// the take
A small Node.js script that generates NFT-style generative art by layering PNG images with the canvas API — background, eyes, lids, etc. combined randomly per a config file. It's a tutorial project from the HashLips YouTube channel, aimed at people following along with NFT-collection content rather than anyone needing a production art pipeline.
The layer/rarity model is dead simple to understand: drop PNGs in folders, suffix filenames with _r or _sr for rarity tiers, set weights in config.js. No build step beyond npm/yarn install and node — easy to fork and swap in your own layers in an afternoon. The approach (canvas compositing of z-ordered folders) generalizes fine beyond NFT art to any combinatorial sprite generation.
The README's first line tells you this repo is superseded by hashlips_art_engine and to use that instead — this one is effectively deprecated by its own author. No commits since early 2023, no tests, no metadata/JSON output shown in the README (no proof it writes trait metadata alongside images, which is the whole point for NFT use). Config is a single JS file with hardcoded layer order and counts, so any change to your layer folders means hand-editing arrays and recounting file totals — error-prone and doesn't scale past a handful of traits.
We read the README, the directory tree and a key source file in October 2026. Nobody pays to be listed. How we judge →