Fireplace Screensaver Simulator

Fireplace profile

{{ canvasSizeLabel }} canvas

Theme {{ themeLabel }} Flame {{ flameIntensityValue }} Embers {{ emberRateValue.toFixed(2) }}x Smoke {{ smokeAmountValue.toFixed(2) }}x Wind {{ windValue }} FPS {{ fpsTarget }}

Theme:

Options: classic fire, blue flame, sunset amber, or low embers.

Flame intensity: {{ flameIntensityValue }}

Range: 0 to 100; raise for a brighter hearth, lower for calm loops.

Ember rate: {{ emberRateValue.toFixed(2) }}x

Range: 0.00x to 3.00x; higher values make the hearth busier.

Smoke amount: {{ smokeAmountValue.toFixed(2) }}x

Range: 0.00x to 3.00x; keep low when flame edges must stay crisp.

Wind drift: {{ windValue }}

Range: Left to Right; center it for a straight calm flame.

Log style:

Choose stacked logs, crossed logs, or coal bed.

Spark rate: {{ sparkRateValue.toFixed(2) }}x

Range: 0.00x to 3.00x; keep lower for steady ambient playback.

Glow intensity: {{ glowValue }}

Range: 0 to 100; soft glow reads calm, bright glow reads warmer.

Room reflection: {{ roomReflectionValue }}

Range: 0 to 100; dim for black rooms, warm for visible wall bounce.

Flame height: {{ flameHeightValue }}%

Range: 50% to 200% of the default flame height.

Flame width: {{ flameWidthValue }}%

Range: 50% to 200% of the default flame width.

Flicker strength: {{ flickerValue }}

Range: 0 to 100; use lower values for a consistent screensaver.

Heat shimmer:

Switch on for warmer air movement; off for a sharper preview.

Ambient particles:

Switch on for subtle room depth; off for cleaner dark backgrounds.

Crackle bursts:

Switch on for natural fire rhythm; off for a calmer fireplace.

Trail fade:

Enter 4 to 36 frames; higher values make flame trails softer.

frames

Frame rate:

Choose 30, 45, or 60 FPS for the target fireplace playback.

Metric	Value	Copy
{{ row.key }}	{{ row.value }}

No chart-ready metrics are currently available.

Priority	Hearth tuning	Rationale	Copy
{{ note.priority }}	{{ note.note }}	{{ note.rationale }}

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A fireplace screensaver succeeds when the fire feels alive without asking to be watched every second. Real flames change shape constantly, but an ambient display has a narrower job: hold a warm visual rhythm, avoid harsh repetition, and stay comfortable at the size and brightness where people will actually see it.

Most fireplace loops combine a few visual cues rather than real combustion. The flame envelope gives the main shape. Embers and sparks add small points of movement. Smoke and heat shimmer soften the air above the logs. Glow and room reflection make the hearth feel connected to the surrounding space. Raising all of those cues at once can look cinematic in a short preview, yet the same profile may become distracting behind subtitles, meeting-room content, or a quiet desk setup.

Fireplace screensaver tuning concerns
Concern	What changes the viewing experience	Common mistake
Comfort	Flicker strength, flame size, spark frequency, and how often bright shapes cross the center.	Judging a still moment instead of watching the loop run for several minutes.
Readability	Smoke, glow, room reflection, and contrast near text or subtitles.	Adding haze and glow until flame edges look soft but nearby content becomes harder to read.
Display load	Canvas size, frame-rate target, particle count, and device pixel density.	Assuming fullscreen playback will match the smaller preview.
Display care	Brightness, session length, static high-contrast shapes, and the screen's own sleep or panel-care settings.	Treating moving imagery as complete protection for a display.

Fireplace screensaver diagram showing particles, flame shape, haze, room glow, and log bed as separate tuning cues.

Screensavers still carry a display-care association, but a moving fire scene should not be treated as a guarantee against image retention or burn-in. Modern OLED and LCD displays have different risks and protections, and device makers usually provide the safest advice for their own panels. Bright fullscreen imagery, even when animated, can still be a poor choice for long unattended sessions.

The practical goal is a hearth loop that stays readable and comfortable. That means testing it after motion has settled, checking it at fullscreen size, and using sleep, brightness, and panel-care settings for real device protection.

How to Use This Tool:

Choose the overall fire mood first, then tune motion and runtime health from the live preview and result tabs.

