Transcripts
1. Intro: Hello, my name is
we'll soften, sorry, engineering aerospace
in Toronto, Canada. And on the side I
make videos about the grading process
or an investment. Part of my artist's
journey was stumbling onto so many different genres. And lately I've been
diving into NFP, have done art ranging
from digital paint to launching a full generative art on the Ethereum Blockchain, bootstrap everything
from painting the art, writing the smart contract, and deploying it
on the blockchain. So in this course, I'm
going to go through my experience with launching off the heads and take
you step-by-step on how to launch your
own generative art. So step one, what is generative
art and what is NSAIDs? Step two, we're gonna go through the tools you need to
create the artwork. We're going through the
workflow and how to reduce your workload
and moving forward. Step four will be generating
and enjoying the artwork. I hope you enjoyed
this course as much as I enjoyed making it. And if you have any questions,
just leave me a comment below or hit me
up on my socials. I have my youtube and Twitter
connected to this account. And I would love to
connect with you.
2. What is Generative Art and NFT?: So what does it mean when
I say generative part? Basically it's digital painting that are produced using code. And we can break this
down into two steps. First one is you have to create your artwork in a
layer system so we can use Photoshop
or Procreate or any other program
that using a layer. And take those layers
into your gender of code. And the code, we'll just put
those layers together and compile a picture for this special can be
used as an entity. What is NFT entities or non-fungible tokens that can
be used in the blockchain. And they have a lot of
different ways to use them. You can use them as
art pieces, tickets, or even placeholders for other events that's
coming in the future. But why is it revolutionary? Because for the first time
ever we can verify ownership of digital art and he can transfer from one
person to another. What makes it really
cool is that you can actually create museums on the multiverse and showcase real original art that's created by people on the blockchain. And that way, Let's just say
if you're trying to transfer a painting in a real museum from France to,
let's say Singapore. There's a lot of work behind it that you need to
be taken care of. You need to make sure
that the painting doesn't get scratched and all that legal paperwork from transferring from one
place to another. And it just the big headache. But with digital paintings, all of that can be
done with one-click, really allowing that to be done in the multiverse
where you can just pray something virtually and get everyone for around the world
to come in and see it was very less friction where you don't need to do anything
rather than just have a computer
or phone and just be at the comfort of your own
home and see that picture. So I think this is
a very good way. Technology is evolving and allowing people to explore art. The best part is these tokens
can be bought or sold, just like any physical art. They can transfer
the ownership from one person to another
on the blockchain. And this is one of the best
ways we see technology really catch up to what
is supposed to be.
3. Tools Needed: So let's break down the
tools that you need. Pretty much need
Photoshop or Procreate, or anything that can
use a layering system. Because what we're
doing is we're taking these layers from one side and putting it
into the compiler, which is going to be
regenerative code. And taking that and creating a digital image
that could be used. And basically let's just
say you have like a face, mouth, nose, and a hair or hat. Basically you carry different
assets for the hat, different eyes, different mouth. Then the code will shuffle them and create
something unique. And what's cool about it? Degenerate code can actually
give weight to your assets. So let's say you
have a golden hat and you want that had
to only show up once. You can put that in your code. So you can make this ultra rare. And let's just say like
you have different eyes that you want to only put on
one asset and not the other. Let's just say for example, you have a male and female. And there are some
certain eyes that only work with one or another. Or let's just say you have an
alien and you want to have a specific eye that
work with that alien, you can get the code to
specifically say like, Hey, if an alien exist, then this I should exist. And that way you can create
your code the way you want it and have something that's really worked exactly
what you want. We're gonna be showing you
how to create all of that was a simple software without
having any code knowledge.
