WORKBENCH PROJECT. A TOY, NOT SECURITY.BACK TO THE WORKBENCH

Secret Static

Hide a message in a screen full of noise. Phone cameras can find it. Eyes mostly cannot.

Photosensitivity warning. Live mode flickers large parts of the screen at about half the display refresh rate, and Jitter adds random flicker on top. It can trigger seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy, and saturated blue can add to the risk. Do not use it if anyone watching may be affected. Press Space or choose Off to stop.

Goes full screen and starts the hidden flicker. Friends point their phone cameras at the screen. R reveals, Esc leaves full screen.

What to hide

Long lines wrap onto two rows. Left and Right keys switch lines.

The pad is just for you. Your doodle is hidden on the big screen.

A secret word hides in the static. The first friend to read it off their camera wins the round.

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Players

    No players yet. Add names to keep score.

    After a reveal, press 1 to 8 to give that player a point. This works in full screen too.

    Stealth level

    40 / 255

    Checking your screen's refresh rate to suggest a level...

    Noise and motion

    0

    Camera tips for friends

    • Take photos. A photo catches the message more often than the live preview.
    • Short shutter wins. In Pro or manual mode, a shutter of 1/250 s or faster always freezes one flicker frame.
    • Distance. Stand 30 to 60 cm back, fill the frame with the screen, and tap to focus.
    • Stripes? That is moiré. Step back a little or tilt the phone.
    • Bands are normal. The message can show in horizontal bands, because the camera reads the screen row by row.

    Round 3 tests

    Twelve cells, each trying a different way to widen the gap between camera and eye. Tap a number for a full-size view, tick what you can see, then copy the results.

    • Live static: the noise changes every frame, like TV static. A camera frame still sees the same spatial noise, but your eye also has to filter temporal noise.
    • Jitter: the whole cell shifts blue by a random amount each frame. Letters and background shift together, so a single camera frame ignores it. Your eye sees shimmer.
    • Grain and fat letters: chunkier noise, and thicker letters with more area to carry the signal.

    Variants

      Variant 12 (custom)

      40 / 255
      0

      Results

      Slow Glow

      A message so dim your eye misses it. Night mode or a long exposure gathers more light than your eye does and pulls it out. Nothing flickers.

      • Standard: the eye integrates light over roughly 0.1 s and has a contrast threshold. A camera in Night mode or a long Pro shutter integrates for up to seconds, and multi-frame stacking averages random noise away while keeping a steady signal.
      • Plain English: your eye takes a quick glance. The camera stares for a whole second, then turns up the brightness.

      What to hide

      -----

      Uses the word deck chosen in Play's Game.

      Glow

      4 levels
      8 / 255

      Strength is in steps of 255. One step on a dark screen is a very small brightness change.

      Noise

      +/-6

      Live noise is faint TV static on a dark screen. It is mild, but skip it if anyone watching is sensitive to flicker.

      Test

      Ladder shows the message at six strengths side by side, so one photo finds your camera's limit and your eye's limit.

        Phone tips

        • Room: keep the lights on and screen brightness around half. A dark-adapted eye sees much dimmer steps.
        • Camera: try Night mode, or Pro mode with a shutter of 1/2 to 2 s and ISO 800 to 3200. Prop the phone so it stays still, and tap the screen to focus.
        • Why live noise: Night mode stacks frames. Fresh random noise should average out while the message stays put. That is the idea being tested, not a known result.

        Light Painter

        The message is never on screen all at once. A thin bar sweeps across a dark screen and shows one slice at a time. A long-exposure photo adds the slices back together.

        • Standard: a camera integrates light for its whole exposure, so it sums every slice into one image. Your eye only holds about 0.1 s, so it never has more than a narrow strip.
        • Plain English: like a photocopier's light bar. You watch the bar move. Only the photo sees the page.

        What to paint

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        Uses the word deck chosen in Play's Game.

        Paint style

        15%
        40%

        Sweep

        The bar passes each spot at most twice a second, below the common safety limit of three flashes a second.

        Camera tips

        • Pro or manual mode: shutter 2 to 4 s, lowest ISO, phone propped so it cannot move.
        • Cover whole sweeps: the exposure should last at least two sweeps. Longer is smoother.
        • Washed out? Lower Brightness here, or the screen brightness, until the photo looks right.
        • Other modes: Long exposure or Light trails modes work too. On iPhone, take a Live Photo and choose Long Exposure. Night mode may treat the bar as motion and remove it.

        Results

        Playback

        Measuring display refresh...

        Display

        Canvas
        ...
        Scale
        ...

        Keys work in full screen too. Anywhere: H controls, T next tab. Play and Lab: Space live on or off, R reveal, N new noise, D drift, Left Right next or previous. Game: Enter start or reveal, 1 to 8 award a point. Lab: 1 to 9 and 0 open a cell, G back to the grid. Slow Glow: R reveal, L ladder, N new noise, W new word. Painter: Space pause, R reveal, W new word.

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