Virtual Mosaic Viewing Modes

Updated Today · 3 min readIntermediate

The Virtual Mosaic player offers three ways to view the same wall. They differ enormously in how they feel and in what hardware they need, so choose deliberately rather than enabling all three and hoping.

Enable modes in the Virtual Mosaic tab of the PMWall template, under Available modes.

Classic (Deep Zoom)

The dependable one. The mosaic is presented as a flat, deeply zoomable image: viewers pan and zoom from the whole wall right down to a single tile, as with an online map.

Runs anywhere, including older laptops, tablets, and low-powered kiosk hardware.
Does not require a capable graphics processor.
Best for finding a specific tile, and for exploring large grids in detail.

Choose Classic as the Default mode for public links, where you have no control over the viewer's device. In the player, this mode is labelled Deep Zoom.

Living Wall (2D)

An animated, physically reactive version of the flat wall. Tiles breathe gently, react to the pointer, and new arrivals land with a visible drop and shockwave.

Requires a graphics processor with WebGL.
Best on a staffed screen at the event, where the movement rewards people watching the wall build.
Heavier than Classic on older devices.

Choose Living Wall for the on-site display when the wall is still filling. Movement is the point: it shows the mosaic as a live thing.

Curved Wall (3D)

The mosaic rendered as a curved wall in three-dimensional space, with a camera you can orbit around it. It also has an idle cinematic mode: after a period without interaction it begins moving through the wall on its own, alternating sweeping shots with close-ups of individual tiles, and returns to normal the moment anyone interacts.

Requires a reasonably capable graphics processor.
Most demanding of the three, especially on large grids.
Best on a dedicated event display with hardware you control.

Choose Curved Wall for a showcase screen -- a lobby display or a stage backdrop -- where the idle cinematic mode does the work of an operator.

Choosing for Your Venue

Situation	Suggested default
Public link shared with guests	Classic (Deep Zoom)
Staffed screen while the wall fills	Living Wall (2D)
Unattended showcase display	Curved Wall (3D)
Unknown or older venue hardware	Classic (Deep Zoom)

You can enable more than one and let viewers switch with Show mode switcher buttons. For an unattended public display, offering fewer choices is usually better.

If a Mode Fails on a Device

The player is built to survive a graphics failure. If a mode cannot run on a particular device, it does not take the page down -- the viewer is shown a short message and a button to switch to Deep Zoom, which needs no graphics processor.

This is why enabling Classic is worthwhile even when it is not your default: it is the guaranteed fallback.

Performance

The heavier modes are loaded only when someone actually opens them, so offering all three does not slow the initial load.
The player refreshes on a timer, set by Manifest refetch under the Virtual Mosaic performance settings. Increase it on unreliable venue internet.
Motion is reduced automatically for viewers whose device requests it, when Respect reduced motion is on.
Zoom controls appear on desktop only. On touch devices, viewers pinch and drag instead.

Tip: Test the default mode on the actual device you will use at the venue, not on your development machine. Whether a mosaic feels impressive or sluggish is decided almost entirely by the graphics processor on the machine driving the screen.