A motion trail that stores no history. Two render targets take turns: one holds everything that has happened, the other receives that accumulation multiplied by a decay factor with the current frame composited over it, and next frame they swap roles. Because the trail is a texture rather than a list of past positions, its length is one float — so it can be driven straight from how fast the marks are moving and change continuously without allocating anything. Fast movement smears; slow movement is perfectly crisp.
Also installs use-raf, use-in-view, use-visibility, use-resize-observer, use-reduced-motion, use-smooth-pointer, damp, webgl from this registry.
03
Prompt
The whole technique, written for an agent.
Build it with your agent
A single self-contained brief: the technique, the constants and why they hold, the pitfalls, and the definition of done. Paste it and the component gets written in your own conventions instead of copied in ours.
# Build: Velocity Afterimage PassA motion trail that stores no history. Two render targets take turns: one holds everything that has happened, the other receives that accumulation multiplied by a decay factor with the current frame composited over it, and next frame they swap roles. Because the trail is a texture rather than a list of past positions, its length is one float — so it can be driven straight from how fast the marks are moving and change continuously without allocating anything. Fast movement smears; slow movement is perfectly crisp.Build this as a React component in my project. Match my existing conventions —file layout, styling system, and naming — rather than the ones implied below.Everything after this line is specification, not code to copy verbatim.## What it doesMarks that smear into a tail when the pointer moves fast and stay crisp when it slows, from two targets swapping roles.- Category: webgl- Runtime cost: webgl- Dependencies: three@^0.185.1## How it works1. Three half-float targets are allocated at container size x DPR x `resolutionScale`: `frame` receives only this frame's marks, and `ping`/`pong` alternate as the accumulation. Reading and writing one target in a single pass is undefined in WebGL, which is the only reason there are two.2. Pass 1 clears `frame` and renders the content scene into it — one lead mark plus `satellites` orbiters, all sharing a single 1x1 `PlaneGeometry` and one 256px canvas-drawn radial falloff texture, so the whole cluster is a handful of draw calls and no per-frame allocation.3. The lead follows the pointer through `damp(lead.x, pointer.ndcX * aspect, 0.0004, dt)`, and the satellites sit at `lead + (cos, sin)(i/n * 2PI + elapsed * 1.5) * 0.3` around it. The x target is multiplied by aspect because the orthographic frustum is widened to `[-aspect, aspect]` while staying `[-1, 1]` tall.4. Trail length is measured from the *mark*, not the cursor: `speed = hypot(lead - previousLead) / dt`, normalised by `reference`, clamped to 0..1 and scaled by `maxDamp`. That target is then itself run through `damp(..., 0.003, dt)`, so the tail extends and retracts smoothly instead of popping to full length on the first fast frame.5. Pass 2 renders a fullscreen quad into whichever target is not the current history, with `uCurrent = frame.texture`, `uHistory = ping.texture` and `uDamp` set to the smoothed speed. The fragment is `float alive = step(uCutoff, history.a); history *= uDamp * alive; gl_FragColor = max(current, history);` — `max` keeps the head at full strength and lets the tail sit underneath it.6. Pass 3 blits the accumulation to the canvas through a stock `MeshBasicMaterial`, so three performs output colour conversion exactly once and the blend pass stays in linear space. Then `ping` and `pong` are swapped: what was just written becomes next frame's history.## Constants — use these valuesThese are tuned. Each one has a reason; do not round them off or replace themwith values that "look cleaner".- `maxDamp = 0.9` Per-frame decay factor at full speed. Must stay below 1: at exactly 1 nothing ever decays and the trail becomes a permanent painted streak across the panel. Above ~0.95 the tail outlives the gesture by seconds and reads as a smudged framebuffer rather than motion.- `cutoff = 0.06` Alpha below which `step()` zeroes a pixel outright. Geometric decay never actually reaches zero — at 0.9 a pixel still holds 0.5% of its value a hundred frames later, and on a half-float target that faint ghost of the very first frame is baked in permanently. Below ~0.02 the ghost is visible on a dark surface; above ~0.15 the tail ends in a hard edge instead of fading.- `reference = 1.6` World units per second that count as full speed. The frustum is 2 units tall, so this is roughly 0.8 container heights per second — a brisk but ordinary hand movement. Set it much higher and only a violent flick produces any trail at all.- `LEAD_SMOOTHING = 0.0004` Fraction of the gap to the pointer still remaining after one second. Tight enough that the lead feels attached to the cursor, loose enough that the mark keeps travelling for a frame or two after the hand stops — which is what gives the tail something to decay from.- `DAMP_SMOOTHING = 0.003` Smoothing on the decay factor itself, deliberately looser than the position smoothing. If the trail length tracked speed instantly, a single dropped frame would spike `dt`, spike the measured speed, and flash a full-length tail out of a stationary mark.- `ORBIT_RADIUS / ORBIT_SPEED = 0.3 / 1.5` Satellites orbit 0.3 world units out at 1.5 rad/s. The radius has to exceed the lead's own 0.34 half-size or the satellites never clear the lead's falloff and the cluster reads as one blob; the speed is what produces a curved tail rather than three parallel straight ones.- `SPRITE_SIZE = 256` One canvas-drawn radial gradient shared by every mark. 256px is above the on-screen size of the largest mark at DPR 2, so it never magnifies into visible steps, and it is small enough that the upload is a single sub-millisecond cost at build time.- `target type / filter = HalfFloatType, NearestFilter` The accumulation is multiplied by a fraction every frame. On the default 8-bit unsigned byte the result quantises into stair-stepped bands down the length of the trail. Nearest rather than linear because the blend samples texel-for-texel from a target of identical size — bilinear filtering would smear the trail sideways a little more on each of the hundreds of passes a pixel survives.## API```tsfunction VelocityAfterimagePass(props: { maxDamp?: number; cutoff?: number; reference?: number; satellites?: number; hue?: number; resolutionScale?: number; className?: string }): JSX.Element```- `maxDamp: number` — default `0.9` Longest trail, as the per-frame decay factor. Must stay below 1.- `cutoff: number` — default `0.06` Alpha below which a pixel is cut to nothing instead of decaying forever.- `reference: number` — default `1.6` Mark travel in world units per second that counts as full speed.- `satellites: number` — default `3` Marks orbiting the lead. 0 leaves a single mark.- `hue: number` — default `196` Base hue in degrees. Satellites are offset 26 degrees apart from it.- `resolutionScale: number` — default `1` Render target scale relative to the canvas. Below 1 trades tail sharpness for fill rate.- `className: string` Merged onto the root container via `cn`.## Reference implementation of the coreThis is the part that is hard to get right. Adapt it; do not treat the rest ofthe component as fixed.