Both captures below are real iTerm2 sessions running the demo — the same binary renders at pixel resolution where the terminal speaks the kitty graphics protocol, and as ASCII cells everywhere else.
kitty graphics — smoke-gfx
A density field is advected by semi-Lagrangian backtrace through a procedural curl-noise flow plus buoyancy, dissipating as it climbs; alpha follows density so the smoke drifts over your terminal. c swaps grey smoke for coloured ink.
smoke — kitty pixel mode
ASCII cells — smoke
Density mapped to a ·:░▒▓█ ramp and the dye colour.
smoke — ASCII cell mode
Controls
Key
Action
space
puff
mouse click
inject dye
a
toggle the source
c
cycle dye colour
+ / -
buoyancy
q / Esc
quit
Tuning env vars use the SMOKE_* prefix — e.g. SMOKE_MAXDIM=1024 for sharper frames, SMOKE_CELLS=1 to force cell rendering even on kitty terminals. See the overview for the full tuning table.
