Procedural planet spins with city lights on its night side
709 views · 5 likes · 2 saves · 1 reposts · Posted Sep 23, 2026 · 0:18 · 3d scenes
OUR NOTEA screen recording of 'Pocket Planet', a single HTML file where a math-generated Earth-like world spins with clouds, oceans and glowing night cities, while sliders shift sea level and 'New planet' invents and names a fresh world.
i asked opus 5.5 to build me a planet.
not a picture of a planet. a whole planet.
it wrote a single html file. no libraries, no images, no 3d models. every ocean, every mountain and every city light is math, generated live in your browser.
then i started playing with it.
drag it and it spins. raise the sea level and watch continents drown. move the sun and watch the cities switch on at night.
hit "new planet" and it invents a new world. it even names it.
a year ago this was a semester project for a graphics student.
now it's a prompt.THE PROMPT
Partial prompt — the creator shared only part of it.
i asked opus 5.5 to build me a planet.
not a picture of a planet. a whole planet.
it wrote a single html file. no libraries, no images, no 3d models. every ocean, every mountain and every city light is math, generated live in your browser.
then i started playing with it.
drag it and it spins. raise the sea level and watch continents drown. move the sun and watch the cities switch on at night.
hit "new planet" and it invents a new world. it even names it.
a year ago this was a semester project for a graphics student.
now it's a prompt.MAKE ONE LIKE THIS
Three steps, using what the creators in this index used.- 1 · Copy the prompt
Use the prompt above as your starting point, then change the subject and the style.
HOW OTHERS WROTE THEIRS → - 2 · Direct it like an editor
- Ask for one self-contained HTML file on a fixed 1920×1080 stage.
- Link this video as the reference for pacing and style.
- Send two or three rounds of specific notes.
- 3 · Render it to MP4
A short piece like this can be screen-recorded, or captured frame by frame for exact timing.
TURN AN HTML ANIMATION INTO AN MP4 →
The creator didn't name their tools. Most videos like this are HTML, canvas or SVG animation written by Claude and screen-recorded or rendered to MP4 — how that works.
Indexed Sep 30, 2026, 2:01 PM · Views as of indexing. Video and post © their creator.