surfaces(6x)

📦
version 6.17 · 10 versions
, in fedora 44

✨ surfaces(6x) — the XScreenSaver manual ✨

okay bestie, welcome to surfaces 💖 it's one of the XScreenSaver crew (you'll find it catalogued under the XScreenSaver manual), and it is genuinely one of the prettiest things your graphics card will ever do for you.

🌈 NAME 🌈

surfaces — draws some interesting 3d parametric surfaces. and when I say interesting I mean the way that math just looks like that?? obsessed. 🔥

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

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 it. that's the whole premise. and yet?? it's giving museum. it's giving "my calculator is a main character". 🌸

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • --visual visual — which visual you wanna use, bestie. legal values are the name of a visual class, or the id number of a specific visual — and that id can be in decimal or hex, we're flexible like that. ✨
  • --window — draw on a newly-created window. this is the default, so if you just... do nothing... you already get this. iconic behaviour honestly.
  • --root — draw on the root window instead. yes, on your actual desktop background. 💀
  • --window-id number — draw on the specified window, because you have opinions and a specific window in mind.
  • --delay number — per-frame delay, in microseconds. default: 20000 (that's 0.02 seconds, for the people who don't speak micro). ⏱️
  • --speed number — number of frames before it changes shape. default: 1000. so it's not feral about it, it lets you look. 🫶
  • --surface random (shortcut: --random-surface) — display a random surface. this is the default. chaos mode, but make it geometry. 🎲
  • --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. the classic. the queen. 👑
  • --surface seashell (shortcut: --seashell) — display the seashell surface. 🐚
  • --surface swallowtail (shortcut: --swallowtail) — display the swallowtail catastrophe. yes it's called that. no I did not name it.
  • --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, because why settle 💅
  • --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. the loops!! the loops are loopy!! 🔥
  • --wander | --no-wander — whether to wander around the screen. (me deciding what to eat at 9pm energy.)
  • --spin | --no-spin — whether to rotate around the center of the figure.
  • --fps — display the current frame rate, CPU load, and polygon count. for the data girlies. 📊

🌸 ENVIRONMENT 🌸

  • DISPLAY — used to get the default host and display number.
  • XENVIRONMENT — used 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, they're the whole extended universe, iykyk.

👑 AUTHORS 👑

Andrey Mirtchovski, Carsten Steger — thank you for your service, kings 🫶

aaaand that's the whole page!! no notes, it ate, periodt. ✨💖

byee, this was X Version 11, specifically version 6.17-1.fc44, dated 13-Oct-2026. go make some surfaces, bestie 🌈🦋🎀

📦 where this page comes from