[HN Gopher] A simple 16x16 dot animation from simple math rules
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       A simple 16x16 dot animation from simple math rules
        
       Author : andrewrn
       Score  : 488 points
       Date   : 2025-05-10 02:56 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (tixy.land)
 (TXT) w3m dump (tixy.land)
        
       | bingrrr wrote:
       | great
        
       | rpastuszak wrote:
       | I made a drawing app with programmable brushes inspired by tixy:
       | 
       | https://fig.sonnet.io
       | 
       | It's pretty fun because the shape dynamics are time, and not
       | pressure/tilt based, so you need to draw in a rhythm.
       | 
       | Here's how they work and how they're implemented:
       | 
       | https://untested.sonnet.io/notes/fig-tree-brushes/
        
       | spencerflem wrote:
       | this is beautiful. i love it so much :)
        
       | jakegmaths wrote:
       | I loved tixy when I first discovered it a few years ago so
       | created this https://www.mathsuniverse.com/tixy (with permission
       | from the original author) with puzzles to solve on the tixy grid.
       | I use it with my computer science students who get really into
       | it.
        
         | soegaard wrote:
         | Well done!
        
         | dndn1 wrote:
         | This is a cool way to teach!
         | 
         | I was blown away by the little functions at first and I too
         | made a clone to experiment with calculang [1].
         | 
         | I added an evaluation feature (F9) so you can select sub-
         | expressions and see what they do, which was helpful to figure
         | out some patterns (video in [2])
         | 
         | [1] https://calculang-editables.netlify.app/tixyish
         | 
         | [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXUd_-xrycs
        
         | oneeyedpigeon wrote:
         | Reminds me of [Replicube](https://store.steampowered.com/app/34
         | 01490/Replicube/), which has released recently and does the
         | same kind of thing in 3D.
        
         | chrisjj wrote:
         | > In computer graphics, the origin (0, 0) is top-left rather
         | than bottom-left
         | 
         | Umm...
        
           | LocalH wrote:
           | What's wrong with that statement? It has historically and
           | traditionally been true for raster displays, even if there do
           | exist ways to use standard Cartesian-style coordinates with a
           | computer.
        
             | taneq wrote:
             | There top left has usually been (0, 0) for hardware pixel
             | coordinates (although even then there's plenty of
             | exceptions, e.g. mode 13h scrolling) but as a blanket
             | statement about computer graphics in general it's
             | misleading.
        
           | jakegmaths wrote:
           | I'm struggling to see the problem with this statement, other
           | than maybe to add in the word "usually". My students will
           | know of graphs in maths where the origin is always bottom
           | left. When working with HTML canvas and every other computer
           | graphics situation I've worked in, it's top left instead.
        
             | ForOldHack wrote:
             | "PostScript uses a coordinate system where the origin is at
             | the bottom-left corner of the page, with the x-axis
             | increasing to the right and the y-axis increasing upwards."
             | 
             | Oscilloscopes use middle-left.
             | 
             | Unreal engine and SketchUp use Screen middle with xy
             | increasing to the right.
             | 
             | in AutoCAD, the user coordinate system is 1/3 of the screen
             | to the left for the origin, with X increasing to the right,
             | and Y increasing upwards.
             | 
             | Almost all raster displays, and memory based programs
             | assume top left, because that is how it was done first -
             | counter intuitive.
        
               | Lerc wrote:
               | It it not counter intuitive and the decision extends far
               | earlier than the first displays.
               | 
               | A raster image onscreen is displayed in the order that
               | the data appears when written down. It stands to reason
               | that a data depiction should be in the same orientation
               | as the display orientation. Displays were created by
               | people who read from left to right, top to bottom. If the
               | displays did not follow that order. images would be
               | flipped or rotated when displayed in a data form.
               | 
               | The first pixel written to the display is in the top left
               | because we read from the top left. If writers of another
               | language had have popularised the text, perhaps things
               | might have been different.
        
               | Timwi wrote:
               | Why does the BMP file format store the image upside-down
               | though?
        
               | rasz wrote:
               | IBM brain rot adopted by Microsoft.
               | 
               | Why are device-independent bitmaps upside down? Raymond
               | Chen https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20210525-
               | 00/?p=10...
               | 
               | I think you had to wait for WinG or maybe even DirectX to
               | get normal 1:1 mapping.
               | 
               | OpenGL is so old it had same stupid ideas about
               | coordinates.
        
         | acomjean wrote:
         | Fun. Thanks!
         | 
         | Works well on phone. The phone keyboard is a bit clumsy but it
         | works (that's a phone issue)
        
         | frogarden wrote:
         | Why isn't "(sin(i) * (x > 7)) - (i == 5) + (i == 20) + 0.5 * (i
         | == 32)" a solution to puzzle 36?
        