```tsxexport function VelocityAfterimagePass({ maxDamp = 0.9, cutoff = 0.06, reference = 1.6, satellites = 3, hue = 196, resolutionScale = 1, className,}: VelocityAfterimagePassProps) { const host = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null); const stage = useRef<Stage | null>(null); const { width, height } = useResizeObserver(host); const { inView } = useInView(host, { threshold: 0 }); const visible = useVisibility(); const reduced = useReducedMotion(); const pointer = useSmoothPointer({ target: host, smoothing: 0.0005 }); const [supported, setSupported] = useState(true); useEffect(() => setSupported(hasWebGL()), []); const elapsed = useRef(0); const dampNow = useRef(0); const last = useRef<{ x: number; y: number } | null>(null); const lead = useRef({ x: 0, y: 0 }); const live = useRef({ maxDamp, cutoff, reference }); live.current = { maxDamp, cutoff, reference }; const ready = width > 1 && height > 1 && supported; useEffect(() => { const el = host.current; if (!el || !ready) return; const renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer({ antialias: false, alpha: true }); const dpr = pixelRatio(); renderer.setPixelRatio(dpr); renderer.setSize(el.clientWidth, el.clientHeight, false); renderer.setClearColor(0x000000, 0); renderer.domElement.style.display = 'block'; renderer.domElement.style.width = '100%'; renderer.domElement.style.height = '100%'; el.appendChild(renderer.domElement); const bufferW = Math.max(2, Math.round(el.clientWidth * dpr * resolutionScale)); const bufferH = Math.max(2, Math.round(el.clientHeight * dpr * resolutionScale)); // Three targets: one for this frame's marks, two that swap as history. // Reading and writing the same target in one pass is undefined behaviour // in WebGL and shows up as tearing or a black frame depending on driver. const frame = makeTarget(bufferW, bufferH); const ping = makeTarget(bufferW, bufferH); const pong = makeTarget(bufferW, bufferH); const sprite = new THREE.CanvasTexture(makeSprite()); sprite.colorSpace = THREE.SRGBColorSpace; const content = new THREE.Scene(); const contentCamera = new THREE.OrthographicCamera(-1, 1, 1, -1, 0, 10); contentCamera.position.z = 1; const markGeometry = new THREE.PlaneGeometry(1, 1); const markMaterials: THREE.MeshBasicMaterial[] = []; const makeMark = (size: number, lightness: number, shift: number) => { const material = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({ map: sprite, transparent: true, depthWrite: false, depthTest: false, }); material.color.setHSL(((hue + shift) % 360) / 360, 0.72, lightness); markMaterials.push(material); const mesh = new THREE.Mesh(markGeometry, material); mesh.scale.setScalar(size); content.add(mesh); return mesh; }; const leadMesh = makeMark(LEAD_SIZE, 0.62, 0); const orbiters: THREE.Mesh[] = []; for (let i = 0; i < Math.max(satellites, 0); i++) { orbiters.push(makeMark(SATELLITE_SIZE, 0.5, (i + 1) * 26)); } // Fullscreen quad, reused by both post passes. PlaneGeometry(2, 2) exactly // fills a -1..1 orthographic frustum with no scaling in between. const quadGeometry = new THREE.PlaneGeometry(2, 2); const quadCamera = new THREE.OrthographicCamera(-1, 1, 1, -1, 0, 1); const blendUniforms: BlendUniforms = { uCurrent: { value: frame.texture }, uHistory: { value: ping.texture }, uDamp: { value: 0 }, uCutoff: { value: cutoff }, }; const blendMaterial = new THREE.ShaderMaterial({ vertexShader: velocityAfterimageVertexShader, fragmentShader: velocityAfterimageFragmentShader, uniforms: blendUniforms, depthWrite: false, depthTest: false, }); const quadScene = new THREE.Scene(); quadScene.add(new THREE.Mesh(quadGeometry, blendMaterial)); // The final blit uses a stock material precisely so three applies its own // output colour-space conversion here, and only here. const screenMaterial = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({ map: pong.texture, transparent: true, depthWrite: false, depthTest: false, }); const screenScene = new THREE.Scene(); screenScene.add(new THREE.Mesh(quadGeometry, screenMaterial)); const stageValue: Stage = { renderer, content, contentCamera, quadScene, quadCamera, screenScene, frame, ping, pong, blendUniforms, screenMaterial, lead: leadMesh, orbiters, sprite, quadGeometry, markGeometry, blendMaterial, markMaterials, }; stage.current = stageValue; return () => { stage.current = null; disposeObject(content); disposeObject(quadScene); disposeObject(screenScene); sprite.dispose(); quadGeometry.dispose(); markGeometry.dispose(); blendMaterial.dispose(); screenMaterial.dispose(); for (const material of markMaterials) material.dispose(); // Render targets are not part of any scene graph, so nothing walks them. // Each one holds a full-resolution half-float texture and a framebuffer. frame.dispose(); ping.dispose(); pong.dispose(); disposeRenderer(renderer); renderer.domElement.remove(); }; // eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps }, [ready, satellites, hue, resolutionScale]); useEffect(() => { const current = stage.current; if (!current || width < 1 || height < 1) return; const dpr = pixelRatio(); const aspect = width / height; current.renderer.setPixelRatio(dpr); current.renderer.setSize(width, height, false); current.contentCamera.left = -aspect; current.contentCamera.right = aspect; current.contentCamera.updateProjectionMatrix(); const bufferW = Math.max(2, Math.round(width * dpr * resolutionScale)); const bufferH = Math.max(2, Math.round(height * dpr * resolutionScale)); for (const target of [current.frame, current.ping, current.pong]) { target.setSize(bufferW, bufferH); // setSize reallocates the texture, so whatever the history held is now // undefined memory. Without an explicit clear, the first frame after a // resize can composite garbage that then decays for a second. current.renderer.setRenderTarget(target); current.renderer.clear(); } current.renderer.setRenderTarget(null); }, [width, height, resolutionScale]); useRaf( (dt) => { const current = stage.current; if (!current) return; const { maxDamp: longest, cutoff: floor, reference: full } = live.current; if (!reduced) elapsed.current += dt; const aspect = current.contentCamera.right; const targetX = pointer.current.active ? pointer.current.ndcX * aspect : 0; const targetY = pointer.current.active ? pointer.current.ndcY : 0; lead.current.x = damp(lead.current.x, targetX, LEAD_SMOOTHING, dt); lead.current.y = damp(lead.current.y, targetY, LEAD_SMOOTHING, dt); // Speed of the mark itself, not of the raw pointer. The mark is what is // being smeared, so a trail measured from the cursor would start before // the mark moves and keep going after it has stopped. const previous = last.current; const speed = previous && dt > 0 ? Math.hypot(lead.current.x - previous.x, lead.current.y - previous.y) / dt : 0; last.current = { x: lead.current.x, y: lead.current.y }; const wanted = reduced ? 0 : clamp(speed / Math.max(full, 0.0001), 0, 1) * longest; dampNow.current = damp(dampNow.current, wanted, DAMP_SMOOTHING, dt); current.lead.position.set(lead.current.x, lead.current.y, 0); for (let i = 0; i < current.orbiters.length; i++) { const orbiter = current.orbiters[i]; if (!orbiter) continue; const phase = (i / current.orbiters.length) * Math.PI * 2 + elapsed.current * ORBIT_SPEED; orbiter.position.set( lead.current.x + Math.cos(phase) * ORBIT_RADIUS, lead.current.y + Math.sin(phase) * ORBIT_RADIUS, 0, ); } // Pass 1 — this frame's marks alone, into their own target. current.renderer.setRenderTarget(current.frame); current.renderer.clear(); current.renderer.render(current.content, current.contentCamera); // Pass 2 — decayed history plus this frame, into the target that is not // currently the history. Reading and writing one target in a single pass // is undefined in WebGL, which is the entire reason for the swap. current.blendUniforms.uCurrent.value = current.frame.texture; current.blendUniforms.uHistory.value = current.ping.texture; current.blendUniforms.uDamp.value = dampNow.current; current.blendUniforms.uCutoff.value = floor; current.renderer.setRenderTarget(current.pong); current.renderer.render(current.quadScene, current.quadCamera); // Pass 3 — the accumulation to the canvas, through a stock material so // three performs output colour conversion exactly once. current.renderer.setRenderTarget(null); current.screenMaterial.map = current.pong.texture; current.renderer.render(current.screenScene, current.quadCamera); // Swap. The target just written becomes next frame's history. const swap = current.ping; current.ping = current.pong; current.pong = swap; }, ready && inView && visible, );```## RequirementsThese are not optional. A version of this component that skips any of them isnot finished.**Cleanup.