Shortcuts.

• 1–5 views, 5 walks
• T tour · H controls · 0 live light
• WASD walk · E climb the board
• space hold to hurdle, tap to jump, hold to tuck
• D lean in, then throw · B backwards
• T twist · C cannonball
• enter dive again · R replay

A spring, made of code.

A three-dimensional study of Barton Springs Pool, rebuilt from aerial photographs, footage of the pool and its banks, and mapped shoreline and downtown footprints.

The irregular western shallows, deep green water, south lawn, springboard, and downstream dam follow those references, and downtown rises over the east treeline from mapped building footprints and heights. Terrain, vegetation, surface details, and furnishings remain artistic approximations.

Inspired by Techartist’s Tideglass Cove. Built with original procedural geometry, Three.js, animated water shaders, reflections, and soft shadows.

Under the water: the limestone bed, the spring fissure, and Barton Springs salamanders, an endangered species found only here. Real adults are about 2.5 inches long; these are drawn about four times life size so you can find them.

The diving board game’s judges are modelled on the four regulars who really do sit across from the board in matching visors and hold up scorecards (Texas Monthly, Austin Monthly), down to the laminated cards on a binder ring and the rule that scores rarely dip below six; the people here are invented. Swimmers are stereotypes in good fun.

Landmarks: Philosophers’ Rock (Glenna Goodacre, 1994) under the pecans by the entrance, the 1903 Eliza Spring amphitheater to the north-west, the bald cypresses along the creek, and the stepped north bank were placed from photographs on Wikimedia Commons and the sources in the references.

Live mode places the sun from the clock for the pool’s coordinates and asks Open-Meteo for current Austin conditions (temperature, cloud, wind, rain). Only the pool’s fixed coordinates are sent; if the request fails the sky stays clear.

Research: Photo, video, and map sources. Map geometry © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.

Reference: City of Austin — Barton Springs Pool.