Marble
unmixed paint you can stir with your mouse

What you see on every new tab

Marble shows a slab of marbled paint in deep navy, glowing teal and violet, with thin bright teal veins running along the folds. The pattern drifts very slowly by itself, so the page looks almost still until you move the mouse.

Then it behaves like paint stirred with a stick: the colours bend and smear around the pointer, then ease back to where they came from. However hard you stir, the veins never blur into one muddy colour.

• Three paints: deep navy for the background, teal for the bands, and a violet that shows where the pattern is warped most.
• Bright veins: fine teal lines trace one contour of the pattern, like the veins in polished stone.
• It springs back: a stir starts to undo itself at once, and most of it is gone within about fifteen seconds.
• Limited stretch: no bit of paint can be dragged more than about a fifth of the screen height from its place, which is why it never turns to mud.
• A sheen on moving paint: while the paint is in motion, a faint pale blue sheen shows where it is moving fastest.

The marbling is a simplex noise field warped through two layers of itself. A small velocity simulation at half screen resolution moves a map of coordinates, and the noise is read through that map, which is what lets the paint bend and then relax.

What it reacts to

• Mouse: just move the pointer: a small round stick pushes the paint along its path, harder the faster you move. No click is needed.
• Music: with music sync on, bass brightens the bands and deepens the folds, treble lights up the veins, and a strong beat sends a ripple outward from the middle of the screen.
• Sound: a cool, slowly drifting pad of chords. Free, like the theme. Sound starts soft on a new install, and you can turn it down or off right on the New Tab.
• Night: after sunset the shared night veil lays a dark layer over the page, up to 60 percent at full night, fading in across about 45 minutes around dusk.

Free or Pro?Free

Marble is one of the five free themes, with Constellation, Marble, Synthwave, Soap Bubble Sky and Paper Drop, and it stays free. The clock, date and search box are free too. Pro is $5.99 a month or $39.99 a year, cancel anytime, or $59 once for Pro Forever, and adds every Pro theme, music sync, and every new theme as we release it.

How to get it

1. Add Ambient New Tab to Chrome.
2. Open a new tab and click the Themes pill in the bottom-right corner.
3. Pick Marble. Done.

Questions

Is Marble free?

Yes. Marble, Constellation, Synthwave, Soap Bubble Sky and Paper Drop are free forever. No account, no time limit.

Why does Marble barely move until I touch it?

The resting pattern drifts at a very slow rate on purpose, so it works as a calm background. The movement you notice comes from the mouse: the paint follows the pointer, then settles back toward its resting shape.

Does it still respond on devices without float textures?

Yes. If the graphics card cannot render to floating-point or half-float textures, the stirring simulation is switched off and a lighter drag takes over: the last eight pointer strokes bend the paint and each relaxes over a few seconds.

Is it a full fluid simulation?

It is a simpler cousin. Velocity is carried along, blurred and damped, but there is no pressure solve, and the paint itself is never moved, only the map through which the pattern is read. That is what lets it always return to its veins.

Does it work on my phone?

No. It's a desktop browser extension for Chrome on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS. If you're reading this on a phone, send yourself the link.

More themes

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