[HN Gopher] Show HN: Super Snowflake Maker
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Show HN: Super Snowflake Maker
Hi all! Just released Super Snowflake Maker! Draw on the pie with
freeform or polygon tools, change the number of sections, click on
the large snowflake to see fold, and.... download! Enjoy + Happy
Holidays! (tech: threejs/r3f, react, ts, useSpring, tailwind,
canvas, svg, offscreen canvas, paperjs)
Author : shalanah
Score : 189 points
Date : 2024-12-23 12:09 UTC (3 days ago)
(HTM) web link (supersnowflakemaker.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (supersnowflakemaker.com)
| bhhaskin wrote:
| That was really neat. Thank you!
| hexnuts wrote:
| Hugged to death.
| quirino wrote:
| A few years ago I saw a talk at a Math conference about some
| mathematical models for how the shapes of snowflakes come to be.
|
| I don't recall the details, but I believe one of them was even
| able to generate non-hexagonal snowflakes which happen under some
| circumstances.
|
| I've been hoping to create a website around one of these models
| for some time now.
| shalanah wrote:
| Cool, I didn't know that could happen!
|
| I started with 12 sections (or 6 lobes/mirrored sections) then
| wanted to play around with more section numbers without having
| to redraw.
|
| I think 12 is for a more advanced paper snowflake maker
| although I think 8 can look cool too.
|
| Wonder what number in-nature non-hexagonal number was. If you
| come across it, would love to include it!
|
| If you create a snowflake site, I would love to try it!
| jason_zig wrote:
| This is really well made - thanks for sharing (and Merry
| Christmas)! Small thing: I didn't understand the difference
| between the white and black options at first. For some reason
| white was pre-selected so I got confused when nothing was cutting
| out while drawing for the first time. Maybe a label on hover
| would fix this while still keeping the clean look?
| shalanah wrote:
| Thanks! Yes, great idea. Definitely will want to make that
| clearer!
| sss111 wrote:
| classic HN hug of death
| shalanah wrote:
| Hmmm odd. Works on my machine (of course!). It's a static site
| hosted on S3 - I'd be surprised if it is experiencing an
| overload issue. Will need to investigate what's happening for
| some visitors.
| sss111 wrote:
| seems to be up now!
| shalanah wrote:
| Whew! :)
| Sn0wCoder wrote:
| Thanks for the Christmas fun! Was not going to click as thought
| it was like an actual snowflake maker (like you know each one is
| unique generator), glad I did. Could actually make a real one if
| I was feeling like making a mess ;)
| Liftyee wrote:
| Loved this project! Lots of festive fun in seeing what shapes can
| be made when unfolded. Just noticed that in mobile Firefox the
| dotted line previewing the cut seems to have a lower update rate
| than the actual path recorded, meaning the actual shape is much
| less jagged than the preview.
| shalanah wrote:
| Thanks @Liftyee! Yeah Firefox seems to lag behind on the site
| compared to WebKit or Chromium browsers. Hopefully I can
| optimize it more for Firefox.
| jader201 wrote:
| Very cool! It's really easy to make something that looks like I
| knew what I was doing, when I don't at all! :)
|
| One missed opportunity that I see with sites that allow HN people
| to play with things and be creative (e.g. I've seen a bunch of
| sound loop makers do this): add a quick "share" link for us to
| show some creations. Not that I really want to share anything I
| did, but would love to see what others have made!
| shalanah wrote:
| Love this idea --- and a share link is a great place to start
| for it. Thanks for the suggestion!
| joshmarinacci wrote:
| For my own projects I created a bespoke data system that
| exports its values as URL parameters so you can always just
| share the current browser location.
|
| Ex: a 3d box STL generator
|
| https://apps.josh.earth/boxbuilder/
| ugh123 wrote:
| Really cool once I understood what was going on, it took me a
| real good while to figure out what to do. I guess "Draw on the
| pie" didn't mean anything to me.
|
| Maybe add a short playable gif explainer showing a snowflake
| being made quickly.
| shalanah wrote:
| 100%! Some onboarding could definitely help!
| otteromkram wrote:
| Did you see the information 'i' button on the top right? It has
| some basic info along with keyboard shortcuts.
|
| If not, they may have added it later after reading some
| comments.
