surfaces(6)

📦
version 6.15 · 2 versions
, in alpine 3.24, arch rolling, nixpkgs unstable

💅 surfaces(6) — XScreenSaver manual 💅

✨ NAME ✨

surfaces — Draws some interesting 3d parametric surfaces. That's the whole name, bestie. 🫶

🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

Okay so here's the exact group-chat invitation, no cap:

surfaces [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
[--root] [--window-id number] [--speed number] [--rand] [--spin]
[--wander] [--fps] [--surface surface-name] [--random-surface] [--dini]
[--enneper] [--kuen] [--moebius] [--seashell] [--swallowtail]
[--bohemian] [--whitney] [--pluecker] [--henneberg] [--catalan]
[--corkscrew] [--mode display-mode] [--random-mode] [--points] [--lines]
[--line-loops]

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

This draws one of several three dimensional parametric surfaces. That's the vibe: one of several, three dimensional, parametric, and literally surface-ing. 💫

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • --visual visual — Tells it which visual to use. Legal values are the name of a visual class, or the id number (decimal or hex) of a specific visual. Slay. 🌸
  • --window — Draw on a newly-created window. This is the default. 💖
  • --root — Draw on the root window. 🫶
  • --window-id number — Draw on the specified window. 🎀
  • --delay number — Per-frame delay, in microseconds. Default: 20000 (0.02 seconds.). ⏳
  • --speed number — Number of frames before changing shape. Default: 1000. 🔥
  • --surface random (Shortcut: --random-surface) — Display a random surface. This is the default. ✨
  • --surface dini (Shortcut: --dini) — Display Dini's surface. 🦋
  • --surface enneper (Shortcut: --enneper) — Display Enneper's minimal surface. 🌈
  • --surface kuen (Shortcut: --kuen) — Display the Kuen surface. 💜
  • --surface moebius (Shortcut: --moebius) — Display the Moebius strip. 🎀
  • --surface seashell (Shortcut: --seashell) — Display the seashell surface. 🍓
  • --surface swallowtail (Shortcut: --swallowtail) — Display the swallowtail catastrophe. 😭
  • --surface bohemian (Shortcut: --bohemian) — Display the Bohemian dome. 👑
  • --surface whitney (Shortcut: --whitney) — Display the Whitney umbrella. ☂️
  • --surface pluecker (Shortcut: --pluecker) — Display Pluecker's conoid. 🧚
  • --surface henneberg (Shortcut: --henneberg) — Display Henneberg's minimal surface. 🌸
  • --surface catalan (Shortcut: --catalan) — Display Catalan's minimal surface. 💖
  • --surface corkscrew (Shortcut: --corkscrew) — Display the corkscrew surface. 🌀
  • --mode random (Shortcut: --random-mode) — Use random OpenGL primitives to display the surface. This is the default. 🔥
  • --mode points (Shortcut: --points) — Use OpenGL points to display the surface. ⭐
  • --mode lines (Shortcut: --lines) — Use OpenGL lines to display the surface. 💅
  • --mode line-loops (Shortcut: --line-loops) — Use OpenGL line loops to display the surface. 🌈
  • --wander | --no-wander — Whether to wander around the screen. 🦋
  • --spin | --no-spin — Whether to rotate around the center of the figure. 💫
  • --fps — Display the current frame rate, CPU load, and polygon count. 👑

🌿 ENVIRONMENT 🌿

  • DISPLAY — to get the default host and display number. 🌸
  • XENVIRONMENT — to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property. 🎀
  • XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW — The window ID to use with --root. 🫶

🔭 SEE ALSO 🔭

X(1), xscreensaver(1) — go read those too, bestie. 💖

👑 AUTHORS 👑

Give it up for Andrey Mirtchovski and Carsten Steger. Iconic. ✨

Okay that's the whole page, bestie. Source/version vibes: X Version 11, 6.15 (30-Mar-2026), and the manual page is surfaces(6). Bye! 💖💅

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