Strata

Strata turns every picture into a stack of thin horizontal plates, like a laser-cut relief. The front edge of each plate follows the brightness along its row, so bright parts stand forward and dark parts sit back, and the gaps between the plates draw fine dark lines across the picture.

How it works

Each plate carries its strip of the picture on its front face; its top, bottom and back are plain card. The stack is lit by your scene, so seen from an angle it reads as layered relief. A waiting picture is a flat grey stack. When it becomes the active one, a soft wave crosses it and the plates slide forward into relief in full colour; leaving slides them back. In Push mode the cursor pushes the plates near it back in.

Settings

• Plates: how many plates run down a picture.
• Relief: how far the brightest part of a plate stands forward.
• Base: how far the darkest part stands forward, as a share of the brightest.
• Gap: the space between plates, which sets the strength of the dark lines.
• Roughness and Plate color: the finish of the plates and the colour of their tops and edges.
• Change time, Wave and Slant: the speed, softness and angle of the change wave.

Use it for

Architecture and interiors, product showcases, laser-cut and craft studios. For vertical strips that turn, see Slats; for stacked card seen from above, see Terraces.