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Hacker News Show HN: M. C. Escher spiral in WebGL inspired by 3Blue1Brown

A personal re-implementation of a complex visual effect using WebGL, inspired by educational content.

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6
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Apr 5, 2026
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Product Positioning & Context

AI Executive Synthesis
A personal re-implementation of a complex visual effect using WebGL, inspired by educational content.
This project is primarily a technical demonstration and personal exercise in computer graphics, specifically WebGL. It showcases the developer's ability to translate complex mathematical and artistic concepts into interactive visual experiences. While not a direct B2B SaaS product, it highlights the ongoing demand for skilled WebGL developers and the potential for sophisticated browser-based visualizations. The inspiration from 3Blue1Brown underscores the role of educational content in driving technical exploration and skill development within the developer community. This type of project contributes to the broader ecosystem of open-source graphics examples and learning resources.
The latest 3Blue1Brown video [1] about the M. C. Escher print gallery effect inspired me to re-implement the effect as WebGL fragment shader on my own.[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldxFjLJ3rVY
M. C. Escher spiral WebGL 3Blue1Brown print gallery effect fragment shader

Community Voice & Feedback

Falimonda • Apr 5, 2026
Cool, I think? It's unusable on mobile Google Chrome. Pinch to zoom worked for about a split second and now it’s broken
Bewelge • Apr 5, 2026
Very cool! I once tried rendering his towers. Mainly used normal canvas drawing though :)https://bewelge.github.io/escherTower/
amiga386 • Apr 5, 2026
You are forgiven for not knowing about the University of Leiden's Escher and the Droste effect site from 2002, given it shut down in 2024, but they were the first to try filling in the centre of Print Gallery and make the association with the cocoa tinshttps://web.archive.org/web/20020802200015/http://escherdros...
bornfreddy • Apr 5, 2026
Nice! Nit: on mobile (ff if it matters) swiping down for some time makes the edges very grainy.
vivzkestrel • Apr 5, 2026
stupid question to webgl experts here?- can you build an entire fps shooter game using web gl? how is physics handled? how is collision detection, enemy AI handled? what kind of frame rate can you expect from a counter strike game made in web gl?- what is the difference between webgl and threejs and babylonjs?- what is the man hour effort involved for doing something like this assuming you know html, css and js pretty well but not familiar with gamedev- is open gl the non web version of web gl? or are they completely different?
Panzerschrek • Apr 5, 2026
I did my own version too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxLfDHe93_M
nvme0n1p1 • Apr 5, 2026
This is awesome! I'd love to be able to upload a custom image too.
djmips • Apr 5, 2026
Why not include the Print Gallery image? Or - if worried about copyright, the ability to load an image.
crazygringo • Apr 5, 2026
Very cool! However, it took me a while to figure out how this was supposed to be used.For others:On desktop, at least, you need to click and drag up/down on the left-hand control that says "swipe" with two arrows.Or click "Autoplay".laszlokorte -- can I suggest that the up/down icons should also be clickable/holdable? Since they're icons, they look like buttons, not a "swipe area". And also, maybe default to having autoplay on (but still with the controls visible)? Because it was not clear to me, at first, that the whole point of the site is infinite zoom.
sgbeal • Apr 4, 2026
Note to other viewers: getting the Escher-esque effect requires tapping a checkbox at the top of the page (easy to miss on a large monitor).

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