Particles

Watch Particles live in the browser

A cloud of 10,000 fine grains turns slowly in the middle of the screen, drawn as tiny points in three depth layers, darker at the back and lighter in front. The grains are carried by a swirling flow that keeps the cloud roughly round, and one grain in five is a brighter runner.

The flow is a divergence-free curl field made from a sum of plane waves, so the grains circulate in currents instead of bunching up. A soft spherical shell holds them in frame, and grains are reborn at random as they age. Nothing moves in silence: the cloud comes to rest where it is.

What it reacts to

• Bass: makes the cloud breathe wider and strengthens the swirl around its vertical axis
• Bass hits: push the grains outward in a burst
• Mids: run the clock of the flow, speeding up the currents
• Treble: makes the runner grains race and sparkle, and adds fine turbulence
• Loudness: turns the cloud and sets how quickly grains are renewed

Tune

Color sets the grains' base colour; the darker and lighter depth layers and the sparkling grains are mixed from it.

Music that suits it

Music with distinct bass, mids and highs, such as jazz, soul or melodic house, shows the three separate motions: breathing, currents and sparkle.

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 Particles in the Canvas presets, or press ← → on the page until it comes up.