SMRTR ProgrammingSep 7, 2025Hacker News

Rust tool for generating random fractals

SMRTR summary

On a dull monitor in a dimly lit room, mathematically perfect triangles, hexagons, and spiraling stars come alive, pixel by pixel. This is the "Chaos Game," a deceptively simple algorithm that creates intricate fractal patterns through controlled randomness.

The newly developed command-line application written in Rust lets users generate these mesmerizing mathematical wonders with just a few keystrokes.

"Define vertices of a regular polygon, choose a random starting point, then repeatedly move toward randomly selected vertices at a fixed ratio," explains the program's documentation, outlining the elegantly simple process that produces astonishingly complex results.

The application offers customization options including the number of polygon sides, distance ratios, and special rules that restrict vertex selection. These parameters dramatically alter the resulting patterns, from the well-known Sierpiński triangle to colorful spiral fractals.

For the mathematically curious or artistically inclined, the open-source project invites users to add their own custom rules, extending the already vast landscape of possible fractals this digital easel can paint.

SMRTR provides this summary for quick context. The original article belongs to Hacker News.

Read the original article
SMRTR Programming

Get the next batch of curated summaries in your inbox.

This archive is built from SMRTR newsletter summaries. Subscribe for hand-picked stories without the extra noise.