FAQ

What is GENUARY?

Like a good copy writer, I answered this question in the very first paragraph of this site’s home page.

Do I need to follow the prompts strictly?

No.

Do I need to post every day?

No.

Do I need to do the correct prompt on the correct day?

No.

Does it need to be X?

No.

Can I…?

Yes. But please follow the Geneva Conventions.

What if I don’t understand a prompt?

Try to give it the best inspiration that ends up with the coolest art piece. Write about your interpretation and how it reflects in your piece. Look at other people’s artworks for inspiration and see how they interpreted the prompt.

Talk to people and discuss. Really do this, because other people are one of the best sources of inspiration. I even found new inspiration to a prompt I thought I already understood, by doing this! :)

If something needs extra assumptions and you’re not sure, just pick some that inspire you most creatively. Then write about which assumptions you picked and why, so that other people can either use the same or choose their own.

Do I need to make the thing on the day when the prompt is?

It really depends on the kind of challenge you want to set yourself.

GENUARY aims to make it possible for people to do 31 daily prompts, one every day, during that day. Though if you want to be really strict, you still have to decide on what time zone the day starts.

If you come up with a different challenge using these prompts, by all means go for it.

If you rather sort of try to do a prompt maybe, then do that!

Can I use code that I wrote previously?

Yes.

I’ve got a brilliant idea for a prompt for next year. Where can I suggest it?

We’ll have a link for that soon.

Nice logo you got there, can I steal teh code?

No the code is copyrighted, but it is also not minified and commented extensively. You are very much invited to check it out, read and learn from it :)

Nice logo you got there, it looks like I could plot it. Can I plot it? How do I plot? Hello?

By default the logo is rendered in Canvas/PNG, but if you add ?svg=1 to the URL, it will be replaced with the SVG when it is done rendering, then you can right-click save it. It is recommended to use a tool like vpype or axicli to optimize the line order to save significantly on plotting time.

There are also a couple of other options:

• Set the logo height in millimetres. Default h=140.
• Set the linewidth in millimetres. Default lw=0.3, recommended value for plotting depends on the width of your pen. I wrote an article on how to measure the line width of your pens using a plotter.
• Set the density multiplier. Default d=0.6, recommended for plotting is 0.4 for nice dark contrasts.
• Don’t include background rectangle. Default bg=1, recommended for plotting is 0.
• Change coordinate resolution, Default res=10000, lower values break it in fun and interesting ways.

Is there a community or Discord server or something where I can discuss GENUARY with others?

No. Well there are, but none of them officially organised by GENUARY. Every creative coding, generative art or other related and unrelated community is encouraged to create their own #GENUARY channel. The reason is that the organisers of GENUARY want to participate in the GENUARY challenge, and don’t have the time to moderate a community.

Where did the 2022 website go?

See genuary.art/2022.

Where did the 2021 website go?

See genuary2021.github.io/.

How did Genuary?

There is a story on the old Genuary 2021 webpage: https://genuary2021.github.io/story