Nanoleaf Shapes Breakdown & Showcase
Written by Sean Mekinda
If you’ve been spending time looking at top-of-the-line gaming rigs or expansive smart-home set-ups, you’ve undoubtedly seen walls covered in colored, light-up shapes. But, you might not be aware of what those are or how easy they are to implement in your own home. So, let us, with the help of some Micro Center fans who submitted their Nanoleaf set-ups, introduce: Nanoleaf Shapes.
Instagram: RetroTurboTimmy
What are Nanoleaf Shapes?
Nanoleaf Shapes are a lot of things: personal expression, room accents, computer highlights, and more. But mostly, Nanoleaf Shapes is customizable lighting beyond the RGB smart bulb, allowing for any number of combinations of lighting, colors, and design, anywhere you want them to be.
There’s a limit to how much you can do with the average RGB smart bulb. You can set schedules for when they turn on or off, you can have them glow any number of colors, and you can access them anywhere with a cell connection. But once they’re set up, they remain static in their lamp.
Nanoleaf Shapes have all the features of the average RGB smart bulb - schedules, colors, remote access - plus complete customizability (and interactivity, which we’ll get to in a bit). Shapes come in three different styles: Hexagons, Triangles, and Mini Triangles. All three styles work with one another, so you can hook up your hexagons to your mini triangles and create something like Josh Beal did below:
Facebook: Josh Beal
What can Nanoleaf Shapes do?
As I hinted at just a paragraph above, there’s a lot that Nanoleaf Shapes can do that the average RGB light bulb can’t do. The most visually striking is per-panel RGB, meaning that you can create a color scheme all your own. Mix purples with pinks and blues and spread them out in a honeycomb pattern, punctuated with mini triangles. Add on a layered dynamic scene so every third Shape slowly shifts colors, and you’ve got something entirely unique to your house.
That customizability is far from the only thing Nanoleaf Shapes can do. Sync them up with your sound system, and they’ll react to music in a variety of different ways, depending on which dynamic scene you have on. They’ll pulse with the beat, pop into a shower of color at high points, and quietly shift to the rhythm.
If you watch movies or play video games in the same room as your Nanoleaf Shapes, you can connect them to your device through Screen Mirror and have them match the colors of your screen. Make in-game explosions pop off your monitor as Shapes burst into vibrant reds. Expand your movies beyond the limits of your TV and watch the latest blockbuster fill your living room.
Nanoleaf Shapes can even be set up to respond to touch, allowing for interactive light displays in your own home. Tap your Shape for a burst of color or a soft hue shift. And if you’re looking for even more interactivity, the Nanoleaf app enables games for your Shapes, including Simon, where you repeat patterns, Memory, where you find matching colors, and Whack-A-Mole, where the goal is to press Shapes as soon as they light up.
Facebook - Steven Osborne
Is it easy to set up Nanoleaf Shapes?
Yes - from hanging the Shapes on your wall to connecting them to your phone, everything about Nanoleaf Shapes has been streamlined for ease of use.
Nanoleaf doesn’t use nails or any other wall-damaging hangars. Instead, Shapes are hung with wall-safe double-sided tape, included with every kit. It’s as simple as applying the tape to your Shape, then pressing it against the wall for thirty seconds.
And if you’re looking to connect two Shapes together, it’s as easy as a snap. Pick a side, snap in the connector, then snap in the second shape. And if you decide you want to adjust your setup, Shapes and connectors easily snap apart for reuse!
Connecting a new smart device to WiFi can be daunting, but Nanoleaf makes that a breeze as well, thanks to multiple connection methods. Every set comes with a QR pairing code printed in multiple locations, including the instruction manual, the power cord, and the controller. Scanning the QR code will automatically pair your device, so long as your smartphone is connected to your non-5G WiFi. Alternatively, if your smartphone has an NFC reader, just tap your phone to the controller to connect your Shapes set. And, if you don’t want to or can’t scan or tap, you can manually input your set’s code into your device. After that, you’re good to go!
Twitter - GianniMenasa
How do I control Nanoleaf Shapes?
Nanoleaf Shapes can be controlled by any smart home device, such as Amazon Alexa or Apple HomeKit, as well as with the smartphone app. Once your Shapes kit has been connected to your WiFi, use your chosen smart-home app to link it to your smart devices.
However, it is worth keeping the Nanoleaf app on your phone. While your smart home devices can be used to turn on your Shapes, change colors, and brighten/dim them, functionality is still a bit more limited than within the Nanoleaf app, which can delve far deeper into the personalization of your Shapes, including scenes and dynamic scenes.
