Python script to show my kiddo how to generate an SVG tree using recursive function calls, inspired by the trees we saw on our hike earlier today, looking great against the first blue skies of the year.

I wrote it on Linux, Pop!OS 22.04, using Python3.13, but I guess it'll run on anything kinda similar.

First, install dependencies:

make setup

This installs system dependencies right here on your host (sorry), using sudo apt install ..., so you'll need to enter a password (sorry). It also populates a Python virtualenv.

Run the script to draw an SVG tree:

make svg

This chooses some default parameters, notably -i18, i.e. 18 iterations of branches (I guess I mean recursion depth, not iterations, ohwell), which generates 2^18 branches, taking almost 10 seconds on my laptop, and generating an 100MB SVG file. Much bigger than this and my SVG viewing and conversion tools start to break.

Convert the unweildy SVG file into a lossy webp image, which is only 300kB:

make lossy

Just running make with no args lists all the things it can do, such as converting the image to different output formats. See the commands that make displays when you run these targets, to modify and construct your own commands.

• It's slow to generate and render. Can we join up the drawn entities into fewer, more complex polygons, to speed it up, and reduce the 100MB SVG filesize?
• Is it worth trying alt SVG generation libraries?