Dev tools · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to I also made a three-body simulation
Somewhat inspired by a recent post here, I also made a three-body simulation on a whim, meaning to try out macroquad[0] (verdict: really nice!). Thanks to the engine I could trivially target wasm as well, so others can get mesmerized too. The source is available here: https://github.com/sulami/three-bodies [0]: https://docs.rs/macroquad/latest/macroquad
This is a three-body physics simulation built with the macroquad game engine and compiled to WebAssembly. It visualizes the gravitational interactions between three bodies in real-time. The simulation runs in web… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Prices are shown for the 1 we have checked on their own sites, 1 of them free or with a free tier. I also made a three-body simulation launched in 2024; newer entries below may have overtaken it.
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Mar 2026 · structuredlabs.github.io · its alternatives →
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Features include: - Several preset periodic orbits: the classic Figure-8, plus newly discovered 3D solutions from Li and Liao's recent database of 10,000+ orbits (https://arxiv.org/html/2508.08568v1) - Full 3D camera controls (rotate/pan/zoom) with body-following mode - Force and velocity vector visualization - Timeline scrubbing to explore the full orbital period The 3D presets are particularly interesting. Try "O₂(1.2)" or "Piano O₆(0.6)" from the Load Presets menu to see configurations where bodies weave in and out of the orbital plane. Most browser…
Nov 2025 · trisolarchaos.com · its alternatives →
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I was wondering how I can arrange objects along a spherical helix path, and read some articles on it. I ended up learning about parametric equations again, and make this visualization to document what I learned: https://visualrambling.space/moving-objects-in-3d/ feel free to visit and let me know what you think!
2025 · visualrambling.space · its alternatives →
- 4AS
I really like the look of the famous album art for Unknown Pleasures [1]. It was originally created by Harold Craft at the Arecibo Observatory from the signals of the first discovered radio pulsar [2]. I made a spectrogram that produces a similar look. It runs FFT in Rust and visualizes it with WebGL. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UnknownPleasuresVinyl.jpg [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSR_B1919%2B21
2024 · aestuans.github.io · its alternatives →
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I built a synthesizer based on 3D physicsfree tier, from $99/mo▲512I've been working on the Anukari 3D Physics Synthesizer for a little over two years now. It's one of the earliest virtual instruments to rely on the GPU for audio processing, which has been incredibly challenging and fun. In the end, predictably, the GUI for manipulating the 3D system actually ended up being a lot more work than the physics simulation. So far I am only selling it direct on my website, which seems to be working well. I hope to turn it into a sustainable business, and ideally I'd have enough revenue to hire folks to help with it. So far it's been 99% a solo project, with…
2025 · anukari.com · its alternatives →
- 6GI
Just for fun and self education, I've built this over a weekend to teach myself why orbits exist, not just show planets going around. Something that was never clearly explain to me in school. It opens with a guided tour that builds the idea up step by step: two bodies and the equal/opposite force, inertia (the Sun is removed and Earth just drifts straight), then "an orbit is falling and continuously missing," cosmic velocities with a little rocket, Voyager 1 & 2's real gravity assists (the clock runs the actual 1977–1989 dates so the planets orbit into their grand-tour alignment and the…
Jun 2026 · qunabu.github.io · its alternatives →
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I went down the rabbit hole on a side project and ended up building this: Strange Attractors(https://blog.shashanktomar.com/posts/strange-attractors). It’s built with three.js. Working on it reminded me of the little "maths for fun" exercises I used to do while learning programming in early days. Just trying things out, getting fascinated and geeky, and being surprised by the results. I spent way too much time on this, but it was extreme fun. My favorite part: someone pointed me to the Simone Attractor on Threads. It is a 2D attractor and I asked GPT to extrapolate it to…
Oct 2025 · blog.shashanktomar.com · its alternatives →
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Hey HN! We are the co-founders of Elodin (https://elodin.systems/), a code-first physics simulation framework. We just open-sourced our core libraries on Github: https://github.com/elodin-sys/elodin Have you ever wondered what happens when a satellite is first placed into orbit? It turns out that often, they tumble out of control, end over end, in a miraculous fight against stability. Check out our demo here of a control system attempting to rectify this: https://app.elodin.systems/sandbox/hn/cube-sat The spacecraft does not…
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