Nanoleaf shapes also feature a controller that can be attached to the Shapes, and serves as a power button, dimmer, scene changer, and activates Rhythm, which allows Nanoleaf to react to music.
Facebook - Jenna Washington
Win your own Nanoleaf Smarter Kit!
Getting excited about Nanoleaf Shapes and want a set for yourself? You’ve come to the right place! We’re giving away one of each of Nanoleaf’s Shapes Smarter Kits. That’s a Hexagon kit, a Triangles kit, and a Mini Triangles kit - and entering is incredibly easy. All you have to do is comment below what you’d like to do with a Nanoleaf Shapes set! Tell us about your dream living room setup, your gaming den, your under-lit media station, and maybe you’ll win a set of Nanoleaf Shapes to make that dream a reality!
Comments
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Need more RGB in my life!!
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I’d like to hang them behind my monitors, on the wall so I can match them to the LED lights, ultimate gaming den
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I would love a set of nanoleaf shapes for my office/rig!
I hate the interior lights I’ve got in my office and would love something that added some light and color so I could forget about the overheads entirely! -
Would like to experience nanoleaf as i cant afford it atm. Would be a great addition to my set up.
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Wanted to do lucid dreams in the theme of RGB all around my room and that setup will help me out with the help of Nanoleaf.
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Would look great in the background, lighting up my office wall!
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I would love to try all the different combinations and customization options with Nanoleaf panels. Customization is really important to me when it comes to tech like this.
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I’d do up the ceiling of my bathroom!
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Imy dream living room setup is to have everything wifi controler and have so much rgb that you barth rainbow 🌈 🔥
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I would love a set to help provide some extra lighting for the room I study in. Being able to adjust the light remotely to what I need and what mood I am in would be really helpful!
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I've seen these things in so many setups and they look pretty neat. I wouldn't mind getting my hands on a set to mess around with.
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Oh wow my dream is to have a Nanoleaf set up that I can sync up to my music! All of my friends have some of their own and I would LOVE to join the club! They would look amazing in the music production videos I shoot. 🙏🙏🙏
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I would form a crown on top of my battlestation as my gamertag is "Keendom"
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I would love to hang a set in my room to set the setting for gaming. World sync well with my desk pc im currently building.
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I have an empty space above my bed. So if i won i would put them above my bed to complete my bedroom.
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I just want to make an H with the lights. Then probably buy a custom neon sign that is an outline of a helicopter. I'm currently in the process of renovating my room so that I can have my own personal space and create the ultimate gaming/working station bedroom.
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Would love to get a dynamic backsplash setup with Nanoleaf Shapes as the centerpiece. My setup is definitely lacking in RGB so these seem like a perfect way to dive in.
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I've been wanting some Nanoleaf panels for a while, but always found them a bit out of my price reach! My partner and I have been wanting some classier looking RGB panels for our shared office/game space to make it look fun but not too over the top, as we slowly decorate it.
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I would love to hang this in my @masterpcbuilder office and in my YT studio!!
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I want to make mine into the shape of a cat for the background of my twitch stream!
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I would hang them around my bed, my walls are a bit empty and I could definitely use some decorations in my room
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I have been adding stuff to my pc since last year I finally got my 3080 on the msi day that you guys did a couple of months ago and I just moved to my new apartment and would like to customize my room and add the nanoleafs as a final gadget to my room they would look so nice as a final addition.( I build my pc at the fairfax branch but I did a lot of customization ever since)
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I would love to add this to my battlefield themed setup. I have some Phillips tv and bowl lights and this will add to the wall illumination so well
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This would make an awesome addition to our gaming room! I would put them behind our couch for some creative lighting on that side of the room. My husband and I have back to back gaming set ups with some tasteful RGB and smart lighting. The nanoleaf kit would be just... **chefs kiss** ... icing on the cake!!
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My son has been saving up for some nanoleafs to level up his streaming background. He would be so excited to be surprised with some from Micro Center! Help make his environment then best around!
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Need to add more RGB in my life and need to spice up my backgroujd for my streams. been loving micro center and probably visited over 20 times just since July 2020. been looking for nanos forever and this might be my only chance to get en
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I made a DIY version so these would be awesome to have for my game room!
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Would be an awesome addition to my home office/gaming rig, I have always wanted to use the shapes to make a back lighting system around my 32" monitor. Also the new baby loves the changing colors of my PC so I'm sure she would love these as well!
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I want to make a really cool dragon design with the Nanoleaf! I would put them on the wall behind my PC!
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I light up my room with a little lamp and some Christmas lights so it would be really cool to have some nanoleafs to brighten up my setup with a pop of color
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