feat: implement dynamic shifting gradients for messages and scrolling content, and adjust rendering parameters

mainline.py

@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ KATA = "ﾊﾐﾋｰｳｼﾅﾓﾆｻﾜﾂｵﾘｱﾎﾃﾏｹﾒｴｶｷﾑ
 _FONT_PATH = "/Users/genejohnson/Documents/CS Bishop Drawn/CSBishopDrawn-Italic.otf"
 _FONT_OBJ = None
 _FONT_SZ = 60
-_RENDER_H = 8          # terminal rows per rendered text line
+_RENDER_H = 16         # terminal rows per rendered text line
 
 # Non-Latin scripts → macOS system fonts
 _SCRIPT_FONTS = {
@@ -502,9 +502,10 @@ def _save_cache(items):
 
 
 # ─── STREAM ───────────────────────────────────────────────
-_SCROLL_DUR = 3.75  # seconds per headline
-_FRAME_DT = 0.05    # 50ms base frame rate (20 FPS)
-FIREHOSE_H = 12     # firehose zone height (terminal rows)
+_SCROLL_DUR = 5.625  # seconds per headline (2/3 original speed)
+_FRAME_DT = 0.05     # 50ms base frame rate (20 FPS)
+FIREHOSE_H = 12      # firehose zone height (terminal rows)
+GRAD_SPEED = 0.08    # gradient traversal speed (cycles/sec, ~12s full sweep)
 _mic_db = -99.0     # current mic level, written by background thread
 _mic_stream = None
 
@@ -636,8 +637,8 @@ def _big_wrap(text, max_w, font=None):
     return out
 
 
-def _lr_gradient(rows):
-    """Color each non-space block character with a left-to-right gradient."""
+def _lr_gradient(rows, offset=0.0):
+    """Color each non-space block character with a shifting left-to-right gradient."""
     n = len(_GRAD_COLS)
     max_x = max((len(r.rstrip()) for r in rows if r.strip()), default=1)
     out = []
@@ -650,7 +651,8 @@ def _lr_gradient(rows):
             if ch == ' ':
                 buf.append(' ')
             else:
-                idx = min(round(x / max(max_x - 1, 1) * (n - 1)), n - 1)
+                shifted = (x / max(max_x - 1, 1) + offset) % 1.0
+                idx = min(round(shifted * (n - 1)), n - 1)
                 buf.append(f"{_GRAD_COLS[idx]}{ch}\033[0m")
         out.append("".join(buf))
     return out
@@ -730,7 +732,6 @@ def _make_block(title, src, ts, w):
                      ("\u201d",'"'), ("\u2013","-"), ("\u2014","-")]:
         title_up = title_up.replace(old, new)
     big_rows = _big_wrap(title_up, w - 4, lang_font)
-    big_rows = _lr_gradient(big_rows)
     hc = random.choice([
         "\033[38;5;46m",   # matrix green
         "\033[38;5;34m",   # dark green
@@ -861,10 +862,10 @@ def stream(items):
             cache_key = (display_text, w)
             if _msg_cache[0] != cache_key:
                 msg_rows = _big_wrap(display_text, w - 4)
-                msg_rows = _lr_gradient(msg_rows)
                 _msg_cache = (cache_key, msg_rows)
             else:
                 msg_rows = _msg_cache[1]
+            msg_rows = _lr_gradient(msg_rows, (time.monotonic() * GRAD_SPEED) % 1.0)
             # Center vertically in scroll zone
             total_h = len(msg_rows) + 4  # +4 for border + meta + padding
             y_off = max(0, (sh - total_h) // 2)
@@ -933,6 +934,7 @@ def stream(items):
         # Draw scroll zone
         top_zone = max(1, int(sh * 0.25))
         bot_zone = max(1, int(sh * 0.10))
+        grad_offset = (time.monotonic() * GRAD_SPEED) % 1.0
         buf = []
         for r in range(sh):
             cy = cam + r
@@ -943,13 +945,18 @@ def stream(items):
             for content, hc, by, midx in active:
                 cr = cy - by
                 if 0 <= cr < len(content):
-                    ln = _vis_trunc(content[cr], w)
+                    raw = content[cr]
+                    if cr != midx:
+                        colored = _lr_gradient([raw], grad_offset)[0]
+                    else:
+                        colored = raw
+                    ln = _vis_trunc(colored, w)
                     if row_fade < 1.0:
                         ln = _fade_line(ln, row_fade)
                     if cr == midx:
                         buf.append(f"\033[{r+1};1H{W_COOL}{ln}{RST}\033[K")
                     elif ln.strip():
-                        buf.append(f"\033[{r+1};1H{hc}{ln}{RST}\033[K")
+                        buf.append(f"\033[{r+1};1H{ln}{RST}\033[K")
                     else:
                         buf.append(f"\033[{r+1};1H\033[K")
                     drawn = True