Plasma Lightning

Plasma Lightning surrounds the mouse pointer with small lightning strikes. Three bolts take turns striking in toward the pointer from points around and above it, each one jagged, bright and gone in a moment, then striking again with a new shape.

How it works

Each bolt is built by splitting the line between its start and the pointer again and again and pushing every split point sideways at random, which gives the crooked zigzag of lightning. A strike runs in three beats. The light travels down the bolt, flashes brighter for a split second at the end (the return stroke you see in a real storm), then fades out. After a short random pause the bolt picks a new path and strikes again. The bolts start at different times, so it never looks like a loop.

Settings

• Color: the colour of the glow around the bolts; the heads burn close to white.
• Segments: how finely each bolt is broken up. Low gives a few long zigzags, high gives a fine, crackling line.
• Arc range: how far out the bolts start, from a tight crackle around the pointer to long strikes.
• Scale and Intensity: the overall size and brightness.

Use it for

Tech and gaming sites, energy and electric brands, dramatic product reveals. The same bolts as a scene object are the Lightning effect; for a single discharge that trails the pointer, see Tesla Discharge.