[HN Gopher] Flow-field.js - A library for generating flow fields
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       Flow-field.js - A library for generating flow fields
        
       Author : romellogoodman
       Score  : 78 points
       Date   : 2021-11-29 11:18 UTC (11 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (github.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
        
       | dave_sullivan wrote:
       | Nice, I've been looking for something like this, will play around
       | with it.
        
       | roland35 wrote:
       | I have recently gotten into pen plotters (like the axi-draw) and
       | needed some tools for generative code for art! This looks like an
       | interesting base for a variety of styles
        
       | mkl wrote:
       | Looks neat! I'm wondering why/how the first two results pictures
       | (under "Values For num_steps") in
       | https://tylerxhobbs.com/essays/2020/flow-fields have flow lines
       | that are crossing each other. The paths follow a direction field,
       | so that shouldn't happen except where the gradient vector
       | vanishes, which doesn't seem to be the case there.
        
         | joeberon wrote:
         | Tyler Hobbs usually keeps a large distance between the
         | exposition of the algorithm and the actual artistic example for
         | the sake of maintaining artistic technique secrecy.
        
         | nrjames wrote:
         | There are many different ways to move objects through a flow
         | field. Some people use the vectors to accelerate particles,
         | others as instructions for instantaneous rotation, etc. The
         | crossing lines aren't necessarily following the flow field in
         | those images, but likely are just using vectors as an input to
         | another set of instructions.
        
           | mkl wrote:
           | Yes, okay, but the algorithm described just before that
           | treats the vectors as tangents to the path. The pseudocode
           | does a complicated-seeming grid lookup instead of just
           | evaluating the function, but apart from that it's just
           | following the vectors as tangents.
        
       | darkhorse13 wrote:
       | This is freaking awesome! 2 questions:
       | 
       | - Can I set the result as the background of a <div> element? Or
       | does it have to be on a canvas? Either way, an actual usage
       | example in the README would do wonders.
       | 
       | - Does anyone know of anything similar like this but in Python?
        
         | romellogoodman wrote:
         | I added an example to the readme but generally speaking this
         | framework is pretty agnostic and you can use the x, y
         | coordinates in each line with any library
        
       | imdsm wrote:
       | A demo would be great for those with more curiosity than time
        
         | romellogoodman wrote:
         | Added to the readme but here is a demo
         | https://codesandbox.io/s/flow-field-demo-kkzmg
        
         | mkl wrote:
         | Click the very first link.
        
       | marstall wrote:
       | very cool! would love to try to play around with this within a
       | web page's design. kind of like how one might use gradients but
       | on a whole new level ...
        
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       (page generated 2021-11-29 23:02 UTC)