         | PebblesRox wrote:
         | My 5yo did great on these until he hit #7 and got stuck! I'm
         | helping him with syntax but trying to hold back from giving
         | conceptual hints for now.
         | 
         | I love the instant visual feedback!
        
       | tetris11 wrote:
       | https://tixy.land/?code=x-y*y%2Ft%2F5
       | 
       | 'Vanishing Curve'
        
       | antirez wrote:
       | The classic: sin(x/2+t)+cos(y/2+sin(t))
        
         | gus_massa wrote:
         | Link for the lazy:
         | https://tixy.land/?code=sin%28x%2F2%2Bt%29%2Bcos%28y%2F2%2Bs...
        
       | fulafel wrote:
       | Cool stuff.
       | 
       | Learned by scrolling far enough right in view source: The last
       | line is editable and eval'd.
       | 
       | Request to author: keep the newlines.
        
         | Jyaif wrote:
         | > The last line is editable and eval'd
         | 
         | Right. https://tixy.land/?code=alert(%22foo%22)
        
           | oliviergg wrote:
           | That's not nice
        
             | noman-land wrote:
             | What's not nice is not sanitizing inputs.
        
       | shakedownstreet wrote:
       | Love it, simple & cool :)
       | 
       | https://tixy.land/?code=(y%2Fi*y%2Fsin(x%2Bt))*max(cos(t)%2C...
        
       | continuational wrote:
       | Fun!
       | 
       | https://tixy.land/?code=sin%28i%2Bt%29
        
         | _def wrote:
         | i don't even know whats happening but its mesmerizing
         | https://tixy.land/?code=sin%28i*t%2F128%29
        
           | Sharlin wrote:
           | It draws a slightly tilted sine wave gradient (i=16y+x so
           | atan(1/16) [?] 3.6deg) whose frequency increases until it
           | starts to alias due ro the limited resolution (cf. Nyquist
           | sampling theorem) and exhibit what's essentially the wagon
           | wheel effect [1]. Nice illustration of signal processing
           | fundamentals!
           | 
           | [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagon-wheel_effect
        
       | GenshoTikamura wrote:
       | Would be cool to implement this physically as an array of iris
       | diaphragms
        
       | tgv wrote:
       | I'm considering that as a load screen animation. Bunch of
       | different functions, and the user will be entertained.
        
       | Isognoviastoma wrote:
       | https://tixy.land/?code=%28%28t%2F4%2Batan2%28x-8%2Cy-7%29%2...
       | 
       | a radar
        
         | nomel wrote:
         | now to add a few blips!
        
       | Jyaif wrote:
       | https://tixy.land/?code=-.5%2B%28x%5Ey%29%25%283*Math.sin%28...
        
         | flufluflufluffy wrote:
         | This one is sick!
        
           | jlundberg wrote:
           | oh yes, highly recommended! :)
        
         | Lerc wrote:
         | I managed to come up with a suffix that displays outputs of my
         | own weird thing in a tixy style.
         | 
         | https://c50.fingswotidun.com/show/?code=28*ddx*%24%3Ay*%243o...
         | *
         | 
         | Quite a fun challenge.
         | 
         | The Suffix is 2<02->P8 _du_ s:v _s_
         | 
         | which is                 2<02->    clip to -2 to +2
         | P8*d  2 copies of 8*PI            u*s   8 horizontal sine
         | :v*s  8 vertical sine            *  mix horz and vert to make
         | the tixy circles.
        
       | Nautman wrote:
       | I love it! Here's a windscreen wiper.
       | 
       | https://tixy.land/?code=sin%28t%29*%281%2Bx%2By%29-x
        
       | alexilchenko wrote:
       | spiral:
       | https://tixy.land/?code=hypot%28x-%3D7%2Cy-%3D7%29%2Batan2%2...
        
       | xanlack wrote:
       | really impressive, keep up the good work
        
       | tjwds wrote:
       | When this was first released, I put together an homage to the
       | music video for "Fell In Love With A Girl" by The White Stripes.
       | 
       | https://tixy.land/?code=floor(t%256)%20%3D%3D%3D%200%20%3F%0...
        
       | alexilchenko wrote:
       | 5 fold star:
       | https://tixy.land/?code=sin%285*atan2%28y-7.5%2Cx-7.5%29-t%2...
        
         | alexilchenko wrote:
         | Two snakes:
         | https://tixy.land/?code=exp%28-%28%28x-7%29**2%29%2F12%29*si...
        
       | alexilchenko wrote:
       | That's no moon!
       | https://tixy.land/?code=%28%28d%3D36-%28x-%3D7%29**2-%28y-%3...
        
