Art Matrix

I am not

a very good artist

Sure, sure, I experimented with art long ago. Who hasn’t? Art is exactly like bisexuality in that way: everyone dabbles a bit in their youth, but most give up after recognizing how much hard work is required to develop a skill worthy of the public’s time and money. Like most folks I gave it up early in life to focus on “more important things,” but I still experience an occasional pang of regret when facing the reality that, given the finitude of existence, I have squandered the opportunity to become a master bisexual. Those hopes are as dead as my prospects of becoming an artist, so I asked an AI for help.

MY WORK
MY PROCESS
My Process

I commanded a machine-learning artificial intelligence to do the following:

Generate 36 pieces of original artwork in a variety of colors, styles, and orientations, then output the images as a gallery.

The response triggered a php function to generate an Elementor gallery:

				
					<?php
//Generate original artwork and upload it to the WP media library
function generate_artwork() {
 if ( $supString ) { 
    //Number of artworks specified by the user in the widget settings
    if ( $settings[ 'art_number' ] ){
        $art_number = $settings[ 'art_number' ];
    } else {
        //Default number of artworks is 0 if unspecified by user
        $art_number = 0;
    } 
    //Theme of artworks specified by the user
    if ( $settings[ 'art_theme' ] ){
        $art_theme = $settings[ 'art_theme' ];
    } else {
        //Default theme if unspecified by user
        $art_theme = ' original artwork in a variety of colors, styles, and orientations ';
    }
    //Assemble the prompt
    $supString = 'Generate' . $art_number . ' original artworks using the theme of ' . $art_theme . ' then output the resulting metadata as a php array() object:';    
    //request artwork generation from the image API, then return an array of generated images and image data.
    $art_array = image_api_request( $supString );
    foreach ( $art_array->items as $item ) {
      // Get the path to the upload directory.
      $wp_upload_dir = wp_upload_dir();
      // Get the id for the current wp post
      $post_ID = get_the_ID();
      // Get the image data and store as a file, then upload
      $image_data = file_get_contents( $item->raw );
      $file = $wp_upload_dir[ 'basedir' ] . '/' . $item->filename;
      file_put_contents( $file, $image_data );
      $wp_filetype = wp_check_filetype( $item->filename, null );
      $attachment = array(
        'post_mime_type' => $wp_filetype[ 'type' ],
        'post_title' => sanitize_file_name( $item->filename ),
        'post_content' => '',
        'post_status' => 'inherit'
      );
      $attach_id = wp_insert_attachment( $attachment, $file, $post_ID );
      require_once( ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/image.php' );
      $attach_data = wp_generate_attachment_metadata( $attach_id, $file );
      wp_update_attachment_metadata( $attach_id, $attach_data );
      set_post_thumbnail( $post_ID, $attach_id );
    }
    //generate json for the gallery
    $json_file = generate_gallery_json( $art_array );
    //import json template to Elementor library
    $import_result = elementor_library_import( $json_file, true );
    //result
    if ( $import_result == "failure" ) {
      //if the import function fails, display an error
      return display_error( 'The AI did not respond as expected. Check your prompt to make sure it is not too vague or confusingly worded.' );
    } else {
      //if successful, render the saved gallery in the Elementor page builder and refresh the view
      return render_supstring_gallery( get_latest_element_id() );
    }
  } else {
    //return null if user's prompt is empty
    return false;
  }
}

//Generates the Elementor json that can be imported to the library
function generate_gallery_json( $art_array ) {
  //loop through the AI's response and output each image item
  $art_loop_json = "";
  foreach ( $art_array->items as $item ) {
    $art_loop_json .= '
        {
            "id":' . $item->image_id . '
            "url": "' . $item->image_url . '" 
        },
        ';
  }
  //assemble the final gallery json 
  $gallery_json = '
    [{
        "id": "' . gallery_id() . '",
        "settings": {
          "gallery": ['
  . $art_loop_json .
  '],
        },
        "elements": [],
        "isInner": false,
        "widgetType": "gallery",
        "elType": "widget"
    }]
    ';
  //Output the gallery json for ingestion by Elementor
  return $gallery_json;
}

?>