Wrinkle In Time
Wrinkle In Time is a space-themed audio-reactive scene in BeamTracer Audio Visualizers. Shape its response in your browser with settings, audio modulation, presets, and tips.
Wrinkle In Time is a space-themed audio-reactive scene in the Space category. Open it from the left visualizer list, start an audio source, and use the settings panel to shape its response.
Open Wrinkle In Time
Launch the visualizer with its matching left-nav entry selected.
Interesting facts
Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of spacetime itself, predicted by Einstein in 1916 and only directly detected a century later. BeamTracer's Wrinkle In Time turns that "ripples in spacetime" description into a warping wireframe mesh — an artistic stand-in, not a simulation of any real gravitational-wave signal.
- Einstein predicted them before anyone could catch one. General relativity implies that accelerating massive objects, like two stars orbiting each other, should send ripples through spacetime at the speed of light; Einstein worked this out in 1916, but confirming it took over a hundred years.
- LIGO caught the first one in 2015. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory made the first direct detection of gravitational waves from two black holes merging roughly 1.3 billion years earlier — the signal known as GW150914.
- A 2017 neutron-star collision was caught in both gravity and light. GW170817, a neutron-star merger, was picked up by LIGO and Virgo; NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected a burst of gamma rays about 1.7 seconds later, and Hubble tracked the resulting glowing debris for days — the first time a gravitational-wave source was also confirmed optically.
- The distortions involved are almost unimaginably small. LIGO's kilometers-long detector arms can register a length change roughly one ten-thousandth the width of a proton, which is the scale of shift a passing gravitational wave actually produces.
These details are summarized from NASA Space Place's gravitational-wave explainer and NASA's Hubble page on gravitational waves and the GW170817 neutron-star merger, cross-checked against NASA's news release on catching first light from a gravitational-wave event and NASA JPL's teachable moment on LIGO's first detection. Gravitational-wave detection itself is run by the NSF-funded LIGO Scientific Collaboration at Caltech and MIT, not NASA; NASA's role above is the electromagnetic follow-up via Fermi and Hubble.
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
Serpentine · Electric · Meditative · Prismatic · Reactive · Vortex
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Brightness | Material | Sets the visible strength of brightness. |
| Opacity | Material | Sets the overall transparency. |
| Displacement | Material | Controls how far the shape moves away from its base surface. |
| Bloom Strength | Material | Sets the visible bloom strength. |
| Hue Shift | Colors | Moves the color around the color spectrum. |
| Color Speed | Colors | Sets how quickly color changes or moves. |
| Hue Speed | Colors | Sets how quickly hue changes or moves. |
| Flow Speed | Animation | Sets how quickly flow changes or moves. |
| Time Scale | Animation | Sets the visual time scale. |
| Rotation | Animation | Sets the rotation of the visible composition. |
| Auto Rotate | Camera | Controls auto rotate; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. |
| Distance | Camera | Sets how far the camera sits from the subject. |
Settings reference
Material
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Brightness | 0.1x–3x | Sets the visible strength of brightness. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Opacity | 0.01–0.3 | Sets the overall transparency. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Displacement | 0–2 | Controls how far the shape moves away from its base surface. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Bloom | On / Off | Turns bloom on or off. |
| Bloom Strength | 0.001–0.1 | Sets the visible bloom strength. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
Colors
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Hue Shift | 0°–360° | Moves the color around the color spectrum. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Color Speed | 50–500 | Sets how quickly color changes or moves. 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. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
Audio
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Master Gain | 0x–3x | Sets how strongly the input signal affects master. |
| Bass Intensity | 0x–3x | Sets the visible bass intensity. |
| Mid Intensity | 0x–3x | Sets the visible mid intensity. |
| High Intensity | 0x–3x | Sets the visible high intensity. |
Animation
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Flow Speed | 10–200 | Sets how quickly flow changes or moves. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Time Scale | 0.1x–5x | Sets the visual time scale. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Rotation | 0x–5x | Sets the rotation of the visible composition. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
Camera
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Camera Mode | ORBIT, AUDIO, FRONT, BACK, SIDE, TOP, ISO | Chooses the camera mode or style. |
| Auto Rotate | 0–0.03 | Controls auto rotate; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Camera Speed | 0.1–2 | Sets how quickly camera changes or moves. |
| Distance | 3–30 | Sets how far the camera sits from the subject. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Angle | 0°–360° | Sets the angle of the visible composition. |
Stars
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Show Stars | On / Off | Shows or hides stars. |
| Star Count | 200–3000 | Sets how many visible elements are drawn. |
| Star Size | 0.1–3 | Sets the visible star size. |
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
- Use bass for the largest orbital or camera motion and highs for stars, sparks, or glow accents.
- Try assigning Bass to Brightness, then compare Mid, High, and Volume while the demo track plays. The slider's live fill shows the signal reaching that control.