Generative art is the practice of using computers to create artwork from a set of components and criteria. To demonstrate, you could take a bunch of criteria and programming to generate a forest. Example:
Source: Presearch. Seriously, if anyone can help me source this app, I would greatly appreciate it.
See the different sliders on the left? You can choose how many trees, a range in size, the height, the angle of the branches, the number of layers, and the quantity of leaves to create a totally unique looking forest.
Programs like these, while cool, lack a certain uniqueness that, in my opinion, only a human touch can add.
I've spent the past several months learning a bit about NFTs and generative art. There are many NFT generative art projects. Some of these generative art NFT projects are similar in nature to the trees example above. A set of parameters, that are randomized, to create 10,000 unique copies in a set of NFTs.
Other projects have a bit more of a human touch, such as "Bored Ape Yacht Club":
Source: Bored Ape Yacht Club.
With "Bored Ape Yacht Club", you can see that each bored ape has the same general characteristics, but is modular in nature. Some have open mouths, some have closed mouths, some have pizza in their mouth. There are different attributes for eyes, ears, hats, etc. These are all hand drawn attributes, so while each ape is generated through a randomization of various features, each ape has a uniquely human drawn look.
I would like to learn to create generative art via this process. My first project idea is to do this for the top 50-100 crypto currencies. I can see the basic layers for each generative art piece to consist of the following:
- Background
- Token
- Hair
- Hat
- Glasses
- Arms
- Hands
- Legs
- Feet
I would anticipate other metadata that would be important to the value of the NFT, such as the token symbol, whether the token is a smart contract on a blockchain, or if it is the native currency on it's own blockchain (think ETH versus any ERC-20 tokens, or BNB versus any BEP-20 tokens).
Source: Me
I also wonder if there is a way for the metadata (or even visual display of the NFT), to change based on real world characteristics.
For example, could there be a feature that caused the NFT to have a green aura when the token has increased in value within the past week, or a red aura when the token has decreased in value within the past week hours? Perhaps parameters that cause the token to glow brighter or less bright based on how much the token increased or decreased in value?
Last, I wonder... is there a way to code these NFTs to later be used as an avatar in an open game world environment? Or to use as units in an RPG game?
These of course, are things that must be possible, but I have several questions, such as:
- But how resource intensive would they be to implement?
- Do I know people who would be willing to assist me on this project?
- Would this project be a lucrative project?
- How many people would be willing to buy 1 of 10,000 generative crypto-people?
- What should be the starting price for these crypto-people?
- How should rarity be determined?
I had an idea about the relative percentage for each token type to be based on the market capitalization of the token. For example, Bitcoin has a market capitalization of around $900 Billion, thus there should be more Bitcoin tokens generated than Ethereum tokens, which only has a market capitalization of around $400 Billion.
- Does that even make sense though?
- Should this instead be based on the total supply?
For example, there are around 19 million Bitcoins in circulation, but there are around 117 million ETH tokens. Should there be 5 times as many ETH crypto-people as BTC crypto-people?
Nah. I think the market cap makes the most sense.
In pure dollar value, Bitcoin is the most common crytpo-currency. Since crypto-currencies are fungible, their total market capitalization determines how much exists.
So anyways, I hope to implement some form of Generative Art project in the future. I'm headed in the direction of using my crypto-people NFT project as the basis for my first attempt. However, it might be a better idea to try something more simple... like a generative art project of 100 different Flarncoin drawings, and mint them on the WAX blockchain, since I actually know how to create NFTS on WAX, so I don't have to learn a bunch of new stuff.
Eventually, with enough knowledge, I could build a smart contract into that NFT, where you can redeem a certain amount of real, crypto-currency Flarncoin, perhaps every month, because you own that NFT. Since it's an NFT you also have the right to sell it on the open market.. That would be pretty cool.
Flarncoin could be spent on user generated NFTs minted on the Flarnchain platform. The blockchain will be built on the Cosmos SDK, the gas fees will be low, making it a lot easier to just mint a bunch of NFTs and not have to worry about paying a fortune.
Okay, so those are my thoughts on a Generative Art NFT project.
Until next time.
-Flarn
