The Generator

Full-control physarum laboratory with 14 sliders, 8 palettes, and a recording studio.

The Generator

The Generator is the full-control physarum laboratory. It exposes every parameter of the swarm simulation through a sidebar of sliders, giving you complete creative authority over cell behavior, signal chemistry, rendering, and color.

Open the Generator →

Interface Layout

• Left sidebar (300px): All controls: seed navigation, swarm parameters, palette selection, and export tools

• Main canvas (right): The live swarm simulation at 16:9 aspect ratio

Seed Navigation

Control	Action
Seed input field	Type a specific seed number and press Enter
Prev / Next	Step through seeds one at a time
Random	Jump to a random seed (1–999,999)
Jump	Apply the seed currently typed in the input

Changing the seed resets the simulation: new cell positions, new attractor placement, and a fresh signal map.

Colony Parameters

These control the swarm cells: how many, how fast, and how they navigate.

Cell Count

• Range: 500 – 8,000 | Default: 6,000

• Sweet spot: 4,000 – 7,000

• Sparse below 4,000. Sluggish above 7,000. Higher counts produce denser, more intricate networks.

Speed

• Range: 0.5 – 30.0 | Default: 2.8

• Sweet spot: 2.0 – 3.5

• How far each cell moves per frame. Low = deliberate crawl. High = chaotic scatter.

Sensor Distance

• Range: 5 – 40 | Default: 22

• Sweet spot: 15 – 30

• How far ahead each cell "senses" signal trails. Short = tight spirals. Long = blobby structures.

Sensor Angle

• Range: 10° – 80° | Default: 40°

• Sweet spot: 30° – 55°

• The angle between a cell's forward direction and its side sensors. Narrow = straight filaments. Wide = noisy branching.

Turn Speed

• Range: 5° – 60° | Default: 20°

• Sweet spot: 12° – 30°

• Maximum turning rate per frame. Low = stiff angular paths. High = jittery movement.

Signal Chemistry

These control the signal trail system that cells use to communicate and self-organize.

Signal Deposit

• Range: 5 – 80 | Default: 12

• Sweet spot: 8 – 20

• How much signal each cell deposits per frame. Low = faint trails. High = thick concentrated blobs.

Signal Decay

• Range: 0.900 – 0.999 | Default: 0.965

• Sweet spot: 0.955 – 0.985

• How quickly signals fade. Lower = trails vanish fast. Higher (closer to 1.0) = signals persist and accumulate.

Diffusion

• Range: 0.0 – 1.0 | Default: 0.25

• Sweet spot: 0.1 – 0.4

• How much signal spreads to neighboring cells. At 0, trails are pixel-sharp. Above 0.6, everything becomes soft and blurry.

Environment

Attractors

• Range: 0 – 20 | Default: 12

• Sweet spot: 6 – 15

• Number of signal attractors placed around the canvas. Set to 0 for pure radial growth from center.

Attractor Strength

• Range: 0 – 50 | Default: 15

• Sweet spot: 8 – 25

• How strongly attractors pull nearby cells. High values cause cells to cluster at attractor sites.

Spawn Radius

• Range: 5 – 100 | Default: 20

• Sweet spot: 5 – 25

• Size of the initial spawn area at the hub. Tight = clean burst. Wide = diffuse start.

Rendering

These affect the visual output without changing the underlying swarm behavior.

Trail Brightness

• Range: 0.3 – 3.0 | Default: 1.8

• Sweet spot: 1.2 – 2.5

• Brightness multiplier for signal trails.

Cell Glow

• Range: 0.0 – 2.0 | Default: 0.5

• Sweet spot: 0.2 – 0.8

• Brightness of individual cell dots. Cells glow brighter at the frontier, the unexplored edge of the swarm.

Cursor Influence

• Range: 0 – 500 | Default: 0 (off)

• Sweet spot: 0 for recording, 100–300 for interactive play

• Radius within which the mouse cursor attracts cells. Set to 0 when recording.

Color Presets

The Generator includes 8 curated palettes. See Swarm Palettes & Modes for full color details.

Preset	Character
Shumi Gold (default)	Warm amber networks, burnt orange accents
Emerald	Bioluminescent green, deep ocean
Violet	Purple-magenta neural glow
Ice	Cool blue, ethereal and minimal
Ember	Fire and molten gold
Toxic	Neon green, cyberpunk
Rose	Pink-magenta, soft organic
Mono	Grayscale, raw topology

Custom colors can be set via three color pickers: Signal Base, Signal Bright, and Hub Accent.

Export Options

The Generator has the most complete export toolkit. See Recording & Export for full details.

Feature	Description
Save PNG	Snapshot of current frame
Record WebM	VP9 video at 60fps / 8Mbps
Export GIF	Animated loop, center-cropped square (128–720px)
Fullscreen 1080p	Hides sidebar, records at 1080×1080
Seed Preview	Random seeds cycle every 4s, bookmark with Space
Batch Record	Records all bookmarked seeds sequentially

Reset

Click Reset All Parameters to restore every slider and color to its default value.