Scenes · Study 088
Rainy Window
Raindrops gather and run down a window pane in front of soft, out-of-focus city lights. Wipe the glass clear with your pointer.
What you're looking at
The background is a set of large blurred discs of colour, painted once and drifting very slightly. In front, small beads of water sit on the glass. Now and then one grows heavy and runs downward on a wobbling path, swallowing beads it touches and leaving a trail of smaller ones that slowly evaporate.
The idea behind it
Drops on glass stay put until their weight beats the surface tension holding their edge. A running drop follows the path already wetted by earlier ones, which is why real windows develop preferred channels. The soft discs are bokeh, the shape a lens gives to points of light that are far out of focus.
Try this
Move the pointer across the pane to wipe away the beads. They build up again within seconds.
