Drawer Mode
The ball paints as it bounces, building line art, mirrors and kaleidoscopes. Every control in the Painter Simulation Studio panel.
What Drawer Mode Does
In Drawer mode the ball leaves a line behind. The engine records a point every time the ball hits something (the wall, or another ball) and joins the points with straight strokes, plus a live stroke from the last point to the ball. Over a run those strokes build a picture: star shapes, webs, mandalas.
You are composing a finished image, so judge the mode by pausing near the end and looking at the whole picture, not by watching the ball.
Picking Drawer is open on every plan. The Painter Simulation Studio panel in the Engine tab unlocks on Lite.
Settings in Basics
In Basics, the Mode settings tab shows these Drawer controls.
| Setting | Name in Engine | Range / options | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mirror pattern | Geometry & Symmetry | None, Mirror left / right, Mirror up / down, Mirror both, Kaleidoscope | None |
| Kaleidoscope copies | Symmetry Count (only for Kaleidoscope) | 2 to 12 | 4 |
| Brush style | Brush Style | Solid, Neon, Sketchy, Dotted, Rainbow, Chrome, Ghost, Glow, Dashed, Abstract | Solid |
| Line colours | Color Dynamics | Match ball, Rainbow, By speed, One colour, Shifting hue | Match ball |
| Line thickness | Stroke Thickness | 1 to 20 | 1 |
| How much drawing stays | Max Length | 100 to 5000 | 1000 |
Core Logic
Switches that change how lines are drawn and kept.
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Reverse Drawing | Instead of joining the points in order, draws a line from the ball to every recorded point, so the ball trails a moving starburst. | Off |
| Ghost Mode | Lines fade away: points older than Line Lifetime are removed. (This is a Drawer switch, not the Ghost Escape mode.) | Off |
| Bounce Only | Labelled "Draw only when hitting walls". Drawer already records its points at impacts, so the drawing looks the same with this on or off. | On |
| Clear Canvas | A button: wipes the current drawing right away. The run keeps going and starts a new drawing. | Button |
Geometry & Symmetry
Symmetry turns a wandering line into something that looks designed. It repeats every stroke around the centre of the arena.
| Option | Copies drawn | Looks like |
|---|---|---|
| NONE | 1 | The raw path. |
| MIRROR X | 2 (mirrored left / right) | A butterfly or face shape. |
| MIRROR Y | 2 (mirrored up / down) | A reflection on water. |
| MIRROR XY | 4 (both mirrors) | A tile or card pattern. |
| RADIAL | Symmetry Count (1 to 12, default 4), rotated evenly | A kaleidoscope, mandala or snowflake. |
Tip
- RADIAL with 6 or 8 copies is the quickest way to a mandala. Symmetry Count only appears when RADIAL is selected.
Brush Style
The look of every stroke.
| Brush | Look |
|---|---|
| SOLID | A plain line. Default. |
| NEON | A line with a glow; the glow size is Glow Intensity. |
| SKETCHY | A hand-drawn, jittery line that shifts every frame. |
| DOTTED | A line of small dots. |
| RAINBOW | A multi-coloured line. |
| CHROME | A metallic line. |
| GHOST | Each stroke fades out as it ages, over Line Lifetime. |
| GLOW | A stronger glow, twice Glow Intensity. |
| DASHED | A dashed line; dash length follows the thickness. |
| ABSTRACT | A loose, randomised stroke that shifts every frame. |
Color Dynamics
Where each stroke gets its colour, plus overall visibility and glow.
| Setting | What it does | Range / options | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| BALL | Strokes use the colour of the ball that drew them. | Colour mode | Selected |
| RAINBOW | Colour cycles over time, so older and newer strokes differ. | Colour mode | |
| VELOCITY | Colour by speed: slow strokes blue, fast strokes red. | Colour mode | |
| FIXED | One colour you pick with the colour swatch. | Colour mode | White |
| HUE SHIFT | The whole drawing shifts hue together over time. | Colour mode | |
| Line Visibility | Stroke opacity. Below 1, overlapping strokes build up density where the ball went most. | 0 to 1 (step 0.01) | 1 |
| Glow Intensity | Glow size for the NEON and GLOW brushes. Looks best on a dark background. | 0 to 50 | 10 |
Physics & Constraints
How thick the lines are and how much of the drawing is kept.
| Setting | What it does | Range | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stroke Thickness | Line width. | 1 to 20 | 1 |
| Point Frequency | Spacing for continuous point recording. Because Drawer records at impacts, it does not change the drawing in the current version. | 0.1 to 10 (step 0.1) | 1 |
| Max Length | How many points each ball keeps. When a ball passes the limit, its oldest point is dropped. High values keep a finished picture; low values give a short, moving shape. | 100 to 5000 (step 100) | 1000 |
| Line Lifetime | Seconds a point lives when Ghost Mode is on (and how long GHOST brush strokes take to fade). | 1 to 60 s | 5 |
Path Attraction
Makes the drawing pull on the ball, so the run is biased toward (or away from) the lines already drawn.
| Setting | What it does | Range / options | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | NONE: no effect. ATTRACT: the ball is pulled toward nearby strokes, so it tends to retrace them. REPEL: the ball is pushed away from strokes, so it explores empty space. | NONE, ATTRACT, REPEL | NONE |
| Strength | How strong the pull or push is. Keep it low: high values override the physics and the picture stops looking natural. | 0 to 0.5 (step 0.01) | 0.05 |
| Radius | How close a stroke has to be to affect the ball. | 10 to 500 | 100 |
Recommended Setups
Starting points for common looks.
| Goal | Settings |
|---|---|
| Mandala | RADIAL with Symmetry Count 6 or 8, NEON brush, RAINBOW colours, Glow Intensity 10 to 20, dark background, Max Length 2000 or more. |
| Clean geometric star | NONE or MIRROR XY, SOLID brush, FIXED white, Stroke Thickness 1 to 2, one ball. |
| Flowing pattern that keeps clearing | Ghost Mode on, Line Lifetime 3 to 6 s, GLOW brush. |
| Starburst | Reverse Drawing on, Max Length 100 to 300, VELOCITY colours. |
| Drawing that moves with a song | Turn on Music Sync (this makes it Rhythmic Drawer, see Hybrid Modes). |
Common Problems
The fixes for the problems people hit most.
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Old lines disappear | Max Length is reached, or Ghost Mode is on. | Raise Max Length (up to 5000) and turn Ghost Mode off. |
| Lines are hard to see | Line Visibility is low or Stroke Thickness is 1 on a busy background. | Raise Line Visibility to 1 and Stroke Thickness to 2 or 3, or use a dark background. |
| Glow does nothing | Glow Intensity only affects the NEON and GLOW brushes. | Pick NEON or GLOW. |
| Symmetry Count is missing | It only applies to RADIAL. | Pick RADIAL. |
| The picture looks the same every run | Nothing differs between runs. | Change the ball start position or speed in the Physics tab, or try Path Attraction REPEL. |
| The arena looks tiny | An old saved framing. | Reload the project; the Studio now re-frames the arena automatically. |
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