Dither playground guide

Help

Short answers to what goes wrong most often.

The picture is faint or thin

A small or dark picture gives few, faint dots. Load a bigger or brighter picture, or press Try the sample.

Then lower Grid step or Brightness, press Advanced and raise Dot min and Dot max, and set Opacity to 1. White under Dot color is the brightest colour.

The dots jump when I move a Sampling slider

Grid step and Brightness make the dots again as you move them, so every dot snaps back to the picture; a moving mode keeps its place in the cycle. Dot min and Dot max only resize the dots and leave them where they are.

The dots do not move under my pointer, or with sound

Pushing and sound work only while Animation is on Still. Also check Radius and Push force, and with sound, raise Sensitivity and watch the Level line.

With a mouse, just move over the dots. With a finger, keep it down and slide.

Image morph does nothing

It needs a second picture: press Image B at the top of the panel, or Load a second image under Image morph (press Advanced to show it). Then move Blend or set Auto to Loop.

What does a preset change?

A preset sets Pattern, Easing, Path, Color change and the seven morph sliders at once, even ones you moved by hand. Move a slider after the preset to change it again.

The microphone does not start

The browser asks before any page can use the microphone. If you said no, allow it for this site in the browser's site settings and press Use the mic again. Check that a microphone is connected and not muted.

Stop turns the microphone off. The microphone is never played through your speakers, even after a music file was opened.

Is my picture or sound uploaded?

No. Your pictures, your music file and the microphone are read on your device and never leave it. A picture you load by address is fetched from that address by your browser.

Why is a picture from another tool here?

Pictures you add are kept on this device for every lab tool that takes one, so you need not add them again. Press × on a tile to forget that picture: on A the sample comes back, on B the second image goes.

A picture address will not load

The tool says That image could not be loaded. The address must start with https, and the site it points to must allow other sites to read its pictures; many do not. Save the picture and drop it on the frame instead.

My music file will not open

The tool opens whatever audio your browser can play. MP3, WAV and M4A (AAC) work in current browsers; OGG and FLAC depend on the browser. Press Play after choosing it.

It runs slowly

Every dot is moved and drawn each frame, and the count is shown under the image buttons. Grid step 1 on a big picture can make hundreds of thousands. Raise Grid step or Brightness. A long Trail also costs a little.

Does it work on a phone or tablet?

Yes. Phones and touch screens read pictures at most 400 pixels wide instead of 800, and draw with at most 2 device pixels to each screen pixel, so they make fewer dots and stay quicker. Slide a finger over the dots to push them.

Copy did nothing

Some browsers do not let a page put a picture on the clipboard, and the tool says Copy failed. Use Save PNG instead.

Keys

The tool has no shortcuts of its own. In the Image URL box, Enter loads the address. Ctrl K, or Cmd K on a Mac, opens the list of all lab tools, as it does anywhere in the lab.