How it works · Path E

Drawing it in your browser

No app or headset needed. The picture you see is drawn live by your own phone or laptop, from the viewpoint you choose, every time the screen refreshes.

2 interactive demos · about 5 minutes

Every frame

Sixty times a second

A normal video player just shows the next picture. A splat player has to draw the next picture itself, from millions of splats, from wherever you’ve put the camera.

It uses the graphics chip that’s already in your device, the same one that runs your games. The four steps in the demo repeat every time your screen refreshes, which is usually 60 times a second or more.

Try it

Sixty times a second

Figure out which splats exist at this moment in the performance, and where each one has moved.

Your screen right now

… fps

Time for all four steps

… ms

Every time your screen refreshes, the player runs these four steps from scratch for wherever you’ve put the camera. Nothing is pre-rendered, which is why you can pause, orbit, and zoom at any moment.

Order matters

Far to near

Soft, see-through splats only blend correctly when they’re drawn in order, with the farthest ones first and the nearest ones last. But which ones are farthest depends on where you’re standing. Walk around to the other side and the order flips.

So every time you move the camera, the player re-sorts millions of splats. Ours does that work in the background, so the picture stays smooth while you move around.

Try it

Far to near, every frame

Drawing order

Your viewpoint90°Sort before drawing

The numbers show the order in which the splats are drawn. Soft, see-through splats only blend correctly when the far ones are drawn first. Turn sorting off and move around. The fixed order looks right from one side and wrong from the other, with far splats painted over near ones. That’s why the player re-sorts millions of splats whenever you move the camera.

Your turn

How to explore a Mirage

Drag (or swipe) to circle around the performer.
Scroll (or pinch) to move closer or farther away.
Pause at any moment and keep exploring. The scene holds still while you move around.
Play starts the performance and its music together.

Try it with Kennedy in Motion →

Check yourself

Two quick questions

Key ideas

The picture is drawn live on your device, from your viewpoint, every frame.
Each frame, the player picks the moment, sorts the splats, draws them, and blends them.
See-through splats have to be drawn far to near, so the player re-sorts them as you move.

1Where is the picture you see actually drawn?

2Why does the player need to re-sort the splats when you move?

0 of 2 answered