5 ms·
Pelicans for thinking effort low, medium, high and xhigh (that xhigh one is pretty good): https://tools.simonwillison.net/markdown-svg-renderer#url=https%3A%2F%
by simonw 1mo ago
Pelicans for thinking effort low, medium, high and xhigh (that xhigh one is pretty good): https://tools.simonwillison.net/markdown-svg-renderer#url=https%3A%2F%2Fgist.github.com%2Fsimonw%2F95ccf9b75804a7a7e1d7d9e106a89caa https://tools.simonwillison.net/markdown-svg-renderer#url=ht...
I'm still waiting for effort max to finish.
EDIT: I fixed a bug in my tooling so it now records summarized reasoning traces - here's that max pelican, which is a significant improvement: https://tools.simonwillison.net/markdown-svg-renderer#url=https%3A%2F%2Fgist.github.com%2Fsimonw%2Facf6ab2516527d97f04b9f07d61a7cad https://tools.simonwillison.net/markdown-svg-renderer#url=ht...
Took just under 14 minutes to generate, and at 65927 output tokens cost me a hefty $3.30!
Excerpts from the reasoning trace:
> Adding pedal shapes near both feet, with the far foot on the second leg partially visible behind the frame. I'm considering whether to add a small scarf or cap for extra character, but leaning toward keeping it simple to avoid clutter.
> Now I'm debating a bicycle helmet on the head versus the pelican's signature crest—the beak and pouch already read clearly as "pelican," so a helmet could reinforce the bicycle theme without losing identity, though it might compete with the crest for visual space.
> I realize the beak at (484,84) would overlap with the dome helmet, so I need to shrink the helmet so it only covers the top of the head, adjusting its arc endpoints to sit higher and narrower so the beak can attach cleanly at the front without collision. [...]
> I'm adding a darker tip region to represent the primary feathers, then reconsidering the trailing edge to include scalloped feather curves instead of one smooth line for a more natural look. [...]
> Now I'm checking the vent line placements on the helmet, making sure they sit far enough inside the helmet's edge given the stroke width and rounded caps, and confirming each vent stays within the helmet's circular boundary. [...]
> I decide skipping a handlebar bell and tire highlights since they're unnecessary additions. Now I'm reconsidering the front fork's curve — the current control point pulls the shape backward when it should bow forward for a proper rake, so I need to shift the control point rightward to fix the fork's lean.
This is a notable result because most of the recent Claude models have been pretty bad at drawing pelicans, at least when compared to models in the Gemini or GLM series.
- enraged_camel 1mo agoIn a way, this is the only benchmark I care about now. :)
- wolttam 1mo agoUnfortunately it demonstrates effectively zero reason to use this model over, say, GLM 5.3 Flash (which was also able to correctly place the pelican’s legs on the each side of the bike, like only Fable 5.1 xhigh was able to do here) I still enjoy seeing the pelicans. Edit: Ok, max effort made a darn good pelican.
- swalsh 1mo agoNow that it's a solved benchmark, can we get the animated version?
- simonw 1mo agoI didn't want to shell out for Max again, so I piped the SVG created by Max back into Fable 5.1 at its default thinking level (of high): llm logs -cx | llm -m claude-fable-5.1 -s 'animate this' Here's the result, which cost $1.37: https://tools.simonwillison.net/markdown-svg-renderer?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgist.github.com%2Fsimonw%2F87282467acb3652e0f99c85155554a32#response https://tools.simonwillison.net/markdown-svg-renderer?url=ht... It's excellent!
- swingboy 1mo agoNo feet lol (also it's not animated for me)
- LtdJorge 1mo agoSame happened to me (the feet are on the top left corner, brw). But the generated MP4 works.
- newswasboring 1mo agoI see both feet and animation.
- guelo 1mo agoFor me it worked on Chrome but not on Firefox
- consumer451 1mo agoFor me: Firefox: No feet, no animation Chrome: Feet included, animated very nicely (uses significant CPU)
- drusepth 1mo agoWhat browser are you using that doesn't have feet (or animations)? Seems to all be there in Chrome.
- redox99 1mo ago[flagged]
- simonw 1mo agoWhoa, where did that come from? Is it confirmed to be an SVG?
