Particle universe guide

Help

Short answers to what goes wrong most often.

The frame says the tool needs WebGL 2

The points are drawn by your GPU with WebGL 2, and this browser does not offer it. Update the browser, or turn on hardware acceleration in its settings, then reload.

The sphere, cube or galaxy looks dark

The points carry the colours of the picture, and much of the sample is its dark ground. Press Rainbow or Position under Color mode, or open a brighter picture.

The galaxy is only a thin line

The galaxy lies flat, and the camera starts level with it. Drag down on the frame to look at it from above.

Everything turns white

That is the Glow render: it adds the dots together, and tens of thousands of big dots add up to white. Lower Particle count, Point size or Glow, or press Flat.

The cloud keeps turning

Auto-rotate under Camera opens ticked, so the 3D formations turn on their own. Clear it and the cloud holds still. The Image formation never turns on its own; drag to turn it by hand.

The cloud jumped back to the flat picture

Changing Particle count or opening a new picture makes the cloud again from the picture, and the points fly back to the formation you picked. Reform and Reset send them to the flat picture on purpose.

It is slow

Lower Particle count: every point is moved on each frame. Set Turbulence to 0, and pick a colour mode other than Rainbow, Velocity or Position, which recolour every point on each frame.

Does it work on a phone or tablet?

Yes. Drag with one finger to turn the cloud and push the points under it; pinch with two fingers to move closer or further. Phones and touch screens make at most 30,000 points, and draw fewer pixels.

How big can my picture be?

Any size the browser can open. The points are taken from a copy at most 400 pixels on its long side, so fine detail is lost; the line under the preview still shows your picture's own size. If nothing changes after you choose a file, the browser could not open it: save it as a PNG or JPEG and try again.

Record video says it is not supported

Recording a canvas depends on the browser. If yours cannot, the page says Video recording is not supported in this browser, or No supported video format found. Save a PNG instead, or try another current browser.

Copy did nothing

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

Is my picture uploaded?

No. The picture is read on your device and never leaves it.

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; the sample comes back.

Are there keyboard shortcuts?

The tool has none of its own. Anywhere in the lab, Ctrl K, or Cmd K on a Mac, opens the list of all tools.