Platform Overview
What BallEngine is, the modes you can make videos with, who it is for, and what you need to run it.
What is BallEngine?
BallEngine is a video studio that runs in your web browser. You use it to make satisfying, music-synced physics videos: balls bouncing inside rings, breaking out of them, painting patterns, multiplying, or rippling a 3D grid in time with a song. The clips are made for TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, and you can also export widescreen or square videos.
The physics, the visuals and the sound are generated live on your device while you watch. You pick a mode, change as little or as much as you like, press Record, and get an MP4 file. Nothing needs to be installed.
The main workspace is the Studio, at ballengine.app/studio. Around it sit your account page (plan, billing and security), the Automation workspace (connecting social accounts and scheduling posts), this Help centre, and free browser games at /play.
The Modes at a Glance
A mode is the kind of video the engine makes: what the ball does and what the viewer is watching for. The finished modes are listed below. You pick one in Basics, under Simulation type, where 2D modes come first and 3D modes after them. 3D modes are heavier on your device than 2D modes.
You can pick any finished mode on any plan, watch it and record it. A mode's own settings can carry a lock with the plan that unlocks them. The Ball Engine Modes guides explain every mode in detail.
| Mode | What the viewer sees |
|---|---|
| Rhythmic Mode | Every bounce plays the next note. |
| Escape Mode | Break out through the rings. |
| Drawer Mode | The ball paints as it moves. |
| Accumulate Mode | One ball becomes hundreds. |
| Ghost Escape | Find the gap, dodge the spikes. |
| Spiral Mode | Orbit a spinning spiral tunnel. |
| Breaker Mode | Smash the spiral apart. |
| Glass Tower | Shatter a tower of glass plates. |
| Flag Battle | Country flags battle down to one winner. |
| Wave 3D | A 3D grid rippling in waves. |
| Marble Run 3D | A marble plays a real instrument in sync. |
Tip
- New here? Rhythmic and Escape are the easiest modes to get a good result from on your first try. Or press Randomize a few times and keep the one you like.
Add-ons
Under the mode picker in Basics is an Add-ons group. An add-on layers an extra behaviour on top of the mode you picked, and only the ones that make sense for the current mode are shown.
| Add-on | What it does |
|---|---|
| Line trail engine | Draws a smooth trail along the path of each moving ball. Not shown in 3D modes. |
| Music sync | In Rhythmic: bounces land on the beat. In Escape or Drawer: the mode becomes its rhythmic version (Rhythmic Escape or Rhythmic Drawer), where every bounce plays the next note. |
| Breaking rings | Adds the Escape ring system: the ball has to break out through rotating rings. |
Modes in Development
The mode picker also lists modes we are still building, marked "In development". You can open one and watch it, but it runs on our default settings, its settings are locked, and it cannot be recorded yet. Votes help decide which one is finished next. See Modes in Development & Voting.
Who It Is For
BallEngine is built for short-form creators, faceless and automation channels, "satisfying" and ASMR-style content, musicians who want a visual for a track, and anyone who enjoys physics art.
You can make a complete video on the free plan. Paid plans export more videos, at a higher resolution and without the watermark, add cloud render credits and storage, and open more settings. See Plans & Billing.
What You Need to Run It
You need a modern browser with hardware acceleration (GPU) turned on. The Studio draws every frame in real time, so the faster your graphics hardware, the smoother the preview. Chrome, Edge and Brave on a computer give the best results; Firefox and Safari work as well. If hardware acceleration is off, the Help button on the Studio rail turns red and explains how to turn it on. Your exported video is still correct, it just takes longer to make.
Phones and tablets can use the whole Studio. 3D modes are much heavier than 2D ones, and the Studio warns you the first time you open one on a device that may struggle. If a video will not finish on your device, render it in the cloud instead.
| Device | What works | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Computer | Everything. | Best experience. Keep a laptop plugged in while recording. |
| Phone or tablet (browser) | Everything, with the settings in a sheet under the preview. | Phones export at 720p by default so the video finishes. See Using the Studio on a Phone. |
| Windows desktop app | The same Studio in its own window. | See Desktop and Mobile Apps. |
Tip
- Help > Graphics in the Studio shows whether hardware acceleration is on for your browser.
More from BallEngine
Guides, plans and answers for making your videos.