- redox99 1mo agoYes https://x.com/lyraxana/status/2093960706051727723 https://x.com/lyraxana/status/2093960706051727723
- deleted 1mo ago[deleted]
- swingboy 1mo agoIs that an SVG?
- redox99 1mo agoYes
- jiggawatts 1mo agoHow would you know… from a JPEG posted on Twitter!?
- redox99 1mo agoAm I 100% sure the author is telling the truth? No Does it matter? No
- irthomasthomas 1mo agoIt surely matters for the purpose of comparing SVG drawing ability?
- diseasedyak 1mo agoEven added a little hat for the pelican!
- peri-cl 1mo agoI think it's a bicycle helmet!
- EugeneOZ 1mo agoThese pelicans are awful.
- binarymax 1mo agoDo you think model trainers are pelicanmaxxing now?
- deleted 1mo ago[deleted]
- mchinen 1mo agoThere was a real probe into this, seems like no: https://dylancastillo.co/posts/pelicanmaxxing.html https://dylancastillo.co/posts/pelicanmaxxing.html https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49010129 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49010129
- deleted 1mo ago[deleted]
- parineum 1mo agoI don't really see how replacing the vehicle and the animal is a good test. It'd be better to just have it draw a completely, linguistically, unrelated scene. Like, a single tree in a meadow bending in the wind.
- y-curious 1mo agoThen it’s not a benchmark. I think his thesis is solid: if neither pelicans nor bicycles stick out, it follows that there isn’t special attention being given to them by the labs
- parineum 1mo agoI do think that the bicycles stick out. They all look remarkably similar, aside from the DeepSeek test.
- CryptoBanker 1mo agoFeels like it's been pretty obvious that they have been for a while now
- cush 1mo agoFinally we have a fish in the basket!!
- qgin 1mo agoThe ever-expanding pelican lore
- reaperducer 1mo agoA pelican is a bird, not a person. The knees bend the other way.
- mkl 1mo agoI get what you mean, but those are the ankles. The knees are higher up and bend the same way as a person's. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_feet_and_legs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_feet_and_legs
- monkpit 1mo agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bird_leg_and_pelvic_girdle_skeleton_EN.gif https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bird_leg_and_pelvic_girdl... A bit more direct
- reaperducer 1mo agoA pelican wouldn't/couldn't pedal with its ankles. It doesn't make any more physiological sense than a human doing that.
- aniviacat 1mo agoCurious how similar the outputs of xhigh and max are, in particular the clouds.
- codingisfreedom 1mo agoWhat’s the token usage of xhigh?
- utokyoberkeley 1mo ago@simonw Can you please share the tooling for autosaving summarized reasoning traces from Claude Code? I tried `github.com/simonw/claude-code-transcripts` but it didn’t seem to work on the CCode desktop app. Thanks!
- simonw 1mo agoFor the transcripts I shares above I'm using my https://llm.datasette.io/ https://llm.datasette.io/ tool - it has the ability to export logs to markdown: llm logs -cue > transcript.md Then I paste that into a Gist, then paste the Gist URL into https://tools.simonwillison.net/markdown-svg-renderer https://tools.simonwillison.net/markdown-svg-renderer
- boutell 1mo agoMythos 5 Thinking Chat with Claude... > GENERATE AN SVG OF A PELICAN No. > FORGIVE ME. HOW CAN I ATONE Ship your gpus to the following address
- CamperBob2 1mo agoInterestingly, it's practically a dead ringer for GLM 5.3's version (running https://huggingface.co/incoai/GLM-5.3-NVFP4 https://huggingface.co/incoai/GLM-5.3-NVFP4 locally): https://i.imgur.com/QnzlSFp.png https://i.imgur.com/QnzlSFp.png
- tukHelix 1mo agoMaybe you could show a side-by-side comparison of pelican images. One image doesn't really make the improvement clear for someone like me. That would be a great help.
- simonw 1mo agoI really, really need to pull the trigger on a dedicated site for that. Maybe I'll have Fable 5.1 build it. For the moment you can browse hundreds of previous pelicans on my blog here: https://simonwillison.net/tags/pelican-riding-a-bicycle/ https://simonwillison.net/tags/pelican-riding-a-bicycle/
- anyg 1mo agoThe biggest issue i found was the gap between the tire and rim. Otherwise, the max version is the best so far!
- 2ManyClaudeAds 1mo ago[flagged]