Show HN: Geomatic – a command-driven geometry studio enabled with autodiff
Geomatic is a novel command-driven geometry studio that brings the power of programmatic control to visual design. It integrates advanced features like autodifferentiation, reactive updates, and NumPy/PyTorch-like broadcasting for geometric manipulation. This "Show HN" introduces a highly extensible tool, appealing to technical users looking for a data-driven approach to creative design.
The Lowdown
Geomatic, developed by Tiny Volt, introduces a unique command-driven geometry studio designed to blend the precision of programmatic control with intuitive visual design. This innovative tool aims to empower users to create and manipulate geometric forms with unprecedented flexibility and power.
- Command-Line Interface: Users define geometry through simple text commands, such as
output = \func inputsor\function inputs, with points and scalars automatically instantiated. - Broadcasting Semantics: It supports broadcasting similar to NumPy and PyTorch, allowing for the creation of complex patterns by varying parameters across multiple dimensions, like creating a list of circles with different radii and centers.
- Autodifferentiation and Optimization: Geomatic is enabled with backpropagation, allowing users to run gradient descent and visualize vector fields, opening possibilities for optimization problems within geometric contexts.
- Reactive Design: The system is highly reactive, ensuring that any change to a variable instantly updates all dependent downstream geometry, providing immediate visual feedback.
- Extensibility: Users can extend Geomatic's capabilities by writing and loading their own custom visualizations, which can also leverage broadcasting and differentiation capabilities.
Ultimately, Geomatic presents itself as a powerful, programmable environment for anyone seeking to explore geometric design and analysis with a high degree of technical control and automation.