GoKawiilRik Arends builds 3D flyable visualizer for 2.5M lines of code, plans to sell it
Makepad creator Rik Arends built a 3D navigable tool that renders up to 2.5 million lines of source code at over 120 frames per second, initially requiring 21GB of RAM before optimizations to indexing and streaming compression brought usage down to 3.5GB. He also tested loading Chromium's 51-million-line codebase, which took about 60 seconds.
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The project shows how modern hardware can finally make once-niche ideas like 3D file navigation, previously seen only in movies like Jurassic Park, practically usable at scale. While the current version is more visually striking than functionally essential, it hints at future tools that could combine 3D visualization with dependency tracking or historical change data, competing with existing tools like CodeCharta.
- Arends' visualizer renders 2.5 million lines of code in 3D at over 120 FPS.
- Memory usage was optimized from 21GB down to 3.5GB using indexing and streaming compression.
- Arends plans to commercialize the tool, though it currently lacks features like time-based change tracking.
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Published there as: “Developer builds viral 3D source code visualizer that consumes 21GB of RAM — flies around 2.5 million lines of code at over 120 frames per second”
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