Glass Droplet Split

Why it works

On an all-black background, a single highlight along the glass edge outlines the shape, with no fill and no shadow. The stretch and break follow surface tension, and the bead rebounds about 5% at the moment of separation; this bead becomes the prototype of the button that follows. The ring version separates the spikes outside the ring from the quiet text inside it, so the graphic itself explains noise reduction.

Spec

Timing

Film 10s. Slab arc slide 0-1.2s, stand up and stretch 1.2-2.2s, neck thins 2.12-2.41s and breaks at 2.41s, bead hovers 2.45-3.45s, bead opens into a ring 3.45-3.75s, ring contracts 3.75-4.55s, settling jitter 4.55-6.75s, ring gathers into a logo bead 6.75-7.35s, wordmark 7.42s and subline 7.8s hold to 10s

Easing

Stretch and rotate cubic-bezier(0.65,0,0.35,1); break rebound cubic-bezier(0.34,1.56,0.64,1) over 0.5s; ring contraction cubic-bezier(0.16,1,0.3,1) over 0.8s; ring gather cubic-bezier(0.65,0,0.35,1) over 0.6s; wordmark and subline expo.out (0.9s, 0.8s)

Camera

Perspective camera (15 degree field) arcs from 101.5 to 90 degrees at radius 1500 over 0-1.2s with ease 1-(1-t)^1.6 while pulling back 200 units, then holds fixed until a 3% push 7.35-10s with sine.inOut

Subject

A thin glass slab (thickness 0.085 of its width) slides along an arc and rotates upright from 54 degrees about its long axis and -68 degrees roll to 0, thickening to 0.5 and scaling 1 to 1.3. Its lower end stretches to a droplet (lower radius 150 to 270, tip down to -700), the neck thins from radius 18 to 1.6, then breaks at 2.41s with a flash; the lower body falls away and a bead (radius 150 shrinking to 70, about 54px below frame center) swells 5% and rebounds 8% vertically. At 3.45s the bead opens into a ring that contracts from radius 1000 to 350 with tube radius 120 to 34, jitters 5px at 5.5Hz and sprouts up to 18 spikes of 90-240px, then collapses into a 86px logo bead 310px left of center

Style

Background #04060b with a navy radial pool, a faint grid with crosshairs and ten blurred notification cards (fade in 3.45s) behind the glass; Focus caption 4.35-4.95s. Raymarched glass, IOR 1.47, RGB spread 0.016 growing to 0.12 on the ring, edge highlight only, no fill, no drop shadow, 30% vignette. Wordmark Inter 600 180px, letter-spacing -0.035em, #eef1f7; subline Inter 400 28px #8790a3

Prompt

People describe it as

• A glass piece stretches into a droplet and then breaks off
• A drop of glass separating from a large piece
• A rainbow-edged ring closing in toward the middle

Often confused with

• Glass LensGlass Lens emphasizes refraction of content; Glass Droplet Split emphasizes the glass stretching and breaking.
• Branching GrowthBranching Growth grows a multi-level structure outward from a point; Glass Droplet Split is one shape shedding one bead.