As a child, I was fascinated by math and puzzles. One of my favourites was the tangram puzzle, where the goal is to rearrange seven geometric pieces into different shapes, such as animals, objects, and numbers.
I loved drawing and anime for as long as I can remember. I grew up watching Dragon Ball and Pokémon, and spent countless hours sketching Goku and Pikachu. At the time, with very few learning resources available online, I never imagined I would one day be able to create animations myself.
In the early years of my career as a software engineer, I discovered beautifully animated educational content while revisiting mathematics and algorithms. I was impressed by how animation could make complex ideas easy to understand. Inspired by what I had seen, I wanted to learn how to create animations myself. I tried After Effects, but its complex interface and lack of powerful illustration tools left me frustrated. I wondered how great it would be to have a single tool for both illustration and animation — one with a clean interface and a simple workflow.
Later in 2019, I decided to build my own editor: Trangram. I named it Trangram because I wanted the creative process to feel as intuitive as rearranging tangram pieces. I spent about a year developing the first version, implementing advanced features such as morphing and rigging.
After creating many illustrations and animations with the first version, however, I realized something was missing. Although the editor was functional and easy to use, its drawing capabilities were limited to basic shapes and straight lines, while animations were restricted to scene-to-scene transitions. It worked, but it wasn't the creative tool I had envisioned, and I was determined to improve it.
Reflecting on that experience, I spent time studying graphic design and animation more deeply. I realized that Bézier curves were essential for creating smooth, flexible shapes, while a timeline and keyframe system with easing and looping would allow each object to move naturally and independently.
In late 2021, with a much clearer vision of what a powerful creative editor should be, I decided to start over from scratch. I rebuilt Trangram with a strong foundation, making sure every core interaction worked smoothly before implementing advanced features such as rounded corners, morphing, motion paths, and looping.
Throughout the development of the second version, I tested every new feature extensively to ensure it was both powerful and easy to use. Using Trangram to create illustrations and animations taught me that creative work is inherently iterative. That experience guided many design decisions, leading me to build tools that make it easy to revise artwork and animations across multiple keyframes without starting over.
Building the second version was one of the most enjoyable projects I've ever worked on. Each new feature opened up new creative possibilities. Seeing those features come together, then using them to create artwork and animations, was incredibly rewarding.
By late 2023, what had begun as a hobby project had evolved into a fully featured creative tool. Trangram lets users create, modify, and animate illustrations at any stage using a single, consistent set of tools, directly in the browser.
I released Trangram on Hacker News on March 12, 2024, after spending a few more months creating showcase projects and polishing the web app. The response was overwhelmingly positive. At the time, I didn't realize how successful the launch had been until someone later pointed out just how well it had done.
The encouragement from the community motivated me to create video tutorials, helping more people discover what Trangram can do. It also inspired me to keep improving Trangram. There are still many exciting ideas and features I'd love to add.
Today, I hope Trangram helps you create illustrations and animations more easily. More importantly, I hope you enjoy creating with Trangram as much as I have enjoyed building and using it.
If you enjoy using Trangram, I'd greatly appreciate your support. Please consider sharing it with others, subscribing to my YouTube channel, joining r/Trangram, or following me on Twitter. Thank you for being part of the journey.
