How does this compare to FastLED [1] on the same ESP8266 (and ESP32) platform? FastLED is free and open source, and support almost all LED drivers out there. Writing animations with FastLED might not be as easy as with Pixelblaze, but similarly only requires a few lines of code.
Author of Pixelblaze here :)
FastLED is an awesome LED driver library with colorspace and fast math functions. I highly recommend it.
Pixelblaze is that plus a web interface, compiler, IDE, and pattern library all over WiFi. You can reprogram your work remotely without cables, and all real-time, or even on a phone. I found that quickly iterating I could get a better intuitive sense of the changes I was making and get the look I was going for with less hassle.
For apa102/sk9822 LEDs, the 32-bit math engine in Pixelblaze along with the HDR driver (5 + 8 bits) lets you get better color control at lower brightness levels and smoother transitions than what's currently in FastLED. I have a number of desk and/or nightlight projects that look just as good at 2% brightness, where with 8-bit per channel color you start to get extreme posterization and color mixes start failing.
Another slight advantage is that Pixelblaze uses a pipelined driver where pixel data doesn't usually need to be buffered before being send out to the LEDs. WS2812 are particularly sensitive, so there is a buffered mode for them, but for other chipsets Pixelblaze renders the pixel data just in time and doesn't require a framebuffer.
Thanks for this reply! I was curious too, since I just spent the last few weeks working with an esp8266 on FastLED.
One type of shield/expansion I'd love to see for the Pixelblaze would be some sort of lipo charger and protection circuitry. My favorite esp8266 board has an integrated battery holder for an 18650, and I've found this to be my favorite way of powering all my projects!
LEDs draw lots of power. I just put ~~50W~~25W of SK6812s in my 3D printer enclosure. (It's overkill, but not drastically so.) So you're going to need big batteries for any LED project.
[1] https://github.com/FastLED/FastLED