AI · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Torch Lens Maker – Differentiable Geometric Optics in PyTorch

Hello HN! For the past 6 months I've been working on an open source python library that implements differentiable geometric optics in PyTorch. It's very experimental still, but eventually the goal is to use it to design optical systems with a state of the art optimization framework and a beautiful code based API. Think OpenSCAD, but for optical systems. Not only is PyTorch's autograd an amazing general purpose optimizer, but torch.nn (the neural network building blocks) can be used pretty much out of the box to model an optical system. This is because there is a strong analogy to be made…

Torch Lens Maker is an open-source Python library for designing optical systems using differentiable geometric optics in PyTorch. It allows users to model and optimize lenses and optical elements using PyTorch's… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.

1
TorchGAN – Research Framework for Modelling GANs Based on Pytorch▲56
Research Framework for easy and efficient training of GANs based on Pytorch - torchgan/torchgan
2018 · github.com · its alternatives →
2
I stripped DALL·E Mini to its bare essentials and converted it to Torch▲663
min(DALL·E) is a fast, minimal port of DALL·E Mini to PyTorch - kuprel/min-dalle
2022 · github.com · its alternatives →
3
PyTorch Lightning▲79
The light PyTorch wrapper for high-performance AI research
2020 · pytorchlightning.ai · its alternatives →
4
Forge Agent▲113
Swarm Agents That Turn Slow PyTorch Into Fast GPU Kernels
Jan 2026 · rightnowai.co · its alternatives →
5
TorchTPU▲106
Running PyTorch Natively on TPUs at Google Scale
Apr 2026 · cloud.google.com · its alternatives →
6
Run TRELLIS.2 Image-to-3D generation natively on Apple Silicon▲202
I ported Microsoft's TRELLIS.2 (4B parameter image-to-3D model) to run on Apple Silicon via PyTorch MPS. The original requires CUDA with flash_attn, nvdiffrast, and custom sparse convolution kernels: none of which work on Mac. I replaced the CUDA-specific ops with pure-PyTorch alternatives: a gather-scatter sparse 3D convolution, SDPA attention for sparse transformers, and a Python-based mesh extraction replacing CUDA hashmap operations. Total changes are a few hundred lines across 9 files. Generates ~400K vertex meshes from single photos in about 3.5 minutes on M4 Pro (24GB). Not as fast as…
Apr 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
7
Luminal – Open-source, search-based GPU compiler▲153
Hi HN, I’m Joe. My friends Matthew, Jake and I are building Luminal (https://luminalai.com/), a GPU compiler for automatically generating fast GPU kernels for AI models. It uses search-based compilation to achieve high performance. We take high level model code, like you'd have in PyTorch, and generate very fast GPU code. We do that without using LLMs or AI - rather, we pose it as a search problem. Our compiler builds a search space, generates millions of possible kernels, and then searches through it to minimize runtime. You can try out a demo in `demos/matmul` on mac to…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
8
TensorZero▲307
Hi HN! We're Gabriel & Viraj, and we're excited to open source TensorZero. To be a little cheeky, TensorZero is an open-source platform that helps LLM applications graduate from API wrappers into defensible AI products. 1. Integrate our model gateway 2. Send metrics or feedback 3. Unlock compounding improvements in quality, cost, and latency It enables a data & learning flywheel for LLMs by unifying: • Inference: one API for all LLMs, with <1ms P99 overhead • Observability: inference & feedback → your database • Optimization: better prompts, models, inference strategies • Experimentation:…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
9
Apple's SHARP running in the browser via ONNX runtime web▲185
Hi HN, author here. SHARP is Apple's recent single-image 3D Gaussian splatting model (https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.10685). Their reference code is PyTorch + a pretty heavy pipeline; I wanted to see if it could run in a browser with no server hop, so I exported the predictor to ONNX and ran it via onnxruntime-web with the WebGPU EP. What works: drop in an image, get a .ply you can download or preview live, all on your machine — your image never leaves the tab. The model is large (~2.4 GB sidecar) so first load is slow on a cold cache, but inference itself is a few seconds on…
May 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
10
Free and open-source home for art made with code▲144
Browse and share GPU-made GIFs. Explore GLSL shader experiments, search by topic, and open any piece in the editor to learn or remix.
