What is different from the original Mystify?

The original bounced vertices around a rectangle and layered the trail flat. Here the vertices bounce in a cube and the trail has depth, so the ribbon can occlude itself — which is the one thing the flat version can never do.

The Windows original ran two polygons in different colours and the interplay between them is most of the effect. This keeps that, seeding the second colour a fixed distance around the wheel from the first.

Does this need a special browser or plugin?

No. It uses WebGL, which every current desktop and mobile browser supports. Nothing is installed and no plugin is required.

Does it cost anything or need an account?

No. Every screensaver here is free, runs in the browser and needs no sign-up.

Why do straight lines make curved shapes?

A sequence of straight lines whose positions shift gradually produces an outline called an envelope, which looks curved. The same trick appears in string art.

How do the corners bounce?

Each corner has a velocity, and when it reaches a wall of the box the component pointing at the wall is flipped, which is the same as an ideal elastic bounce.

Where did Mystify come from?

It is a Windows screen saver from the 1990s, usually called Mystify Your Mind. The details of its origin are less well documented than its look.

Mystify, In A Box Screensaver

The Mystify, In A Box screensaver bounces polygon vertices inside a cube and draws a fading history of their shapes, so the trail crosses over and behind itself. It runs in the browser with nothing to install; press ESC to exit.

How the Mystify, In A Box screensaver works

The saver renders with three.js on your GPU. The library is vendored into this site rather than fetched from a CDN, and is loaded only when a 3D screensaver actually runs.

It reads nothing external — generated in the browser and rendered with three.js.

The scene resizes with the window and releases its WebGL context when the saver stops, so shuffle mode and Multi-view can cycle 3D savers without exhausting the browser's context limit.

If WebGL is unavailable the saver says so on screen rather than showing an empty black box.

Mystify, the Windows screen saver that started it

Mystify Your Mind is a classic Windows screen saver from the 1990s. It drew a polygon whose corners bounced around the screen like a ball against the walls, leaving a trail of earlier copies in changing colours. The nested shapes it produced became a familiar sight on office computers of the time. Sources differ on exactly which Windows release first shipped it, and details of the original program are thinly documented.

The motion is plain reflection. Each vertex carries a velocity, and when it reaches a wall the velocity component pointing at the wall is reversed. Because the vertices move at different speeds and directions, the polygon twists and stretches continually, and the repeated redraws build sweeping curved surfaces out of straight lines. This is an envelope effect: a family of straight lines whose boundary looks curved, as in string art.

In three dimensions the box has six faces instead of four edges, and each vertex has three velocity components. The extra axis lets older copies of the shape pass in front of and behind newer ones, which a flat screen cannot show, so you get depth cues and parallax as you watch. It is a modern reinterpretation, not a port of the original program’s code.

A worked example

Two polygons, each with four vertices moving independently and reflecting off the walls of a cube. The last 26 shapes of each are kept and drawn with decreasing opacity, and because they exist in a volume, older shapes pass behind newer ones as the camera orbits. On a flat canvas the trail can only ever be drawn on top of itself.

Settings & tips

Accent and Background recolour the scene; Speed changes the pace of both the motion and the camera.
Add it to a Multi-view grid, though 3D savers are heavier than the 2D ones and a few per screen is plenty.
Press ESC at any time to leave fullscreen.

Frequently asked questions

What is different from the original Mystify?: The original bounced vertices around a rectangle and layered the trail flat. Here the vertices bounce in a cube and the trail has depth, so the ribbon can occlude itself — which is the one thing the flat version can never do.
Why two shapes?: The Windows original ran two polygons in different colours and the interplay between them is most of the effect. This keeps that, seeding the second colour a fixed distance around the wheel from the first.
Does this need a special browser or plugin?: No. It uses WebGL, which every current desktop and mobile browser supports. Nothing is installed and no plugin is required.
Does it cost anything or need an account?: No. Every screensaver here is free, runs in the browser and needs no sign-up.
Why do straight lines make curved shapes?: A sequence of straight lines whose positions shift gradually produces an outline called an envelope, which looks curved. The same trick appears in string art.
How do the corners bounce?: Each corner has a velocity, and when it reaches a wall of the box the component pointing at the wall is flipped, which is the same as an ideal elastic bounce.
Where did Mystify come from?: It is a Windows screen saver from the 1990s, usually called Mystify Your Mind. The details of its origin are less well documented than its look.

← All Classics screensavers