** Nulls the stage handle first so an in-flight frame cannot touch a half-disposed renderer, then `disposeObject` on all three scenes, disposes the sprite texture, both geometries, the blend, screen and every mark material, then explicitly disposes `frame`, `ping` and `pong` — no scene graph reaches them — then `disposeRenderer` (which forces context loss, not just `dispose()`) and removes the canvas element. The rAF subscription is released by `useRaf`.**Reduced motion.** The orbit clock is not advanced and the decay factor is pinned to 0, so no accumulation survives a frame: the panel shows the crisp mark cluster with the satellites holding their starting angles and no tail behind them, however fast the pointer moves. The marks still follow the pointer, since that is direct response to input rather than self-driven motion.**Frame-rate independence.** Any smoothing must be a function of delta time.`x += (target - x) * 0.1` converges twice as fast at 120 Hz as at 60 Hz; use`x = target + (x - target) * Math.pow(smoothing, dt)` instead, where`smoothing` is the fraction of the gap remaining after one second.**Strict mode.** Assume effects run twice in development. Setup must beidempotent and teardown must fully undo it.## Known pitfalls — avoid these specifically- Blending a target into itself. It is the obvious shape — one history target, read it and write it — and it is undefined behaviour in WebGL: depending on driver you get tearing, a black frame, or a result that looks right on your machine and fails on someone else's.- Leaving the targets at the default `UnsignedByteType`. Repeated multiplication by 0.9 on 8 bits per channel quantises the tail into visible stair-stepped bands, and the banding is worst on exactly the slow gradients the effect is made of.- Using `LinearFilter` on the ping-pong pair. Each pass smears the accumulation by a fraction of a texel, and a pixel survives hundreds of passes, so the trail visibly fattens and drifts diagonally away from the path the pointer actually took.- Decaying with no floor. `history *= 0.9` is a geometric series that never reaches zero, so a permanent ghost of the first frames stays welded into the buffer and the panel is never clean again. The `step(uCutoff, history.a)` factor cuts it instead.- Compositing with `mix()` or additive blending instead of `max()`. `mix` dims the current frame in proportion to the trail behind it, so the head goes dark exactly when it is moving fastest; additive blows out to white wherever the path crosses itself.- Applying output colour conversion in the blend pass. Its result goes into another render target that stays in linear working space, so converting there and again on the final blit brightens the accumulation on every pass until the whole panel is white within a second.- Calling `setSize` on the targets after a resize and rendering straight away. `setSize` reallocates the texture, so the history now points at undefined memory, and the first composited frame is garbage that then decays for a full second.- Deriving the trail from raw pointer speed. The mark is what is being smeared, and it lags the cursor — so a cursor-driven trail starts before the mark moves and keeps growing after it has stopped.- Smoothing the decay factor with a per-frame constant (`d += (target - d) * 0.1`). That converges twice as fast at 120Hz, so the same hand speed produces a visibly shorter trail on a high-refresh display.- Disposing the scene graph and stopping there. Render targets belong to no scene, so nothing walks them — each holds a full-resolution half-float texture plus a framebuffer, and three of them at DPR 2 is tens of megabytes retained per unmount.## Notes- Guarded with `hasWebGL()`: where a context cannot be acquired the component renders a single static radial gradient at the configured hue instead of an empty canvas.- The loop is gated on `useInView` plus `useVisibility`, so an off-screen or backgrounded instance costs no GPU time at all — which matters more here than elsewhere, because this effect pays for three full-resolution passes per frame.- `resolutionScale` below 1 trades tail sharpness for fill rate. Because the trail is low-frequency by nature, 0.6 is close to free visually and cuts the post-processing cost to roughly a third.## Definition of doneMove the pointer slowly across the panel and the marks stay crisp with no tail. Flick across it and a smooth curved tail follows the cluster, fading to nothing rather than to a faint permanent ghost. Stop moving and the tail retracts over about a third of a second, leaving the surface clean. Resize the container mid-gesture and no block of garbage appears. Scroll the panel out of view and GPU work stops; unmount and the WebGL context count in about:gpu drops.When you are finished, tell me which of the requirements above you implementedand where, so I can check them.
'use client';import { useEffect, useRef, useState } from 'react';import * as THREE from 'three';import { cn } from '@/lib/utils';import { useInView } from '@/hooks/use-in-view';import { useRaf } from '@/hooks/use-raf';import { useReducedMotion } from '@/hooks/use-reduced-motion';import { useResizeObserver } from '@/hooks/use-resize-observer';import { useSmoothPointer } from '@/hooks/use-smooth-pointer';import { useVisibility } from '@/hooks/use-visibility';import { clamp, damp } from '@/lib/damp';import { disposeObject, disposeRenderer, hasWebGL, pixelRatio,} from '@/lib/webgl';import { velocityAfterimageFragmentShader, velocityAfterimageVertexShader,} from '@/components/motion/shaders/velocity-afterimage-pass';/* ========================================================================== Velocity Afterimage Pass -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A motion trail that keeps no history. Two render targets take turns: one holds everything that has happened, the other receives that accumulation decayed by a factor with the current frame composited on top. Next frame they swap roles. The trail length is therefore one float, not a list of past positions — which is why it can be driven straight from pointer speed and change continuously without allocating anything. ========================================================================== */export interface VelocityAfterimagePassProps { /** Longest trail, as the per-frame decay factor. Must stay below 1. */ maxDamp?: number; /** Alpha below which a pixel is cut to nothing instead of decaying forever. */ cutoff?: number; /** Pointer travel in screen-heights per second that counts as full speed. */ reference?: number; /** Satellites orbiting the lead mark. */ satellites?: number; /** Base hue for the marks. */ hue?: number; /** Render target scale. Below 1 trades trail sharpness for fill rate. */ resolutionScale?: number; className?: string;}const LEAD_SIZE = 0.34;const SATELLITE_SIZE = 0.16;const ORBIT_RADIUS = 0.3;const ORBIT_SPEED = 1.5;const LEAD_SMOOTHING = 0.0004;const DAMP_SMOOTHING = 0.003;const SPRITE_SIZE = 256;interface BlendUniforms { [name: string]: THREE.IUniform; uCurrent: THREE.IUniform<THREE.Texture | null>; uHistory: THREE.IUniform<THREE.Texture | null>; uDamp: THREE.IUniform<number>; uCutoff: THREE.IUniform<number>;}interface Stage { renderer: THREE.WebGLRenderer; content: THREE.Scene; contentCamera: THREE.OrthographicCamera; quadScene: THREE.Scene; quadCamera: THREE.OrthographicCamera; screenScene: THREE.Scene; frame: THREE.WebGLRenderTarget; ping: THREE.WebGLRenderTarget; pong: THREE.WebGLRenderTarget; blendUniforms: BlendUniforms; screenMaterial: THREE.MeshBasicMaterial; lead: THREE.Mesh; orbiters: THREE.Mesh[]; sprite: THREE.CanvasTexture; quadGeometry: THREE.PlaneGeometry; markGeometry: THREE.PlaneGeometry; blendMaterial: THREE.ShaderMaterial; markMaterials: THREE.MeshBasicMaterial[];}/** A radial falloff, drawn once and reused by every mark. */function makeSprite(): HTMLCanvasElement { const canvas = document.createElement('canvas'); canvas.width = SPRITE_SIZE; canvas.height = SPRITE_SIZE; const ctx = canvas.getContext('2d'); if (!ctx) return canvas; const half = SPRITE_SIZE / 2; const glow = ctx.createRadialGradient(half, half, 0, half, half, half); glow.addColorStop(0, 'rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)'); glow.addColorStop(0.42, 'rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.72)'); glow.addColorStop(1, 'rgba(255, 255, 255, 0)'); ctx.fillStyle = glow; ctx.fillRect(0, 