# Living Waterfall

- Collected by: petergpt (collection) (original author unknown)
- Card: Verified rebuild
- Theme: Simulations
- Stack: Three.js CDN · three@0.170.0
- Interaction: Drag
- Licence: prompt is a credited link (Shared publicly by the author; full text with credit, removed on request); rebuild code MIT
- Verified: 2026-11-09
- Original post: https://github.com/petergpt/3d-prompt-collection/blob/HEAD/README.md#prompt-53

## Original prompt

```text
Create a thunderous, complete Three.js Niagara: Horseshoe Falls and American Falls together, the gorge, the rapids above, the mist plume climbing into the sky, and the little blue boat pushing into the spray. Open directly on the full panorama with the falls already roaring, rainbows already standing in the mist. No title screen, menu, loading state, or quiet preamble.

If you use Three.js, add an import map before the module script mapping "three" and "three/addons/" to the same pinned version, and import only via those names. Everything procedural; no external image assets or models.

Single idea: the sheer mass of falling water as a living monument — and a boat ride into its throat.

#### THE WATER
- The falls are the masterpiece: green glassy water accelerating over the brink, tearing into white curtains, layered sheets with depth and backlight, churn pools boiling at the base, and the great mist column drifting with the wind.
- The river system must read upstream and down: racing rapids above the brink with standing waves, the emerald pool below, gulls riding the updrafts, logs occasionally sweeping over the edge.
- Rainbows are coupled to geometry: arcs standing in the mist where sun and spray meet, moving as the camera moves.

#### THE HUMAN SHORE
- Both banks alive but unobtrusive: observation decks and railings with small crowds, the tower, treelined paths, period-flavored buildings kept generic, tiny ponchos clustering at the rail points.
- The Maid-style boat works the pool continuously: pushing toward the horseshoe, holding in the spray, swinging away, passengers as flecks of blue.

#### LIGHT AND SEASONS
- Default bright summer afternoon with brilliant whites and deep greens. One simple variant control: a season-and-light selector (summer noon, golden evening, winter ice-rim with frozen mist trees) that transforms palette and edge detail without changing composition.

#### THE RIDE AND THE VIEWS
- One simple interaction: Ride the Boat — the camera mounts the bow on a fixed looping rail into the spray and back, no controls needed, spray wash intensifying near the curtain. Exit returns to free orbit.
- Orbit, pan, zoom always available; reset to the hero panorama. Presets: brink-edge looking over, pool-level facing the horseshoe, American Falls portrait, and a high aerial of the whole gorge.
- Tiny HUD: none beyond compact collapsible controls.

#### PERFORMANCE DISCIPLINE
- Water via layered shader surfaces and budgeted particles for spray, instanced crowds and trees, LOD across the gorge, devicePixelRatio clamped to 2, quality selector thinning spray and far detail before the falls themselves. Smooth on a modern laptop.
```

Known issue: Up close on the boat ride the curtain reads as a flat white wall without much depth.

Prompt collected by petergpt; original author unknown (https://github.com/petergpt/3d-prompt-collection/blob/HEAD/README.md#prompt-53) via 3dmotion.io/e/living-waterfall