
Dawnfold
A fan of flat paper facets opening from below the frame, washed in one diagonal gradient from dawn peach to dusk blue.
Most gradient fields are smooth all the way through — this one is a gradient sitting under a fold. A fan of flat facets opens from a pivot below the frame, each one a single plane rather than a texture: a linear ramp from its lit edge to its shadowed edge, a soft crease where it meets its neighbour, and a small per-facet jitter so it reads as paper catching one light source, not a repeated stripe. The diagonal wash underneath — dawn peach easing through warm cream and cool lavender into dusk blue — never changes; only the light each facet catches does.
The pointer leans a soft warmth in rather than disturbing the fold — this field sits behind a photo and copy, so the fan itself has to hold its shape under a moving cursor.
Details
- Kind
- Fold
- Stack
- React · TypeScript
- Depends on
- Nothing
- Licence
- Free
- Added
- 13 Sep 2026
- Tags
- gradient, faceted, warm-to-cool, pointer-driven
Its light
- 10%
- 12%
- 21%
- 24%
- 34%
Code
Install
No installation needed — self-contained, paste-in code.
Usage
import { DawnfoldField } from "./DawnfoldField";
export default function Example() {
return (
// Fills its nearest positioned ancestor (it renders itself `absolute
// inset-0`) — give it a sized, relatively positioned box.
<div className="relative isolate h-[32rem] w-full overflow-hidden rounded-2xl">
<DawnfoldField />
</div>
);
}Component
The real source, exactly as it ships — multiple files, kept together.
"use client";
import { useEffect, useRef } from "react";
import { mountShaderSurface } from "@/lib/shader-surface";
/**
* A live WebGL fan of flat paper facets, opening from a pivot below the
* frame, washed in one continuous diagonal gradient — dawn peach low-left
* easing through warm cream and cool lavender into dusk blue high-right.
* Each facet is a single flat plane rather than a texture: a linear ramp
* from its lit edge to its shadowed edge, a soft crease where it meets its
* neighbour, and a small per-facet jitter so the fan reads as folded paper
* catching one light source, not a mechanically repeated stripe.
*
* One of the reusable background fields. Drop it into any `position:
* relative`/`isolate` parent — it fills the box. Built on
* `lib/shader-surface.ts`, so every degradation path is already handled: no
* WebGL, a blocked or lost context, a hidden tab, or `prefers-reduced-motion`
* all leave the CSS `.iris-dawnfoldfield__floor` underneath visible — a
* still frame in the same wash, never a blank box.
*
* Fixed palette, not the token ramp — like `IsobarField` and
* `SpectrumGlassField`, this warm-to-cool daylight wash lives nowhere in the
* site's own (dark-mode) accent ramp.
*
* Reading guard: unlike the dark fields, this one is *light* ground under
* dark copy, so the guard runs in the opposite direction — it lifts
* luminance up to a floor under the guarded block, rather than capping it
* down, so a facet's shadow edge never lands under text and darkens it.
* `guardSelector` resolved against `document`; `null` (the default) turns
* it off, for decorative use where nothing sits on top.
*/
/* Palette, sRGB 0–1. Fixed uniforms — see the note above. */
const PALETTE: Record<string, [number, number, number]> = {
u_peach: [0.976, 0.831, 0.620],
u_cream: [0.965, 0.941, 0.902],
u_lavender: [0.784, 0.808, 0.937],
u_blue: [0.412, 0.573, 0.902],
};
const FRAG = `
uniform vec2 u_res;
uniform float u_time;
uniform float u_scale;
uniform vec3 u_pointer; /* x, y (0 bottom .. 1 top), presence 0..1 */
uniform vec3 u_peach;
uniform vec3 u_cream;
uniform vec3 u_lavender;
uniform vec3 u_blue;
uniform vec4 u_readA;
uniform float u_guard;
/* Four stops along the diagonal wash — dawn peach, warm cream, cool
lavender, dusk blue — each transition its own smoothstep so no stop
reads as a hard swatch edge. */
vec3 wash(float t) {
vec3 col = mix(u_peach, u_cream, smoothstep(0.0, 0.4, t));
col = mix(col, u_lavender, smoothstep(0.4, 0.7, t));
col = mix(col, u_blue, smoothstep(0.7, 1.0, t));
return col;
}
/* The guard's own direction: this field is light ground under dark text, so
legibility means never letting a facet's shadow edge sink luminance below
a floor here — the opposite of the dark fields' holdUnder. */
vec3 liftAbove(vec3 col, float ymin) {
float y = dot(pow(max(col, 0.0), vec3(2.2)), vec3(0.2126, 0.7152, 0.0722));
return y < ymin ? col * pow(ymin / max(y, 1e-4), 1.0 / 2.2) : col;
}
void main() {
vec2 res = u_res / u_scale;
vec2 uv = gl_FragCoord.xy / u_scale / res; /* 0..1, y up */
float aspect = res.x / max(res.y, 1.0);
vec2 P = uv * vec2(aspect, 1.0);
/* the wash axis: warm low-left to cool high-right, gently tilted so the
peach corner sits low rather than running dead horizontal */
vec2 washDir = normalize(vec2(1.0, 0.22));
float t = dot(P, washDir) / dot(vec2(aspect, 1.0), washDir);
vec3 col = wash(clamp(t, 0.0, 1.0));