       | nopakos wrote:
       | That's fantastic!
       | 
       | I would love something like this in my living room. Especially if
       | it is not just a screen. Maybe a grid of 256 screens? Or
       | inflating balloons? Something easier to make? Just on/off big
       | pixels?
        
       | chrisjj wrote:
       | > // hit "enter" to save in URL
       | 
       | There's no enter on Android Chrome on phone.
        
         | dtagames wrote:
         | The enter key on the phone keyboard works if you tap that
         | message.
        
       | mckeed wrote:
       | Centered circle wave:
       | https://tixy.land/?code=Math.sin%28-2*t%2B0.045*%28x-7.5%29*...
        
         | flockonus wrote:
         | Cool! I can see it being usable as a spinner as well. How did
         | you come up with these magic numbers?
        
       | Tepix wrote:
       | I like this creation of mine:
       | 
       | https://tixy.land/?code=sin%28t*x%29%2Bi%2F256
        
       | animal531 wrote:
       | Weeee:
       | https://tixy.land/?code=sin%28x%29*cos%28y%29%2Bcos%28x%29*s...
       | 
       | White blood cells attack:
       | https://tixy.land/?code=sin%28x%2Bt%29%2Fcos%28y%2Bi%29%2Bco...
        
       | rubitxxx wrote:
       | Here's a wild ride:
       | https://tixy.land/?code=Math.sin%28y%2Bi%2Ft%29%2BMath.cos%2...
        
       | siev wrote:
       | Beating heart:
       | https://tixy.land/?code=%28x%2F7.5-1%29**2%2B%28y%2F7.5-1%29...
        
       | siraben wrote:
       | candy waves on a shore:
       | https://tixy.land/?code=sin%28i*t%2F128%29
       | 
       | candy lasers redux:
       | https://tixy.land/?code=0.2%2Bsin%28i*t%2F64%29%2B.3*sin%288...
        
       | levzettelin wrote:
       | Basically https://www.shadertoy.com/ for dummies. Right up my
       | alley haha ;)
        
       | ninetyninenine wrote:
       | Is there a pattern or animation you can manually animate on those
       | dots that can't be represented by an equation?
        
         | echoangle wrote:
         | If the animation is finite in time and with finite time steps
         | and sample points, I think no. Because you can fit a polygon
         | through any set of points if the polygon has enough dimensions.
        
       | asicsp wrote:
       | Previous discussion with patterns in comments:
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24974534
        
       | gus_massa wrote:
       | red traffic light
       | https://tixy.land/?code=%28floor%28t%29%252%29%3F0%3A-cos%28...
        
       | rel_ic wrote:
       | https://tixy.land/?code=sin%28t*sin%28t%29%2F9-x%29*sin%28t-...
        
       | stankot wrote:
       | Tixy is amazing! I built something very similar:
       | 
       | https://muffinman.io/pulsar/
       | 
       | I wanted to create animations for my LED matrix screen, and I
       | couldn't find tixy anywhere. Only after I built pulsar I found it
       | again.
       | 
       | Another similar project is https://sliderland.blinry.org/ which
       | uses HTML sliders.
       | 
       | Fun stuff!
        
         | leptons wrote:
         | If you haven't seen dwitter yet, you really should head over to
         | https://www.dwitter.net
        
           | virtualritz wrote:
           | This is awesome. But it needs a better renderer.
           | 
           | Almost every animation/image there suffers from horrible
           | moire because a normal browser canvas was not meant for this.
           | Fine line art needs supersampling and high quality filtering.
        
         | montag wrote:
         | Anybody else reminded of the old Sony logo?
         | 
         | https://tixy.land/?code=y%3C7%26%26%28x%2Bsin%28y%29%3C6.4%2...
         | 
         | edit: much better with a negation :)
        
       | ubitaco wrote:
       | fun! Here's a heart:
       | https://tixy.land/?code=hypot%28x-7%2Cy%2Babs%28x-7%29-9%29-...
        
       | relaxing wrote:
       | A lot of these tricks I first learned from Noah Spurrier's
       | acidwarp.exe VGA demos in the 90s.
       | 
       | Now I'm wondering who first published these trig function pixel
       | paint tricks. Somewhere between HAKMEM munching squares and the
       | 80s demoscene?
        
       | MeteorMarc wrote:
       | If you like this, also check 3d animations on a led cube.
       | https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=odFljHeCNaY
        
       | Sharlin wrote:
       | Shame that 32 characters is a bit too few to make a raycaster.
       | 128 would be quite enough I think.
        
