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simetri.graphics (SİMETRİ) is a Python based graphics library that focuses on 2D symmetry operations and pattern generation. It uses the TikZ library and generates .tex files that can be compiled to create output files. It can also be used in Jupyter notebooks to create complex geometric patterns and designs. The library is designed to be easy to use and flexible, allowing users to create a wide variety of symmetrical patterns with minimal effort. The library also includes a number of computational geometry utility functions for working with 2D geometry.

It is designed to be used in conjunction with XeLaTeX rendering engine. Currently the project is in its late alpha stages and is not ready for production use. Although this version is a proof of concept and is likely to change significantly in the future, it is already capable of producing some interesting results.

SİMETRİ can generate output files with .tex, .pdf, .ps, .eps, .svg, or .png extensions. It can also generate Jupyter notebook cells with the output embedded in them.

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  • 2 min read

The New SVG Renderer

Now we can generate output files in SVG format. We have not released this version yet, but if you clone the GitHub repo, you can already use the new renderer. If you would like step-by-step instructions for setting up the development branch locally, let us know. We will release a new version that includes the SVG renderer once testing is complete. This will be the last alpha release. To use the new SVG renderer, simply specify an output file with the .svg extension (canvas.save("filename.svg")).

SVG output is especially useful for web publishing and document workflows that benefit from editable vector graphics. You can embed the generated files directly in web pages, edit them with standard SVG tools, or convert them to other formats when needed.

This is a significant step that opens up several new capabilities:

  • If you do not need PDF output, you can use the library without an external renderer. If you do need PDF output but do not have a LaTeX engine installed, you can convert the SVG file to PDF using external applications such as PDF24 Tools.
  • SVG is generated without external dependencies. This gives us full control over the generated output.
  • The XeLaTeX renderer has limitations on output size. When handling tens of thousands of points, it sometimes produced memory-related errors. Although there are ways to increase the available memory, dealing with that is inconvenient. The SVG renderer does not have this limitation.
  • If you need unusual SVG features, you can edit the output file directly. The generated SVG code is human-readable.
  • Since SVG has an official spec, creating test cases and performing comprehensive verification is much easier than with the TikZ library and its external plugins.

SVG output is also a good fit for lightweight, browser-based publishing workflows and for cases where you need to inspect or adjust the generated vector data directly.

At this stage, we are still validating the renderer against a wider range of examples, especially larger outputs and edge cases. Once that testing is complete, the SVG renderer will be included in the next release.

Note

Please remember that simetri.graphics API can have significant modifications since we are still in alpha stage.

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  • in News
  • 2 min read

Update after a long while

What’s New

A lot has been happening behind the scenes. 2025 turned out to be an extremely busy year, and although the website hasn’t seen many updates, the work itself never stopped. Most of the projects were not yet public, which made it difficult to share progress in real time. That is finally changing.

The biggest news is that simetri.graphics is approaching its first beta release. The core features are in place, and the new codebase is already available on GitHub. Before publishing the beta, I still need to finish the testing framework, but the library is now stable enough for early exploration.

simetri.interactive

A major development this year is the creation of a new GUI‑based application: simetri.interactive. This is by far the most significant addition to the ecosystem. It’s not ready for an official release yet, but the plan is to make it available on GitHub first, followed by a pip install simetri.interactive release once it reaches a more polished state.

This app is a large project with many interesting features, and its primary purpose is to accelerate progress on the long‑term book project. Yes—there is a new book in the works. It’s a substantial undertaking and will likely take years to complete, but simetri.interactive is already proving invaluable for prototyping ideas and generating examples. A dedicated blog post about the book will be coming soon.

simetri.publisher

Another tool under development is simetri.publisher, a custom page‑layout engine built specifically for the book project. It combines TikZ with simetri.graphics to generate highly structured, reproducible pages. simetri.interactive already includes hooks for this module.

To be completely honest, the chances of this tool being broadly useful to anyone else are extremely small—it is highly specialized and tailored to the needs of the book. But it has been an essential part of the workflow, so it deserves a mention here.

Circle Packing Experiments

I’ve also been exploring circle packing, which continues to be a fascinating area of experimentation. Some of the modules from Kenneth Stephenson’s CirclePack software have been translated into Python as part of this work. However, the code is still very experimental and nowhere near ready for release. For now, it remains a research sandbox—but an exciting one.

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