/* the fold: a fan of flat facets opening from a pivot below the frame —
a sheet pleated into a fan, not a texture, so the interest is in which
facet you're on and how far across it, not a noise field. */
vec2 pivot = vec2(aspect * 0.08, -0.3);
vec2 toP = P - pivot;
float ang = atan(toP.y, toP.x);
float density = 1.9;
float w = ang * density - u_time * 0.008;
float wedgeId = floor(w);
float f = fract(w);
/* each facet ramps from its lit edge to its shadowed edge, like a blade
catching one light source across its flat face — a blend toward a
lightened or darkened version of the SAME colour, never a raw multiply,
so a bright facet stays blue instead of blowing out to white */
float lightAmt = mix(0.85, 0.4, f);
/* the crease: a soft dark seam where two flat faces actually meet, where
the light falls away fastest — wide and gentle, a fold in paper, not a
cut line */
float creaseL = smoothstep(0.0, 0.24, f);
float creaseR = smoothstep(0.0, 0.24, 1.0 - f);
float crease = creaseL * creaseR;
/* per-facet variation so the fan doesn't read as mechanically identical */
float jitter = fract(sin(wedgeId * 12.9898) * 43758.5453);
lightAmt = clamp(lightAmt + (jitter - 0.5) * 0.12, 0.0, 1.0);
vec3 lit = mix(col, vec3(1.0), 0.12);
vec3 shadow = col * 0.88;
col = mix(shadow, lit, lightAmt);
col = mix(col * 0.92, col, crease);
/* radius falloff: the fan gathers toward shadow near its own pivot and
opens into light toward the frame's far edge */
float radius = length(toP) / max(aspect, 1.0);
col = mix(col * 0.9, col, smoothstep(0.2, 1.3, radius));
/* the pointer leans a soft warmth in rather than disturbing the fan —
this sits behind copy, so the composition itself must hold still */
vec2 ptr = u_pointer.xy * vec2(aspect, 1.0);
float dP = distance(P, ptr);
float bloom = exp(-dP * dP * 1.4) * u_pointer.z;
col += vec3(1.0) * bloom * 0.05;
col = clamp(col, 0.0, 1.0);
/* ---- the reading guard (lifting, not capping — see liftAbove above) ---- */
vec2 rd = abs(uv - u_readA.xy) / max(u_readA.zw, vec2(0.02));
float md = mix(max(rd.x, rd.y), length(rd), 0.4);
float guardBand = 1.0 - smoothstep(0.72, 2.1, md);
col = mix(col, liftAbove(col, 0.82), guardBand * u_guard);
col += (bayer8(gl_FragCoord.xy) - 0.5) * (2.0 / 255.0);
gl_FragColor = vec4(col, 1.0);
}
`;
const PALETTE_UNIFORMS = ["u_peach", "u_cream", "u_lavender", "u_blue"] as const;
export interface DawnfoldFieldProps {
className?: string;
/**
* CSS selector for the block the reading guard should keep readable,
* resolved against `document`. `null` (the default) turns the guard off.
*/
guardSelector?: string | null;
}
export function DawnfoldField({
className,
guardSelector = null,
}: DawnfoldFieldProps) {
const canvasRef = useRef<HTMLCanvasElement>(null);
useEffect(() => {
const canvas = canvasRef.current;
if (!canvas) return;
const guardOn = guardSelector != null;
let guardEl: Element | null | undefined;
const readGuardEl = () => {
if (guardEl === undefined) {
guardEl = guardOn ? document.querySelector(guardSelector as string) : null;
}
return guardEl;
};
return mountShaderSurface(canvas, {
fragment: FRAG,
uniforms: [...PALETTE_UNIFORMS, "u_readA", "u_guard"],
onInit: (gl, u) => {
for (const name of PALETTE_UNIFORMS) {
if (u[name]) gl.uniform3fv(u[name], PALETTE[name]);
}
if (u.u_readA) gl.uniform4f(u.u_readA, 0.5, 0.5, 0.44, 0.32);
if (u.u_guard) gl.uniform1f(u.u_guard, guardOn ? 1 : 0);
},
onFrame: (gl, u, s) => {
if (!guardOn || !u.u_readA) return;
let cx = 0.5, cy = 0.5, hw = 0.44, hh = 0.32;
const el = readGuardEl();
const { rect } = s;
if (el && rect.width > 0 && rect.height > 0) {
const r = el.getBoundingClientRect();
const padX = rect.width * 0.09;
const padY = rect.height * 0.11;
cx = (r.left + r.width / 2 - rect.left) / rect.width;
cy = 1 - (r.top + r.height / 2 - rect.top) / rect.height;
hw = (r.width / 2 + padX) / rect.width;
hh = (r.height / 2 + padY) / rect.height;
}
gl.uniform4f(u.u_readA, cx, cy, hw, hh);
},
onPainted: () => canvas.setAttribute("data-shader", "on"),
/* No onIdle — same contract as IsobarField / SpectrumGlassField: once
painted, the last frame stays on screen while the surface is
parked off-view, so scrolling away and back does not crossfade to
the static floor. A lost context still clears it below. */
onLost: () => canvas.removeAttribute("data-shader"),
maxPixels: 2_200_000,
dprCap: 1.5,
});
}, [guardSelector]);
return (
<div
className={`absolute inset-0 overflow-hidden${className ? ` ${className}` : ""}`}
aria-hidden="true"
>
<div className="absolute inset-0 [background:repeating-conic-gradient(_from_-20deg_at_10%_130%,oklch(1_0_0_/_0.16)_0deg_9deg,oklch(0_0_0_/_0.1)_9deg_18deg_),linear-gradient(_80deg,oklch(0.89_0.06_70)_0%,oklch(0.94_0.015_40)_38%,oklch(0.85_0.04_280)_68%,oklch(0.72_0.1_265)_100%_)] [background-blend-mode:overlay,normal]" />
<canvas ref={canvasRef} className="absolute inset-0 w-full h-full opacity-0 transition-opacity duration-[--duration-slow] ease-[--ease-standard] data-[shader=on]:opacity-100" />
</div>
);
}




