4 ms·

Show HN: Unwonted.io – in-browser, offline tool for generative art, mainly NFTs

17 points by ipster_io 5y ago

ipster_io 5y ago
I am experimenting with NFTs. I found it hard to manually come up with unique traits by combining layers. As a dev you can easily write such a tool but I know some people who have asked me to do that for them so I decided to create a tool. Simply name your image files accordingly, drag entire folder(s), define how many NFTs you wanna generate, size etc and it will do that for you in browser. It's in browser / offline so your images are not uploaded anywhere. You can also disconnected with the network if you are concerned... The only thing I track are page views to see if the tool is at all useful. This tool also create a ERC721 (OpenSea specific) metadata template if you wanna create your own smart contract and host metadata... but if you are creating small set of images its best to lazy mint on markets like OpenSea. Hope it's useful to someone, somewhere out there. P.S. I also create my own collection, its not for sale yet but if you are interested its here https://unwonted.io/art https://unwonted.io/art
- iantimothy 5y ago
  This is going to be a super useful tool! How many layers would someone need to upload for each trait type? Wouldn't the number of unique NFTs that can be generated be constrained by the number of trait types and number of trait values per type?
  - ipster_io 5y ago
    Thanks, the number of combinations can be very large, it really depends on what you are expecting. trait type is picked on random so there will be outputs which are similar and then there will be some which are extremely rare. I generated quite a few and then picked some which I liked the most to showcase on opensea. You can also use rarity flag 'r' or 'u' to give some traits much less of a chance to appear.
- richrichardsson 5y ago
  I think this tool could be really useful outside of NFTs as well, eg. to generate a bunch of similar but different avatars.
  - ipster_io 5y ago
    Exactly, I focussed on NFTs to get the point across. Avatar creation is a great example. Also, I will be adding few more tools to the site for generative art.
    - user-the-name 5y ago
      The point you are getting across by focusing on NFTs is that you are just taking part in a big scam, and that you are destroying the environment. If you want to get a point across other than that, stay far, far away from NFTs.
      - ipster_io 5y ago
        There is something called lazy minting. You are not doing anything unless someone is interested in buying your artwork. You mint when its needed. You can do this as a developer or even OpenSea lets you do this. Also, different blockchains work differently. Destroying the environment is not really a valid point.
        user-the-name 5y ago
        The big ones do. And all of them rely on trading against blockchains that do destroy the environment. If you do anything to support any of this industry, you end up supporting destroying the environment. You can not escape this.
wiradikusuma 5y ago
In my previous comment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28289339 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28289339), I lamented how I missed the boat on BTC and ETH, and then somebody commented about NFT. I want to like NFT, but I don't see how randomly generated stuff like this (no intention to dismiss author's work) can be valuable? First tweet — Yes you can't reproduce being first, but it's only valuable because it's the first on Twitter. If it's the first post on SomeRandomSocMed.com, I don't care. Original Disaster Girl meme — It's valuable because the meme is famous. If you create a new meme, I don't care. Unless it's famous. So, unless the randomly generated content somehow becomes popular, I don't see how it's more valuable than the another unique content by the same algorithm. Now, many artworks for sale as NFT are beautiful. I'm sure it took some time and effort to create. But, harsh as it may seem, it's no different than those cheap paintings being sold by the roadside. Or am I missing something?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- csbartus 5y ago
  I’m clearly missing something. I see NFTs a way to sign your digital work - which was previously impossible. Or a way to speculate, aka create (art)work which can have arbitrarily any value, from O to infinite, depending on how powerful the person / network is who sets the price.
  - user-the-name 5y ago
    It's just a scam. There's not really any more depth to it than that.
- gnrlst 5y ago
  What really made me change my mind on NFT's is collectibles. Not so much random pixel art, but actual collectibles (e.g. think stamps, baseball cards, basketball cards, pokemon, etc). The success of NBA Top Shots is a case in point. The blockchain allows for decentralized verifiability of a collectible's origin/authenticity (making fakes impossible), and even more importantly: seamlessly allows to create a marketplace around the collectibles without needing to rely on ebay and shady sellers. I definitely think this pixel art fad will pass or remain a niche, but the concept of collectibles has been around for a long time and will stay for a long time to come.
rvz 5y ago
From ICOs to Tokens (ERC-20) to NFTs (ERC-721). I see another over-supply of 'randomly generated' art created by anyone, just like the tokens. This reminds me of the tool to generate your own ERC20 token [0]. Won't be surprised to see them add NFTs. One scam after another. [0] https://cointool.app/dashboard https://cointool.app/dashboard
pluc 5y ago
"Generate something that has value because it's rare automatically!" I don't think value means what you think it means
ipster_io 5y ago
Here is the thing; Being curious will always make you happy and more often then not it does pays off. Not necessarily in terms of money but you get something out of it. Let people be excited about things.
- antifa 5y ago
  I'm really excited about artificial scarcity and environmental destruction for digital beany babies.
smt88 5y ago
Looks like we're well into the shitcoin phase for NFTs.
ejanus 5y ago
Great tool. I will take a look.
codedestroyer 5y ago
cool idea, maybe zip the files for the user so people do not have to deal with multiple download prompts
- ipster_io 5y ago
  Yeah, I was going to do that!