4. Workflow: This module, we're
going to cover the tools and the word
cocoa creating. For myself, I usually
use Photoshop, but you can use anything
you want, procreate. But the main reason
why I like Photoshop, because it's
mainstreamed, there's a lot more tutorials for it. Can use it for so many
things that photo editing, creating gifts, and even
doing digital painting. But pretty much anything with the layering system
will work fine. So before we do anything
with Photoshop, we have to get your brushes
to behave in a pixel form. So one thing you need to
do is with your brush. You right-click and make sure
you select the pencil tool. And same thing for your eraser. So the eraser selected the mode, switch it from brush to pencil. That would be the first in that way when you start to draw. It will start to look pixelated. So let's say for
example, I start at 32 by 32 and start zooming in. I can start to do
everything in pixel. So that would be
one way to do it. The best thing about
pixel art is that you can pretty much create everything
he wants with a mouse. It's not necessary
to have a stylus. However, having a stylus
really ease up a lot of work and it makes it
a lot more mainstream, especially with the
long working hours. It just makes more ergonomic
and easier to process that. Now, I wanted to
cover a lot more about not drawing per say, but how you want to layer your work for a
degenerative arts, we want it to go and see how is the layering
system going to work. And basically we're trying to make sure that whatever we're drawing on Photoshop can
translate well to the Pope. And that way you're not double-dipping and
doing double the work. And making sure that
everything that you do on photoshop is
very intentional. And that means you have to layer your work very, very carefully. So when you bring it into
your generative code, it just layers that way
you want it to look like. So for example, I have this canvas and I'm just going to show you
one of the examples. So this is an alien
with a worrier, close, knows clown nose and
a bunch of other stuff. The way we want to
learn it is a session. So first you have
your background, then you can add a different
background if you want. It's completely up to you. There are a lot of projects, I would say like 95%
of the projects, they don't do an
elaborate background. But I personally like it. I feel like it adds a
little bit more depth and have it's almost like a mini painting in
each of the drawings. Second thing is the type
that's where you see all of the art
start to show life. So this is, for
example, is an alien. Then you start added close. Then for myself, for octets, so we're adding an octal. Then we'll start adding
the mouth and eyes. Then those, if you
have it or if not, that way you can just
keep adding layers. Some other people will add pets. Some other people who add like Ara's or some kind of effects. So it's completely up to you
in the sky's the limit here. But here's the thing. When you start to draw your art, you want to make
sure that the art fits exactly every single time. So let's say for example, I want to bring a
different octo. So all I do is I already
drawn that before, that basically it fits
almost exactly the same. So when I change
that octave from one to another, they all work. You have to be very
intentional with that. Otherwise, if you have the octo not going
in the same area, it's just going to
look very weird. And you don't want that. It might actually work better if you make sure
that everything what you draw actually
is supposed to be. So for example, let's just say, I'm just going to put
the gentlemen and I just don't want the nose and I
want to switch the eyes. So I want to put this one, see that the eyes is
almost the same level. And you always want
your work to have that. So that's how, I mean, by keeping everything
intentional, that when you switch assets
from one picture to another, you don't want
everything to clash. So if you want it to have a big, I just keep almost
like you're giving yourself limitations
within your art, even when you run into
issues with the code, everything will not clash. Because we're seeing
issues where, for example, you'll have, Let's say
close with a color. But the color kind of clashes with the mouth because it has to go behind
and all of that. So you draw your art in a
way that doesn't clash. So it can be interchangeable
with anything. Let me just change the mouth
and show you one more. So let's say, for example, I have this Vader mass. The mass is protruding outside. Just put this for example. And you can see that
it's already out. So one way we kind of
worked around that was the way we layered it. So we wanted to put the
mouth in front of the octal. Because if I put the
mouth behind the, afterwards, see like the
octopus tentacles come front. And if I put that
behind the close, now, the closest is actually coming in front of
the whole model. So that would be one
of the ways that you kind of layer it intentionally so you don't have to go in and fix stuff
later on impulse process. So now we're gonna be talking
about drawing for the code, meaning that you want
your code to work exactly the way your
workflows in your software. So in this example, I want to have my backgrounds
first and then the second background
type close mouth, octo, eyes and nose. In that order. If I go ahead and change that in the code and
put the auto behind, close, it might cause issues. So that way, like wherever you layer your
work in Photoshop, you have to have that
same system in your code. Otherwise, you will have a lot of clashing and
it's not in the workout. So when we go on into
the next module, we're gonna go in
depth and show you how how would that work out? Because we don't want you to
do double the work and you want to minimize the amount of work that you're coding
as much as possible. So basically you can take
that code and plug-and-play with any other art and
it'll be good to go. And it could be like your factory if you're
pumping kind of art, left, right and center
with the same code. And that's why I really
loved this process, because it really
mainstream your work. And on top of that, it
just makes you more lean and cut all the fats
with your processes.
5. Generating Art: The next step is
degenerate your art. We can do that two
different ways. You either have a generative
code was Java or Python, or you can go to a new website that can do our
generation for you. And today we're just going to go and use NFT, our generator. I found this one to be very
intuitive and has good UI, but I personally didn't use it. I use my own generative code. But I think this one is
one of the second best that you can go in if you do
not want to code your own. So this one has a demo which
is 100 entities for free, where you can just check
them out and test it. If you like it, you can
go in into their pricing and the pricing depending on how many generations you want. So it's five hundred,
six hundred, two thousand, ten thousand,
twenty thousand, cetera. So now we're just gonna
go ahead and get started. And it gives you this
very clean look and uy. And you can just go
ahead and start with you project name, description. And for now we're just
going to keep it at ten. Now they have a
different background so you can just go ahead
and set up your layers that way and then keep doing it from there and just
