Use Ocean Waves to fill a screen with a slow, rolling sea seen from just above the water. The swell moves in several directions at once, the sun or moon leaves a glittering path on the surface, and white foam gathers on the crests. Pick a scene, shape the waves, and add calm music if you want sound.
Before you start
- A browser with WebGL available. The ocean is drawn with graphics acceleration. If the page reports that WebGL is needed, enable hardware acceleration in your browser and reload.
- A screen for the sea. Use your computer display, or connect a monitor or TV and move the browser onto it before entering fullscreen.
- A dim room helps the night scene. Moonlit night is deliberately dark, so glare on the screen can hide the water.
Set it up
- Open Ocean Waves on the display you want to use.
- Choose a Scene: Sunny day, Golden sunset, Moonlit night or Tropical lagoon.
- Set Wave height and Choppiness. Start low for a gentle swell, then raise them for a livelier sea.
- Adjust Wave speed. A lower value is slower and calmer.
- Use Camera height to choose how much water and sky you see. Low sits close to the surface, and high looks down on more sea.
- Select Play Fullscreen.
- Open the settings using the gear button and adjust Brightness from your usual viewing position.
You'll know it worked when you see a clear horizon with swell rolling toward you and a bright glitter path from the sun or moon.
The same controls are available beside the preview and in fullscreen. Move the mouse to reveal the fullscreen buttons, and press Escape to leave fullscreen.
Scenes
- Sunny day. A blue sky with soft clouds and a bright sun glitter on blue-green water.
- Golden sunset. A low sun on the horizon, an orange sky and purple water.
- Moonlit night. A dark sky with stars and a moon path across deep blue water.
- Tropical lagoon. A turquoise sea under a bright blue sky.
Changing Scene fades the sky, water and light slowly from one look to the next instead of cutting.
Wave controls
- Wave height. How tall the swell is. At 0 the swell is gone and only fine ripples remain.
- Wave speed. How fast the sea moves. At 0 the sea, clouds and stars stop.
- Choppiness. Low is long, rounded swell. High is sharper crests.
- Foam. How much white foam gathers on the crests.
View
- Camera height. Low sits near the water. High looks down on more sea and less sky.
- Floating camera. On by default: the camera rocks, bobs and drifts as if it floated on the swell, more so at a higher Wave height. Turn it off for a locked view.
If your computer is set to reduce motion, Ocean Waves slows the sea and keeps the camera still.
Music
Turn on Music in the Sound group to play calm, drum-free instrumental music that suits the scene:
- Sunny day: warm pads with soft harp.
- Golden sunset: pads, soft piano and low cello.
- Moonlit night: deep pads, singing bowls and celesta.
- Tropical lagoon: pads with marimba and kalimba.
Each scene has one track of about three minutes that loops. The pads swell and fade like slow waves, but this is music, not a field recording of the sea. Volume appears once Music is on. The music pauses while you are on another browser tab or the page is scrolled out of view, and carries on when you return. If playback is blocked, switch Music off and on again.
Share the settings
Every effect has a Share & OBS group that copies a link with your current settings, including Scene and wave values. Use it to open the same sea on another screen.
Troubleshooting
- The page says WebGL is needed. Enable hardware acceleration in your browser settings and reload.
- The sea looks flat. Check that Wave height is above 0 and Wave speed is above 0.
- The sea looks too dark. Raise Brightness, or choose a daytime scene. Moonlit night is intentionally dim.
- The animation stutters. Close other tabs and apps that use the graphics card, and make sure hardware acceleration is on.
- There is no sound. Turn on Music, raise Volume, and check your device volume. Some browsers need a click on the page before they allow audio.