Source code of DendroRithms

DendroRithms is a generative art installation inspired by tree growth rings.

Every Dendro is uniquely generated from user input using an interactive minting process. Buyers collectively decide the rarity and evolution of the artwork.

This repository contains the source code used to generate the Dendros.

Read more on dendrorithms.com.

Getting started

This project is written in Crystal. To run the code, there are two options.

1. The Crystal Playground

The easiest way to get started is to use the online Crystal Playground. Paste the code found in dendro.cr into the playground, uncomment lines 453 to 465 and click on Compile & run code.

When it's done, copy the output on the left, paste it into an empty file and save it as dendro.svg. You can open the resulting file in a browser, Illustrator, Affinity Designer, Inkscape or any other Vector Graphics software.

2. Installing Crystal

Installing Crystal is a bit more complex, but you'll get the benefit of running the code on your computer and saving the output directly to a file. You'll find the installation instructions for many different operating systems on the Crystal website.

Getting playful

Once you're up and running, you can start playing with the code.

Parameters

To generate a Dendro, you'll need four parameters.

add_core (Bool)

A boolean value, which can only be true or false.

Note: setting add_core to true will not always add a core. It will only be added if there's enough space left on the canvas. The algorithm will try 500 times to find an open space.

color (Int32)

This property is defined by a number from 1 to 5:

• 0 #BAF4DE (verdigris)
• 1 #FFFFFA (porcelain)
• 2 #CAEFF7 (frost)
• 3 #DFEDAE (phosphor)
• 4 #DEDAF1 (lilac)
• 5 #E5B7A5 (copper)

previous_cores (String)

Every Dendro starts with the cores from the previous one in the same colour chain. This property expects a JSON-formatted string. For example:

[
  {"age":2,"cp":[20,43],"life":21,"max_r":6},
  {"age":1,"cp":[56,35],"life":20,"max_r":6}
]

The structure of the JSON itself is an array with objects. Every object has the following properties:

• age: the current age of the core
• cp: center point, an array of two integer values representing [x, y]
• life: the maximum lifespan of the core
• max_r: the maximum radius of the core at middle age (50% life)

seed (Int32)

Dendros use a lot of randomness. We're using a deterministic random generator. Giving the random generator a seed value, generally a number, will generate the same random sequence on every run.

For the seed value, we use the Dendro's number. That's any number between 1 and 3000.

Generating a specific Dendro

For this section, we're going to assume you've installed Crystal locally.

To generate a specific Dendro, look at the metadata of the one you want to generate. For example, let's look at the metadata of Dendro 0013. Click on "Value" in the Metadata tab at the bottom of the page to see the data. Under previous_cores you'll see:

[
   {
      age: 1,
      cp: [
         48,
         11
      ],
      life: 21,
      max_r: 8
   }
]

Note: Unfortunately, none of the Cardano explorers displays the metadata as JSON. Meaning the keys are not wrapped in double quotes. Valid JSON would be "age": 1 instead of age: 1. There's a small helper included in this repo to fix this, so you'll only have to copy and paste what's given to you. 🎉️

Now, let's get started. Open the file called playground.cr. It has some example code you can use as a starting point:

# Set variables here
add_core = true
color_id = 0
number = 1
previous_cores = Util.js_to_json <<-JSON
[
   {
      age: 1,
      cp: [
         48,
         11
      ],
      life: 21,
      max_r: 8
   }
]
JSON

# This part builds the Dendro
dendro = Dendro.new(
  seed: number,
  color: color_id,
  previous_cores: previous_cores,
  add_core: add_core
)

# This part writes the resulting SVG file to the 'playground' folder
File.write(Util.svg_file_name(number), dendro.to_svg)

Copy and paste the previous_cores from the metadata on Cardano Explorer between <<-JSON and JSON and everything will work.

Now, to run the code:

crystal playground.cr

A Dendro with the specified settings will be generated and saved into the playground folder.

Building the following Dendro

To create the following Dendro in the same colour chain, you can use the current_cores_as_json method on the previous one. For example:

number = 1
dendro_01 = Dendro.new(
  seed: number,
  color: color_id,
  previous_cores: previous_cores,
  add_core: add_core
)
File.write(Util.svg_file_name(number), dendro_01.to_svg)

number = 2
dendro_02 = Dendro.new(
  seed: number,
  color: color_id,
  previous_cores: dendro_01.current_cores_as_json, # <== 👀️
  add_core: add_core
)
File.write(Util.svg_file_name(number), dendro_02.to_svg)

# etc...

FAQs

Why Crystal?

Initially, this generator was written in JavaScript. Generating a Dendro could take up to three minutes. Crystal is extremely fast and allowed us to decrease that number to less than 15 seconds.

But there's more to Crystal than just speed. More info about its benefits can be found on their home page.

How do I uncomment code?

Code comments are lines starting with a #. The compiler ignores them. You can uncomment a line of code by removing the # in front of it.

License

This project is open-source under the GNU Affero General Public License Version 3 (AGPLv3) or any later version. You can find it here.