Alpha state

Spare a thought for the humble pixel.

The building block of our digital life, the smallest addressable element in a raster image. Loaded, stacked and arranged at will to simulate and stimulate reality.

Add three basic color channels of red, green and blue which can be combined to create full-color palettes.

But it was the addition of the alpha channel to control the transparency of pixels that brought everything to life. Tweaking an objects opacity in animation blurs motion and corrects any staccato movements.

Blocks of colored light become fluid. It’s the absence of definition that makes them look real.