Once you find the top-left corner of a tile, increase W and H until
the lit area exactly covers it:

python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY --region 16 0 10 12 demo --duration 10

Step 4 — Record your tile map

Tile A : --region  0  0 20 22
Tile B : --region 25  0 20 22

Built-in demos (no image file needed)

# Static rainbow gradient, 10 seconds
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY

# Static rainbow gradient, 60 seconds
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY demo --duration 60

# Animated rotating rainbow, 3 loops
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY anim

# Animated rotating rainbow, loop forever (Ctrl+C to stop)
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY anim --loops 0

Static image — africa.jpg (full canvas)

# Display for 10 seconds (default)
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY africa.jpg

# Display for 30 seconds
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY africa.jpg --duration 30

# Display for 60 seconds, lower refresh rate
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY africa.jpg --duration 60 --fps 2

Animated GIF — alarm.gif (full canvas)

# Play 3 times (default)
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY alarm.gif

# Play 10 times
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY alarm.gif --loops 10

# Loop forever (Ctrl+C to stop)
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY alarm.gif --loops 0

Animated GIF — fire.gif (full canvas)

# Play 3 times (default)
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY fire.gif

# Play 10 times
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY fire.gif --loops 10

# Loop forever (Ctrl+C to stop)
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY fire.gif --loops 0

Text (full canvas)

# Static white text, 10 seconds
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY --text "HELLO" --duration 10

# Static red text, 20 seconds
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY --text "ALERT" --text-color 255 0 0 --duration 20

# Larger font
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY --text "HI" --font-size 16 --duration 10

# Scrolling text, 3 loops
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY --text "HELLO WORLD" --scroll --loops 3

# Scrolling text forever (Ctrl+C to stop)
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY --text "HELLO WORLD" --scroll --loops 0

# Scrolling red text, faster speed
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY --text "FIRE ALARM" --scroll --text-color 255 0 0 --scroll-speed 4 --loops 5

# Custom background colour
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY --text "OK" --text-color 0 255 0 --bg-color 0 0 80 --duration 10

Font size tip: the canvas is small (typically 45×22 pixels). Font sizes
between 8 and 14 work best. Use --scroll for longer strings.

Single region (image, GIF or text in a sub-region, rest black)

# Image in a region
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY --region 0 0 20 22 africa.jpg --duration 30

# GIF in a region
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY --region 0 0 20 22 alarm.gif --loops 5

# Static text in a region
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY --region 0 0 20 22 "text:HELLO" --duration 10

# Scrolling text in a region
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY --region 0 0 20 22 "scroll:HELLO WORLD" --loops 3

Multiple regions simultaneously

Two animated GIFs side by side:

python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY ^
    --region 0 0 20 22 alarm.gif ^
    --region 25 0 20 22 fire.gif ^
    --loops 5

Static image + animated GIF:

python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY ^
    --region 0 0 20 22 africa.jpg ^
    --region 25 0 20 22 alarm.gif ^
    --loops 5

python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY ^
    --region 0 0 20 22 africa.jpg ^
    --region 25 0 20 22 fire.gif ^
    --loops 5

Image + static text:

python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY ^
    --region 0 0 20 22 africa.jpg ^
    --region 25 0 20 22 "text:HELLO" --duration 30

Image + scrolling text:

python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY ^
    --region 0 0 20 22 africa.jpg ^
    --region 25 0 20 22 "scroll:HELLO WORLD" --loops 5

GIF + scrolling red text:

python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY ^
    --region 0 0 20 22 alarm.gif ^
    --region 25 0 20 22 "scroll:FIRE ALARM" ^
    --text-color 255 0 0 --loops 5

python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY ^
    --region 0 0 20 22 fire.gif ^
    --region 25 0 20 22 "scroll:HOT" ^
    --text-color 255 80 0 --loops 0

Three regions: image + GIF + scrolling text:

python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY ^
    --region 0 0 14 22 africa.jpg ^
    --region 15 0 14 22 alarm.gif ^
    --region 30 0 15 22 "scroll:ALERT" --loops 5

Two GIFs + scrolling text:

python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY ^
    --region 0 0 14 22 fire.gif ^
    --region 15 0 14 22 alarm.gif ^
    --region 30 0 15 22 "scroll:ALARM" ^
    --text-color 255 0 0 --loops 0