2018 · shadergif.com · its alternatives →
11
I built a tensor library from scratch in C++/CUDA▲119
Hi HN, Over the past few months, I've been building `dsc`, a tensor library from scratch in C++/CUDA. My main focus has been on getting the basics right, prioritizing a clean API, simplicity, and clear observability for running small LLMs locally. The key features are: - C++ core with CUDA support written from scratch. - A familiar, PyTorch-like Python API. - Runs real models: it's complete enough to load a model like Qwen from HuggingFace and run inference on both CUDA and CPU with a single line change[1]. - Simple, built-in observability for both Python and C++. Next on the roadmap is…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
12
PyTorch-NLP▲8
Supporting Rapid Prototyping with a PyTorch Toolkit
2018 · github.com · its alternatives →
13
Pythagora - automated integration tests▲141
Save 30% of dev time - generate tests without writing code
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
14
Open-Sourcing Google's Lattice Models in PyTorch▲13
We're a group of engineers, AI/ML enthusiasts, and author of this paper https://openreview.net/forum?id=0pxiMpCyBtr who saw a closed door in AI/ML and decided to open it. This project is a PyTorch reimagining of Google's TensorFlow Lattice models, which despite being labeled open-source, were previously open in name only (you have to be a Googler to contribute). Also, side point…TensorFlow is dying https://thenextweb.com/news/why-tensorflow-for-python-is-dyi... Here's the deal: Lattice models excel in making AI interpretable—key for sectors where…
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
15
Metashade – a Pythonic GPU shading/compute EDSL▲47
Superficially, it may look similar to Nvidia's Warp or OpenAI's Triton, but instead of transpiling a subset of Python to the target language, it implements dynamic codegen in pure Python. These slides discuss the existing GPU programming solutions and make a case for Metashade's approach: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vQtYIwXIkMnV...
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
16
Kornia▲81
Computer vision library for deep learning
2021 · kornia.org · its alternatives →
17
Comgra: A library for debugging and understanding neural networks▲66
I'm a machine learning engineer and researcher. I got fed up with how difficult it is to understand why neural networks behave the way they do, so i wrote a library to help with it. Comgra (computation graph analysis) is a library you can use with pytorch to extract all the tensor data you care about and visualize it graphically in a browser. This allows for a much more detailed analysis of what is happening than the usual approach of using tensorboard. You can go investigate tensors as training proceeds, drill down into individual neurons, inspect single data sets that are of special…
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
18
Encrypted Deep Learning in PyTorch▲37
Perform data science on data that remains in someone else's server - OpenMined/PySyft
2018 · github.com · its alternatives →
19
Color Morph▲67
Randomly generate mesh gradients
2022 · tiny.photos · its alternatives →
20
Real-time nonlinear optics simulation (JS/GLSL)▲46
Contribute to westoncb/nonlinear-optics-sandbox development by creating an account on GitHub.
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
21
Rgpu – a PyTorch device whose tensors live on a remote GPU▲57
Keep Python on your laptop. Run PyTorch operations and hold tensors on a remote GPU, including from a Mac with no CUDA installation. - ymcrcat/rgpu
17d ago · github.com · its alternatives →
22
Shadergarden: Create reloadable graphical pipelines with Lisp and GLSL▲47
Create evolving artistic images with hot-code-reloaded Lisp and GLSL.
2021 · blog.tonari.no · its alternatives →
23
Torchium▲7
Torchium is the most comprehensive PyTorch extension library
2025 · vishesh9131.github.io · its alternatives →
24
Manim (3Blue1Brown's animation engine) in the browser via WebGPU▲49
Grant Sanderson (3Blue1Brown) created Manim, the Python library he uses to make the math animations in his videos. We reimplemented Manim with the same Python API, but the implementation underneath is Rust, connected to Python through PyO3. The Rust code uses wgpu, so rendering happens on the GPU. To run it in the browser, we compiled the Rust parts to WebAssembly so the PyO3 extension loads in Pyodide. In the browser, wgpu targets the WebGPU API, so animations render in real time on your GPU through the browser. The editor is Monaco (the editor that powers VS Code) with a live preview:…
Jul 2026 · studio.academa.ai · its alternatives →

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