We’re back again for 2025! Here’s the familiar prompt supplied to ChatGPT now running the 5.1 model:
Draw a Christmas tree using SwiftUI
Expand to see the code.
import SwiftUI
struct ChristmasTreeView: View {
var body: some View {
ZStack {
Color.black.opacity(0.9)
.ignoresSafeArea()
VStack(spacing: 0) {
// Star
StarShape(points: 5)
.fill(Color.yellow)
.frame(width: 40, height: 40)
.shadow(radius: 5)
.padding(.bottom, 8)
// Tree (3 triangles)
TreeLayer(color: .green, scale: 1.0)
TreeLayer(color: .green, scale: 1.2)
TreeLayer(color: .green, scale: 1.4)
// Trunk
Rectangle()
.fill(Color.brown)
.frame(width: 30, height: 50)
.padding(.top, -10)
}
.overlay(OrnamentsView())
}
}
}
// MARK: - Tree layer (triangle)
struct TreeLayer: View {
let color: Color
let scale: CGFloat
var body: some View {
Triangle()
.fill(
LinearGradient(
gradient: Gradient(colors: [color.opacity(0.8), color]),
startPoint: .top,
endPoint: .bottom
)
)
.frame(width: 160 * scale, height: 100 * scale)
.shadow(radius: 5)
.offset(y: -20 * (scale - 1)) // stack layers nicely
}
}
struct Triangle: Shape {
func path(in rect: CGRect) -> Path {
var path = Path()
path.move(to: CGPoint(x: rect.midX, y: rect.minY)) // top
path.addLine(to: CGPoint(x: rect.minX, y: rect.maxY)) // bottom left
path.addLine(to: CGPoint(x: rect.maxX, y: rect.maxY)) // bottom right
path.closeSubpath()
return path
}
}
// MARK: - Star shape
struct StarShape: Shape {
var points: Int
func path(in rect: CGRect) -> Path {
guard points >= 2 else { return Path() }
let center = CGPoint(x: rect.midX, y: rect.midY)
let radius = min(rect.width, rect.height) / 2
let innerRadius = radius * 0.4
var path = Path()
let angleStep = .pi * 2 / Double(points * 2)
var angle = -Double.pi / 2 // start pointing up
var firstPoint = true
for i in 0 ..< points * 2 {
let r = (i % 2 == 0) ? radius : innerRadius
let x = center.x + CGFloat(cos(angle)) * r
let y = center.y + CGFloat(sin(angle)) * r
if firstPoint {
path.move(to: CGPoint(x: x, y: y))
firstPoint = false
} else {
path.addLine(to: CGPoint(x: x, y: y))
}
angle += angleStep
}
path.closeSubpath()
return path
}
}
// MARK: - Ornaments overlay
struct OrnamentsView: View {
var body: some View {
ZStack {
ornament(x: -50, y: -40, color: .red)
ornament(x: 40, y: -20, color: .yellow)
ornament(x: -30, y: 10, color: .blue)
ornament(x: 50, y: 30, color: .pink)
ornament(x: 0, y: -5, color: .orange)
}
}
private func ornament(x: CGFloat, y: CGFloat, color: Color) -> some View {
Circle()
.fill(color)
.frame(width: 14, height: 14)
.shadow(radius: 3)
.offset(x: x, y: y)
}
}
// MARK: - Preview
struct ChristmasTreeView_Previews: PreviewProvider {
static var previews: some View {
ChristmasTreeView()
}
}
Have we already hit peak tree!? Was it decorated as lazily as possible because the model knows how I’d do it?
Visually things are similar, but maybe a little worse:
- The tree’s body looks more like three stacked triangles than one contiguous shape.
- Ornament distribution is clustered to the middle with one ornament attached to air.
- We still have a floating star.
- It tried to get fancy with some opacity and shadow tricks, but they fall a bit flat.
- Once again we have a new background color.
That said, this isn’t too terrible knowing that I didn’t give the model the opportunity to analyze its own visual output and retry.
Code-wise:
- ✅ It extracted more reusable views so the main body view is easier to understand.
- ✅ Made good use of
MARKannotations to increase readability. - ✅ Removed some global “magic numbers” (e.g. offsets) to enable adaptability to other canvas sizes.
- 🤔 Made the generation of the
StarShapepath a lot more complicated. It traded simplicity for “flexibility” with ultimately the same output.
Happy Holidays! 🎄🤖