Two scrolling text regions:

python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --api-key YOUR_API_KEY ^
    --region 0 0 22 22 "scroll:HELLO WORLD" ^
    --region 23 0 22 22 "scroll:FIRE ALARM" ^
    --text-color 255 0 0 --loops 5

HA-assisted mode

If Home Assistant has already started a stream, pass the session ID directly.
Get it from Developer Tools → States → input_text.sky_session_id:

python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --session-id YOUR_SESSION_ID africa.jpg --duration 30
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --session-id YOUR_SESSION_ID alarm.gif --loops 5
python3 lmsp_send.py 192.168.0.x --session-id YOUR_SESSION_ID ^
    --region 0 0 20 22 africa.jpg ^
    --region 25 0 20 22 "scroll:HELLO" --loops 3

Quick reference

Option	Default	Description
`--api-key KEY`	—	Device API key — script manages start/stop
`--session-id ID`	—	Existing session ID — only sends frames
`demo`	default	Built-in static rainbow gradient
`anim`	—	Built-in animated rotating rainbow
`--text TEXT`	—	Display text on the full canvas
`--scroll`	off	Scroll `--text` as a marquee
`--font-size N`	10	Font size in pixels
`--text-color R G B`	255 255 255	Text colour
`--bg-color R G B`	0 0 0	Background colour
`--scroll-speed N`	2	Pixels per scroll frame
`--scroll-delay-ms N`	50	Ms between scroll frames
`--region X Y W H src`	—	Sub-region. `src` = image path, `text:…` or `scroll:…`. Repeatable.
`--duration SEC`	10	Seconds to display static content
`--fps N`	10	Refresh rate for static content
`--loops N`	3	Repetitions for GIF / anim / scroll (0 = infinite)
`--width N`	auto	Override canvas width
`--height N`	auto	Override canvas height
`--udp-port N`	9999	UDP port (rarely needs changing)

Note (Windows): Replace ^ line continuation with ` if using PowerShell.

ElectroAttacks · 2026-07-21T18:17:25Z

ElectroAttacks
Jul 21, 2026
Maintainer

@helgek Should that be added to this integration? And if so, what would you suggest on how we integrate that?

0 replies

helgek · 2026-08-06T14:05:32Z

helgek
Aug 6, 2026
Author

@ElectroAttacks it would be nice of course, maybe the LightElf integration could serve as an inspiration which has an svg upload + preview included to project images to lightelf protocol laser projectors.
On the other hand of course - and that's one of the reasons why I put it under discussions - it would maybe be not easy to implement or even impossible to include the specific prerequisites in an integration. Everyone who's really interested in this would probably also sooner or later land here an could set up themselves.

0 replies

ElectroAttacks · 2026-09-17T17:27:09Z

ElectroAttacks
Sep 17, 2026
Maintainer

@helgek I switched my focus currently back to my Desktop application, we could add a lot there, ones I've finished the discovery and API...

Technically I'm still searching for co- workers on that, but that's a .Net C# project

0 replies

helgek · 2026-09-21T22:51:49Z

helgek
Sep 21, 2026
Author

@ElectroAttacks Thank you for the update. Unfortunately I'm only a lousy macro and ai programmer, I hope you will find supporters for the project. A desktop application would certainly allow for many more interesting feature than a ha integration.

1 reply

ElectroAttacks Sep 25, 2026
Maintainer

@helgek No worries about that, I'm using some AI assistance as well... But it would be nice to get some ideas for features to add

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WIP - sending images (static/animated) to SKY #22

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helgek Jun 18, 2026

LaMetric SKY — Pixel streaming via Python (images, GIFs, text)

Prerequisites

Files

Your API key

Identifying tile positions

Built-in demos (no image file needed)

Static image — africa.jpg (full canvas)

Animated GIF — alarm.gif (full canvas)

Animated GIF — fire.gif (full canvas)

Text (full canvas)

Single region (image, GIF or text in a sub-region, rest black)

Multiple regions simultaneously

HA-assisted mode

Quick reference

Replies: 4 comments · 1 reply

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ElectroAttacks Jul 21, 2026 Maintainer

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helgek Sep 21, 2026 Author

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ElectroAttacks Sep 25, 2026 Maintainer

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ElectroAttacks
Jul 21, 2026
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helgek
Aug 6, 2026
Author

ElectroAttacks
Sep 17, 2026
Maintainer

helgek
Sep 21, 2026
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ElectroAttacks Sep 25, 2026
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