Optic Nectar is a colour grade in FRCTL, the browser VJ studio. Syrupy rainbow gradients driven by luminance and UV flow.
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.
Paints a rainbow over the frame rather than grading it: a fixed noise field, bent by the image's brightness, runs hue through greens, blues, yellows and pinks, advancing along Direction. Flow shrinks the swirls as it rises, Shift rotates the channels where the syrup pools thickest, and Blend sets how much source shows through. The syrup only flows when the picture moves.
Using Optic Nectar
Where it works
Psychedelic loops for a clip pack and trippy backgrounds behind a logo, where the colour itself is the show. It ignores the source palette entirely, which sets it apart from every other Warm grade.
With the music
There's no clock or audio inside, so a still image stays still. A bar-synced LFO on Flow makes the swirls breathe, and B5 mids on Shift flips the pooled syrup to new hues on vocals and leads.
Starting point
Blend at centre, Flow a quarter, Shift three-quarters, Direction on Left, then raise Flow until the swirls are smaller than the subject.