0, SPRITE_SIZE, SPRITE_SIZE); return canvas;}function makeTarget(width: number, height: number): THREE.WebGLRenderTarget { return new THREE.WebGLRenderTarget(width, height, { // Half float, not the default unsigned byte. The accumulation is // multiplied by a fraction every single frame, and on 8 bits the result // quantises into visible stair-stepped bands down the length of the trail. type: THREE.HalfFloatType, // Nearest, not linear. The blend reads texel-for-texel from a target of // exactly the same size; bilinear filtering would smear the trail // sideways a little more on each of the hundreds of passes it survives. minFilter: THREE.NearestFilter, magFilter: THREE.NearestFilter, depthBuffer: false, stencilBuffer: false, });}// #region criticalexport function VelocityAfterimagePass({ maxDamp = 0.9, cutoff = 0.06, reference = 1.6, satellites = 3, hue = 196, resolutionScale = 1, className,}: VelocityAfterimagePassProps) { const host = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null); const stage = useRef<Stage | null>(null); const { width, height } = useResizeObserver(host); const { inView } = useInView(host, { threshold: 0 }); const visible = useVisibility(); const reduced = useReducedMotion(); const pointer = useSmoothPointer({ target: host, smoothing: 0.0005 }); const [supported, setSupported] = useState(true); useEffect(() => setSupported(hasWebGL()), []); const elapsed = useRef(0); const dampNow = useRef(0); const last = useRef<{ x: number; y: number } | null>(null); const lead = useRef({ x: 0, y: 0 }); const live = useRef({ maxDamp, cutoff, reference }); live.current = { maxDamp, cutoff, reference }; const ready = width > 1 && height > 1 && supported; useEffect(() => { const el = host.current; if (!el || !ready) return; const renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer({ antialias: false, alpha: true }); const dpr = pixelRatio(); renderer.setPixelRatio(dpr); renderer.setSize(el.clientWidth, el.clientHeight, false); renderer.setClearColor(0x000000, 0); renderer.domElement.style.display = 'block'; renderer.domElement.style.width = '100%'; renderer.domElement.style.height = '100%'; el.appendChild(renderer.domElement); const bufferW = Math.max(2, Math.round(el.clientWidth * dpr * resolutionScale)); const bufferH = Math.max(2, Math.round(el.clientHeight * dpr * resolutionScale)); // Three targets: one for this frame's marks, two that swap as history. // Reading and writing the same target in one pass is undefined behaviour // in WebGL and shows up as tearing or a black frame depending on driver. const frame = makeTarget(bufferW, bufferH); const ping = makeTarget(bufferW, bufferH); const pong = makeTarget(bufferW, bufferH); const sprite = new THREE.CanvasTexture(makeSprite()); sprite.colorSpace = THREE.SRGBColorSpace; const content = new THREE.Scene(); const contentCamera = new THREE.OrthographicCamera(-1, 1, 1, -1, 0, 10); contentCamera.position.z = 1; const markGeometry = new THREE.PlaneGeometry(1, 1); const markMaterials: THREE.MeshBasicMaterial[] = []; const makeMark = (size: number, lightness: number, shift: number) => { const material = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({ map: sprite, transparent: true, depthWrite: false, depthTest: false, }); material.color.setHSL(((hue + shift) % 360) / 360, 0.72, lightness); markMaterials.push(material); const mesh = new THREE.Mesh(markGeometry, material); mesh.scale.setScalar(size); content.add(mesh); return mesh; }; const leadMesh = makeMark(LEAD_SIZE, 0.62, 0); const orbiters: THREE.Mesh[] = []; for (let i = 0; i < Math.max(satellites, 0); i++) { orbiters.push(makeMark(SATELLITE_SIZE, 0.5, (i + 1) * 26)); } // Fullscreen quad, reused by both post passes. PlaneGeometry(2, 2) exactly // fills a -1..1 orthographic frustum with no scaling in between. const quadGeometry = new THREE.PlaneGeometry(2, 2); const quadCamera = new THREE.OrthographicCamera(-1, 1, 1, -1, 0, 1); const blendUniforms: BlendUniforms = { uCurrent: { value: frame.texture }, uHistory: { value: ping.texture }, uDamp: { value: 0 }, uCutoff: { value: cutoff }, }; const blendMaterial = new THREE.ShaderMaterial({ vertexShader: velocityAfterimageVertexShader, fragmentShader: velocityAfterimageFragmentShader, uniforms: blendUniforms, depthWrite: false, depthTest: false, }); const quadScene = new THREE.Scene(); quadScene.add(new THREE.Mesh(quadGeometry, blendMaterial)); // The final blit uses a stock material precisely so three applies its own // output colour-space conversion here, and only here. const screenMaterial = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({ map: pong.texture, transparent: true, depthWrite: false, depthTest: false, }); const screenScene = new THREE.Scene(); screenScene.add(new THREE.Mesh(quadGeometry, screenMaterial)); const stageValue: Stage = { renderer, content, contentCamera, quadScene, quadCamera, screenScene, frame, ping, pong, blendUniforms, screenMaterial, lead: leadMesh, orbiters, sprite, quadGeometry, markGeometry, blendMaterial, markMaterials, }; stage.current = stageValue; return () => { stage.current = null; disposeObject(content); disposeObject(quadScene); disposeObject(screenScene); sprite.dispose(); quadGeometry.dispose(); markGeometry.dispose(); blendMaterial.dispose(); screenMaterial.dispose(); for (const material of markMaterials) material.dispose(); // Render targets are not part of any scene graph, so nothing walks them. // Each one holds a full-resolution half-float texture and a framebuffer. frame.dispose(); ping.dispose(); pong.dispose(); disposeRenderer(renderer); renderer.domElement.remove(); }; // eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps }, [ready, satellites, hue, resolutionScale]); useEffect(() => { const current = stage.current; if (!current || width < 1 || height < 1) return; const dpr = pixelRatio(); const aspect = width / height; current.renderer.setPixelRatio(dpr); current.renderer.setSize(width, height, false); current.contentCamera.left = -aspect; current.contentCamera.right = aspect; current.contentCamera.updateProjectionMatrix(); const bufferW = Math.max(2, Math.round(width * dpr * resolutionScale)); const bufferH = Math.max(2, Math.round(height * dpr * resolutionScale)); for (const target of [current.frame, current.ping, current.pong]) { target.setSize(bufferW, bufferH); // setSize reallocates the texture, so whatever the history held is now // undefined memory. Without an explicit clear, the first frame after a // resize can composite garbage that then decays for a second. current.renderer.setRenderTarget(target); current.renderer.clear(); } current.renderer.setRenderTarget(null); }, [width, height, resolutionScale]); useRaf( (dt) => { const current = stage.current; if (!current) return; const { maxDamp: longest, cutoff: floor, reference: full } = live.current; if (!reduced) elapsed.current += dt; const aspect = current.contentCamera.right; const targetX = pointer.current.active ? pointer.current.ndcX * aspect : 0; const targetY = pointer.current.active ? pointer.current.ndcY : 0; lead.current.x = damp(lead.current.x, targetX, LEAD_SMOOTHING, dt); lead.current.y = damp(lead.current.y, targetY, LEAD_SMOOTHING, dt); // Speed of the mark itself, not of the raw pointer. The mark is what is // being smeared, so a trail measured from the cursor would start before // the mark moves and keep going after it has stopped. const previous = last.current; const speed = previous && dt > 0 ? Math.hypot(lead.current.x - previous.x, lead.current.y - previous.y) / dt : 0; last.current = { x: lead.current.x, y: lead.current.y }; const wanted = reduced ? 