Iron Tunnel

Watch Iron Tunnel live in the browser

A flight through a dark hall of heavy, interlocking iron blocks, like the inside of a machine. Brushed steel surfaces catch a warm light, cast soft shadows, and carry grooves that glow with slowly cycling colour. The space repeats without end as the camera moves forward and slowly rolls.

The geometry is a kaleidoscopic iterated function system (KIFS): space is repeated, folded by mirroring and sorting the coordinates, rotated and scaled, and ribbed cubes are drawn in the folded copies. Small changes to the rotation turn the same blocks into different-looking forms, adapted from a Synesthesia preset.

What it reacts to

• Overall loudness: drives the forward flight and the rotation of the forms, so the tunnel stops in silence
• Recent energy: adds extra speed during loud stretches
• Attacks: a coloured sheen sweeps over the steel
• Bass pulses: specular highlights flare and the blocks swell slightly
• Treble pulses: nudge the forms' rotation and light the grooves; treble also shifts the hue

Tune

Base speed sets how fast the camera travels and Rotation speed how fast the forms and the view turn.

Music that suits it

Industrial, EBM or hard techno, with relentless loudness and sharp percussion, keeps the flight moving and the steel flashing.

How to play it

Install Deus, play music on Spotify, YouTube Music, Yandex Music or any other tab and click the Deus icon on that tab. Then pick Iron Tunnel in the WebGL presets, or press ← → on the page until it comes up.