Depth Layers

Depth Layers splits every picture by its own brightness into a few thin sheets floating one behind another. The back sheet holds the whole picture, and each sheet in front holds only what is brighter than its level, so the light parts of the picture stand forward.

How it works

A waiting picture's sheets are collapsed into one faint grey sheet. When it becomes the active one, a soft wave crosses it and opens the sheets into depth as they take their colour. From then on the sheets slide past each other whenever the camera, the gallery's lean or the cursor moves, which gives real parallax. Each sheet has a fine lit edge where it is cut. In Open mode the cursor opens the sheets a little further where it passes.

Settings

• Layers: how many sheets a picture is split into.
• Separation: the distance between the sheets when open. Few sheets far apart look like a stage set; many close sheets look like soft depth.
• Softness: how soft each sheet's cut is.
• Edge: brightness of the fine edge along each sheet.
• Change time, Wave and Slant: the speed, softness and angle of the change wave.
• Lean: how much the gallery turns toward the cursor, which is what makes the layers slide.

Use it for

Editorial features, album artwork, portraits and dreamy showcases. The same idea in cut paper with real shadows is Shadow Box.