{"id":"zen-garden","version":"1.0.0","title":"Zen Garden","summary":"A dry garden at low sun: a wooden rake draws fine lines in the sand round mossy stones, then a board smooths it clean. Loops perfectly.","kind":"background","target":"three","collections":["satisfying","backgrounds","hypnotic-loops"],"tags":["zen garden","japanese garden","raked sand","karesansui","meditation","calm","stones","moss","rake","mindfulness","loop","3d"],"loopable":true,"motion":"procedural","durationSeconds":20,"status":"published","media":{"poster":"https://aipixelwizard.com/media/zen-garden/1.0.0/poster.webp","preview":"https://aipixelwizard.com/media/zen-garden/1.0.0/preview.mp4","sample":"https://aipixelwizard.com/media/zen-garden/1.0.0/sample.mp4","sampleBytes":2125451,"sampleNote":"Pre-rendered with the default settings. Customised settings must be exported locally (npm run render)."},"urls":{"page":"https://aipixelwizard.com/visuals/zen-garden","manifest":"https://aipixelwizard.com/api/v1/visuals/zen-garden/versions/1.0.0","agentMd":"https://aipixelwizard.com/registry/zen-garden/1.0.0/agent.md","files":"https://aipixelwizard.com/registry/zen-garden/1.0.0/","demo":"https://aipixelwizard.com/registry/zen-garden/1.0.0/index.html"},"description":"A Japanese dry garden in the low light of late afternoon: pale sand, a few weathered stones with moss at their feet, rings already raked round each stone, and a wooden rake that enters from the left and is pulled along the garden in long passes, one band after another, each leaving a row of fine grooves that catch the raking light. When it has finished, a smoothing board is drawn across and the sand is clean again for the next time round. Maple leaves drift through the frame, the sun shifts a little and the camera eases in and out. Choose the stones (a trio, a pair or a cluster of five), the pattern (straight lines or flowing waves), the colour of the sand, the sun and the exposure.","role":"Background or hero scene (Three.js 3D): a calm, hypnotic garden for meditation, focus and lofi content.","useCases":["A calm, mindful backdrop for meditation, yoga and breathing videos","A focus or study loop that is soothing to leave running","A Japanese-themed intro, a travel scene or a slow-living brand film"],"synonyms":["japanese rock garden","dry garden","karesansui","raking sand","zen sand","meditation background","calming loop","mindful background"],"digest":"36b73d4e088b1e52f1bd6af85f6a1c4e2db16269d71fda63c5420e431472d85c","implementation":{"target":"three","runtime":"browser","language":"javascript","module":"esm","entry":"src/zen-garden.js","exports":[{"name":"createZenGarden","signature":"createZenGarden({ stones?, pattern?, sand?, seed? }) => { group, uniforms, designLoop, update(time, loopSeconds), dispose() }","description":"The garden as a THREE.Group (1 unit = 10 cm): the sand, stones with moss, a wall with bamboo, the rake and the smoothing board. update(time, loopSeconds) draws and smooths the lines."},{"name":"STONES","signature":"STONES: { trio, pair, cluster }","description":"Stone layouts: x, z, size and the width of the raked ring zone."},{"name":"SANDS","signature":"SANDS: { pale, white, warm, grey }","description":"Suggested sand colours."}],"reusable":["src/zen-garden.js"],"demo":"demo.js","harness":"index.html"},"dependencies":[{"id":"three","version":"0.185.1","scope":"source","reason":"Renderer, geometry and the sand's groove shader."},{"id":"chrome-material","version":"1.1.0","scope":"demo","reason":"Studio environment light."