NameFlake - Generate a Snowflake from your name! app for iPhone and iPad

Have you ever wondered what your personalised snowflake would look like? With NameFlake, now you can find out! Just type in your name and see your own personal snowflake growing before your eyes.

People say that there are no two snowflakes in this world that are the same... But they might be wrong! Share your snowflake on Facebook or Twitter to see if you can find your snowflake soulmate!

Download the NameFlake and allow yourself to be drawn into the magic of winter.

Or if you don’t believe in magic... then you’re probably a scientist. And obviously you want to know how it works.

So: in the real world, every snowflake is different because even the slightest changes in the temperature of the surroundings influence the energy changes during the creation of a snowflake. Using a special algorithm, your name is converted to a number which then becomes a parameter reflecting a particular temperature. The growth itself is based on the concept of a hexagonal cellular automaton, i.e. a grid comprised of cells where the state of the cell – frozen or unfrozen – depends on the state of its direct and indirect neighbours.

If you would like to learn more about how this app works, check out the article “Fuzzy hexagonal automata” by Angela Coxe and Clifford Reiter.