The Interactive Light Painting effect draws glowing 3D tubes that bend and stretch toward your cursor, leaving a colorful trail as you move. Turn on Music Reactive mode and bass, mid, and treble frequencies start driving the tube colors, light colors, and motion in real time, with strong beats able to swap colors and switch the movement pattern on their own.
Before you start
- A mouse or trackpad works best. The tubes bend toward your cursor; on a touch-only device, tapping still randomizes colors, but dragging a finger doesn't steer the trail the way a mouse does.
- Microphone permission, only if you want Music Reactive mode. Your browser prompts for it the moment you select Enable Music Reactive, not before. Decline it and the effect still runs on cursor movement alone.
- Music playing audibly near your microphone, not just in another browser tab. Music Reactive mode listens through your actual microphone, so the sound needs to be loud enough in the room to pick up.
- A browser with graphics acceleration turned on. If the screen stays black, see Troubleshooting below.
Set it up
- Open the Interactive Light Painting effect.
- Move your cursor over the preview. The tubes should bend and stretch toward it immediately.
- Click anywhere on the screen to instantly randomize the tube and light colors.
- Optional: select Enable Music Reactive in the top-left corner. Allow the microphone prompt, then play music where your microphone can hear it.
- Open the settings panel to adjust colors, Speed, Intensity, Movement Pattern, and the two beat toggles.
- Select Go Fullscreen for the full effect on a larger screen.
You'll know it worked when moving your cursor visibly pulls the glowing tubes toward it, and — if Music Reactive is on — the button in the top-left turns into a gradient "Music Reactive ON" pill with a pulsing Live badge.
What each control does
| Control | Range / Options | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Color Presets | Golden, Ocean Breeze, Sunset Glow, Forest Magic, Cyberpunk, Cherry Blossom, Default | Swaps both the tube colors and light colors together to a matched set. |
| Tube Colors | 3 color swatches (with the default preset) | The color of each individual light-painting tube. Click a swatch to open a color picker. |
| Light Colors | 4 color swatches (with the default preset) | The color of the point lights that illuminate the tubes and drive the bloom glow. |
| Speed | 1–300 | How fast the tubes move along the current pattern. While Music Reactive is on, overall audio energy also pushes speed up further, independent of this slider. |
| Intensity | 1–300 | Brightness and bloom strength of the lights. Higher values glow more and blow out detail; lower values look dimmer and more defined. |
| Movement Pattern | Figure 8, Circle, Spiral, Zigzag, Infinity, Heart, Star, Random | The shape the tubes trace automatically when your cursor isn't actively moving nearby. Random is a smooth, continuously wandering motion, not a rotation through the other shapes. |
| Beat Changes Pattern | On/Off | When on, a strong beat (10-second cooldown) switches to a new random named shape — Figure 8, Circle, Spiral, and so on — even overriding a specific pattern you selected. Requires Music Reactive to be on to do anything. |
| Beat Changes Color | On/Off | When on, a strong beat (10-second cooldown) swaps both color sets to a random preset. Requires Music Reactive to be on to do anything. |
The Enable Music Reactive button and its Live badge sit in the top-left corner and stay visible at all times, including in fullscreen — they don't fade out the way the Exit Fullscreen and settings buttons do.
Common setups
- Party backdrop for a speaker or DJ setup. Turn on Music Reactive with both beat toggles on, Intensity 220–280, and point the screen or a facing device toward the room so the microphone can hear the music clearly.
- Kids' color-tap toy on a touchscreen. Leave Music Reactive off, pick a lively Movement Pattern like Star or Spiral with Speed around 120–150, and let kids tap the screen — each tap instantly reshuffles the colors even though dragging won't steer the trail.
- Music-reactive stage or stream visual. Music Reactive on, Cyberpunk or Ocean Breeze preset, Speed 80–120, Intensity 150–200. Keep Beat Changes Pattern on for variety but consider turning Beat Changes Color off if you want the palette to stay on-brand.
- Idle screensaver, no audio. Music Reactive off, Movement Pattern set to Random, Speed 30–50. The tubes drift on their own without needing anyone at the keyboard.
Troubleshooting
The button is stuck on "Enable Music Reactive" and never turns on. Your browser blocked or you declined the microphone prompt. Open your browser's site permissions (usually a lock or camera icon in the address bar), allow microphone access for this page, then select Enable Music Reactive again.
Music Reactive is on but nothing changes when music plays. The effect listens through your actual microphone, not a browser tab's audio, so the source needs to be audible in the room. Turn up the volume, move closer to the speaker, and check your OS hasn't muted the mic or selected the wrong input device.
Colors or the movement pattern keep changing on their own. Beat Changes Color and Beat Changes Pattern are on and strong beats are triggering them, each with its own 10-second cooldown. Turn off whichever one you don't want — you can keep Music Reactive's color and motion boosts without letting beats swap presets or shapes.
A specific Movement Pattern I picked doesn't stay selected. Beat Changes Pattern overrides your choice on every strong beat. Turn it off to lock in the pattern you selected.
Dragging my finger on a touchscreen doesn't paint a trail. Tapping still randomizes colors, but continuous drag-following isn't wired up for touch input the way mouse movement is. Use a mouse or trackpad if you need the trail to follow a moving pointer.
The screen stays black. This effect needs graphics acceleration, and a black screen usually means it is switched off in your browser. Turn it on in your browser's settings and reload. If that isn't an option, Full Screen Light is a much simpler effect that works almost anywhere.
Next steps
For a music-reactive effect without cursor interaction, try Disco Mode, or Circular Wave for a different take on audio-driven visuals.