Gravity Mouse Trail
Photos spawn under the cursor, drop to the floor, bounce and exit.
The Gravity Mouse Trail turns the cursor into a camera roll with the shutter held down. Move the mouse and photographs pop into existence along the path, then every one of them drops, lands on the bottom edge of the screen, bounces once and tumbles away. The height of the fall decides the force of the bounce, so the page obeys a little law of physics of its own.
How it works
The page measures how far the cursor has travelled, and every hand's width of movement spawns the next photograph at the pointer with an elastic pop. Unlike a trail that fades in place,each image then obeys gravity: it drifts in the direction the cursor was moving, falls until its bottom edge lands exactly on the floor of the viewport, bounces once with a strength matched to how high it fell, then tumbles off screen and removes itself from the page.
When to use it
Dressed here as a London party photography studio, it belongs to brands selling energy: event photographers, nightlife venues, festivals, youth fashion, anything whose product is a good time. It suits a landing or about page where playing for thirty seconds is the pitch, and it needs eight to twelve photos with bold colour.
Why it works
The gravity is the joke and the hook. A trail that just fades is wallpaper, but images that fall and bounce invite the visitor to fling the cursor around and watch the consequences, and that game is played with the brand's own photography. Every throw of the mouse is another dozen frames of the work seen willingly.
Recommended for
- Event and party photography
- Nightlife and festivals
- Youth and streetwear brands
- Playful landing pages
Common questions
How is this different from a cursor image trail?
A classic trail blooms and fades where the cursor passed. Here every photo has physics: it falls to the bottom of the screen, bounces once and exits, so the page feels like a game rather than a decoration.
Does the bounce feel the same from every height?
No. The easing strength is computed from how far each image falls, so photos dropped from the top of the screen rebound harder than ones spawned near the floor, which is what makes the motion feel physical.
Will the falling images pile up and slow the page?
No. Each image removes itself the moment its bounce finishes, so only a handful ever exist at once no matter how long someone plays.