Has anyone encountered issues with a black background appearing before the pixel distortion effect loads on the Webflow home page when implementing this effect? Any insights or solutions would be appreciated.

A black background appearing before a pixel distortion effect loads in Webflow is often caused by how the canvas or WebGL element is initialized and how Webflow renders initial page content. This is a common issue with custom scripts layered over a Webflow design, especially when using 3D graphics or shaders.

1. Identify the Black Background Source

• The black flash usually comes from a <canvas> element initialized with a default black background or an unset background.
• If you're using a third-party animation library (like Three.js or PixiJS), it may inject a black canvas before your custom code assigns a background color or loads a texture.

2. Inspect Your Custom Code or Embed Element

• Open your custom code embed (especially anything in the Before Body tag).
• Confirm your canvas or rendering element is given a transparent background early in the script. For example, in Three.js, set alpha: true in the renderer and use renderer.setClearColor(0x000000, 0) to make it transparent.

3. Preload Images and Assets Properly

• The pixel distortion effect typically needs an image or video to initialize. If the asset takes too long to load, the canvas renders a black screen briefly.
• Use Webflow’s built-in Asset Manager or a loading technique like window.onload or image.onload to delay the start of the animation until all assets are ready.
• Also, check that you're using lazy loading appropriately — avoid loading images critical to the hero animation with loading="lazy".

4. Add a Placeholder or Fallback Background in Webflow

• Add a background image or neutral color to the section containing the animation. Ensure it matches the initial frame of the pixel distortion effect to avoid a visible flicker.
• Position this background underneath the canvas using z-index, and remove or fade it out using a small Webflow interaction once your animation is ready.

5. Control Visibility with Interactions or Custom JS

• Use Webflow’s page load interactions to hide the canvas or animation wrapper until your script confirms everything is loaded.
• Alternatively, on custom JS, set initial canvas style to display: none or opacity: 0, and fade it in after all textures or shaders are applied.

Summary

The black screen flash before your pixel distortion effect loads is typically due to premature canvas rendering or slow asset loading. Solve it by using a transparent canvas, preloading assets, adding a visual placeholder in Webflow, and managing canvas visibility with interactions or JavaScript.