BONEYARD · part · placeholder

Tube idle (placeholder)

src/49-placeholder.js · one module, no third-party code

Designed still Focus preview for keys

ParametersFactory

How it works

The safe frame, corner brackets and all perspective rays are recomputed from the current backing dimensions. Every depth cue converges on ctx.vp, making a wrong host point immediately visible. Concentric ellipses and a small rosette reveal aspect or DPR distortion. In motion, one probe travels around the outer ellipse and its radial beam crosses the focus; Calm slows it, and still() chooses a deliberate fixed phase. The pattern uses no claims or numbers.

Provenance

technique: a useful vector-tube calibration idle: shared-vanishing-point focus rosette, safe-frame brackets, perspective registration rays, concentric geometry and one deterministic beam probe
lineage: the idle screen of a vector CRT with no program loaded (the oscilloscope at rest; Vectrex, 1982, between games)
original: the placeholder the core mounts for any bay whose module has not landed yet, so the ride works end to end and a bay with no module still reads as a machine on the row. Its guides are also a practical starter: they expose the shared point, responsive safe bounds, DPR line weight and motion modes at a glance.
not: a loading spinner, a "coming soon" card, fake telemetry or text of any kind. Its nameplate below is the bay's real copy.
deps: none · Canvas 2D · 2026-09
budget: see docs/BUILD-LOG.md for the measured number @ 1440x900 x1.5 internal, desktop Chromium (2026-09-29); phone TBD
api: mount(canvas, params, ctx) -> { tick(dt, t, progress, pointer), resize(w, h, dpr), still(t), destroy() }
license: MIT, Desert Data Labs LLC

Budget: see docs/BUILD-LOG.md for the measured number @ 1440x900 x1.5 internal, desktop Chromium (2026-09-29); phone TBD