Ink flow
A glowing liquid swirls under the pointer in a real fluid simulation, colored by how fast it flows.
- element
- shader
- pointer
- simulation
- fluid
- since 0.2
Background Studio: tune it below, then copy the code
Your system asks for reduced motion: the demo shows its final state and nothing moves.
Live demo
Ink flow example
Code
It follows the controls above: change an option and the code changes with it.
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/axi0/motion/motion.css?v=6">
<script src="/axi0/motion/motion.js?v=10" defer></script>
<axi0-ink-flow cover></axi0-ink-flow>import { InkFlow } from "./motion/react/InkFlow";
<InkFlow /><script setup lang="ts">
import InkFlow from "./motion/vue/InkFlow.vue";
</script>
<template>
<InkFlow />
</template>const fx = document.createElement("axi0-ink-flow");
document.querySelector("#hero").append(fx);The wrappers: InkFlow.tsx (React, TypeScript) and InkFlow.vue (Vue). Both render the same attributes as the HTML; the loader does the rest.
Options
| Attribute | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
force | 1 | How hard the pointer stirs |
swirl | 1 | Extra curl in the flow |
fade | 1 | How fast the ink fades |
colors | auto | Colors, comma separated (empty: the palette for the page's theme) |
background | auto | Background color (empty: the theme's) |
speed | 1 | How fast it moves |
theme | auto | Light or dark palette (auto: from the page behind it) |
cover | false | Fill the nearest positioned parent, behind its content |
Accessibility
Decorative: the canvas is aria-hidden and takes no focus; with cover it ignores the pointer, so the content above it stays clickable and readable. The pointer only adds to the motion; touch and keyboard users see the same scene. Drawn by the shared WebGL runner below device resolution (never more than one pixel per CSS pixel, device pixel ratio capped at 2); it starts when it comes within 300 px of the screen, the frame loop stops off screen and in hidden tabs, and reduced motion draws one still frame with no movement. Without WebGL it shows a still gradient in its own colors.
Size
ink-flow.js is 1.5 KB gzip, with gl.js 2.1 KB and backgrounds-kit.js 3.4 KB it needs. A page loads the loader (2.7 KB) and core.js (1.4 KB) once, whatever it uses.