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Geometry effect

Neon Mandala

Neon Mandala is a kaleidoscope and geometry effect in FRCTL, the browser VJ studio. Folds the frame into a kaleidoscopic mandala and traces it in concentric neon filaments.

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 Mandala free All effects

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

A rainbow neon mandala of concentric contour lines with a many-pointed star at its centre, the eye art gone — Neon Mandala, default settings

What Neon Mandala does

Folds the frame into a mirrored wheel, folds that four more times, then draws the result as nested neon contour rings. The picture only supplies shading, so the output reads as glowing line art rather than mirrored photos, and the wheel turns slowly. Sectors sets the wedge count from four to twenty-four, Fold how much detail packs in, and Zoom how much of the mandala fits in frame.

Using Neon Mandala

Where it works: Centrepiece visuals for a peak-time set, meditative intros and blacklight-style cover art. It builds a full mandala from any source, even a plain photo, so the input doesn't need to be symmetrical.
With the music: The wheel turns and the rings travel on their own, and Speed sets the pace. An LFO synced to the bar on Zoom breathes the mandala in and out, and B8 on Glow sparks the strokes with the hats.
Starting point: Sectors at a quarter for a ten-wedge wheel, Fold at a quarter, Bands at centre, Cycle at a quarter, Glow at three-quarters, Zoom at centre.

Controls

Sectors: Mirrored wedges around the centre. Four is a cross, twenty-four is a snowflake.
Fold: Growth per recursive fold. Low keeps the mandala open and legible, high packs it with detail.
Bands: Contour rings across the folded field.
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.
Zoom: How much of the fold the frame holds. Left pulls back to the whole mandala, right pushes into its centre.
Speed: Rate of the effect motion. Centre is the authored speed, hard left a tenth of it.

Pairs well with Neon Mandala