Visualizing an Apollonian Gasket in Shades

Visualizing an Apollonian Gasket in Shades

The fractal you see here is an Apollonian gasket—a pattern created by repeatedly fitting circles into the gaps between three touching circles. With every step, the spaces shrink, the number of circles grows, and a beautifully intricate structure appears.

Rendered using shaded tones and techniques inspired by GPU shader programming, this visualization gains depth and texture that highlight the recursive layers of the pattern. The darker regions hint at dense inner structures, while lighter tones reveal the delicate outer curves.

The Apollonian gasket shows how rich complexity can emerge from simple geometric rules. Enjoy exploring the shapes, tracing the curves, and seeing how mathematical order transforms into visual art.