Abstract Shape Generator
Abstract shape generator: circles, half circles, triangles, bars and squiggles scattered at random in three colors. Roll a new composition, save as PNG or MP4.
What does the abstract shape generator make?
It makes compositions of simple flat shapes: circles, half circles, squares, triangles, quarter circles, rounded bars, squiggles and crosses. Each one is in one of three colors on a plain background, and some are filled while others are just outlines.
Think Bauhaus posters, built from basic forms in primary colors, or the playful 1980s designs of the Memphis Group. The Bauhaus and Memphis presets start you off in those styles.
How to make a random abstract composition
Shapes is how many there are, from 3 to 40. Size is how big they are as a share of the frame height, and each one lands somewhere between half and one and a half times that. The Seed decides every shape's kind, position, size, rotation and color, so rolling it gives you a new composition, and keeping it brings the same one back.
Outlines is the share of shapes drawn as outlines rather than filled, and Line is how thick those outlines are. Colour 1, Colour 2 and Colour 3 paint the shapes while Background colors the ground, with later shapes overlapping earlier ones. Drift makes them float and turn slowly. At 0 they don't move.
Settings for a Bauhaus poster, Memphis confetti and a quiet slide
Bauhaus poster: begin with the Bauhaus preset (red, yellow and blue on warm paper) and pare it down to Shapes 6, Size 0.3 and Outlines 0. A few large, solid forms then carry the whole page. Choose Free under Settings and type in 1448 by 2048, which matches the proportions of A-series paper.
Memphis confetti: take the Memphis preset (pink, teal and black on white, half of them outlines), raise Shapes to 40 and lower Size to 0.06. You get a dense scatter like the group's laminate prints.
Quiet slide background: use the Pastel preset at Shapes 8 and pull the three colors in close to the ground, for example #f2e8dc, #e8dccc and #dfe7e4 on #fffcf2. At that point the shapes read as texture, and dark text stays readable over any of them.
How do I leave room for a headline?
Shapes are placed along the R2 sequence. It's a low-discrepancy sequence, which spreads any number of points evenly and stops them clumping, so on its own it won't leave an empty area. Each position then gets nudged by up to an eighth of the frame.
Drop Shapes to 5 or 6 and roll Seed until the gap ends up where your words go. You can also lower Size so the gaps open up everywhere. If you'd prefer the opposite, Mandala Maker arranges everything in order around one center.
Saving a composition
Flat shapes on a plain ground make a small, sharp PNG that's ready for a poster or a print shop. JPG fuzzes the edges of saturated reds and blues, which are exactly the colors these compositions rely on.
A drifting clip only holds four colors plus their edges, so it makes a clean GIF with Dither unticked. The drift doesn't have a fixed cycle, so set Seamless loop to 1 second to get a file that repeats smoothly.