Show HN: Art – draw one stroke, let symmetry complete it • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Art – draw one stroke, let symmetry complete it

#31

Post by aaroninsf » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 4:43 PM UTC

Suggestion OP if you would like one:

Support click-and-spin with momentum: I clicked outside the mandala and quick-dragged horizontally, hoping this would spin the mandala.

You could support zero-friction and momentum, slowly stopping.

In either this unlocks a dramatically new aesthetic: clicking on the rotating surface draws splines. The mapping of gesture-to-line (hence mandala elements) changes completely.

There are some complications, intuitively one might expect "pottery wheel mode" where symmetry is not enabled... I think that would be "unlearned" however.

Re: Show HN: Art – draw one stroke, let symmetry complete it

#32

Post by Jaxan » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 4:44 PM UTC

OttoZ05 wrote: post #17

we clearly need the mobile app

I looked in the AppStore for “symmetry draw”, and there are at least 10 such apps.

Re: Show HN: Art – draw one stroke, let symmetry complete it

#33

Post by Caracas288 » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 4:53 PM UTC

gilleain wrote: post #24

fractorial wrote: post #15

As a programmer, maths researcher, and painter, there’s certainly something satisfying (to me) when an artistically symmetrical piece observes no mathematical symmetry: The very asymmetry in the language used to describe it is, in and of itself, beautiful.

Not sure what you mean by "an artistically symmetrical piece observes no mathematical symmetry" - as in, the underlying structure has a (set of) symmetries but the 'decoration' on top is asymmetric?

Maybe they are talking about physical mandalas?

Re: Show HN: Art – draw one stroke, let symmetry complete it

#34

Post by paulhebert » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 5:04 PM UTC

intrasight wrote: post #27

Feature request it would be fun to draw snowflakes but to do that there'd have to be another setting to constrain things you draw to be straight lines at just the angles that ice crystals would allow.

This is a very different approach and UI but you may enjoy this snowflake generator I made and wrote about a few years ago: https://cloudfour.com/thinks/coding-a-snowflake-generator/

Re: Show HN: Art – draw one stroke, let symmetry complete it

#35

Post by kazinator » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 5:08 PM UTC

I'm like:

Neat! I will show this to my small kids.

Wait, nope; they already know how to make mandala coasters offline with scissors and paper.

Re: Show HN: Art – draw one stroke, let symmetry complete it

#36

Post by ElCapitanMarkla » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 5:50 PM UTC

fiskeben wrote: post #14

I spent a lot of time playing with a similar tool in Deluxe Paint as a kid.

I spent hours playing with that tool

Re: Show HN: Art – draw one stroke, let symmetry complete it

#37

Post by dmd » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 8:40 PM UTC

Love this. I had something almost identical on my Commodore 64 40 years ago that you could use with the joystick or KoalaPad.

Re: Show HN: Art – draw one stroke, let symmetry complete it

#38

Post by VVIQ2 » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 9:33 PM UTC

Nice! Kinda reminds me this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirograph