StrataFlux

StrataFlux – Gradient Layer Forge

Dive into StrataFlux and forge electrifying, multi-layered gradients that glitch, warp, and shimmer directly in your browser. Create stunning abstract visuals, perfect as standalone art or as rich base imagery for further manipulation—especially with tools like our companion app, Bucket Bender!

Why StrataFlux is Your Go-To Gradient Powerhouse:

A single click on "New All" generates a unique, multi-layer gradient stack in an instant, ready for your creative touch. Don't like it? Click again for a completely new starting point!

• Powerful Live Layering System:
  • Dynamic Sub-Layers: Experiment with up to 12 "live" sub-layers, each with its own gradient type (Linear, Radial, Conic, or experimental Mesh), color stops, and angle.
  • Bake & Stack: Once you've captured a look you love within the live layer, "Bake" it into a persistent, reorderable layer in the main stack.
  • Full Control: Each baked layer (and the live layer itself) has independent visibility, opacity, and a wide array of blend modes (including standard Photoshop modes and unique custom ones) to build incredibly complex and nuanced compositions.
• The "Cyberglow" Creative Toolkit – Your Effects Arsenal:
  • Fractal Engine: Generate intricate, recursive patterns where gradients echo and tile within themselves. Control the depth, color shifting (hue, saturation, lightness), angle jitter, and even the probability of gradient types changing within the fractal structure for organic, evolving textures.
  • Flow Warp: Apply vector-field turbulence that distorts your gradients, making them flow like liquid chrome or pulse with chaotic energy. Control the strength and scale of the warp, and choose to apply it globally or just to the live layer.
  • Displacement Engine: Achieve complex textural distortions by mapping image data to pixel properties. Upload your own images as displacement maps, control how they tile, and define rules for how different image channels (luminance, red, green, blue, alpha) affect pixel offsets, color shifts (RGB & HSL), content scale, and even rotation.
  • Symmetry & Recursive Background:Instantly create mesmerizing kaleidoscopic patterns from your entire canvas. Activate the Recursive Background to add further depth, echoing your symmetrical design with customizable iterations, scale steps, and opacity falloffs.
  • Global Finishing Touches: Add a final layer of textural noise, and make global adjustments to overall brightness and saturation to perfect your image.
• Flexible Output Resolution:
  Choose from common aspect ratios (portrait, landscape, square, widescreen, tallscreen) or define your own custom pixel dimensions, supporting up to 3072px on the longest side. Perfect for any project, from social media posts to print-ready designs.
• Effortless Export Options:
  • High-Resolution PNG: Download your creations as full-resolution PNG images, ready for use.
  • CSS for Developers: Instantly copy the CSS gradient string for the active live sub-layer (non-mesh types), making web integration a breeze.
• Accessible & Immersive:
  StrataFlux is a single HTML file that runs smoothly in your browser on phones, tablets, and desktops. No installation, no ads – just pure creative power. The cyberglow-themed UI, featuring Orbitron typography, animated glows, and subtle interactive elements, is designed to get you in the creative zone.

🚀 Quick Start Guide:

1. Spark an Idea: Hit "New All" until a compelling base gradient emerges.
2. Experiment & Sculpt: Adjust the number of Sub-Layers (for the live gradient), tweak Stops and Angle, or activate the Fractal, Flow Warp, Displacement, and Symmetry engines to see instant, dynamic transformations.
3. Build Your Vision: When the live preview shows something you like, click "Bake Layer" to capture it. Continue to generate new live looks and bake them, or refine existing baked layers by changing their order, opacity, and blend modes in the Layers Panel.
4. Finalize & Export: Use the global controls for Noise, Brightness, and Saturation. Then, save your artwork as a PNG or grab the CSS for web projects. (On mobile, you can long-press the canvas to zoom into details before saving via the preview modal).

💎 A Tool for Artists, Developers & VJ Dreamers

StrataFlux is your digital forge for crafting striking poster backdrops, unique website headers, captivating album art, bases for screen-prints, or mesmerizing VJ loops. It's built for those moments of creative exploration, helping you discover unexpected beauty through "happy accidents" and deliberate design.

Synergy with Bucket Bender:
StrataFlux excels at generating rich, complex, and often unpredictable base imagery. These visuals are perfect starting points to feed into Bucket Bender, where you can further sort, glitch, and transform them into entirely new digital masterpieces. The two apps work hand-in-hand for a powerful creative workflow!

📥 What's Included:

• StrataFlux.html: The complete, single-file web application. Open it locally in any modern browser or host it on your own web space.
• Future Updates: Enjoy free updates with potential new effects engines and features as they are developed.

⚖️ License:

You are free to use images created with StrataFlux for both personal and commercial projects. However, redistribution or reselling of the StrataFlux application (the .html file) itself is not permitted.