Backgrounds and scenes

The backdrop is the visual field the client sees behind the moving stimulus. A black canvas behind a dot is the EMDR-hardware-kit convention, but a gradient or photo backdrop can soften the visual context for clients who find pure black sterile or activating. Rivet offers 16 options — 8 gradients and 8 photo backdrops. Tap a thumbnail in the Configure modal to apply.

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Gradient scenes

Eight gradients rendered on the canvas — nothing to download. Each is a color gradient that fills the canvas behind the stimulus.

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Photo backdrops

Eight photo backdrops — high-resolution landscape photography. If a photo hasn’t arrived yet, or doesn’t arrive at all, the matching gradient stands in — Forest falls back to the Forest gradient, Ocean to Ocean, Mountain to Dark, Sky to Indigo, Lavender and Dawn to Sunset, Lake to Ocean, Dunes to Warm. Nobody sees a broken image.

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Choosing a backdrop

There’s no clinical-evidence ranking for backdrop choice — the decision is about client comfort and avoiding visual interference with the stimulus. A few orienting notes: Reach for None / Void / Dark when:

• Following the Shapiro Classic protocol (the default Classic backdrop is None — lets the video feed show through)
• The client has reported visual overwhelm or photophobia
• The client prefers minimal sensory input

Reach for a gradient when:

• The client finds black sterile or activating
• You want a soft visual context without specific imagery
• Indigo is the EMDR 2.0 default and a safe starting choice

Reach for a photo backdrop when:

• The client responds well to nature imagery
• The session is doing safe-place or resource-installation work and the imagery aligns with the resource (Forest for a calm-place anchored in woods, Ocean for water, Mountain for ground)
• You want a warmer, less geometric feel for a client who finds gradients too synthetic

Avoid photo backdrops when:

• The client has reported visual hypersensitivity
• The backdrop contrast with the stimulus is too low (a pale butterfly on a bright Sky backdrop is harder to track than the same butterfly on Dark)

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How the backdrop behaves

The backdrop fills the frame behind the stimulus, and the frame scales to whatever screen your client is on. The stimulus sits on top at the size you configured. If a photo is still on its way, the matching gradient stands in until it arrives — usually inside the first second. You can change the backdrop mid-session by re-opening the Configure modal and tapping a different thumbnail. The change takes effect when you click Apply changes; the next set starts with the new backdrop.

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What backdrops aren’t

• Not videos. Photo backdrops are static. There is no panning or moving background.
• Not customizable. You can’t upload a custom backdrop. The 16 options are the full library.
• Not stored per client. The backdrop choice is part of your default BLS configuration — it carries from session to session as your preference, not the client’s. To change for a given client, change in the Configure modal for that session.

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Privacy note on the photo backdrops

The photos come from Rivet, not from an outside image service. Choosing a photo backdrop doesn’t put a request to a third party into your session, and it tells nobody outside the session that a session is happening.

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