Comfort and flashing
IKANDY answers the music with light, and some of what plays can flash or move fast. Comfort mode holds fast flashing back for anyone who wants it. It is on every plan, Free included.
Where it lives
- Open Setup (the gear) and the COMFORT tab. Comfort and flashing is the first card.
- Comfort mode is off until you turn it on. Choose On to turn it on and Off to turn it off, and it stays the way you set it. Since IKANDY 1.7.1 it no longer turns on by itself when Windows is set to reduce animation: only your choice turns it on.
- The COMFORT chip in the bottom left corner shows that it is on. Click it to turn Comfort mode off; it stays off until you turn it back on in Setup.
The photosensitivity warning at first start names Comfort mode and has a Continue with Comfort mode on button.
The COMFORT page also holds Motion moves, a switch that turns every Motion move off and back on without the rest of Comfort mode, and Screen readers, which describes each scene when it changes. Everything on the COMFORT page is free on every plan.
What it does
- Holds back fast flashing at its strictest setting, measured against WCAG 2.3.1 and ITU-R BT.1702.
- Keeps Intensity at 6 or lower.
- Turns every Motion move off, whichever way it came on. Your moves stay saved and come back when you turn Comfort mode off.
- If your graphics card cannot run the flash limiter, Comfort mode turns STROBE, FLASH and the strongest Looks off instead.
What it costs
Holding a flash back has a cost you may see, which is why Comfort mode is off unless you turn it on.
- It dims blocks of the picture where it holds a flash back, which shows most on bright scenes. A moving light can leave a short dark trail.
- It lowers the frame rate.
Who is watching each output
Under Who is watching each output, in the same Comfort and flashing section, tell IKANDY how each output is watched. With Comfort mode on, the closer and larger the picture is for the people watching, the smaller a flashing area has to be before Comfort mode holds it back.
With Comfort mode on or off, when the picture goes to an audience (Span, the Output window or mirror, Spout and NDI, the wallpaper, or recordings and replay), Motion stays inside its standard range. If only you are watching an output, set it to Personal.
With Comfort mode off
- Scenes play as they were made: IKANDY measures their flashing but does not hold it back.
- MilkDrop and WarpField presets play as their authors made them, and some flash or move fast. Comfort mode holds them back.
- Psytrance Flow Prime, Psytrance Current and Vibe Lab Hyperbolic Bloom still flash at the default settings on their own, Synthwave Waveform can when the Look is set to Original, and the One Small Step moon can on its first view after you start IKANDY. Comfort mode holds them back.
- On the Stage, FLASH, STROBE and the return from BLACKOUT share one limit of three flashes a second, for everyone, with Comfort mode on or off. A FLASH pressed too soon waits for its turn, and at very fast tempos STROBE skips a beat.
- The Now Playing announcement’s full-screen flash fires at most once a second.
- Intensity all the way down stops every reaction to the music.