WLED Driven Pixel Accurate Spaceship Earth Model

Projects
1

I have been working on this project on and off for the last year and it is finally complete! It is a 3D printed model of Spaceship Earth at EPCOT. I modified the model to hollow it out and cut 1.8mm holes to replicate the Points of Light display that happens on the real building. I then glued in 1922 addressable LEDs that are controlled by an ESP32 WROOM board running WLED .16.

I also recreated 2 of the nighttime shows that take place on Spaceship Earth using dozens of presets and timing them out in a playlist to closely match the Points of Light show on the real Spaceship Earth.

40th Anniversary Show

EPCOT Anthem Show

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image3024×4032 1.94 MB

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image3024×4032 2 MB

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image5712×4284 4.15 MB

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image3024×4032 2.24 MB

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image4032×3024 1.76 MB

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image4032×3024 1.56 MB

Stats

  • 1924 LEDs (1922 in the sphere, 2 in the sign)

  • Size: 10”h x 11”w x 11.5”d

  • Pixel Diameter: 1.8mm

  • ~65 hours to build

  • 34+ hours just to install the lights (drill out hole, insert light diffuser, glue LED in place x 1922 LEDs)

  • 140 hours to 3D Printing

  • 8 printed pieces

  • 15 LED strings

  • 175’ of wire

  • 4.5 amps / 22.5 watts

  • ~$400 in materials

  • Built in temp sensor cuts power of it gets too hot inside.

  • Custom build of the WLED software

  • 40th show consists of 35 scenes

Timeline

  • March 13th 2025, project started. Confirmed WLED software & hardware could run this many LEDs

  • March 27th started work on the model by hollowing out and cutting holes in an existing 3D model of Spaceship Earth

  • August 2025, used ChatGPT to determine the number of holes. Learned a new shape, Pentakis Dodecahedron

  • September 2025, model completed and printed as well as 2000 light diffusers to go in the holes

  • October 2025, started programming the controller and mapping out the LEDs. Came across a limitation on mapping so many lights.

  • November 2025, @blazoncek made me a custom build of WLED to fix the LED mapping issue.

  • December 2025, did all the electrical work soldering together all the LED strips and started installing the LEDs.

  • February 2026, finished installing the LEDs and began the Test and Adjust phase. Redid all the electronics to fix a flickering issue with the help of @Jinx @saratoga @divsys

  • March 2026, hardware phase is complete, sealed the sphere shut.

Original model: itim77

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4073521

WLED Fixes & Custom Build: @blazoncek

https://github.com/blazoncek/WLED/tree/dev

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