SuperSym: A symmetry-based doodling toy
November 30, 2020 10:11 AM   Subscribe

SuperSym: A symmetry-based doodling toy
I enjoy doodling, and my doodles always end up being somewhat symmetrical. So I made a little symmetry-based doodling toy!

Create one or more "symmetries", then draw, and watch as your drawing gets automatically "symmetrized". Symmetries can be applied recursively or simultaneously.

It was designed for a mouse-type pointing device, but I managed to make it work pretty well on a touchscreen too. It does not look great on a small phone screen, though, so I'd stick to a larger screen until I work out a way to make it more responsive.

Click here for a demo video.

Hope people get some enjoyment out of it!
Role: designer, programmer
posted by Salvor Hardin (5 comments total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
This project was posted to MetaFilter by jacquilynne on December 11, 2020: Put a scale symmetry exactly on top of a rotational symmetry. Enjoy.

Oh, and I meant to post this too: A "how to" video explaining the basic controls.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 10:40 AM on November 30, 2020


I put a scale symmetry exactly on top of a rotational symmetry and my life is complete now.
posted by jacquilynne at 12:45 PM on December 3, 2020 [1 favorite]


I wanted to be able to switch back and forth between colors more easily, so I added a simple color history function.

The most recent 5 colors chosen are stored. You can switch between them either using the mouse or the 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 keys.

If you've loaded the page before, you should hard-reload the page (something like control-shift-R) to ensure you retrieve the latest source files.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 8:37 AM on December 14, 2020


A new update is now online. A few UI improvements, plus two new symmetries - glide and spiral symmetries!

I think I figured out how to make it so browsers will automatically fetch the new code on load or refresh, but if not, you can hard-refresh the page to get the new version.

PS: Mods - please let me know if continued updates are not appropriate for projects and I will desist.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 5:48 PM on December 20, 2020


Snap to grid added - say hello to crisp, exactly placed symmetries, and precise drawing lines! Makes tessellation-type symmetries a lot easier to accomplish.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 6:29 PM on December 24, 2020


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