0 : clamp(speed / Math.max(full, 0.0001), 0, 1) * longest; dampNow.current = damp(dampNow.current, wanted, DAMP_SMOOTHING, dt); current.lead.position.set(lead.current.x, lead.current.y, 0); for (let i = 0; i < current.orbiters.length; i++) { const orbiter = current.orbiters[i]; if (!orbiter) continue; const phase = (i / current.orbiters.length) * Math.PI * 2 + elapsed.current * ORBIT_SPEED; orbiter.position.set( lead.current.x + Math.cos(phase) * ORBIT_RADIUS, lead.current.y + Math.sin(phase) * ORBIT_RADIUS, 0, ); } // Pass 1 — this frame's marks alone, into their own target. current.renderer.setRenderTarget(current.frame); current.renderer.clear(); current.renderer.render(current.content, current.contentCamera); // Pass 2 — decayed history plus this frame, into the target that is not // currently the history. Reading and writing one target in a single pass // is undefined in WebGL, which is the entire reason for the swap. current.blendUniforms.uCurrent.value = current.frame.texture; current.blendUniforms.uHistory.value = current.ping.texture; current.blendUniforms.uDamp.value = dampNow.current; current.blendUniforms.uCutoff.value = floor; current.renderer.setRenderTarget(current.pong); current.renderer.render(current.quadScene, current.quadCamera); // Pass 3 — the accumulation to the canvas, through a stock material so // three performs output colour conversion exactly once. current.renderer.setRenderTarget(null); current.screenMaterial.map = current.pong.texture; current.renderer.render(current.screenScene, current.quadCamera); // Swap. The target just written becomes next frame's history. const swap = current.ping; current.ping = current.pong; current.pong = swap; }, ready && inView && visible, ); // #endregion critical return ( <div className={cn('relative h-full w-full overflow-hidden', className)}> <div ref={host} className="absolute inset-0" /> {!supported ? ( <div className="absolute inset-0 flex items-center justify-center"> <div className="h-24 w-24 rounded-full" style={{ background: `radial-gradient(circle, hsl(${hue} 72% 62%), transparent 70%)` }} /> </div> ) : null} </div> );}
/* ========================================================================== Velocity Afterimage Pass — GLSL as TypeScript template literals. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A motion trail with no history buffer and no particle list. Two render targets take turns: one holds everything that has happened so far, the other receives that same accumulation multiplied by a decay factor with the current frame composited over it. Next frame they swap. Because the trail is a texture rather than a list of past positions, its length is a single float. Driving that float from pointer speed is what makes fast movement smear and slow movement stay crisp. ========================================================================== */export const velocityAfterimageVertexShader = /* glsl */ `varying vec2 vUv;void main() { vUv = uv; gl_Position = projectionMatrix * modelViewMatrix * vec4(position, 1.0);}`;export const velocityAfterimageFragmentShader = /* glsl */ `uniform sampler2D uCurrent;uniform sampler2D uHistory;uniform float uDamp;uniform float uCutoff;varying vec2 vUv;void main() { vec4 current = texture2D(uCurrent, vUv); vec4 history = texture2D(uHistory, vUv); // Decay, with a floor. Multiplying by uDamp alone is a geometric series that // never actually reaches zero: at 0.9 a pixel still holds 0.5% of its // original value a hundred frames later, so on a half-float target a faint // ghost of the very first frame is baked in permanently. The step() zeroes // anything already below the cutoff instead of letting it crawl toward it. float alive = step(uCutoff, history.a); history *= uDamp * alive; // max(), not mix() or additive. mix() would dim the current frame in // proportion to the trail behind it, so the head of the trail goes dark // exactly when it is moving fastest; additive blows out to white wherever // the path crosses itself. max() keeps the head at full strength and lets // the tail sit underneath. gl_FragColor = max(current, history); // Deliberately no colorspace conversion here. This pass writes into another // render target, which stays in linear working space; converting to sRGB now // and again on the final blit would brighten the trail on every single // accumulation until the whole frame is white.}`;
/* ========================================================================== Frame-rate-independent interpolation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The everywhere-idiom `x += (target - x) * 0.1` is a bug: it converges twice as fast on a 120 Hz display as on a 60 Hz one, so the same code feels different on different hardware and visibly speeds up when the browser drops frames. `damp` fixes it by raising the retention factor to the power of elapsed time, which is the exact continuous form of the same curve. ========================================================================== *//** * Fraction of the remaining distance to close this frame. * * @param smoothing Fraction of the gap that REMAINS after one second. * Smaller is snappier. 0.001 ≈ very fast, 0.01 ≈ fast, 0.1 ≈ soft, * 0.5 ≈ slow drift. * @param dt Seconds elapsed since the previous frame. */export function dampFactor(smoothing: number, dt: number): number { return 1 - Math.pow(smoothing, dt);}/** Move `current` toward `target` at a rate independent of frame rate. */export function damp( current: number, target: number, smoothing: number, dt: number,): number { return current + (target - current) * dampFactor(smoothing, dt);}/** * The per-frame lerp constant an author measured at 60fps, converted into the * `smoothing` argument `damp` wants. Lets a source that says "0.1 per frame" * be ported without re-tuning by eye: * * damp(x, t, perFrameToSmoothing(0.1), dt) */export function perFrameToSmoothing(alpha: number, baseFps = 60): number { return Math.pow(1 - alpha, baseFps);}export function lerp(a: number, b: number, t: number): number { return a + (b - a) * t;}export function clamp(v: number, min: number, max: number): number { return v < min ? min : v > max ? max : v;}export function inverseLerp(a: number, b: number, v: number): number { return a === b ? 0 : (v - a) / (b - a);}export function mapRange( v: number, inMin: number, inMax: number, outMin: number, outMax: number, doClamp = true,): number { const t = inverseLerp(inMin, inMax, v); const r = lerp(outMin, outMax, doClamp ? clamp(t, 0, 1) : t); return r;}/** GLSL `smoothstep`, same semantics, for parity between JS and shader code. */export function smoothstep(edge0: number, edge1: number, x: number): number { const t = clamp(inverseLerp(edge0, edge1, x), 0, 1); return t * t * (3 - 2 * t);}/** * Gaussian falloff, `exp(-d²)`. Yields 1.000 / 0.368 / 0.018 / 0.0001 at * distances 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 — a continuous focus scalar with no thresholds and * no branches, which is why carousels that use it feel analogue rather than * stepped. */export function gaussian(distance: number, falloff = 1): number { const d = distance * falloff; return Math.exp(-(d * d));}
'use client';import { useEffect, useRef, useState, type RefObject } from 'react';/* ========================================================================== IntersectionObserver, sharing one observer per option set. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A hundred cards each constructing their own observer is a hundred observers the compositor has to service. Keying a shared observer by its options collapses that to one per distinct configuration — in practice, two or three for the whole site. ========================================================================== */export interface InViewState { inView: boolean; /** 0-1. The preview slot allocator ranks candidates by this. */ ratio: number;}export interface UseInViewOptions { root?: Element | null; rootMargin?: string; /** Single number or list, same meaning as the native option. */ threshold?: number | number[]; /** Stop observing after the first time it becomes visible. */ once?: boolean;}type Entry = { observer: IntersectionObserver; handlers: Map<Element, (e: IntersectionObserverEntry) => void>;};const pools = new Map<string, Entry>();function poolFor(options: UseInViewOptions): Entry { const key = JSON.stringify({ rootMargin: options.rootMargin ?? '0px', threshold: options.threshold ?? 0, }); const existing = pools.get(key); if (existing) return existing; const handlers = new Map<Element, (e: IntersectionObserverEntry) => void>(); const observer = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { for (const entry of entries) handlers.get(entry.target)?.(entry); }, { root: options.root ?? null, rootMargin: options.rootMargin ?? '0px', threshold: options.threshold ?? 0, }, ); const created: Entry = { observer, handlers }; pools.set(key, created); return created;}export function useInView( ref: RefObject<Element | null>, options: UseInViewOptions = {},): InViewState { const [state, setState] = useState<InViewState>({ inView: false, ratio: 0 }); const { root = null, rootMargin = '0px', once = false } = options; const thresholdKey = JSON.stringify(options.threshold ?? 0); const done = useRef(false); useEffect(() => { const el = ref.current; if (!el || typeof IntersectionObserver === 'undefined') return; if (once && done.current) return; const pool = poolFor({ root, rootMargin, threshold: JSON.parse(thresholdKey) as number | number[], }); const handle = (entry: IntersectionObserverEntry) => { setState({ inView: entry.isIntersecting, ratio: entry.intersectionRatio }); if (once && entry.isIntersecting) { done.current = true; pool.handlers.delete(el); pool.observer.unobserve(el); } }; pool.handlers.set(el, handle); pool.observer.observe(el); return () => { pool.handlers.delete(el); pool.observer.unobserve(el); }; }, [ref, root, rootMargin, thresholdKey, once]); return state;}
