Particles
Phase Flow
Shape chaotic particle clouds and compare nearby paths with Twin and Ensemble trails.
Phase Flow draws glowing clouds through chaotic shapes. Choose an Attractor Type, adjust its parameters, and route sound into speed, color or particle size. Under Trajectories, Twin compares two nearby paths; Ensemble follows a bundle. History controls how much of each path remains visible.
Open Phase Flow
Launch the visualizer with its matching left-nav entry selected.
Hold the attractor in your hand
In this example, Hand is set to Follow: the visualizer moves toward the tracked hand as it crosses the picture. Use the playback controls to pause or replay the motion.
- Switch to Performer, pick Phase Flow, and put your camera under it: open the FX Rack, add Visual Source, choose your camera and set its Visualizer to Over.
- Open Hand Tracking, leave Hand on Follow and raise a hand. The whole attractor glides to it and keeps turning under it on screen; push your hand toward the camera and it fills the frame, pull it back and it shrinks away.
- Scatter sends it to the other side instead. With no hand in view it returns to the middle.
Set Hand to Draw Path, then point with one finger and trace a loop in the air (or drag one with the mouse). A thin line shows what you drew, then the attractor travels it, round and round for a closed loop or back and forth along an open stroke, until Path Life runs out. Hold up an open palm for a moment, or double-click, to clear it.
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
Default · Lorenz · Chaos · Minimal · Neon Burst · Butterfly · Lorenz Twin · Newton Bundle · Pinch Sweep · Data Hands White · Echo Orbits · Thermal Flow
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Particle Size | Material | Sets the visible particle size. |
| Particle Opacity | Material | Sets how transparent the particle appears. |
| Dissolve Intensity | Material | Sets how far turbulence displaces the particle cloud. |
| Hue | Colors | Moves the color around the color spectrum. |
| Saturation | Colors | Moves colors from muted toward vivid. |
| Brightness | Colors | Sets the visible strength of brightness. |
| Simulation Speed | Animation | Sets how quickly simulation changes or moves. |
| Param Morph | Animation | Sets how strongly an assigned modulation source changes the selected formula’s parameters. |
| Camera Distance | Camera | Sets the viewing distance. Newton-Leipnik supports 1–300 for a closer view; other systems use 5–300. |
Settings reference
Core
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Attractor Type | THOMAS, AIZAWA VARIANT, SIMONE, CHEN-LEE, LORENZ, LORENZ MOD 2, WANG-SUN VARIANT, DEQUAN LI, DADRAS, RÖSSLER, ARNEODO, HALVORSEN, THREE-SCROLL, CHUA CIRCUIT, NEWTON-LEIPNIK, YU-WANG, SAKARYA, HADLEY CIRCULATION | Chooses the attractor type mode or style. |
| Particle Count | 50²–500² | Sets how many visible elements are drawn. |
| Initial State | CUBE, SPHERE, RANDOM | Chooses the initial state mode or style. |
| Parameter A | -10–45 | Tunes the first constant of the selected Attractor Type, reshaping the swirling figure; the exact change depends on the attractor, and small moves can transform the form dramatically. |
| Parameter B | -15–60 | Tunes the second constant of the selected system. The resulting change depends on its equations. |
| Parameter C | -30–30 | Tunes the third constant of the selected system. The resulting change depends on its equations. |
| Parameter D | -5–20 | Tunes the fourth constant of the selected system. The resulting change depends on its equations. |
| Parameter E | -5–60 | Tunes the fifth constant of the selected system. The resulting change depends on its equations. |
Trajectories
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Traces | OFF, TWIN, ENSEMBLE | Adds two nearby paths or a bundle of independently evolving paths over the particle cloud. |
| History | 0.5s–20s | How many active seconds remain visible behind each moving head. |
| Trajectories | 2–64 | Total independently evolving paths, including the lead. |
| Initial Spread | 0–0.1 | Initial spacing as a fraction of the system span. Zero starts every path together. |
| Line Width | 0.25px–6px | Sets the visible path width in screen pixels. |
| Age Fade | 0–1 | Dims older path samples while keeping the moving end bright. |
| Line Opacity | 0–1 | Fades the paths independently of the particle cloud. |
| Moving Heads | On / Off | Shows a bright marker at each path's current position. |
| Waveform | 0–1 | Offsets individual line segments with audio captured along the path. Zero leaves the path unbent. |
Material
