termflix-0.1.0 is not a library.

termflix

A terminal animation player with 43 procedurally generated animations, multiple render modes, and true color support. Low CPU impact, zero dependencies beyond your terminal.

Features

43 Animations — Fire, matrix rain, starfields, plasma, ocean waves, aurora, lightning, and much more
3 Render Modes — Braille (highest resolution), half-block, and ASCII density mapping
4 Color Modes — Mono, ANSI 16, ANSI 256, and 24-bit true color
Per-Animation Defaults — Each animation auto-selects its best render mode
Runtime Hotkeys — Cycle animations, render modes, and color modes on the fly
Recording & Playback — Record sessions and replay them
Auto-Cycle — Rotate through animations on a timer
Particle System — Reusable procedural particle engine powering many animations
Low CPU — Efficient rendering with minimal resource usage

Animations

Animation	Description	Default Render
`fire`	Classic rising flames with heat simulation	Half-block
`matrix`	Digital rain with glowing lead characters	ASCII
`plasma`	Colorful sine-wave plasma interference	Half-block
`starfield`	3D starfield flying through space	Braille
`wave`	Sine wave interference patterns	Half-block
`life`	Conway's Game of Life cellular automaton	Half-block
`particles`	Particle fountain with gravity	Half-block
`rain`	Falling rain with splash effects	Half-block
`fountain`	Water fountain with spray	Half-block
`flow`	Fluid flow field visualization	Half-block
`spiral`	Colorful rotating spiral arms	Half-block
`ocean`	Ocean waves with foam	Half-block
`aurora`	Northern lights / aurora borealis	Half-block
`lightning`	Lightning bolts with recursive branching	Half-block
`smoke`	Smoke rising with turbulence	Half-block
`ripple`	Ripple interference from random drops	Half-block
`snow`	Snowfall with ground accumulation	Half-block
`fireflies`	Fireflies blinking with warm glow	Half-block
`dna`	DNA double helix rotation	Half-block
`pulse`	Pulsing concentric rings	Half-block
`boids`	Flocking simulation (boids algorithm)	Half-block
`lava`	Lava lamp with rising/falling blobs	Half-block
`sandstorm`	Blowing sand with dune formation	Half-block
`petals`	Cherry blossom petals drifting in wind	Half-block
`campfire`	Campfire with logs, flames, and embers	Half-block
`waterfall`	Cascading water with mist spray	Half-block
`eclipse`	Solar eclipse with corona	Half-block
`blackhole`	Black hole with accretion disk	Half-block
`radar`	Radar sweep with blips	Half-block
`crystallize`	Crystal growth via diffusion-limited aggregation	Braille
`hackerman`	Fake hacker terminal with scrolling commands	ASCII
`visualizer`	Audio-style frequency visualizer	Half-block
`cells`	Petri dish — cells with membranes and organelles	Half-block
`atom`	Atomic model with orbiting electrons	Half-block
`globe`	Rotating wireframe globe	Half-block
`dragon`	Dragon curve fractal	Braille
`sierpinski`	Sierpinski triangle fractal	Braille
`mandelbrot`	Animated Mandelbrot set zoom	Braille
`langton`	Langton's ant cellular automaton	Half-block
`sort`	Sorting algorithm visualization	Half-block
`snake`	Snake game (AI-controlled)	Half-block
`invaders`	Space invaders demo	Half-block
`pong`	Pong game (AI vs AI)	Half-block

Installation

From crates.io

cargo install termflix

From Source

Requires Rust 1.85+ (2024 edition):

git clone https://github.com/paulrobello/termflix
cd termflix
cargo build --release
./target/release/termflix

Usage

# Run default animation (fire)
termflix

# Run a specific animation
termflix -a starfield

# List all animations
termflix --list

# Set render mode (braille, half-block, ascii)
termflix -a plasma -r braille

# Set color mode (mono, ansi16, ansi256, true-color)
termflix -a fire -c true-color

# Auto-cycle through animations every 10 seconds
termflix --cycle 10

# Scale particle density
termflix -a rain --scale 1.5

# Clean mode (no status bar)
termflix --clean

# Record a session
termflix -a matrix --record session.termflix

# Play back a recording
termflix --play session.termflix

Hotkeys

Key	Action
`q` / `Esc`	Quit
`←` / `→`	Previous / next animation
`r`	Cycle render mode (braille → half-block → ascii)
`c`	Cycle color mode
`h`	Toggle status bar

How It Works

termflix uses a pixel-level canvas that gets rendered to terminal characters:

Braille mode (⠁⠂⠃...⣿) — 2×4 pixels per terminal cell = highest resolution
Half-block mode (▀▄█) — 1×2 pixels per cell = good balance of resolution and color
ASCII mode ( .:-=+*#%@) — 1×1 pixel per cell = widest compatibility

Each animation implements the Animation trait, writing to the canvas at sub-cell resolution. The renderer converts the canvas to terminal escape sequences with cursor positioning (no newlines — eliminates flickering).

A reusable ParticleSystem generator powers many of the particle-based animations with configurable emitters, gradients, gravity, and drag.

Configuration

termflix auto-detects your terminal size and adapts. All settings can be overridden via CLI flags.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! To add a new animation:

Create src/animations/your_animation.rs implementing the Animation trait
Register it in src/animations/mod.rs
Run cargo build --release and test

cargo fmt       # Format code
cargo clippy    # Lint
cargo build     # Build

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License — see the LICENSE file for details.

Author

Paul Robello — probello@gmail.com

termflix 0.1.0