L-System Renderer

This project is a WebGL-based renderer for L-Systems (Lindenmayer Systems), a mathematical formalism proposed by Aristid Lindenmayer in 1968 as a foundation for an algorithmic description of plant growth processes. L-Systems are widely used in computer graphics to generate fractal-like structures and model the growth of plants and other organisms.

Live Version

https://danbgray.github.io/lsystem/

What is an L-System?

An L-System consists of an alphabet of symbols that can be used to make strings, a collection of production rules that expand each symbol into a larger string of symbols, an initial "axiom" string from which to begin construction, and a mechanism for translating the generated strings into geometric structures.

L-Systems are particularly famous for their ability to model complex shapes in nature with a few simple rules applied iteratively.

Features

• Shader-Based Rendering: Utilizes WebGL for efficient, GPU-accelerated rendering of L-System fractals.
• Dynamic Shader Editing: Edit vertex and fragment shaders directly in the browser for real-time visual feedback.
• Preset Management: Comes with preset shaders for quick experimentation and also allows for the addition of custom shaders.
• Interactive Controls: Adjust parameters such as recursion depth, angle, and drawing length to explore variations of the generated fractal patterns.

Getting Started

1. Clone the repository:

   bashCopy code

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/lsystem-renderer.git

2. Open index.html in a modern web browser with WebGL support.

3. Select a preset or input your own rules to start generating L-System fractals.

Customizing Shaders

Shaders can be edited in real-time via the provided text areas. Vertex and fragment shaders are supported, allowing for complex visual effects and colorations of the rendered L-Systems.

Additional References

• The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants by Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz and Aristid Lindenmayer: The seminal book on using L-Systems for modeling plant growth.
• L-Systems - Wikipedia: A comprehensive overview of the theory and application of L-Systems.
• WebGL - MDN Web Docs: Documentation and tutorials on WebGL, which is used in this project for rendering.

Contributing

Contributions to this project are welcome! Whether it's adding new presets, improving the shader editor, or fixing bugs, feel free to fork the repository and submit a pull request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Acknowledgments

• Thanks to all the contributors who have helped to improve this project.
• Special thanks to Daniel Gray for initiating this project and providing guidance. (Twitter: @dbgray)

Please feel free to reach out or DM me. Its free to use for whatever you want to use it for, but please credit me if you do.