Choose Theme. Use Classic fire for a warm baseline, Blue flame for cooler contrast, Sunset amber for a brighter scene, or Low embers for a quieter hearth.
Set Flame intensity, Ember rate, Smoke amount, and Wind drift. Watch the preview before changing advanced values so you can see which cue is carrying the mood.
Open Advanced for Log style, Spark rate, Glow intensity, Room reflection, Flame height, Flame width, and Flicker strength. Lower flame size and flicker for longer background use.
Use Heat shimmer, Ambient particles, Crackle bursts, and Trail fade after the main flame shape feels right. These add texture, but they also make the scene busier or softer.
Choose Frame rate as 30, 45, or 60 FPS. Higher targets can look smoother, but Measured FPS and Quality scale show whether the browser is keeping up.
Use Pause when motion competes with reading and Reset when the current scene has accumulated too many particles. Reset keeps the selected settings and rebuilds the fire.
Check Hearth Metrics, Fireplace Burn Chart, and Hearth Notes. Run one Fullscreen pass before saving a setup because a larger canvas can change both appearance and performance.

If a typed value changes, it was clamped to a supported range. Recheck the visible control before deciding the profile is too dim, too smoky, too busy, or too slow.

Interpreting Results:

Hearth Metrics is the main runtime readout. Target FPS is the selected frame cap, Measured FPS is the delivered rate, and Quality scale shows whether drawing scale has been reduced to protect motion. A profile can look attractive while still being too heavy if measured FPS keeps missing the target or quality scale drops well below 100%.

Active flames, Active embers, Active smoke, and Active sparks describe visual busyness, not real combustion.
Hearth Notes uses P1, P2, and P3 priorities for flame posture, particle noise, and room mood.
Fireplace Burn Chart compares current readings. It is not a time history of the session.
Fullscreen should be treated as a second test because canvas size can raise rendering cost.

A good-looking paused moment can be misleading. Let the animation run, compare Measured FPS with Target FPS, then read Hearth Notes before copying or exporting the profile.

Technical Details:

Animated fire is built from many short-lived marks rather than one fixed flame drawing. Main flame particles rise from the log area and fade quickly. Embers rise more slowly and keep a small bright point. Smoke particles drift upward with lower opacity and longer life. Sparks travel faster, fade sooner, and become most noticeable when crackle bursts are enabled.

Frame pacing determines how much time is available to update, fade, and redraw those particles. A 60 FPS target leaves about 16.7 milliseconds between frames, while 30 FPS leaves about 33.3 milliseconds. Fullscreen playback increases the drawing area, and high device pixel density increases the number of pixels drawn per frame.

Formula Core:

The tuning notes are based on three derived signals. They summarize visible shape, motion, and particle density; they are not fire-physics measurements.

\begin{array}{lcl} structure load & = & \frac{flame height + flame width}{2} \\ combustion load & = & flame intensity + flicker strength + | wind drift | \times 0.45 \\ particulate load & = & spark rate + ember rate + crackle value \end{array}

The crackle value is 0.55 when Crackle bursts is on and 0 when it is off. Flame height 160%, flame width 150%, flame intensity 85, flicker strength 70, and wind drift 20 produce structure load 155 and combustion load 164. Spark rate 1.50x, ember rate 1.80x, and crackle bursts on produce particulate load 3.85.

Fireplace tuning note thresholds
Signal	Boundary	Displayed note direction
Flame posture	Structure load > 150 or combustion load > 182	Reduce height, width, flicker, wind, or intensity for long-session comfort.
Flame posture	Structure load < 85 and Flame intensity < 40	Raise intensity or height so the hearth does not look weak.
Particle noise	Particulate load > 3.4 or Smoke amount > 1.90x	Lower sparks, embers, crackle bursts, or smoke to protect readability.
Particle noise	Particulate load < 1.2 and Smoke amount < 0.50x	Add ember or spark detail if the fire looks too sparse.
Room mood	Room reflection > 72 and Glow intensity > 70	Lower reflection or glow to avoid a washed-out hearth.
Room mood	Heat shimmer off and Room reflection < 30	Add shimmer or reflection for stronger warmth cues.

