Falling Snow Projector fills your whole display with drifting snow on solid black, so a projector aimed at a window, wall or screen shows only the snow — the rest of the surface stays dark. It's a live animation, not a video loop, so it never repeats the same way twice and needs no WebGL to run.
Before you start
- A projector or a second screen you can point at a surface. A TV or monitor works directly; a window needs projection material first (see below).
- A dark room. This is a light source with no ambient-light compensation. Competing room light or streetlight on the surface washes out the snow and turns the black background gray.
Set it up
- Connect your projector or display and open Falling Snow Projector on it.
- Choose a Mode: Gentle snowfall, Heavy snowfall, Large flakes, Blowing snow, or Magical sparkle.
- Adjust Amount and Wind, then Fall speed and Flake size if you want it faster or chunkier than the mode's default.
- Turn on Settle at the bottom for a drift along the lower edge, and set Drift depth for how deep it grows.
- Select Play Fullscreen.
- Use Scale, Horizontal position, and Vertical position to fit the snow to your window or wall, and Mirror horizontally or Flip vertically if your setup needs them (see below).
- Darken the room and set Brightness. At 0 the display is solid black.
You'll know it worked when the snow fills your window or wall edge to edge with true black everywhere else, and — if you turned it on — a drift is building along the bottom.
To leave fullscreen, press Escape or move your mouse and select Exit Fullscreen. The controls fade out after five seconds without mouse movement.
What each control does
| Control | Range | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Brightness | 0–100 | Overall output. Goes to 0, where the display is solid black. |
| Mode | Gentle snowfall, Heavy snowfall, Large flakes, Blowing snow, Magical sparkle | The snowfall style — density, speed and look. Changing it restarts the snowfall. |
| Amount | 10–100% | How much snow is falling. 50% is the mode's usual amount. |
| Wind | -100 to 100 | Pushes the snow left (negative) or right (positive), on top of the mode's own wind. |
| Fall speed | 25–200% | How fast the snow drops. |
| Flake size | 50–200% | Size of every flake. |
| Settle at the bottom | on/off | Lets nearby flakes land and build a drift instead of falling forever. Off by default; turning it off clears any drift that built up. |
| Drift depth | 5–30% | Shown only when Settle at the bottom is on. The deepest the drift can grow. Lowering it sinks an existing drift down to the new ceiling. |
| Scale | 25–200% | Size of the snowfall area. |
| Horizontal position | -50% to 50% | Shifts the snow left or right. |
| Vertical position | -50% to 50% | Shifts the snow up or down. |
| Mirror horizontally | on/off | Flips the snowfall left-right, for rear projection. |
| Flip vertically | on/off | Flips the snowfall top-bottom, for a projector mounted upside down. |
Mode, Amount, Wind, Fall speed and Flake size sit under Effect. Settle at the bottom and Drift depth sit under Snowdrift. Scale, position, and the two flip controls sit under Placement. Brightness is the only control under Light — there's no color or color temperature control here. Every setting applies live except Mode, which restarts the snowfall.
How to use this with a projector
Front projection — a wall, screen, or the front of a window from the audience's side — needs no mirroring; leave Mirror horizontally off. Rear projection — from inside the house onto the back of window film or a curtain — needs Mirror horizontally on. Snow looks much the same either way round, but mirroring keeps Wind blowing the direction you set as seen from outside, and keeps the picture consistent with other scenes you project the same way.
Plain clear glass won't show an image: it's transparent, so the light passes straight through. Hang rear-projection film, a sheer white curtain, or frosted film across the window instead.
Darken the room as much as you can. The effect renders true black everywhere the snow isn't, so with the room dark and the right material, the window should look clear except for the snow — subject to your projector's own black level and any ambient light on the surface, which no effect setting can cancel out.
Common setups
- A living-room wall. Gentle snowfall or Heavy snowfall, Amount 50–70, Scale 100, Brightness 70–90, room lights off.
- Rear projection onto a curtain or film. Any mode, Mirror horizontally on, Scale sized to fill the window's height, Brightness a touch lower than a direct wall projection.
- A cozy backdrop with a drift building up. Gentle snowfall, Amount 40, Settle at the bottom on, Drift depth 20–25, run for a while before guests arrive so it has time to build.
- A stormy look for a party or stage. Blowing snow or Heavy snowfall, Amount 80–100, Wind 40–60, Fall speed 120–150.
Troubleshooting
Plain glass shows nothing, or just a faint, washed-out reflection. Clear glass doesn't hold an image. Hang rear-projection film, a sheer curtain, or frosted film across the window and aim the projector at that instead of the bare glass.
From outside, the wind blows the opposite way to what you set. You are rear-projecting with Mirror horizontally off. Turn it on, or reverse the sign of Wind.
The drift never grows, even with Settle at the bottom on. Only the nearer flakes land and build it — the smaller, farther-back ones keep falling past it. Raise Amount so more flakes are in play, or give it more time.
The drift disappeared. Turning Settle at the bottom off clears it completely rather than pausing it. Turn it back on and it starts building again from empty.
The screen reads gray instead of true black once projected. The effect renders solid black around the snow at any Brightness, so lowering Brightness further won't help. The gray is your projector's own black level plus ambient light on the material — darken the room further and try the projector's eco or low-lamp mode.
A message says the browser couldn't start the snow canvas. The browser refused to create the drawing surface the effect needs. Close other graphics-heavy tabs or apps, update your browser, and open the effect again.
Next steps
For scenes with characters and full video loops on the same black-background projector setup, see Christmas Window Scenes. For a black-background Halloween lineup instead of winter ones, try Halloween Scenes.