'use client';import { useEffect, useRef } from 'react';/* ========================================================================== One shared requestAnimationFrame loop. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Forty components each calling requestAnimationFrame means forty callbacks the browser schedules separately and forty chances to read layout after a write. One loop, one ordered pass, one place to clamp delta time. Delta is clamped to 100 ms. Without that, returning to a backgrounded tab delivers a multi-second dt and every physics integration in the page explodes on the first frame back. ========================================================================== */export type RafCallback = (dt: number, elapsed: number) => void;const callbacks = new Set<RafCallback>();let frame = 0;let last = 0;let start = 0;const MAX_DT = 0.1;const DEFAULT_DT = 1 / 60;function tick(now: number) { frame = requestAnimationFrame(tick); const dt = last === 0 ? DEFAULT_DT : Math.min((now - last) / 1000, MAX_DT); last = now; const elapsed = (now - start) / 1000; // Copy: a callback may unsubscribe itself (or another) mid-iteration. for (const cb of Array.from(callbacks)) { if (callbacks.has(cb)) cb(dt, elapsed); }}function subscribe(cb: RafCallback) { callbacks.add(cb); if (frame === 0) { start = performance.now(); last = 0; frame = requestAnimationFrame(tick); } return () => { callbacks.delete(cb); if (callbacks.size === 0 && frame !== 0) { cancelAnimationFrame(frame); frame = 0; last = 0; } };}/** * Run `cb` every frame while `enabled`. * * The callback is held in a ref, so it does not need to be memoised and the * subscription is never torn down just because the closure changed identity. */export function useRaf(cb: RafCallback, enabled = true): void { const ref = useRef(cb); ref.current = cb; useEffect(() => { if (!enabled) return; return subscribe((dt, elapsed) => ref.current(dt, elapsed)); }, [enabled]);}
'use client';import { useSyncExternalStore } from 'react';/* ========================================================================== prefers-reduced-motion, SSR-safe. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- useSyncExternalStore rather than useState + useEffect: the server snapshot is an explicit `false`, so the markup React renders on the server and the markup it hydrates with agree, and the real value lands in the same commit as hydration instead of one frame later. A useEffect version flashes the animated variant before removing it — the exact thing the user asked not to see. Reduced motion is not "duration: 0". For most components here it means a different render: the final state, a static poster, or a paused frame. ========================================================================== */const QUERY = '(prefers-reduced-motion: reduce)';function subscribe(onChange: () => void) { if (typeof window === 'undefined' || !window.matchMedia) return () => {}; const mql = window.matchMedia(QUERY); mql.addEventListener('change', onChange); return () => mql.removeEventListener('change', onChange);}function getSnapshot() { if (typeof window === 'undefined' || !window.matchMedia) return false; return window.matchMedia(QUERY).matches;}function getServerSnapshot() { return false;}export function useReducedMotion(): boolean { return useSyncExternalStore(subscribe, getSnapshot, getServerSnapshot);}/** Generic media-query hook, same SSR guarantees. */export function useMediaQuery(query: string): boolean { return useSyncExternalStore( (onChange) => { if (typeof window === 'undefined' || !window.matchMedia) return () => {}; const mql = window.matchMedia(query); mql.addEventListener('change', onChange); return () => mql.removeEventListener('change', onChange); }, () => { if (typeof window === 'undefined' || !window.matchMedia) return false; return window.matchMedia(query).matches; }, () => false, );}
'use client';import { useEffect, useState, type RefObject } from 'react';/* ========================================================================== Element size, from one shared ResizeObserver. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sized from the element rather than the window because a preview in a grid cell resizes when the grid reflows, not when the viewport does. Reading `window.innerWidth` is the reason so many canvas components are correct on load and wrong after a sidebar opens. ========================================================================== */export interface Size { width: number; height: number;}type Handler = (size: Size) => void;let observer: ResizeObserver | null = null;const handlers = new Map<Element, Handler>();function ensureObserver(): ResizeObserver | null { if (typeof ResizeObserver === 'undefined') return null; observer ??= new ResizeObserver((entries) => { for (const entry of entries) { const box = entry.contentBoxSize?.[0]; const size: Size = box ? { width: box.inlineSize, height: box.blockSize } : { width: entry.contentRect.width, height: entry.contentRect.height }; handlers.get(entry.target)?.(size); } }); return observer;}export function useResizeObserver(ref: RefObject<Element | null>): Size { const [size, setSize] = useState<Size>({ width: 0, height: 0 }); useEffect(() => { const el = ref.current; const ro = ensureObserver(); if (!el || !ro) return; // Seed synchronously: waiting for the first observer callback leaves one // frame where a canvas is sized 0x0, which some drivers log as an error. const rect = el.getBoundingClientRect(); setSize({ width: rect.width, height: rect.height }); handlers.set(el, (next) => setSize((prev) => prev.width === next.width && prev.height === next.height ? prev : next, ), ); ro.observe(el); return () => { handlers.delete(el); ro.unobserve(el); }; }, [ref]); return size;}
'use client';import { useEffect, useRef, type RefObject } from 'react';import { useRaf } from '@/hooks/use-raf';import { damp } from '@/lib/damp';/* ========================================================================== Pointer position, smoothed, in several coordinate spaces at once. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Almost every cursor effect wants the same four things and computes them slightly differently each time: client pixels, element-local pixels, 0..1 normalised, and -1..1 NDC for shaders. Producing all four from one damped source keeps a cursor dot and the shader it drives exactly in step. Exposed via ref for the same reason as scroll velocity: per-frame values must not re-render. ========================================================================== */export interface PointerState { /** Viewport pixels. */ clientX: number; clientY: number; /** Pixels relative to the target element's top-left. */ x: number; y: number; /** 0..1 across the element. */ nx: number; ny: number; /** -1..1, y up. Feed straight into a shader uniform. */ ndcX: number; ndcY: number; /** Whether the pointer has been seen. Nothing should render before. */ active: boolean;}export interface UseSmoothPointerOptions { /** Fraction of the gap remaining after one second. Lower = tighter. */ smoothing?: number; /** Listen on this element rather than the window. */ target?: RefObject<HTMLElement | null>; /** Follow touch drags as well as mouse moves. */ touch?: boolean;}function makeInitialState(): PointerState { return { clientX: 0, clientY: 0, x: 0, y: 0, nx: 0.5, ny: 0.5, ndcX: 0, ndcY: 0, active: false, };}export function useSmoothPointer( options: UseSmoothPointerOptions = {},): { current: PointerState } { const { smoothing = 0.001, target, touch = true } = options; const state = useRef<PointerState>(makeInitialState()); // `null` means "no real pointer yet", which is distinct from a legitimate // pointer at (0, 0) in the top-left corner. const targetPos = useRef<{ clientX: number; clientY: number } | null>(null); const seeded = useRef(false); // Options the listener needs but that must not re-subscribe it on change. const touchRef = useRef(touch); touchRef.current = touch; useEffect(() => { const el = target?.current ?? null; const node: HTMLElement | Window = el ?? window; const onMove = (event: Event) => { const e = event as PointerEvent; if (!touchRef.current && e.pointerType === 'touch') return; targetPos.current = { clientX: e.clientX, clientY: e.clientY }; }; node.addEventListener('pointermove', onMove, { passive: true }); return () => node.removeEventListener('pointermove', onMove); // `target` is a ref object; its identity is stable for the component's // lifetime, so this subscribes once. }, [target]); useRaf((dt) => { const el = target?.current ?? null; const rect = el ? el.getBoundingClientRect() : { left: 0, top: 0, width: window.innerWidth, height: window.innerHeight, }; const pointer = targetPos.current; if (pointer === null) { // Park at the centre until a real pointer arrives, so the first move // eases out from the middle rather than snapping in from (0, 0). Done // once — re-centring every frame would fight a slow first movement. if (!seeded.current && rect.width > 0 && rect.height > 0) { seeded.current = true; const cx = rect.left + rect.width / 2; const cy = rect.top + rect.height / 2; state.current = { ...state.current, clientX: cx, clientY: cy, x: cx - rect.left, y: cy - rect.top, }; } return; } const clientX = damp(state.current.clientX, pointer.clientX, smoothing, dt); const clientY = damp(state.current.clientY, pointer.clientY, smoothing, dt); const x = clientX - rect.left; const y = clientY - rect.top; const nx = rect.width > 0 ? x / rect.width : 0.5; const ny = rect.height > 0 ? y / rect.height : 0.5; state.current = { clientX, clientY, x, y, nx, ny, ndcX: nx * 2 - 1, ndcY: -(ny * 2 - 1), active: true, }; }); return state;}
'use client';import { useSyncExternalStore } from 'react';/* ========================================================================== Document visibility, shared. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A backgrounded tab still runs `setInterval`, still holds WebGL contexts, and — on some platforms — still gets throttled rAF ticks with multi-second deltas. Anything expensive should stop when the tab is hidden and resume when it comes back, rather than trying to catch up. `useSyncExternalStore` with an explicit server snapshot so SSR markup and the first client render agree. ========================================================================== */function subscribe(onChange: () => void): () => void { document.addEventListener('visibilitychange', onChange); return () => document.removeEventListener('visibilitychange', onChange);}function getSnapshot(): boolean { return document.visibilityState === 'visible';}/** Assume visible on the server: the alternative flashes a paused state. */function getServerSnapshot(): boolean { return true;}export function useVisibility(): boolean { return useSyncExternalStore(subscribe, getSnapshot, getServerSnapshot);}
import type * as THREE from 'three';/* ========================================================================== WebGL context lifecycle. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chromium allows roughly 16 live WebGL contexts per RENDERER PROCESS (8 on low-end devices). Creating the 17th does not fail — it fires `webglcontextlost` on the OLDEST one, so an unrelated component elsewhere on the page goes black. Same-origin iframes share the renderer process, so isolating previews in iframes does not raise the ceiling. The only real fix is to release contexts on unmount, and `renderer.dispose()` ALONE DOES NOT DO THAT. It frees GPU objects but leaves the context itself alive until GC decides otherwise, which may be never. `forceContextLoss()` is the call that actually hands it back. ========================================================================== *//** * Fully release a three.js renderer. Call this in the `useEffect` cleanup of * any component that constructs a `WebGLRenderer` — the preview host drives * unmount via `<Activity mode="hidden">`, so ordinary cleanup IS the disposal * path and nothing component-specific is required. */export function disposeRenderer(renderer: THREE.WebGLRenderer | null | undefined): void { if (!renderer) return; // Stop the loop first: a queued frame that renders into a lost context // throws, and the throw escapes the cleanup function. renderer.setAnimationLoop(null); renderer.dispose(); renderer.forceContextLoss(); const canvas = renderer.domElement; if (canvas) { // Zeroing the backing store releases the drawing buffer immediately // instead of holding width×height×4 bytes until the node is collected. canvas.width = 0; canvas.height = 0; }}/** * Release a raw WebGL context (ogl, or hand-written GL). The extension is the * only portable way to do it; it is absent in some headless configurations, * hence the optional call. */export function loseContext(gl: WebGLRenderingContext | WebGL2RenderingContext | null | undefined): void { if (!gl) return; gl.getExtension('WEBGL_lose_context')?.loseContext();}/** Recursively dispose geometries, materials and textures under a root. */export function disposeObject(root: THREE.Object3D | null | undefined): void { if (!root) return; root.traverse((obj) => { const mesh = obj as THREE.Mesh; mesh.geometry?.dispose?.(); const material = mesh.material; if (!material) return; const materials = Array.isArray(material) ? material : [material]; for (const m of materials) { for (const value of Object.values(m as unknown as Record<string, unknown>)) { if (value && typeof value === 'object' && 'isTexture' in value) { (value as THREE.Texture).dispose(); } } m.dispose?.(); } });}/** * Device pixel ratio capped for fill-rate. Above 2 the visual gain is nil and * the cost is quadratic; on a 3x phone an uncapped full-screen shader is the * single most common cause of a janky first paint. */export function pixelRatio(max = 2): number { if (typeof window === 'undefined') return 1; return Math.min(window.devicePixelRatio || 1, max);}/** * Whether WebGL is actually available. Some browsers expose the constructor * but fail to create a context (blocklisted GPU, no hardware acceleration); * a component that assumes success renders a permanently blank box. */export function hasWebGL(): boolean { if (typeof document === 'undefined') return false; try { const canvas = document.createElement('canvas'); const gl = canvas.getContext('webgl2') ?? canvas.getContext('webgl') ?? canvas.getContext('experimental-webgl'); if (!gl) return false; (gl as WebGLRenderingContext).getExtension('WEBGL_lose_context')?.loseContext(); return true; } catch { return false; }}
05
API
Every parameter, its type and what happens when you change it.
Longest trail, as the per-frame decay factor. Must stay below 1.
cutoff
number
= 0.06
Alpha below which a pixel is cut to nothing instead of decaying forever.
reference
number
= 1.6
Mark travel in world units per second that counts as full speed.
satellites
number
= 3
Marks orbiting the lead. 0 leaves a single mark.
hue
number
= 196
Base hue in degrees. Satellites are offset 26 degrees apart from it.
resolutionScale
number
= 1
Render target scale relative to the canvas. Below 1 trades tail sharpness for fill rate.
className
string
—
Merged onto the root container via cn.
06
How it works
The technique in order, not the code in order.
