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Ripple Study

Water, written in code. A surface that remembers where you touched it, and slowly forgets.

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Move your cursor across the water. On a phone, drag a finger.

The idea

Stillness, then a single drop.

No images live behind this page. Every wave is calculated, frame by frame, from the one before it. A height field ripples, interferes with itself, and quietly settles. The same small idea that runs a real website. Touch one thing, and watch the flow move outward.

Two studies
Study No.1

Calm water

Slow, wide rings. The surface barely breathing, lit from a low sun.

No.1 · Calm
Study No.2

Rainfall

Many small drops, overlapping. Order emerging from interference.

No.2 · Rain
60 fps
One render loop, paused the moment the tab is hidden.
0 kb
No photographs. The water is pure GLSL maths on the GPU.
GLSL
A ping pong height field, shaded with refraction and a moving glint.

Everything starts
with a ripple.

Thanks for spending a quiet minute on the water.