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| It's a little counter-intuitive for me to see results on the
| left when editing on right. Took me a bit to figure that out.
|
| I would suggest you swap the left and right of the site.
| Diti wrote:
| Why is it restricted to Safari on iOS? I'm using Orion, which is
| Webkit-based too.
| rasso wrote:
| It complains in Arc on iOS, too. It's such a bad joke that
| browsers on iOS are still only a wrapper around WebKit...
| shalanah wrote:
| I'll take a look, thanks for the heads-up!
| shalanah wrote:
| Hi Diti, are you talking about the inapp link to Safari? If so
| - it's the only reliable escape link for ios. It should work on
| other WebKit browsers as well but no reliable inapp escape link
| is available for the default browser on ios anymore. There use
| to be another ios workaround but they closed it. Basically
| downloads don't work on inapp browsers and I need some way to
| get you out of them.
| shalanah wrote:
| I'll take a look. Perhaps my inapp detection is throwing
| false positives. I also detect for SFSafariViewController
| because of the bad UX downloading experience there. Maybe it
| is catching your browser as well.
| shalanah wrote:
| Oh wow both Orion + Arc on iOS have the same UA as Safari and
| are testing positive for SFSafariViewController (an
| experimental test).
|
| I'll look into other ways to not confuse SFSVC with these
| browsers.
|
| Interestingly - downloads on Arc work really well but they are
| poorly done in Orion (open in a new window without clear option
| to download).
|
| I use inappdebugger.com for testing exit links, UA, downloads
| etc.
| monocularvision wrote:
| I am curious: what about SFSVC interferes with the
| functionality of the site?
| shalanah wrote:
| Downloads are really clunky in SFSVC. You can do them, but
| it takes like 3 actions compared to iOS Safari. I've gotten
| lots of complaints on another site I have that does on-the-
| fly blob (Object URL) downloads that users don't understand
| it.
|
| Here's a snapshot: https://bsky.app/profile/shalanah.bsky.s
| ocial/post/3las76tpl...
| monocularvision wrote:
| Thanks for the response!
| exoji2e wrote:
| Same problem with brave on ios! Cool app though
| shalanah wrote:
| Thanks for the tip! Added it to an issue:
| https://github.com/shalanah/inapp-spy/issues/37
| WillAdams wrote:
| While I asked: Possible to add export as an SVG?
|
| noting: That would make it useful for using a design on a CNC or
| lasercutter.
|
| That feature, as noted below is present --- click on the [>]
| button to go to a second page where these features are present.
| shalanah wrote:
| You can download as SVG! There is a screenshot JPG, fold + cut
| template PDF, and simple shape SVG download on the site.
| WillAdams wrote:
| My apologies, I missed that --- edited my post above to
| reflect your explanation.
| sillyboi wrote:
| I just wanted to say how delighted I am with your web app! This
| is fantastic idea, and the execution is top-notch. It is
| incredibly user-friendly and intuitive. It has all the essential
| features needed to create beautiful and unique snowflakes. This
| really helps and makes the process of creating snowflakes easy
| and enjoyable. Your app is a wonderful way to lift spirits and
| get into the holiday mood!
|
| Thank you for creating such a delightful tool. Wishing you and
| everyone a festive season!
| shalanah wrote:
| So glad you enjoy it! And yes, I love web apps too!
|
| Happy holidays + New Year!
| lovegrenoble wrote:
| well made!!
| millipede wrote:
| Hm, cool idea but ran into a glitch. Cutting 3 elongated ovals,
| end to end and forming a triangle, didn't remove the center
| piece.
| jonplackett wrote:
| I wish there was a better user experience when downloading an
| image a user creates on a website like this on iPhone - it's
| really weird that you can't save it to your camera roll. It goes
| into downloads and confuses everyone.
| hluska wrote:
| The eight year old and I hanging out on this. She is a huge fan.
| The moment she saw it, she said "I want to use this." And now
| we're both making snowflakes on our devices.
|
| I can't name many apps that provide equal entertainment to my kid
| and I. You've done very well. As a bonus, the eight year old
| seems particularly motivated to learn JavaScript and start
| working on this kind of stuff herself.
|
| Nice work and excellent share. Thanks so much for this!
| shalanah wrote:
| Aw! Fills my heart with joy that she's inspired to code and you
| both enjoy it!
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