Contour

Contour shows your picture as a topographic map of itself. Its brightness becomes height, and a picture change opens it into fine contour lines that lift into a floating stack in depth and flow into the contours of the new picture before it fills back in.

How it works

During a change the two pictures are blended as height maps and their contour lines are drawn from the blend, so the lines of the old picture move smoothly into the lines of the new one; they never jump. Under the travelling front the picture darkens away and the lines split into layers by level, each floating at its own depth, so you can see around the stack when the camera moves. At rest the faintest contours remain and drift slowly. It makes its own light, without scene lighting.

Settings

• Levels sets how many contour lines cover the full brightness range; Line width their thickness.
• Depth sets how far the stack opens; Open how far the picture darkens under the front.
• Smoothing gives calmer, longer contours or finer detail.
• Idle lines sets how many contours stay visible at rest.
• Tint and Line colour mix the picture's colour with a line colour.

Cursor

Open lets the picture open into its contour stack around the cursor; Ripple bends the levels near it in a slow ring.

Use it for

• Tech, data and science showcases
• Architecture and mapping projects