},{"id":"apw-runtime","version":"1.0.0","scope":"demo","reason":"Demo harness."}],"uses":[],"usedBy":[],"params":[{"key":"stones","label":"Stones","type":"select","default":"trio","options":[{"value":"trio","label":"Three stones"},{"value":"pair","label":"A pair"},{"value":"cluster","label":"A cluster of five"}]},{"key":"pattern","label":"Pattern","type":"select","default":"lines","options":[{"value":"lines","label":"Straight lines"},{"value":"waves","label":"Flowing waves"}]},{"key":"sand","label":"Sand","type":"color","default":"#dcd3c0"},{"key":"sunColor","label":"Sunlight","type":"color","default":"#ffe2b8"},{"key":"sky","label":"Sky","type":"color","default":"#c9d6e2"},{"key":"leaves","label":"Drifting leaves","type":"boolean","default":true},{"key":"exposure","label":"Exposure","type":"number","min":0.6,"max":1.5,"step":0.05,"default":0.92},{"key":"seed","label":"Seed","help":"Changes the shape of the stones, the moss and the leaves.","type":"integer","min":1,"max":999,"step":1,"default":4}],"presets":[{"id":"default","label":"Three stones, afternoon","params":{}},{"id":"waves","label":"Waves, golden hour","params":{"stones":"pair","pattern":"waves","sand":"#e2cfa8","sunColor":"#ffc98a","sky":"#e8c9a8","seed":9}},{"id":"cluster","label":"Cluster of five, white sand","params":{"stones":"cluster","sand":"#ebe9e3","sunColor":"#fff2dc","sky":"#cfdde8","seed":13}},{"id":"dusk","label":"Grey sand, blue hour","params":{"sand":"#b7b9bd","sunColor":"#c8d4ff","sky":"#7f93b5","leaves":false,"exposure":1.1,"seed":6}}],"output":{"width":1080,"height":1080,"fps":30,"durationSeconds":20,"posterSeconds":14,"alpha":false,"motion":"procedural","loop":{"seamless":true,"cycleSeconds":20,"method":"The sand starts and ends each loop smooth: the rake draws its passes in the first three quarters and the smoothing board erases them in the last fifth. Rings round the stones are always there. The sun, the camera and the leaves move in whole cycles, so the last frame meets the first."},"seed":{"param":"seed","behavior":"Seed shapes each stone and its moss, and the leaves' paths: same seed, same garden."}},"composition":{"inputs":"Time within the loop; the stone layout, pattern, sand colour and light.","outputs":"A THREE.Group: sand, stones, moss, wall, bamboo, rake and board in the xz plane.","coordinates":"1 unit = 10 cm. The raked part is 18 wide (x from -9 to 9) and 13.5 deep (z from -5.5 to 8) and the lines run along z; the wall stands behind at z = 9.","lighting":"Physical materials: a shadow-casting low sun for the grooves (the sand's normals carry them) and the stones' shadows; a hemisphere fill.","timing":"update(time, loopSeconds) is a pure function of time; frames render in any order. The passes and the board are scaled to the loop length (designed for 20 s).","compatibleWith":["chrome-material","orbit-camera","kinetic-title"],"notes":["The grooves are not geometry: the sand is a plane whose normals are bent in its shader by an analytic height field, so they are crisp at any size.","The rake lifts where it would cross the rings round a stone."]},"reuse":["Meditation video: Three stones, afternoon, with a slow voice-over and a soft title.","Study stream: Cluster of five on white sand, no leaves, behind a timer.","Slow-living brand: Waves at golden hour behind a logo."],"integration":{"newProject":"Add createZenGarden().group, a shadow-casting low DirectionalLight and a hemisphere light, and call update(time, loopSeconds) each frame.","existingProject":"Copy src/zen-garden.js. Add the group to your scene (scale it to suit), light it with a low sun and call update(seconds, loopSeconds) every frame."