Each composition can be exported as a transparent PNG for use in print, textile, and surface design.
Gestural drawings generated using Clarion's symmetry modes and hand-tracking input.
An experimental design tool that turns
3D body movement into drawing.
2026
Clarion is an experimental design tool that turns 3D body movement into drawing. Inspired by performance artist Heather Hansen's practice of downloading physical movement directly onto paper, the tool treats each drag as a mark-making event: velocity shapes line weight, speed shapes opacity, and strokes accumulate like charcoal on raw paper.
Using MediaPipe hand tracking through your webcam, the tool reads 21 landmarks per hand, capturing x, y, and z depth in real time, and translates that movement into accumulating strokes on a virtual canvas. Velocity shapes line weight. Depth toward or away from the camera changes opacity and pressure. Hand openness modulates stroke width. Eight symmetry modes, vertical, radial, kaleidoscopic, let a single gesture become a composition.
The spacebar decouples movement from mark-making, giving you full control over where a stroke begins and ends. Designed for pattern layout, textile research, and gestural surface design. Export as a transparent PNG, drop it anywhere.
Select your colors, then press the spacebar to begin drawing. Turning speakers on is recommended.
While four-year-old Jane and I were playing with v1 of Clarion (then called Emptied Gestures), we added polychromatic tones, musical feedback that responds to the movement captured by the camera. Background colors can be changed freely, including with an eye-dropper tool.
Each composition can be exported as a transparent PNG for use in print, textile, and surface design.
Gestural drawings generated using Clarion's symmetry modes and hand-tracking input.