Lightning reveal guide

Every control

Every control in the panel, top to bottom. The picture itself is a control too: tap it to grow a new strike from that point.

Load and save

Under the tiles a line says what plays: the samples until you add your own, then A plays into B. Kept on this device, never uploaded. With Crack A into B off, it reads: Only picture A is used while Crack A into B is off. Your pictures follow you to every lab tool that takes a picture, until you press × on a tile.

Image AButton: Picture A as a tile: press it to add or replace your own; two pictures picked or dropped at once fill A and B. The × on a picture takes it away and the sample plays again. Your pictures stay on this device and follow you to every lab tool that takes a picture.
SwapButton: Exchanges A and B, so the transition plays the other way. With one picture of your own, it moves to the other side and the sample takes its place.
Image BButton: Picture B, the one A plays into, as a tile: press it to add or replace your own. The × takes it away and the sample returns. See PNG and JPEG.
Save PNGButton: Saves the frame as it is at that moment, as aikizi-lightning-reveal.png. See PNG.
Record videoButton: Records one strike: it presses Replay itself and records the canvas for up to seven seconds. While recording it reads Stop recording; press it to stop early. See record video.
ReplayButton: Plays the last strike again at once, with the same tree from the same point. It starts at the top centre until you tap. See replay.

Effect

EffectChoice: Opens another of the 14 image transitions. Each one is its own page, so your pictures and settings stay behind.

Presets

Crimson strike · Fern creep · Storm fork · Gold crack · Static lace · Blue flashoverPick one: Sets every control at once, Crack A into B included; it does not start a strike. The highlight goes as soon as you move a control.

Crimson strike: The opening look: a quick red strike with medium branching, 4800 segments, 0.9 seconds, ease out. See crimson strike.

Fern creep: A slow, bushy red growth that fills the figure: branch eta 1, fork chance 0.34, 7000 segments, strong edge affinity, 1.8 seconds, ease in-out. See fern creep.

Storm fork: A wild, many-pronged blue strike: fork chance 0.4, jaggedness 0.85, glow 1.3, flicker 0.6, 1.1 seconds, strong ease out. See storm fork.

Gold crack: A sparse gold spine with few forks and a wide core: branch eta 5, 3200 segments, 1.3 seconds, strong ease in-out. See gold crack.

Static lace: A fine white web: 7800 segments, edge affinity 2, low jaggedness, a thin core, a long afterglow, 2.2 seconds, expo out. See static lace.

Blue flashover: The fastest preset: a bright, flickering blue strike in 0.7 seconds, expo out, with the strongest glow of the six. See flashover.

Sliders

The first five sliders change the shape of the tree: it grows again, from the same point and in the same way, a moment after you stop moving one. The rest change only how the strike looks, at once.

Strike speedSlider · 0.3 to 4 · starts at 3.4: How fast a strike plays; right is faster. A strike lasts 4 seconds at the left end and 0.3 seconds at the right. The number beside it compares with the opening look, Crimson strike at 0.9 seconds, so it reads 1.00× at the start; 2.00× is twice as fast.
Branch etaSlider · 0.5 to 6 · starts at 2.6: How strongly the growth prefers edges and bright areas. Low values give dense, fern-like growth; high values give a few long, sparse branches. See branch eta.
Fork chanceSlider · 0 to 0.5 · starts at 0.16: How often a growing branch also splits off a second one at the same step. At 0 there are no extra forks. See fork chance.
SegmentsSlider · 1500 to 8000 · starts at 4800: How many short pieces the whole tree has, from 1500 to 8000. More pieces make a bigger tree that reaches further. See segments.
Edge affinitySlider · 0 to 2.5 · starts at 1: How much the branches follow edges in picture A. At 0 edges do not matter. See edge affinity and Sobel operator.
Bright ridgeSlider · 0 to 1.5 · starts at 0.35: How much the branches climb towards the bright parts of picture A. See bright ridge and luminance.
JaggednessSlider · 0 to 1.2 · starts at 0.45: How far each corner of a branch is pushed sideways. At 0 the branches are straight lines; higher, they zigzag like a bolt. See jaggedness.
Core widthSlider · 0.5 to 4 · starts at 1.4: How thick the bright centre of each branch is. With Crack A into B on, it also widens the band where picture B opens. See core width.
GlowSlider · 0 to 2 · starts at 0.9: How bright and wide the soft light around each branch is. At 0 only the core shows. See bloom and additive blending.
AfterglowSlider · 0 to 1 · starts at 0.5: How much light stays on the branches behind the racing front. Low, they fade almost away; at 1 they stay bright in a darker colour. See afterglow.
FlickerSlider · 0 to 1 · starts at 0.35: How much each branch shimmers while the strike is moving. It stops when the strike ends. See strike flicker.
TintChoice: The colour of the strike: Crimson, Gold, Electric blue or White. Each has a darker colour the branches cool to. See tint and electric blue.
EasingChoice: How a strike speeds up and slows down: Linear, three strengths each of ease in and ease out, two of ease in-out, expo out and back out. See easing, ease-in, ease-out, easing strength, expo out and back out.
Crack A into BOn or off · starts on: On, picture B opens along the lit branches, the whole frame turns to B at the end, and the next strike cracks B back into A. Off, the strike plays over picture A and stays lit when it ends; turning it off returns to picture A. It starts on, and every preset and Reset keep it on. See burn reveal.

Export

Under the buttons, a line tells you what the last export did, such as PNG saved.

Reset

Back to the Crimson strike preset and picture A, with Crack A into B on. Your pictures stay.

ResetButton: Sets every control back to the Crimson strike preset, with Crack A into B on, and returns to a clean picture A, so the next strike cracks A into B. Your pictures, the tree and the last strike point stay as they are.