keep adding layers. However, I found that doing this limits you up so much with
just say for example, you have different types. We have black male, female. If you have different clothing, you can have them here
as male and female. But the problem is like, let's say if you
want to have a type and a type is different. So if you have an alien and ape and you want to have them
all in the same bucket. It's just very hard to do it in here unless you hit
the Advanced tab. So we're just going
to go ahead and start from the first
going to move this fear. The way everything works is we have one side
where it starts, and then these are
your two nodes. So what you can do is click on this to create a new layer. And I'm going to call
this one background too. Basically, with each
of these nodes, you can drop your images or click to add the
images in there. So for example, in
this background, I'm just going to add these
three. So now they're here. And then for background
to just going to add, one thing you need to do. First if you have
different types, is to have them tag up here. This is like a default node, but what you want, like I said, I'm going to use two,
male and female. Just for demonstration. I'm going to do a robot. So I'm going to have
three different traits. Here. You can change the colors. So I want the robot to
be at least a green. For the female I wanted to be. And it's all for
the visual relief. For male, I'll make
it yellow. Okay. So now when I press the mail, everything connected to that is going to only show
up for the meal. So I'm going to tap
this as a type. And hadn't happened here. This is going to be the type. And this one is
going to be my type. Now I can just AirDrop these. So this one is the male to female. And robots. Now I want to have
different hair style for the male and the female. So we're gonna go here
and just call it air. And I'm just going
to get some meal. Let's say I wanted to do. Then for the female, just going to add this one. And this one called
this one here. Next, I want to have facial hair just for so I'm
going to call it. Okay? So we have that. Next. I want to add the octal. So basically what I can do is I could just add a default node because this one is pretty much connected
with everything. And I'm going to call
this one the octo. This is, say for example, I want the robot to have different mouth
than the other ones. So I'm just going to
call this one mouth. So I connected it to
the green note in here. I can just do a robot. A robot now. I can have, I have robot normal. So just drop them here. For the female and male. Just going to keep
them kind of similar. But I'm just going to do that. I'm going to make the
females more happier. So I'm just going
to, I'm going to select the different vowels. Maybe you're just going to add the more masks for the females. Accidentally dropped
it in the mail. But here's the thing. If you deleted that once
you sever those eyes, you have to start over. So I'm just going
to do that now. Because for some reason it
just loses the identity. So we're just going
to start over. This is going to be
enough for the females. And I wanted to have the tongue and I want to say
the better math. Just going to crop. Now for the males. I'm gonna go smile small. And I want the eyes
to be universal. So I'm just going to
go here and say eyes. And basically I think
this will be the end. What I need to do is connect each of those and
keep it in here. And now for the eyes and
just like random ones, like the 3D glasses. Okay? One last thing we have
is also the nose. So this is also universal. So I put the notes in there and make sure
that it's connected. And we just have one knows. You zoom out and kinda
looks kind of cool. He has a lot of
different things, different nodes, but
everything kind of works. So let's just check it
out and test it off. Just remembered, I
forgot to put the Otto's and I forgot
to put the shirts. So we have to add that. Now. Let's just
move this slightly. The shirts and more. Okay? Now for the OXO, just as an example, just saw up here that unlike so I'm just going to
put that in there as well. So now everything should work. Okay, let's go back and
preview seems to be working. From here you can
click Preview all. And it will give you
that every woman is looking at just randomizing. See as you go. It looks neat. But let's
just say, for example, I don't want the nose
to show up a 100%. And same thing with the beers. Just click that. So let's
start with the beards first. You can notice that the
beer says a 100% in here. So you just go into
rarely settings. You just said if you
were to only show up 25 per cent in here, I kind of want the
mustache to be dominant, so fit ever picks the beards. Let's show mustache a lot more than other and make
the locate more rare. And for the nose, I'm going to click
on the rarity. And actually, I don't want
the notes to show up often, so I'm just going to
make it ten per cent. Now can go into this
rarity and say, you want a 1.5 if you have
to show up more often. For eyes, less crazy
eyes, a lot more. 3d glasses make it rare. And three, I's little
bit in the center. For the articles. This
one is more rare. That one is a little bit
less, higher, higher, higher. That's why I like this tool, because it just, it shows
you everything visually. You don't have to go in
and type it in by hand. It just makes stuff
pretty easy to navigate. Now when I go and preview all, I have to click randomize. Otherwise it's just going to
go into the previous setup. For randomize. Now we're seeing that the noses are not showing up more often. So let's just increase
the selection set to 100 and test out whole thing. Bigger scales. You can get a good representation
of what's going on. So far, we see that the males get sometime
the facial hair, sometimes not listen
now, very good. Mohawk. Everything
seems to be good. Everything is not crashing because we have already
done that in Photoshop. So we've got one phronimos in here on the left side that actually tells you the amount. So you can see we only
got five clown noses. And so that pretty much
tells you what is, what is your variance
for the mini collection? Let's just say for example, I want to have a bald heads. So what I can do is I
can go into the hair. Same thing and say at 75% or maybe 80
per cent of the time, I wanted to be like both headed for both the
male and the female. Now I can just do
another preview. Randomized haven't
shown by the way. It's one took with literally
less than ten minutes to set up our tree nodes and
getting everything set up. So when you look at it from
a time-saving perspective, this is very easy to set up. Unless you already
have a code written. You pretty much have to
go and play some files if you're reusing the code from
your previous projects, you have to do a lot
of work with that. But this is pretty
much check a clean drag-and-drop and pretty
much everything works. When you are. You go, you can click
Generate, collection. And it will generate, it gives you all the details and you can just
kind of set it up. But that's a quick and dirty
version of how to create generative art without the
code. There you have it. That's the easiest way that
you can generate your art. If you want me to go through some of my codes with Python, I can make another
course about them. But this is one of the best ways I've found to recreate what
I've done with my code.
Mostafa Nassar, One step at a time