       | flufluflufluffy wrote:
       | https://tixy.land/?code=sin%280.2*x*t%29+-+cos%280.2*y*t%29
        
       | agys wrote:
       | The author is Martin Kleppe (@aemkei on X), famous for his
       | incredible quines and other JS magic.
       | 
       | https://aem1k.com/world/
       | 
       | https://aem1k.com/qlock/
        
       | rickcarlino wrote:
       | Similar project, but based on Forth:
       | https://forthsalon.appspot.com/
        
       | kazinator wrote:
       | Stretchy curtain:
       | 
       | (sin(t) * sin(t) + 0.2) * (sin(y / (cos(t) * cos(t) + 0.7)) +
       | sin(x))
        
         | gus_massa wrote:
         | Clicky
         | https://tixy.land/?code=%28sin%28t%29+*+sin%28t%29+%2B+0.2%2...
        
       | progre wrote:
       | Fire!
       | https://tixy.land/?code=Math.sin%28%28y%2F3%5Ex%7Ci%29%2Bt%2...
        
       | fittingopposite wrote:
       | Pretty psychedelic
       | https://tixy.land/?code=Math.cos%28y%2F8%2Bsqrt%282*t*i%2Bx%...
        
       | lttlrck wrote:
       | I feel so dumb. How can I make this zoom centered on the grid?
       | 
       | https://tixy.land/?code=Math.sin%28x*t%29%2BMath.cos%28y*t%2...
        
         | skrebbel wrote:
         | I think something like
         | https://tixy.land/?code=sin%28%28x-7.5%29*t%29%2Bcos%28%28y-...
        
         | bobbylarrybobby wrote:
         | When in doubt: translate your center to the origin, do your
         | work there, then un-translate.
        
       | skrebbel wrote:
       | Wow this is extremely well done! All the defaults are chosen so
       | well to make simple inputs get pretty results. The interpretation
       | of the result value, the scale of `t`, the colors, it's all not
       | trivial at all to get right! Hats off
        
       | dave1010uk wrote:
       | https://tixy.land/?code=%28%28x%2Bt%29%5E%28t%7Cy*t%29%29%25...
       | 
       | Strobe warning, especially after about 20 seconds.
        
       | jagraff wrote:
       | Moving, ever expanding circle:
       | https://tixy.land/?code=%28x-10*t%2521%29**2%2B%28y-10*t%252...
        
       | shirajg wrote:
       | https://tixy.land/?code=%281%2Ft%258%29+%2F+tan%28t+%2F+%28y...
        
       | lsdkfjlkasfj wrote:
       | Also https://ptol.github.io/hexyzland/
        
       | yusina wrote:
       | Isn't i == x + 16*y? Why is it needed?
        
         | stefanfisk wrote:
         | To make the code cleaner I'd assume.
        
           | yusina wrote:
           | I got the impression though that i is the least useful of the
           | bunch.
        
       | dang wrote:
       | Related:
       | 
       |  _Tixy.land_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36646163 -
       | July 2023 (2 comments)
       | 
       |  _Minimal 16x16 Dots Coding Environment_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24974534 - Nov 2020 (37
       | comments)
        
       | franze wrote:
       | Marry Christmas
       | 
       | https://tixy.land/?code=Math.sin%28y%2F8%2By%3C9%26%26Math.a...
        
       | xuhu wrote:
       | Is it possible to create a tixy QR code that contains a link to
       | itself ?
        
       | Reefersleep wrote:
       | I've made a few of these as doodles while waiting for other
       | stuff. Great set of restrictions to inspire creativity.
       | 
       | X Plus Star
       | https://tixy.land/?code=%28sin%28t*0.8*-sqrt%28%28x-7.5%29**...
       | 
       | Sin Sin
       | https://tixy.land/?code=sin%28sin%28i*sin%28t%2F10%29%29%29
       | 
       | Traffic https://tixy.land/?code=sin%28i*i*t*0.0005%29
        
       | KingOfCoders wrote:
       | ChatGPT had some nice ideas, e.g.
       | 
       | https://tixy.land/?code=Math.sin%28t+%2B+Math.atan2%28y+-+7....
        
       | nicman23 wrote:
       | is this just shaders but not?
        
       | ur-whale wrote:
       | Why is the "=>" going in the wrong direction ?
        
       | BearOso wrote:
       | Ah, man, with the colors, I thought this was obvious, but it
       | doesn't quite fit the url. But you can still copy, paste in the
       | box:
       | 
       | (1-sqrt(pow(7.5-x,2)+pow(7.5-y,2))/8)*(y-7.5)
       | 
       | Pokeball.
       | 
       |  _edit_ Actually, there 's no fixed length, so
       | https://tixy.land/?code=%281-sqrt%28pow%287.5-x%2C2%29%2Bpow...
        
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       (page generated 2025-05-12 23:01 UTC)