Organic
Birds
Watch thousands of birds sweep across the sky as one flock, surging with the bass. In Performer the flock can follow your hand on camera.
Birds flies a flock of up to 8,192 birds that steer by their neighbors, so they gather, split and pour across the sky like starlings at dusk. With no music it is a calm screensaver; with music the flock surges on the kick, startles apart on the hats and beats its wings with the mix. Move the pointer through the flock to scatter it. In Performer, put your camera under it with the FX Rack and the birds follow your hand, or flee it.
Open Birds
Launch the visualizer with its matching left-nav entry selected.
Birds that follow your hands
- Switch to Performer and pick Birds from Visualizers.
- Set Background Opacity to 0 so only the flock flies, and leave Hand on Follow.
- Open the FX Rack, add Visual Source and choose your camera (or a video), then set its Visualizer to Over so the birds fly in front of you.
- Raise a hand. The flock streams to it and swirls around it while it stays in view, then flies off on its own when you lower it.
- Push your hand toward the camera and the flock flies toward you; pull it back past your face and the birds fall away into the sky. Hand Depth sets how far they travel (0 keeps them at one distance).
Raise Bird Size and Separation so single birds read clearly over your picture, lower Bird Count for a lighter flock, and turn Sensitivity down if the music flings the birds across your face. Set Hand to Scatter to make them flee instead.
Quick start
- Start the demo track, choose a local audio file, or enable a live input.
- Try a preset or style first, then open the section for the part of the image you want to change.
- On a control with Assign modulation, open the source picker, choose a signal, and watch the slider's live fill.
- Use Reset to Defaults whenever you want to return to the original look.
Presets and styles
Murmuration · Dusk Starlings · Swallows · Night Flock · Swarm · Slow Drift
Audio modulation
On a control with Assign modulation, select the activity icon to open Modulate with. Choose a named source, or choose — None to leave the control unmodulated. After you assign one, its name appears below the slider; select that name to edit the route, or use Clear modulation to remove it. The slider track shows the live signal reaching the control.
| Modulated control | Section | What the route changes |
|---|---|---|
| Separation | Flock | How much room each bird keeps from its neighbors; higher spreads the flock out, lower packs it into a dense cloud. |
| Alignment | Flock | How strongly birds match their neighbors' heading; higher sends the flock sweeping one way together. |
| Cohesion | Flock | How strongly birds pull toward the birds around them; higher gathers them into tight, rolling groups. |
| Center Pull | Flock | How strongly the flock is drawn back to the middle of the sky; lower lets it wander off and return. |
| Hand Strength | Hand Tracking | How hard your hand, or the drawn path, pulls or pushes the flock. |
| Path Speed | Hand Tracking | How fast the flock streams along the drawn path. |
| Mouth Rate | Hand Tracking | How many birds a wide-open mouth releases each second. |
| Top Speed | Flight | How fast a bird may fly; assigned to the bass, the flock surges with the kick. |
| Curl | Flight | How much the birds swirl and curl in eddies as they fly; 0 flies the whole flock as one smooth sheet. |
| Wing Beat | Flight | How quickly the wings flap; 0 glides. |
| Bird Size | Flight | How large each bird is drawn. |
| Orbit Speed | Camera | Circles the camera around the flock; 0 holds it still (drag to look around). |
Settings reference
Flock
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Bird Count | 1,024, 2,048, 4,096, 8,192 | How many birds fly; fewer birds leave more room for other layers and effects on a slower computer. |
| Separation | 0–100 | How much room each bird keeps from its neighbors; higher spreads the flock out, lower packs it into a dense cloud. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Alignment | 0–100 | How strongly birds match their neighbors' heading; higher sends the flock sweeping one way together. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Cohesion | 0–100 | How strongly birds pull toward the birds around them; higher gathers them into tight, rolling groups. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Center Pull | 0–20 | How strongly the flock is drawn back to the middle of the sky; lower lets it wander off and return. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
Hand Tracking