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Hello HN! We’re a small creative studio specializing in real-time 3D experiences. Netlify approached us to design and build an interactive experience to celebrate reaching 5 million developers. Inspired by the classic game Marble Madness, we created a gamified experience where users control a ball through playful, interactive levels. The goal was to blend marketing content with the look and feel of a game to engage users. The app is built with Three.js [1], using our custom render pipeline and shaders, and uses Rapier for physics simulation [2]. The 2D content is overlaid on the WebGL view…
2024 · 5-million-devs.netlify.com · its alternatives →
- 10IB
2022 · multiplanetary.website · its alternatives →
- 11IM
I made this site using R3F (https://github.com/pmndrs/react-three-fiber), a React renderer for 3JS (https://threejs.org/). The celestial bodies are Three.JS meshes. I used loaders (namely 'useLoader' from R3F and 'GLTFLoader' from 3JS) to import 3D models, such as International Space Station. More on loading models in R3F: https://docs.pmnd.rs/react-three-fiber/tutorials/loading-mod... I've future plans for this side project. It would be great to hear from the HN community before diving into them. Enjoy! P.S: Getting an empty…
2022 · spaceinbrowser.com · its alternatives →
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3D gravity and space Simulator. Explore and play around with the force of gravity in the context of an array of scenarios from our solar system and beyond. You can add planets, delete the Sun, change the value of the gravitational constant or simply lean back and enjoy the dazzling beauty of the pen
2018 · thehappykoala.github.io · its alternatives →
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A secret military project sends signals into space
2015 · amazon.com · its alternatives →
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Odyssey 3▲159A world model that simulates physics in real time
13d ago · odyssey.systems · its alternatives →
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👾 The code for my Three.js game dev experiments on YouTube. - SuboptimalEng/three-js-games
2022 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 16NB
2018 · novoselrok.github.io · its alternatives →
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We ported pbrt-v4 to Julia and built it into a Makie backend. Any Makie plot can now be rendered with physically-based path tracing. Julia compiles user-defined physics directly into GPU kernels, so anyone can extend the ray tracer with new materials and media - a black hole with gravitational lensing is ~200 lines of Julia. Runs on AMD, NVIDIA, and CPU via KernelAbstractions.jl, with Metal coming soon. Demo scenes: github.com/SimonDanisch/RayDemo
Feb 2026 · makie.org · its alternatives →
- 19IM
A while ago I discovered three.js, a JavaScript library to manipulate 3D objects. It looked really interesting, but I had no real need for it... To change that I recently challenged myself to make one 3D web game per month with three.js. And I just release game #2, a puzzle game called Cuboid, and you can try it here: https://www.thomasfriday.com/cuboid/ Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback. Thanks!
2023 · thomasfriday.com · its alternatives →
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DawnCue▲3Hi HN! I built HelioSim, a real-time N-body gravitational system simulator running directly in the browser via WebAssembly. It’s written in C++ and uses OpenGL ES 3.0, GLFW, and Emscripten. The entire simulation and rendering pipeline runs in WebAssembly. Features: - Real-time N-body gravitational simulation - Predictive orbit trails - Collision handling - Time controls (slow motion / fast-forward) - Dynamic body spawning This was my first larger WebAssembly project, and I was honestly surprised how well modern browsers handle a C++ + OpenGL ES pipeline compiled to WASM. One interesting…
Jul 2026 · koprolin.com · its alternatives →
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I didn't realize Universe Sandbox ran on MacOS, and I was in the mood to play around a bit. Some functions it's got: - Random system generation - Sonification is super fun too - Habitability Simulation (Just for fun, don't cite this please) - Replacing, spawning, deleting objects I've had tons of fun building this, so I hope someone else can share the joy. It's free and runs in the browser. I'd love to hear any feedback. I think this is at a state where I might leave it as it is, but if people are interested in other features, maybe I'll keep working on it. I've kept saying I'll stop working…
Dec 2025 · luna.watermelonson.com · its alternatives →
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PixelSpace▲68A tediously accurate scale model of the solar system
2014 · joshworth.com · its alternatives →
- 24AR
I think it's finally time to lock version 0.2 of my 4d side project. (Since previous Show HN a couple of years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37100760 I scrapped lots of stuff and concentrated on making a javascript "game engine") The sole purpose of this project is to explore whether it's possible to make the human brain spatially aware of four dimensions using Virtual Reality. It’s my first ever game project, my first time using Unity, first time writing C#, and my first anything with WebXR, so please be gentle! To manage expectations, it isn't visually pleasing…
2025 · brainpaingames.com · its alternatives →
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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →