What is Delaunay triangulation

Low-poly art takes a photo and rebuilds it from triangles. The clever part is choosing where the triangles go. The Delaunay triangulation — named after the mathematician Boris Delaunay — connects a set of points so that no point falls inside any triangle's circumcircle. The result is the 'most balanced' possible triangulation: no skinny slivers, a clean mesh everywhere.

In this tool, points are sampled intelligently: areas with strong edges (faces, eyes, architectural lines) attract more points, while smooth areas (sky, skin, walls) get fewer. That's why a low-poly portrait still looks like a person instead of a jumble of random shapes.

Choosing triangle count

100–200 triangles: bold, abstract, almost cubist. The face becomes a mask of big planes. Best for posters where the geometry is the point.

300–450 triangles: the sweet spot. Features stay recognizable while the faceted texture reads clearly from across the room.

600+ triangles: fine detail — eyelashes, folds, text — but the low-poly magic gets subtler. Use it for small prints or when the photo itself is busy.

A good rule: the bigger the print, the fewer triangles you need, because distance hides the facets anyway.

Edge lines & seeds

Edge Lines draws the triangle borders. At 0, you get a smooth, stained-glass color mosaic. At 40–70, the wireframe shows through — the classic technical-illustration look. Low-poly artwork in 3D software usually has visible edges, so most people land around 30–50.

Random Seed changes the point distribution. Because the layout is random-but-weighted, every seed produces a genuinely different composition. For a series of posters from one photo, generate five seeds and pick your favorite — it's like hiring five different artists.

Pro tip: portraits look best at 300–400 triangles with light edge lines; landscapes shine at 150–250 with no lines at all, like a geometric sunset.

Uses for low-poly art

Low-poly is everywhere in modern branding: tech pitch decks, startup logos, album art, game UI, even architectural visualization. Because it sits at the intersection of photography and 3D design, it reads as modern instantly.

Try it on a city skyline for a poster, on a pet portrait for a funny-yet-cool gift, or on a product shot to make a brand deck stand out. The full-resolution HD export keeps the triangles crisp even at print sizes.

Troubleshooting: noise & artifacts

Two complaints dominate low-poly discussion: 'it looks like noise' and 'the edges are jagged'. Noise appears when the triangle count is too high for a small export — facets become tinier than the pixels, and the texture vanishes. Fix it by lowering the count. Jagged edges appear when triangles are too few and follow the silhouette poorly; raise the count, or keep Edge Lines on so the mesh reads as intentional.

Portraits are the hardest case: skin is smooth, so low counts work; hair is chaotic, so it eats triangles. Compromise around 300–400 and let the geometry do the talking.

From photo to game asset

Low-poly is the native language of indie games. A portrait or prop processed this way becomes a plausible game asset: flat shading, visible facets, clean silhouette. Export at 4× HD and downscale in your engine of choice; keep Edge Lines at 30–50 so the wireframe reads like a stylized model rather than a texture.

For UI icons and badges, drop to 80–120 triangles — the geometry should survive at 48 pixels.

Series workflow

One photo, five seeds, five posters — that's a cheap and fast series. When you find a seed you like, write down the settings; the same seed and count reproduce the same composition every time. This reproducibility is exactly what designers need when a client asks for 'the same style, more angles'.

Our export keeps full resolution, so each series member stays print-ready.

Frequently asked questions

What's the best triangle count for a profile picture? 150–250. A profile image is small, so a low count keeps the geometry readable instead of turning into pixel dust. For large posters, 300–450 gives the detail a bigger canvas deserves.

Can I use low-poly art as a logo? Yes — many modern logos use faceted geometry. Keep Edge Lines on, drop the count to 80–150, and export a simple, bold composition. Flat colors mean the design survives any reproduction method.

Why are my edges jagged at small sizes? Low-poly is inherently faceted; at small sizes the facets outnumber the pixels. Export at 2×–4× and view at actual size before judging — most 'jagged' complaints disappear at real print resolution.

Does the tool support transparent backgrounds? The effect fills the full frame with triangles, so the output is a complete image rather than an isolated subject. For transparent-outline work, pair it with Silhouette first, then process the silhouette through low-poly.