Strange Attractors
Creative
math art visualization
SHOW HN2025
Legend
Strange Attractors
I went down the rabbit hole on a side project and ended up building this: Strange…
blog.shashanktomar.com#strange attractors#three.js#chaos theory#lorenz attractor#3d visualization
How HN took it
25 positive, 12 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 2 critical, out of 39 comments about the project. Thread score +0.55.
Design: 10 for, 0 againstIdea: 5 for, 1 againstPerformance: 3 for, 0 againstDocs: 2 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Visually beautiful and mesmerizing
From 4 comments
I don't care about the math, the computation, the physics. This is just by far the most beautiful thing(s) I have ever seen.
aniijbod on HNThis is absolutely stunning. Wonderful some function of the state of a point can give it colour.
pkspks on HNI have no idea what is this, but it's beautiful.
felipelalli on HNThank you for sharing. This really inspired me to check out three.js. This website of yours might be one of the more beautiful things on the internet.
tannerjames711 on HN
Runs smoothly in real time in the browser
From 3 comments
This is so cool. Back in highschool during the Jurassic age I used ti play with attractors a lot. Unfortunately on a 486 it took 20-30 minutes to draw one even at low resolution.…
Grosvenor on HNI am shocked by how well this runs
alansaber on HNThis is really pretty. A loong time ago when I wrote a Lorentz attractor on my 486 with turbo pascal and inline assembler, I could only dream of such smoothness back then...
nxpnsv on HN
Fun, creative hobbyist work
From 2 comments
Hobbyists hacking around and sharing their art, best part of the Internet!
orzig on HNLove seeing projects like this, just pure curiosity, creativity, and fun
metacortexx on HN
Objections
Parameter description in docs is mathematically inaccurate about the butterfly effect
From 1 comment
> A small change in the parameter a can lead to vastly different particle trajectories and the overall shape of the attractor. Change this value in the control panel and observe…
evanb on HN
Some attractors look like galaxies, which may be coincidental
From 1 comment
too many of these vaguely look like what galaxies look like from earth e.g. https://i.imgur.com/ZjiBF8f.png just a coincidence?
adtac on HN
Requests
Allow changing attractor constants without resetting the simulation
From 1 comment
Mesmerizing stuff. Can you allow changing attractor control constants without resetting the sim? E.g. going from 0.19 to 0.21 in Thomas while it's already in a stable state. It's…
eps on HN
Add fog for better 3D perception
From 1 comment
Great visualization! It would be good to add some fog for a better perception of 3D.
bntr on HN
Keep initial particle colour
From 1 comment
I would suggest to keep initial particles' color -- it would be easier to understand the system's evolution.
comonoid on HN
Questions
How to write a custom attractor equation
From 2 comments
How do I write my custom attractor equation ?
GistNoesis on HNHow can I code my own attractor?
HeliumHydride on HN
Alternatives named
Fractint
From 1 comment
Fractint4life https://fractint.org/
anjel on HN
Sprott's Strange Attractors book and software
From 2 comments
I bought "Strange Attractors: Creating Patterns in Chaos" (1993) by J. C. Sprott recently, which is a fun book about these kinds of attractors. The whole book can be downloaded…
atombender on HNThe book software https://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/fractals/bookdisk/
AlexeyBrin on HN
xscreensaver
From 1 comment
Reminds me of the xscreensaver, “strange” :)
imoverclocked on HN