Lightbox

Lightbox is a paper-cut landscape in a box: six layers of cut paper, from far hills to a little town and the trees up front, with a light behind them. Move the light and every layer shifts by its own depth and throws its shadow on the one behind. Leave it alone and the light drifts by itself. Step through dawn, day, dusk and night: the paper changes colour, the windows of the town light up, and stars come out above a thin moon.

How it works

Each layer is a silhouette generated once, from hills and roofs to branches and grass, and kept as a mask. The light gives every layer its own offset (near layers move more) and its own shadow, cast away from the light and softened with distance. Times of day are colour palettes for the sky and each sheet; switching blends from one to the next. Layers are only re-tinted when the colour actually changes, so moving the light stays cheap. Paper grain and a vignette make it feel like a lit box rather than a screen.

The sound is synthesised: a soft wind, birds by day and crickets at night, crossfading with the time.

Built with

• Canvas 2D: generated paper masks, per-layer parallax and soft shadows
• Web Audio API for the wind, birds and crickets
• Astro and TypeScript, no images or audio files