},"performance":{"notes":"The sand is one plane; its grooves are evaluated per pixel with a few trig calls. The stones are 40,000-triangle meshes built once. Smooth at 1080p on laptop GPUs.","limits":"A 4096 shadow map is the main cost; lower it on slow devices. Software WebGL (no GPU) renders slowly."},"limitations":["The rake and board move on rails: no hand or monk is shown (the handle leaves the frame).","The grooves are drawn by analytic bands, so the pattern is one of a few designs rather than free-form."],"license":{"spdx":"MIT","notice":"Copyright (c) 2026 AI Pixel Wizard. Released under the MIT License. See LICENSE in this folder.","thirdParty":[{"name":"three.js","version":"0.185.1","license":"MIT","url":"https://github.com/mrdoob/three.js"}]},"rights":{"approvedForPublicRelease":true},"provenance":"Adapted from the owner's threejs-sketches/objects-scenes/zen-garden (MIT), rebuilt for AI Pixel Wizard in October 2026: sand grooves carried by an analytic normal field and drawn live by a rake in bands, rings round each stone, a smoothing board that closes the loop, weathered displaced stones with moss, a wall and bamboo, drifting leaves, and the frame/time contract.","changelog":[{"version":"1.0.0","date":"2026-10-05","notes":"Initial release."}],"verification":{"testedOn":"2026-10-06","inputs":{"zen-garden@1.0.0":"36b73d4e088b1e52f1bd6af85f6a1c4e2db16269d71fda63c5420e431472d85c","three@0.185.1":"664ca387e5fab46ff2daaa6895e1d015426850891af5ea5082cbbcc3985b068c","chrome-material@1.1.0":"ecb41776bfc1ee88997604f916a5ffe833f971d7edcc97c855697a5792d6f1dd","apw-runtime@1.0.0":"5be859cdac74823ba0bcc32c6daf06688a871104d24db5d4ceaffffd84d7c40d"},"environment":"Chrome 154.0.8037.97 headless on Linux 7.0.0-38-generic (x64), Node 22.14.0","renderer":"WebGL 2 via SwiftShader (software)","width":1080,"height":1080,"fps":30,"frames":600,"renderSeconds":3001.9,"loopCheck":{"checked":true,"seamless":true,"maxDifference":0,"note":"Frame 0 vs end state (progress 1): mean |Δ| 0.0000, max |Δ| 0 of 255."},"determinism":{"checked":true,"identical":true},"errors":[],"media":{"poster":"/media/zen-garden/1.0.0/poster.webp","preview":"/media/zen-garden/1.0.0/preview.mp4","sample":"/media/zen-garden/1.0.0/sample.mp4","sampleBytes":2125451}},"files":[{"path":"LICENSE","size":1072,"sha256":"8a5f3a96f07e11522ec4bdd0a583356f99bad1245920f9709cee09b995a45153","contentType":"text/plain; charset=utf-8","url":"https://aipixelwizard.com/registry/zen-garden/1.0.0/LICENSE"},{"path":"asset.json","size":9492,"sha256":"b4cb14b46c38d7cd251edf8b76be9d4dc45aa33b609420a3e9a35f33da642c34","contentType":"application/json; charset=utf-8","url":"https://aipixelwizard.com/registry/zen-garden/1.0.0/asset.json"},{"path":"demo.js","size":5859,"sha256":"751209b9f97548403a53fae0241aa130dfb0a15ee7c49199732d87fe976e1490","contentType":"text/javascript; charset=utf-8","url":"https://aipixelwizard.com/registry/zen-garden/1.0.0/demo.js"},{"path":"index.html","size":524,"sha256":"7da747f55f9597401f116bc70a48f47a4daf3c6bd7075f5cf8b6a799648a9440","contentType":"text/html; charset=utf-8","url":"https://aipixelwizard.com/registry/zen-garden/1.0.0/index.html"},{"path":"src/zen-garden.js","size":22200,"sha256":"38b0785fe85a566f9de05934594222b28b47a3fcf4eab5175e2a943590864484","contentType":"text/javascript; charset=utf-8","url":"https://aipixelwizard.com/registry/zen-garden/1.0.0/src/zen-garden.js"}],"warnings":[]}