frametable

FRAMETABLE — a video WAVETABLE oscillator. It continuously records the last 60 rendered input frames into a GPU frame ring (a TEXTURE_2D_ARRAY, one layer per frame) and treats that 60-frame history like the single-cycle waves of a wavetable synth: MORPH scans a centre point through the table and SPREAD sets how wide a window around that centre each output pixel may draw from. For EVERY output pixel the shader draws exactly ONE source frame — a whole-pixel dither/mosaic, NEVER an alpha-average across frames — chosen probabilistically from a bell distribution over the window (centre frame most likely, periphery least). The frame index is picked in O(1) by an analytic inverse-CDF (one sqrt, one branch, one texture-array fetch — never a 60-frame loop). The per-pixel choice is fixed in SCREEN space by a static per-pixel threshold with NO time term, so a STILL input yields a stable image (no TV-static shimmer) even while the ring keeps refreshing, while MOVING content becomes a coherent, morph-scannable time-smear mosaic that scanning MORPH slides through like a soft crossfade. SPREAD 1 collapses to a single frame (a delta — crisp playback of one moment); wider SPREAD blends more of the history into the bell, centre frame still most likely. SHAPE morphs the bell from triangular (default, compact) to gaussian (smooth). SHIMMER (default 0 = fully static) animates the threshold along a golden-ratio sequence for a gentle living grain on moving content while the time-averaged distribution stays exactly the target bell. FREEZE (a toggle button, plus a freeze gate that holds the ring frozen while the gate is held high) stops the ring from advancing so you can scrub a held 60-frame window with MORPH/SPREAD; SAVE (a momentary button, also a rising edge on the SAVE trigger) snapshots the current 60-frame ring into an in-GPU slot for later recall (and to feed a future video Cube — the snapshot + live ring are readable through the handle). Beyond that in-GPU slot, FRAMETABLE saves + loads REAL FILES, mirroring the wavetable file workflow: SAVE FILE writes the whole 60-frame ring to a lossless .frametable.png sprite-sheet atlas (a fixed 10×6 = 60-tile contact sheet, no video codec) via the save-file picker (with a download fallback); LOAD reads a .frametable.png back into the ring, freezing it so the loaded table can be morphed/scanned. The multi-megabyte frame bytes persist PER-BROWSER in IndexedDB (never the Y.Doc — only a tiny file descriptor syncs), so a loaded/saved table survives a reload on the same machine. Rendered at half engine resolution (SwiftShader/CI budget); an unpatched input renders black. The selection math (triangular + gaussian inverse-CDF, ring wrap, head→layer mapping, freeze/save reducers) is a 1:1 CPU mirror unit-tested in $lib/video/frametable-core. All ports live on the yellow drill-down PATCH PANEL (no raw side jacks). Look-affecting new WebGL shader — held for owner visual preview.

FRAMETABLE is a video WAVETABLE oscillator. It continuously records the last 60 rendered input frames into a GPU frame ring (a TEXTURE_2D_ARRAY, one layer per frame) and treats that 60-frame history like the single-cycle waves of a wavetable synth: MORPH scans a centre point through the table and SPREAD sets how wide a window around it each output draws from. A faceplate MODE selector picks one of THREE render engines. SMOOTH (the default) paints a smooth 2D field of temporal sample-centres from two morphable waveforms (one per screen axis) and outputs a CAPPED WEIGHTED TEMPORAL AVERAGE — a blend favouring the peak frame, not a single-frame pick — so the result is a flowing, liquid, recognizable-waveform distortion (sub-frame temporal positions are interpolated manually for a buttery result). MORPH is the smoothest possible cross-dissolve: a spatially-uniform, pop-free scan between temporal positions using a periodic raised-cosine (Hann) reconstruction kernel that is C¹ at its window edges AND N-periodic across the 59→0 wrap seam, so scanning MORPH loops seamlessly. CHAOS is the original per-pixel stochastic look — for every pixel the shader draws exactly ONE source frame (a whole-pixel dither/mosaic) chosen in O(1) by an analytic inverse-CDF from a static screen-space threshold, so a still input yields a stable image while moving content becomes a coherent morph-scannable time-smear. LAG MODEL: lag = (mode ≠ CHAOS) && !LIVE. CHAOS is always real-time (no lag). SMOOTH and MORPH auto-engage a ~2-second lag (they read a trailing window of the buffer) unless the LIVE control forces real-time. On the first real input frame the whole 60-layer ring is filled with that frame (buffer instantly full = a still image), then real frames wash in over ~2s — so there is no black warmup and a lagged read always hits a full buffer. LIVE (a faceplate switch OR its gate) forces real-time / no-lag in any mode; CHAOS (a momentary switch OR its gate) overrides the selector to the real-time CHAOS render while held. SPREAD is the temporal-average window (SMOOTH) / cross-dissolve width (MORPH) / bell window (CHAOS). SHIMMER is flow speed (SMOOTH field drift) / auto-scan drift (MORPH) / threshold dither (CHAOS). SHAPE morphs the CHAOS bell triangular↔gaussian (idle in SMOOTH/MORPH, which use a fixed gaussian/Hann). The X/Y waveform controls (freq, amt, shape per axis) sculpt SMOOTH's field. FREEZE (a toggle button, plus a freeze gate that holds the ring frozen while high) stops the ring from advancing so you can scrub a held 60-frame window; SAVE (a momentary button, also a rising edge on the save trigger) snapshots the ring into an in-GPU slot for later recall (and to feed a future video Cube). FRAMETABLE also SAVES + LOADS real FILES (the wavetable file workflow): a Save-file control writes the whole 60-frame ring to a lossless .frametable.png sprite-sheet atlas (a fixed 10x6 = 60-tile contact sheet, no video codec) on disk, and a Load control reads a .frametable.png back into the ring, freezing it so the loaded table can be morphed/scanned; the multi-megabyte frame bytes persist per-browser in IndexedDB (never the patch / Y.Doc — only a tiny file descriptor syncs), so a loaded or saved table survives a reload. Rendered at half engine resolution (SwiftShader/CI budget); an unpatched input renders black. The mode/lag dispatch, morphable-waveform field, weighted-average blend, Hann kernel, inverse-CDF and freeze/save/first-fill reducers are a 1:1 CPU mirror unit-tested in $lib/video/frametable-core. All ports live on the yellow drill-down PATCH PANEL (no raw side jacks).

the faceplate

inputs

outputs

params

controls

source

frametable.ts on GitHub.