Draw icons on the 8x8 canvas to generate C++ code for Arduino.
Microcontrollers like the Arduino UNO or ESP32 don't have the memory or operating systems to load standard image files like PNGs or JPEGs to display on tiny OLED screens (like the popular SSD1306) or 8x8 LED matrices (like the MAX7219). Instead, graphics must be hardcoded directly into your C++ sketch.
In computer science, a "Byte" is made up of 8 "Bits". A bit is simply a 1 or a 0. Because our LED matrix is 8 pixels wide, one entire row of LEDs fits perfectly into a single Byte of data:
For example, the code B10000001 tells the microcontroller to turn on the first and last pixel of that row, leaving the middle six off. By grouping 8 of these bytes together into an array, you can define a complete 8x8 custom character.