01
Three half-float targets are allocated at container size x DPR x resolutionScale: frame receives only this frame's marks, and ping/pong alternate as the accumulation. Reading and writing one target in a single pass is undefined in WebGL, which is the only reason there are two.
02
Pass 1 clears frame and renders the content scene into it — one lead mark plus satellites orbiters, all sharing a single 1x1 PlaneGeometry and one 256px canvas-drawn radial falloff texture, so the whole cluster is a handful of draw calls and no per-frame allocation.
03
The lead follows the pointer through damp(lead.x, pointer.ndcX * aspect, 0.0004, dt), and the satellites sit at lead + (cos, sin)(i/n * 2PI + elapsed * 1.5) * 0.3 around it. The x target is multiplied by aspect because the orthographic frustum is widened to [-aspect, aspect] while staying [-1, 1] tall.
04
Trail length is measured from the *mark*, not the cursor: speed = hypot(lead - previousLead) / dt, normalised by reference, clamped to 0..1 and scaled by maxDamp. That target is then itself run through damp(..., 0.003, dt), so the tail extends and retracts smoothly instead of popping to full length on the first fast frame.
05
Pass 2 renders a fullscreen quad into whichever target is not the current history, with uCurrent = frame.texture, uHistory = ping.texture and uDamp set to the smoothed speed. The fragment is float alive = step(uCutoff, history.a); history *= uDamp * alive; gl_FragColor = max(current, history); — max keeps the head at full strength and lets the tail sit underneath it.
06
Pass 3 blits the accumulation to the canvas through a stock MeshBasicMaterial, so three performs output colour conversion exactly once and the blend pass stays in linear space. Then ping and pong are swapped: what was just written becomes next frame's history.
Load-bearing constants
Load-bearing constants
Constant
Value
Why this number
maxDamp
= 0.9
Per-frame decay factor at full speed. Must stay below 1: at exactly 1 nothing ever decays and the trail becomes a permanent painted streak across the panel. Above ~0.95 the tail outlives the gesture by seconds and reads as a smudged framebuffer rather than motion.
cutoff
= 0.06
Alpha below which step() zeroes a pixel outright. Geometric decay never actually reaches zero — at 0.9 a pixel still holds 0.5% of its value a hundred frames later, and on a half-float target that faint ghost of the very first frame is baked in permanently. Below ~0.02 the ghost is visible on a dark surface; above ~0.15 the tail ends in a hard edge instead of fading.
reference
= 1.6
World units per second that count as full speed. The frustum is 2 units tall, so this is roughly 0.8 container heights per second — a brisk but ordinary hand movement. Set it much higher and only a violent flick produces any trail at all.
LEAD_SMOOTHING
= 0.0004
Fraction of the gap to the pointer still remaining after one second. Tight enough that the lead feels attached to the cursor, loose enough that the mark keeps travelling for a frame or two after the hand stops — which is what gives the tail something to decay from.
DAMP_SMOOTHING
= 0.003
Smoothing on the decay factor itself, deliberately looser than the position smoothing. If the trail length tracked speed instantly, a single dropped frame would spike dt, spike the measured speed, and flash a full-length tail out of a stationary mark.
ORBIT_RADIUS / ORBIT_SPEED
= 0.3 / 1.5
Satellites orbit 0.3 world units out at 1.5 rad/s. The radius has to exceed the lead's own 0.34 half-size or the satellites never clear the lead's falloff and the cluster reads as one blob; the speed is what produces a curved tail rather than three parallel straight ones.
SPRITE_SIZE
= 256
One canvas-drawn radial gradient shared by every mark. 256px is above the on-screen size of the largest mark at DPR 2, so it never magnifies into visible steps, and it is small enough that the upload is a single sub-millisecond cost at build time.
target type / filter
= HalfFloatType, NearestFilter
The accumulation is multiplied by a fraction every frame. On the default 8-bit unsigned byte the result quantises into stair-stepped bands down the length of the trail. Nearest rather than linear because the blend samples texel-for-texel from a target of identical size — bilinear filtering would smear the trail sideways a little more on each of the hundreds of passes a pixel survives.
07
Behaviour
What it does about motion sensitivity, teardown and being finished.
Reduced motion
The orbit clock is not advanced and the decay factor is pinned to 0, so no accumulation survives a frame: the panel shows the crisp mark cluster with the satellites holding their starting angles and no tail behind them, however fast the pointer moves. The marks still follow the pointer, since that is direct response to input rather than self-driven motion.
Cleanup
Nulls the stage handle first so an in-flight frame cannot touch a half-disposed renderer, then disposeObject on all three scenes, disposes the sprite texture, both geometries, the blend, screen and every mark material, then explicitly disposes frame, ping and pong — no scene graph reaches them — then disposeRenderer (which forces context loss, not just dispose()) and removes the canvas element. The rAF subscription is released by useRaf.
Definition of done
Move the pointer slowly across the panel and the marks stay crisp with no tail. Flick across it and a smooth curved tail follows the cluster, fading to nothing rather than to a faint permanent ghost. Stop moving and the tail retracts over about a third of a second, leaving the surface clean. Resize the container mid-gesture and no block of garbage appears. Scroll the panel out of view and GPU work stops; unmount and the WebGL context count in about:gpu drops.
Pitfalls
Blending a target into itself. It is the obvious shape — one history target, read it and write it — and it is undefined behaviour in WebGL: depending on driver you get tearing, a black frame, or a result that looks right on your machine and fails on someone else's.
Leaving the targets at the default UnsignedByteType. Repeated multiplication by 0.9 on 8 bits per channel quantises the tail into visible stair-stepped bands, and the banding is worst on exactly the slow gradients the effect is made of.
Using LinearFilter on the ping-pong pair. Each pass smears the accumulation by a fraction of a texel, and a pixel survives hundreds of passes, so the trail visibly fattens and drifts diagonally away from the path the pointer actually took.
Decaying with no floor. history *= 0.9 is a geometric series that never reaches zero, so a permanent ghost of the first frames stays welded into the buffer and the panel is never clean again. The step(uCutoff, history.a) factor cuts it instead.
Compositing with mix() or additive blending instead of max(). mix dims the current frame in proportion to the trail behind it, so the head goes dark exactly when it is moving fastest; additive blows out to white wherever the path crosses itself.
Applying output colour conversion in the blend pass. Its result goes into another render target that stays in linear working space, so converting there and again on the final blit brightens the accumulation on every pass until the whole panel is white within a second.
Calling setSize on the targets after a resize and rendering straight away. setSize reallocates the texture, so the history now points at undefined memory, and the first composited frame is garbage that then decays for a full second.
Deriving the trail from raw pointer speed. The mark is what is being smeared, and it lags the cursor — so a cursor-driven trail starts before the mark moves and keeps growing after it has stopped.
Smoothing the decay factor with a per-frame constant (d += (target - d) * 0.1). That converges twice as fast at 120Hz, so the same hand speed produces a visibly shorter trail on a high-refresh display.
Disposing the scene graph and stopping there. Render targets belong to no scene, so nothing walks them — each holds a full-resolution half-float texture plus a framebuffer, and three of them at DPR 2 is tens of megabytes retained per unmount.
Notes
Guarded with hasWebGL(): where a context cannot be acquired the component renders a single static radial gradient at the configured hue instead of an empty canvas.
The loop is gated on useInView plus useVisibility, so an off-screen or backgrounded instance costs no GPU time at all — which matters more here than elsewhere, because this effect pays for three full-resolution passes per frame.
resolutionScale below 1 trades tail sharpness for fill rate. Because the trail is low-frequency by nature, 0.6 is close to free visually and cuts the post-processing cost to roughly a third.