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Hand | FOLLOW, SCATTER, DRAW PATH, OFF | In Performer with your camera on, FOLLOW draws the flock to your hand, SCATTER makes it flee, and DRAW PATH lets you point and draw a curve in the air (or drag with the mouse) for the flock to stream along; with no hand in view the birds fly on their own. |
| Hand Strength | 0–3 | How hard your hand, or the drawn path, pulls or pushes the flock. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Hand Depth | 0–3 | How far the flock moves toward you or away as you hold your hand nearer the camera than your face, or farther back; with DRAW PATH, how deep the drawn curve runs. 0 keeps the flock on one plane. |
| Path Speed | 0–1 | How fast the flock streams along the drawn path. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Path Life | 2–30 | How long a drawn stroke stays before it fades; holding up an open palm for a moment clears it. |
| Show Path | ON, OFF | Draws the path itself as a trail of dots while you draw it, larger where it comes toward you, then fades it out as the birds take it over. |
| Mouth Emitter | ON, OFF | In Performer with your camera on, open your mouth and new birds pour out of it toward you, then join the flock; the flock already flying keeps going. On by default: it holds back half of BIRD COUNT as the birds your mouth releases; turn it off to fly the whole flock. |
| Mouth Rate | 50–2000 | How many birds a wide-open mouth releases each second. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
Audio
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Sensitivity | 0–3 | How strongly the music moves the controls assigned to it. |
| Response | 0–1 | How smoothly those controls follow the music; higher eases them, lower snaps them to each hit. |
Flight
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Top Speed | 1–20 | How fast a bird may fly; assigned to the bass, the flock surges with the kick. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Curl | 0–1 | How much the birds swirl and curl in eddies as they fly; 0 flies the whole flock as one smooth sheet. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Wing Beat | 0–4 | How quickly the wings flap; 0 glides. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Bird Size | 0.3–4 | How large each bird is drawn. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Pointer Scatter | ON, OFF | Moving the pointer over the sky scatters the birds it passes. |
Camera
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Orbit Speed | 0–1 | Circles the camera around the flock; 0 holds it still (drag to look around). Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Camera Distance | 300–2500 | How far the camera sits from the middle of the flock. |
Sky
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Sky | DAWN, DAY, DUSK, NIGHT | The sky behind the flock: a dawn gradient, daylight blue, a dusk glow or night. |
| Haze Distance | 0.25–4 | How far away birds fade into the sky haze; lower softens the far side of the flock. |
| Bird Color | Color | The color of the birds. |
| Background Opacity | 0–1 | Fades the sky and haze so only the birds fly over whatever sits behind the visualizer; 1 keeps the sky and 0 leaves only the flock. |
Some controls appear only after you enable a related mode or style. The settings panel always reflects the options available for the current selection.
Tips for a better audio visualization
- Try Dusk Starlings for a sweeping murmuration, Swarm for a tight buzzing cloud, or Night Flock for pale birds on a dark sky.
- Raise Cohesion and lower Separation for dense rolling groups; raise Alignment to send the whole flock one way.
- To fly the flock over your camera in Performer: set Background Opacity to 0, add Visual Source in the FX Rack with your camera and set its Visualizer to Over, then raise a hand. FX Rack
- Set Hand to Draw Path and point: your fingertip draws a curve in the air for the flock to stream along (or drag one on the sky with the mouse). Reach toward the camera as you draw and the curve comes toward you, so the birds fly a loop in depth, larger where it passes in front. Show Path draws the line as you go, then fades it as the birds take over. Hold up an open palm for a moment, or double-click the sky, to clear it.
- Mouth Emitter is on by default: open your mouth on camera and new birds burst out toward you and join the flock, which grows the longer you sing; turn it off to fly the whole flock. Raise Bird Size when the flock flies over your video.
- Fewer birds under Bird Count leave more room for other Studio layers and effects on a slower computer.
- Set Orbit Speed to zero and drag the view to watch the flock from another side.