Runtime mechanics for fireplace simulation
Mechanic	Rule	Practical effect
Frame target	Values resolve to 30, 45, or 60 FPS.	Intermediate values are not used as separate animation speeds.
Adaptive quality	If measured FPS divided by target FPS is < 0.72, quality scale steps down by 6 percentage points, with a 62% floor.	Heavy profiles draw less detail before the animation becomes severely choppy.
Quality recovery	If measured FPS divided by target FPS is > 0.96, quality scale steps up by 4 percentage points, with a 100% ceiling.	A stable scene can regain drawing detail after load is reduced.
Particle caps	Maximum active counts scale from 760 flames, 420 embers, 340 smoke particles, and 420 sparks at full quality.	Quality scale affects both visual density and rendering cost.
Trail fade	Supported values are 4 to 36 frames.	Lower values clear previous frames faster; higher values leave softer motion trails.

The visible pause control matters for accessibility as well as convenience. Long-running nonessential motion should be stoppable, and a fireplace scene is exactly the kind of ambient animation that some viewers may want to pause before reading nearby content or leaving the display unattended.

Limitations and Display Care:

This is a visual simulator. It does not play audio, measure heat, estimate fuel use, model real combustion, or provide fire-safety advice. Treat the output as a display-tuning aid for an ambient scene.

Use device sleep, brightness, and panel-care settings for real display protection.
Do not leave bright fullscreen imagery running unattended just because it moves.
Use the pause control when motion competes with reading or other page content.
Selected fireplace settings are processed in the browser for the scene and reports; they are not uploaded for simulation.

Worked Examples:

Quiet workspace hearth. Classic theme with Flame intensity 50, Ember rate 0.60x, Smoke amount 0.40x, Wind drift 0, Spark rate 0.30x, Glow intensity 45, Room reflection 30, Flame height 95%, Flame width 90%, Flicker strength 40, Heat shimmer on, and 45 FPS should produce a calm fire. The expected notes are close to Maintain flame posture, Keep ember cadence, and Finalize room mood.

Short showcase scene. Sunset theme with Flame intensity 85, Ember rate 1.80x, Smoke amount 1.60x, Spark rate 1.50x, Glow intensity 75, Room reflection 78, Flame height 160%, Flame width 150%, Flicker strength 70, and Crackle bursts on will look more dramatic. Structure load passes 150, particulate load passes 3.4, and room reflection plus glow pass the high-brightness boundary, so the notes should warn about posture, noise, and room bounce.

Choppy preview recovery. If 60 FPS plus high smoke, sparks, embers, ambient particles, and fullscreen playback push Measured FPS below target, lower Smoke amount and Spark rate first. If Quality scale still falls, reduce Flame height or Flame width, switch Frame rate to 45 FPS, then press Reset before judging the cleaned-up loop.

FAQ:

Does the fireplace include crackling sound?

No. Crackle bursts add occasional spark bursts in the animation. They do not play audio.

Why does performance change in fullscreen?

Fullscreen changes the canvas size. A larger drawing area can make smoke, sparks, glow, and trail fade more expensive to draw, so Measured FPS and Quality scale may change.

What should I change when the scene feels too busy?

Lower Spark rate, Ember rate, Smoke amount, or Flicker strength. If the fire still feels restless, reduce Flame height or use 30 or 45 FPS instead of 60 FPS.

What does a low Quality scale mean?

It means the preview reduced drawing scale to protect motion. The scene may still be usable, but the current settings are close to the device's comfort limit.

Will this prevent burn-in or image retention?

No. Moving imagery is different from a fixed bright image, but it is not a display-care guarantee. Use the screen's sleep, brightness, and panel-care settings for unattended sessions.

Are my fireplace settings uploaded?

The scene, metrics, chart data, and JSON report are generated in the browser. The selected fireplace settings are not sent to a server for simulation.

Glossary:

Flame envelope: The rough area occupied by the main flame shape as it rises, narrows, and fades.
Particulate load: The combined spark, ember, and crackle pressure used by the hearth note logic.
Trail fade: The number of previous frames that remain visible as motion blur.
Quality scale: The adaptive drawing percentage used when the preview needs to protect frame rate.
Room reflection: A glow cue that suggests warm light spilling from the hearth onto the surrounding scene.

References:

Canvas API, MDN Web Docs.
Window: requestAnimationFrame() method, MDN Web Docs.
Fullscreen API, MDN Web Docs.
Understanding Success Criterion 2.2.2: Pause, Stop, Hide, W3C Web Accessibility Initiative.
About the Super Retina display and Super Retina XDR display on your iPhone, Apple Support.