17 points by ipster_io 5y ago

I am experimenting with NFTs. I found it hard to manually come up with unique traits by combining layers. As a dev you can easily write such a tool but I know some people who have asked me to do that for them so I decided to create a tool. Simply name your image files accordingly, drag entire folder(s), define how many NFTs you wanna generate, size etc and it will do that for you in browser. It's in browser / offline so your images are not uploaded anywhere. You can also disconnected with the network if you are concerned... The only thing I track are page views to see if the tool is at all useful. This tool also create a ERC721 (OpenSea specific) metadata template if you wanna create your own smart contract and host metadata... but if you are creating small set of images its best to lazy mint on markets like OpenSea. Hope it's useful to someone, somewhere out there. P.S. I also create my own collection, its not for sale yet but if you are interested its here https://unwonted.io/art https://unwonted.io/art

iantimothy 5y ago
This is going to be a super useful tool! How many layers would someone need to upload for each trait type? Wouldn't the number of unique NFTs that can be generated be constrained by the number of trait types and number of trait values per type?
- ipster_io 5y ago
  Thanks, the number of combinations can be very large, it really depends on what you are expecting. trait type is picked on random so there will be outputs which are similar and then there will be some which are extremely rare. I generated quite a few and then picked some which I liked the most to showcase on opensea. You can also use rarity flag 'r' or 'u' to give some traits much less of a chance to appear.
richrichardsson 5y ago
I think this tool could be really useful outside of NFTs as well, eg. to generate a bunch of similar but different avatars.
- ipster_io 5y ago
  Exactly, I focussed on NFTs to get the point across. Avatar creation is a great example. Also, I will be adding few more tools to the site for generative art.
  - user-the-name 5y ago
    The point you are getting across by focusing on NFTs is that you are just taking part in a big scam, and that you are destroying the environment. If you want to get a point across other than that, stay far, far away from NFTs.
    - ipster_io 5y ago
      There is something called lazy minting. You are not doing anything unless someone is interested in buying your artwork. You mint when its needed. You can do this as a developer or even OpenSea lets you do this. Also, different blockchains work differently. Destroying the environment is not really a valid point.
      - user-the-name 5y ago
        The big ones do. And all of them rely on trading against blockchains that do destroy the environment. If you do anything to support any of this industry, you end up supporting destroying the environment. You can not escape this.

wiradikusuma 5y ago

In my previous comment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28289339 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28289339), I lamented how I missed the boat on BTC and ETH, and then somebody commented about NFT. I want to like NFT, but I don't see how randomly generated stuff like this (no intention to dismiss author's work) can be valuable? First tweet — Yes you can't reproduce being first, but it's only valuable because it's the first on Twitter. If it's the first post on SomeRandomSocMed.com, I don't care. Original Disaster Girl meme — It's valuable because the meme is famous. If you create a new meme, I don't care. Unless it's famous. So, unless the randomly generated content somehow becomes popular, I don't see how it's more valuable than the another unique content by the same algorithm. Now, many artworks for sale as NFT are beautiful. I'm sure it took some time and effort to create. But, harsh as it may seem, it's no different than those cheap paintings being sold by the roadside. Or am I missing something?

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
csbartus 5y ago
I’m clearly missing something. I see NFTs a way to sign your digital work - which was previously impossible. Or a way to speculate, aka create (art)work which can have arbitrarily any value, from O to infinite, depending on how powerful the person / network is who sets the price.
- user-the-name 5y ago
  It's just a scam. There's not really any more depth to it than that.
gnrlst 5y ago
What really made me change my mind on NFT's is collectibles. Not so much random pixel art, but actual collectibles (e.g. think stamps, baseball cards, basketball cards, pokemon, etc). The success of NBA Top Shots is a case in point. The blockchain allows for decentralized verifiability of a collectible's origin/authenticity (making fakes impossible), and even more importantly: seamlessly allows to create a marketplace around the collectibles without needing to rely on ebay and shady sellers. I definitely think this pixel art fad will pass or remain a niche, but the concept of collectibles has been around for a long time and will stay for a long time to come.

rvz 5y ago

From ICOs to Tokens (ERC-20) to NFTs (ERC-721). I see another over-supply of 'randomly generated' art created by anyone, just like the tokens. This reminds me of the tool to generate your own ERC20 token [0]. Won't be surprised to see them add NFTs. One scam after another. [0] https://cointool.app/dashboard https://cointool.app/dashboard

pluc 5y ago

"Generate something that has value because it's rare automatically!" I don't think value means what you think it means

ipster_io 5y ago

Here is the thing; Being curious will always make you happy and more often then not it does pays off. Not necessarily in terms of money but you get something out of it. Let people be excited about things.

antifa 5y ago
I'm really excited about artificial scarcity and environmental destruction for digital beany babies.

smt88 5y ago

Looks like we're well into the shitcoin phase for NFTs.

ejanus 5y ago

Great tool. I will take a look.

codedestroyer 5y ago

cool idea, maybe zip the files for the user so people do not have to deal with multiple download prompts

ipster_io 5y ago
Yeah, I was going to do that!