Matrix screen
That one part of the matrix with the symbols raining down. Made in JavaScript with p5.js — the characters actually fall, they don't just change in place.
- JavaScript
- p5.js
Inspiration
I was watching the Coding Train on YouTube. Emily Xie made a guest appearance and created a matrix-like effect (video). It looks cool, but people in the comments pointed out that the letters don’t actually rain down — they stay in place and the character changes to simulate movement.
I took that as a challenge and made my own version where the characters genuinely fall, partially following Emily’s instructions but reworking the motion model.
Code
The sketch uses p5.js. Characters are instances of a custom Symbol class, grouped into Stream objects. The first character in each stream has a slightly lighter colour. The background is rendered with partial transparency each frame, which creates the trailing fade effect.