North Star shader preview: Lava-lamp blobs drifting through a long-exposure light leak.
ittybitty

North Star

Lava-lamp blobs drifting through a long-exposure light leak.

Code

Use as

Copy embed: paste into Webflow, Framer, Squarespace or any HTML · Copy for agent: paste into Cursor or Claude · Copy code: the files for your own build.

For your own build, add north-star.js, ittybitty-shader.js and runtime.js next to this page. Highlighted values follow the controls.

<!-- Quickest: one element. Size it with CSS; it fills its box. -->
<script type="module" src="./ittybitty-shader.js"></script>
<ittybitty-shader effect="north-star" style="width: 100%; height: 480px;"></ittybitty-shader>

<!-- Or with JavaScript, for full control: -->
<canvas id="north-star" aria-hidden="true" style="width: 100%; height: 480px; display: block"></canvas>

<script type="module">
  import { northStar } from './north-star.js';

  const canvas = document.getElementById('north-star');
  const effect = northStar(canvas, {
    colors: [[0, '#0b6a80'], [0.1, '#1a8fd0'], [0.2, '#2cc6e0'], [0.31, '#c7f1c5'], [0.42, '#f6f6f2'], [0.5, '#f6f4ee'], [0.56, '#f8f6ac'], [0.63, '#f9c1a0'], [0.7, '#fa915e'], [0.79, '#f7170a'], [0.88, '#f61a0a'], [0.9, '#d8e6b0'], [0.91, '#0f1f19']],
    bias: 0.24,
    speed: 0.5,
    angle: -41,
    stretch: 3.6,
    blobs: 14,
    size: 0.25,
    wobble: 0.24,
    focus: 0.45,
    smear: 0.25,
    glow: 0.12,
    grain: 0.035,
    variation: 2,
    showStreaks: true,
    streaks: 0.18,
    showLeaks: true,
    leaks: 0.2,
    showLens: true,
    distortion: 0.088,
    showBands: true,
    bend: 1,
    // Performance
    dpr: 1.5,
    adaptive: true,
  });

  // Later: effect.set(…), effect.pause(), effect.resume(), effect.destroy()
</script>

Details

Soft blobs of colour rise, bud and melt into one another, smeared along a flowing direction like a long exposure, with bloom, fine light streaks and film grain. In focus a blob holds a crisp, oily edge; out of focus it melts into the gradient around it. Every colour comes from one ordered palette blended in OKLCH, so neighbours meet through light, never mud.

Payload
11.5 KB brotli for north-star.js, ittybitty-shader.js and runtime.js, measured at build time.
Resolution
Device pixel ratio capped at 1.5. The lava renders at half resolution and redraws every other frame; grain, stipple and colour fringing stay at full resolution.
Frame rate
Display rate.
When unseen
Stops rendering when the canvas leaves the viewport or the tab is hidden, and resumes where it left off.
Reduced motion
Shows a single still frame. Controls still update it.
Layers
Up to five effects fuse into one shader and one draw call. Filters such as dithering and halftone process the layers beneath them.
Browsers
Any browser with WebGL2: Chrome and Edge 56+, Firefox 51+, Safari 15+.
Licence
MIT. Copy it, change it, ship it.