You’ve finally ordered your custom GEUSA coro props, and you’re sitting at your computer ready to map them out in your digital display layout. You open xLights, click to create a new layout, and then you hit the roadblock: How do I make the digital preview match the physical piece of plastic sitting in my garage?
In the old days of the hobby, this step was a massive pain. You had to log into a vendor's website, download an external .xmodel zip file, extract it to a specific sub-folder on your hard drive, and manually import it. If the vendor updated the wiring layout, your sequences would break.
At GEUSA, we hate unnecessary file management. Here is the modern, seamless way to download and import your prop layouts natively inside xLights with a single click.
Step 1: The Magic "Download" Tool
Modern versions of xLights feature a built-in network map of approved, precision-engineered vendor models. You do not need an external internet browser or a separate download link to get your props mapped.
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Open xLights and click on the Layout tab at the top.
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Look at the toolbar at the absolute top of the screen (where you see tools for Single Lines, Arches, and Matrices).
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Click the icon that looks like a Magnifying Glass over a Arrow/Box—this is the Create New Download Model tool.
Step 2: Drawing the Prop Box
Once you select the Download Tool, your mouse cursor will turn into a crosshair.
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Go to your background image of your house and click and drag a bounding box exactly where you plan to place that physical prop in your yard.
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The moment you let go of the mouse button, a massive window will pop up automatically. This is the Official xLights Vendor Model Library.
Step 3: Finding GEUSA in the Directory
Inside the library window, you will see a searchable sidebar folder tree listing the premier layout manufacturers in the world.
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Scroll through the directory list or type GEUSA (or Gilbert Engineering) straight into the search box.
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Click our brand folder to open it. You will see an organized list of our entire catalog—everything from our custom snowflakes, bats, and wreaths to our high-density singing monster faces.
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Select the exact prop you bought (make sure to match the specific sizing, like a 24-inch vs. 36-inch model).
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Click the Download button at the bottom of the window.
xLights will instantly ping our secure server, download the exact node wiring map, scale it, and drop a perfect digital replica directly into your yard preview window!
Step 4: Verifying Node Wiring Directions
Our digital models do more than just look pretty on your screen; they contain the exact sub-models, face-mapping layers, and node paths drilled into the physical plastic.
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Check the Node Custom Wiring: Click on your newly downloaded prop in the layout screen and look at the left-hand properties panel. Look at the Wiring View.
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This view shows you the exact back-facing layout grid of the prop. It numbers the holes 1, 2, 3, 4, indicating precisely where you need to push your first pixel node and the exact path your string needs to follow.
As long as you push your physical pixels into the coro holes following that exact number sequence, your xLights animations will look absolutely flawless on your lawn without you ever having to program a single node manually.
💡 GEUSA Pro-Tip: What to do if a Prop is Updated?
One of the greatest benefits of utilizing the native xLights download network instead of static, old-school downloaded files is automated version control. If we tweak a sub-model layout or optimize a face-mapping group for a singing prop during the off-season, you don't have to rebuild your layout.
You can simply right-click your prop inside the xLights layout screen and hit Update from Library. The software will refresh the code instantly, preserving your existing controller assignments while downloading the latest layout enhancements!