For this project, I wanted to light up specific LEDs in specific colors, instead of lighting the whole strip at once. This allows light up the leaf layer in different colors and animations than the trunk layer, at the same time. In WLED, this is done using Segments.
When you first set up WLED, there's one segment pre-defined, and it's called Segment 0. This segment includes all your lights: I have 108 in my project. If I run an animation on segment 0, it will run down my first strip and then seamlessly down the second or any additional strips. The LED numbers are continuous, so the segment layouts don't need to match the physical layout of the strips.
Select "solid" under effects and choose a color.
Click the "add segment" button and create a new segment. Starting with LED 1, take a guess at how many lights you should turn on to light only your top layer. Click the "check" button and look at your lights.
If all your lights are still on, click the "power" button to turn Segment 0 off and be sure the power button on the new segment is active. This should turn on LEDs 1-50, and only those LEDs.
Verify that it's lighting up the area you want and adjust the numbers if it's not.
Save this first segment before moving on. Otherwise you may do a lot of intricate mapping work and then discover that poof ! It's gone forever.
Segment layout can be saved using a Preset. Click the + Preset button and call your preset All Segments. Use the default settings and click "save".
Segments are preset-specific, meaning that different presets can (and often do) use completely different segment layouts. If you don't save your work in a preset, and then you select another preset that only has Segment 0 defined, all your segments will vanish.
This can be frustrating! So save early and save often. To update the preset after you've added more segments, click the "overwrite with state" checkbox and then click Save.
Make a segment for the LEDs that light up each of your layers.
For my project, I have one LED strip wrapped twice around my project, lighting two different acrylic layers. The first segment is set to 0-55 and the second from 55-108.
I also clicked the "Mirror Effect" box for the second segment, so the animations on each layer move in opposite directions.
Each segment can have its own animation and color choice. This is the fun part: play around and see what kind of beautiful combinations you can make.
Page last edited December 09, 2025
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