Sky Colour Gradient Image Generator

This repository is available on GitHub and Tangled. GitHub is the primary version, and the Tangled version is a mirror.

This Python script generates a series of 24 images representing sky colour gradients for each hour of the day. Each image features a gradient transitioning from a specified sky colour to a monochrome shade, with a name overlaid in a contrasting colour. This project was inspired by @dame.is's blog post 'How I made an automated dynamic avatar for my Bluesky profile'.

While primarily designed for generating banner images, the script also supports creating profile images and custom-sized images.

Features

• Sky Colour Interpolation: Smooth transitions between sky colours at different times of the day based on hourly RGB values.
• Monochrome Fade: Each image has a gradient that fades into a monochrome shade derived from the average RGB value of the sky colour.
• Image Generation: Automatically generates 24 images (one for each hour) if they do not already exist in the output folder.
• Text Overlay: Displays the project's name in a contrasting colour overlaid at the centre of each image.
• Custom Image Sizes: Supports generating images with user-defined width and height.

Requirements

Ensure the following Python packages are installed:

• json
• numpy
• PIL (Pillow)

You can install the necessary packages using pip:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Configuration

The script reads configuration settings from a JSON file located at ./config/generation.json. This file should have the following structure:

{
  "sky_colours": {
    "0": [10, 10, 40],
    "1": [12, 12, 45],
    "2": [15, 15, 50],
    "3": [18, 18, 55],
    "4": [20, 20, 60],
    "5": [50, 40, 100],
    "6": [100, 80, 150],
    "7": [110, 90, 170],
    "8": [120, 100, 190],
    "9": [135, 206, 235],
    "10": [90, 150, 200],
    "11": [80, 140, 190],
    "12": [70, 130, 180],
    "13": [80, 140, 190],
    "14": [90, 150, 200],
    "15": [135, 206, 235],
    "16": [180, 140, 50],
    "17": [220, 150, 25],
    "18": [255, 165, 0],
    "19": [160, 80, 10],
    "20": [139, 69, 19],
    "21": [50, 30, 15],
    "22": [20, 20, 60],
    "23": [10, 10, 40]
  },
  "name": "Project Name"
}

Configuration Fields

• sky_colours: A dictionary mapping hours (as strings) to RGB values representing the sky colour at each hour.
• name: The name to be displayed on each image.

Usage

1. Ensure the configuration file is correctly set up as described above.

2. Place the script in your desired directory.

3. Run the script using Python:

   python src/generator.py (--profile | --banner | --custom -w WIDTH -H HEIGHT)

   • --profile (-p) generates a profile image (400x400).
   • --banner (-b) generates a banner image (1500x500).
   • --custom (-c) allows specifying a custom width (-w) and height (-H).

   The script will generate 24 images (one for each hour) in the ./src/<profile_pics|banners|custom_wxh> directory, if they don't already exist. Images will be named 00.png through 23.png, corresponding to each hour of the day.

Notes

• The script checks if the output directory exists and creates it if necessary.
• It checks if each image already exists before attempting to regenerate it.
• The script uses a specific font located at ./config/fonts/madecarvingsoft.ttf. Ensure this font file is available or adjust the path as needed.
• Images are generated with a gradient fading to a monochrome shade based on the average RGB value of the sky colour.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.