So I had a simple idea: “Let’s control a fluid simulation with hand gestures.”
Now I have:
- 10,000 particles
- A racing mode
- Audio reactivity
- A physics engine
- And emotional damage from GitHub’s 100MB file limit
Worth it.
What Is HydraFlow?
HydraFlow is a real-time, gesture-controlled fluid simulation where your hands literally control physics.
Open palm? Particles fly away. Pinch? Black hole. Fist? Time stops. Two hands? Magnetic chaos.
It’s like Doctor Strange, but with Python and worse life choices.
The Cool Stuff
- 10,000 particles moving at 60 FPS
- MediaPipe hand tracking
- Multiple visual modes (Matrix, Heatmap, Disco, etc.)
- Audio-reactive effects (yes, it vibes to music)
- Racing mode where you steer with your ha…
So I had a simple idea: “Let’s control a fluid simulation with hand gestures.”
Now I have:
- 10,000 particles
- A racing mode
- Audio reactivity
- A physics engine
- And emotional damage from GitHub’s 100MB file limit
Worth it.
What Is HydraFlow?
HydraFlow is a real-time, gesture-controlled fluid simulation where your hands literally control physics.
Open palm? Particles fly away. Pinch? Black hole. Fist? Time stops. Two hands? Magnetic chaos.
It’s like Doctor Strange, but with Python and worse life choices.
The Cool Stuff
- 10,000 particles moving at 60 FPS
- MediaPipe hand tracking
- Multiple visual modes (Matrix, Heatmap, Disco, etc.)
- Audio-reactive effects (yes, it vibes to music)
- Racing mode where you steer with your hands
- Glow, trails, chaos mode because subtlety is overrated
Your webcam becomes a controller. Your hands become an API.
The GitHub Villain Arc
Everything was going great until I tried to push my repo.
GitHub saw my .exe file and said:
“That’s cute. Now delete it.”
Turns out GitHub has a 100MB file limit, and my build files were built DIFFERENT.
So I:
- Nuked big files from git history
- Added a proper
.gitignore - Force-pushed like a responsible menace
Now the repo is clean, lean, and judgment-free.
What I Learned
- GitHub is not your USB drive
- Build files are not source code
.gitignoreis not optional- Physics + hand tracking = dopamine
- Debugging at 2AM builds character
Why I Built This
Because:
- Mouse control is boring
- Gestures feel futuristic
- Physics is fun
- And I like watching particles suffer
Also, it looks cool on my portfolio.
Try It Yourself
Repo: https://github.com/TROJANmocX/HydraFlow
Wave your hands. Break physics. Feel powerful.
Final Thoughts
HydraFlow started as a fun experiment. It became a full-blown chaos simulator. And GitHub tried to humble me.
But we move.
If you’re building something weird, ambitious, and slightly unhinged you’re doing it right.