Pwsh Matrix Animation

Matrix Animation in your Terminal (cross-platform in PowerShell). Written to be quite flexible, featuring:

• Cross-platform rendering systems (Switchable with -Renderer [Windows, Unix])
  • Windows mode: Uses PowerShell's native console manipulation capabilities through System.Management.Automation.Host namespace. It utilizes Place-BufferedContent for precise character placement and supports Windows console color schemes.
  • Unix mode: Employs ANSI escape sequences for text positioning and coloring, providing compatibility with a wide range of Unix-based terminals. This mode offers more fine-grained color control, enabling smoother color transitions and a more vibrant "glow" effect for the leading characters.
• Adjustable sparsity of the matrix effect with -Sparsity
• Customizable animation speed with -SleepTime
• Option to use special characters for a more authentic Matrix look with -SpecialChars (works best with Unicode-compatible terminals)
• Debug mode for troubleshooting with -Debug
• Dynamic resizing to fit the terminal window

Demo

Matrix Running in MacOS Iterm2

Features

• Cross-platform compatibility (Windows and Unix-based systems)
• Adjustable matrix density
• Customizable animation speed
• Special character mode for authentic Matrix appearance
• Dynamic resizing to fit terminal window
• Debug mode for troubleshooting

Requirements

• PowerShell 5.1 or later (PowerShell Core 6.0+ recommended for cross-platform use)

Usage

Run the script using PowerShell:

Matrix.ps1 [[-Sparsity] <double>] [[-SleepTime] <int>] [[-Renderer] <string>] [-SpecialChars] [-Debug]

Parameters

• -Sparsity: Density of the matrix effect (range: 0.0001 to 1, default: 0.1)
• -SleepTime: Animation speed in milliseconds (default: 50)
• -Renderer: Choose between "Windows" or "Unix" rendering (default: "Unix")
• -SpecialChars: Use special characters for a more authentic Matrix look
• -Debug: Enable debug mode for troubleshooting

Examples

1. Run with default settings:

   .\Matrix.ps1

2. Full feature demo:

   .\Matrix.ps1 -SpecialChars -Sparsity 1 -Renderer Unix

3. Use Windows on old terminals (like conhost, cmd)

   .\Matrix.ps1 -SleepTime 20 -Renderer Windows

In case you've never setup powershell

• Run this: Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser RemoteSigned (Allows you to run powershell scripts)
• Cd to the path where you cloned this project
• Run ./Matrix.ps1

How It Works

The script creates a matrix-like animation by:

1. Generating random characters (including optional special characters)
2. Creating vertical lines of these characters
3. Animating the lines to fall down the screen
4. Adjusting colors to create a glowing effect

The animation adapts to the terminal window size and can handle window resizing.

Known Issues

• Performance may vary depending on terminal and system specifications
• Some terminals may not support all color features

License

MIT License

Acknowledgements

Inspired by the iconic digital rain effect from "The Matrix" film series.