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Particle Size | 0.1–5 | Sets the visible particle size. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Particle Opacity | 0–1 | Sets how transparent the particle appears. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Background Opacity | 0–1 | Fades the black backdrop behind the particle swarm so it floats over whatever sits behind the visualizer; 1 keeps the solid black background and 0 leaves only the glowing particles. |
| Velocity Trails | 0–1 | Stretches each particle along its direction of motion. Use History under Trajectories to retain a path over time. |
| Turbulence Dissolve | On / Off | Adds drifting distortion to the particle cloud. |
| Dissolve Intensity | 0–2 | Sets how far turbulence displaces the particle cloud. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Dissolve Scale | 0.1–5 | Sets how fine the turbulent detail looks across the cloud. |
Colors
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Color Mode | RADIUS, SOLID, ANGULAR | Chooses the color mode or style. |
| Hue | 0°–360° | Moves the color around the color spectrum. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Saturation | 0%–100% | Moves colors from muted toward vivid. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Brightness | 0%–100% | Sets the visible strength of brightness. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Hue Animation | On / Off | Turns hue animation on or off. |
| Hue Speed | 0.01–1 | Sets how quickly hue changes or moves. |
Audio
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Master Gain | 0x–3x | Sets how strongly the input signal affects master. |
| Bass Intensity | 0–2 | Sets the visible bass intensity. |
| Mid Intensity | 0–2 | Sets the visible mid intensity. |
| High Intensity | 0–2 | Sets the visible high intensity. |
| Smoothing | 0–0.99 | Balances immediate audio response against steadier motion. |
Hand Tracking
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Hand | FOLLOW, SCATTER, DRAW PATH, OFF | In Performer with your camera on, FOLLOW draws the attractor 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 attractor to travel along; with no hand in view it stays in the middle. |
| Hand Strength | 0–3 | How hard your hand, or the drawn path, pulls or pushes the attractor. |
| Hand Depth | 0–3 | How far the attractor 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 attractor on one plane. |
| Path Speed | 0–1 | How fast the attractor travels along the drawn path. |
| 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 attractor take it over. |
Animation
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Simulation Speed | 0.1x–3x | Sets how quickly simulation changes or moves. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Morph Speed | 0.2x–5x | Sets how quickly the cloud transitions when you choose another attractor. |
| Morph Easing | EASE OUT, EASE I/O, LINEAR, ELASTIC, BOUNCE | Chooses the transition curve used when switching between attractors. |
| Param Morph | 0–1 | Sets how strongly an assigned modulation source changes the selected formula’s parameters. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Morph Target | PARAM A, PARAM B, PARAM C, PARAM D, PARAM E, ALL | Chooses which available shape parameters respond to Param Morph. |
Camera
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Camera Orbit | On / Off | Circles the attractor automatically. Draw Path suspends this orbit. |
| Orbit Speed | -1–1 | Sets how quickly orbit changes or moves. |
| Camera Distance | 5–300 | Sets the viewing distance. Newton-Leipnik supports 1–300 for a closer view; other systems use 5–300. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
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
- Pinch Sweep folds a Thomas cloud into a kaleidoscope with hand-driven zoom and color. Data Hands White adds the Data Hands grid and HUD in white over a Newton bundle. For hand gestures, choose your camera or video under Effects → Source and keep Picture at zero to show Phase Flow. Echo Orbits adds delayed copies and soft glow; Thermal Flow colors a bundle with the thermal palette. These four presets keep the attractor centered while hands control the effects. Recalling a plain preset clears these effects.
- Try Lorenz Twin for a pair of paths or Newton Bundle for a group. The original cloud presets set Traces to Off.
- Set Initial Spread to zero to start every path together. Raise it to compare how nearby paths separate, and use Age Fade to distinguish older portions of a trail.
- Waveform bends the visible trails with playing audio. Keep it at zero to study the paths alone; Master Gain sets the strength of the audio response.
- If Param Morph is hidden, select Phase Flow in Visualizer mode and open Audio Analysis Engine → Modulation. Choose a source under Channels, then select Param Morph Intensity under Parameters · Phase Flow. The slider appears under Animation after assignment; raise it above zero to reveal Morph Target. Assign from the Analysis Engine.