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Geometry effect

Neon Contours

Neon Contours is a kaleidoscope and geometry effect in FRCTL, the browser VJ studio. Traces the picture as nested neon filaments, so tone comes back as glowing rainbow contours.

Runs live on video, images, a camera or generated art. Stack it with any other effect, and route LFOs, envelopes or any of ten audio bands to its controls so it moves with the music.

Try Neon Contours free All effects

The untouched demo art: an eye inside a triangle over wavy teal, blue and peach lines — Source

The eye-in-triangle art darkened, its wavy lines traced by thin speckled rainbow filaments — Neon Contours, default settings

What Neon Contours does

Blurs the picture's brightness and draws its level lines as thin glowing filaments, one saturated colour per ring, over a darkened copy of the frame. The rings crawl slowly through the tones and meander as noise stirs the field. Bands sets how many rings, Flow how far they wander off the picture, Cycle the hue step per ring, and Glow how much light spills off each stroke.

Using Neon Contours

Where it works: Topographic, blacklight-poster treatments for cover art and portraits, and slow textured loops for a pack. At low Flow it traces the subject's shape, so a face or logo stays recognisable in neon line work.
With the music: Rings travel and meander unprompted, with Speed setting the pace. B3 on Glow blooms the filaments with the bass, and a slow LFO on Tint turns the whole rainbow across a phrase.
Starting point: Bands at a quarter, Flow at a quarter, Shade at centre, Cycle at a quarter, Glow at centre, Direction on Left, Speed under centre.

Controls

Bands: Contour rings packed into the tonal range. Low is a few broad contours, high is dense filigree.
Flow: How far the field is softened and stirred before contouring. Zero traces the picture literally; up high the contours meander off it into free-flowing filaments.
Shade: How far the picture own tone rides the filaments. At zero every stroke is the same flat neon; up high the frame light and shade come through them.
Tint: Rotates the whole rainbow around the wheel.
Cycle: Hue step per ring. Low spreads one rainbow over many rings, high gives every ring its own colour.
Glow: Light falling off the strokes. Hard left is a bare filament, up high each one blooms into the frame around it.
Direction: Which way the filaments meander.
Speed: Rate of the effect motion. Centre is the authored speed, hard left a tenth of it.

Pairs well with Neon Contours