softcopy / paired eyes

Drag any eye. Enter selects the next eye. Arrow keys move it; Q and E move it in depth. Shift moves farther. Space pauses. Escape clears selection.

drag an eye · the string center stays at its grid point

starting configuration

seed

01 / propagation

initial impulse

different impulses

launch settings apply on the next run

momentum exchange

0% isolates · 100% elastic exchange

02 / pace + sustain

tempo

sustain

keeps momentum circulating · off lets it die out

03 / grid

grid

eye size

show fixed points

04 / connection

rest length 4 units

maximum length 5 units

full cord · half on each side
elastic after rest · hard stop at maximum

recoil strength

damping

show string

05 / movement

motion

gaze drive

orbit drive

wander strength

direction change

Eyes push in the direction they face; the elastic string pulls them back. Needs sustain.

eye tumble

z movement

06 / color + ink

eye color

white eye centers

field edge shading

background

hollow edge

white center radius

riso grain 20%

pigment amount

fringe width

trace duration

strong recoils leave a trace · five at most
opposite corners carry two pigments

07 / view

field curvature

z → size

view tilt

keyboard + movement

Enter selects an eye. Arrows move it; Q / E move it in depth. Hold Shift for a bigger move. Space pauses. The canvas stays draggable while paused.

Pairs of eyes are attached by an elastic string. The center of each string is rooted at a grid point. The string pulls back after its rest length and cannot stretch past its maximum length. Z movement can disproportionately change eye size.

Eyes push in the direction they face; eye tumble keeps changing that direction. Momentum and the string bend the path. Gaze drive controls the push. At zero z movement, the push stays in the plane. Orbit adds sideways drive around the anchor. Random wander mixes a shared direction with each eye’s own turns.

Sustain keeps momentum circulating through the grid instead of letting it die out. Recoil passes existing momentum to immediate neighbors, including pairs already moving. Sustain replaces energy lost to damping; turn it off to let motion fade. The two eyes can start with different impulses.

Disturb starts the selected configuration. Random start gives every pair a seeded pose, gaze, and initial impulse; all pairs start together. The same seed and settings reproduce the same start. Reshuffle changes the seed and returns to still. Reset to still returns to the same initial state. Anchors and maximum string lengths stay fixed.