> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.exclusivo.one/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Layer generator

> Building a generative collection from trait layers — rules, weights and rarity.

The layer generator turns a stack of trait layers into a collection, handling
which combinations are allowed, how rare each trait is, and getting the result
into your launch draft.

## The flow

It reads top to bottom, in the order you'd actually do it:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Import your layers">
    A folder per layer. **The order you put them in is the stacking order** —
    the first one is the bottom of the picture.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Name your NFTs">
    Set the naming pattern. Anything you rename by hand keeps its name even if
    you re-run the pattern later.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Rules">
    Which trait combinations you don't want. See below.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Collection attributes">
    Metadata that goes on every item.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Generate">
    Set how many you want and go.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Rules

A rule says: **if these traits are present, these other ones can't be.**

| What you write  | What happens                                        |
| --------------- | --------------------------------------------------- |
| An IF and a BUT | The BUT traits never appear alongside the IF traits |
| Only an IF      | **Nothing.** The tool warns you to add a BUT        |
| Only a BUT      | Those traits never appear at all, anywhere          |

As you edit, you'll see the effect immediately — how many combinations each rule
removes, how many valid ones are left, and a filter over the preview grid to see
what's been excluded.

Above about 30,000 combinations the running totals switch off, because working
them out gets slow. The per-item "excluded by rules" marks still work.

<Tip>
  Renaming a trait carries your rules with it. You don't have to rebuild them.
</Tip>

## Two different rarity controls

These get mixed up constantly, and they do different things.

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Layer appearance — does this layer show up at all?">
    The slider on a layer is the chance the **whole layer** appears. At 40%,
    roughly 40% of your collection has something from that layer and the rest has
    nothing from it. Items missing it get a "No {layer}" mark in the grid.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Per-image weight — which trait, when it does appear?">
    Each image has a weight relative to the others in its layer. Weight 60
    against weight 20 is three times as likely.

    You'll see each one's share as a percentage, a rough count, and a
    distribution bar. **Equalize** resets them all.

    **Weight 0 turns the trait off entirely.** It won't appear at all — it's
    shown dimmed with a marker so you can tell it apart from something merely
    rare.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Your artwork is built when you launch

The generator doesn't make full-resolution images in your browser. It works out
a recipe for each item and shows you a small preview; we build the real files
during deployment.

This does mean you can't take finished artwork out of the tool without actually
launching the collection.

Both chains work this way — on EVM the finished image is pinned to IPFS during
the deploy, and on Solana it's built just before the Arweave upload.

## How it picks combinations

Up to 100,000 possible combinations, every valid one is worked out exactly. So
if your rules only leave 800 valid combinations and you asked for 1,000, you get
told that precisely instead of a vague failure.

Above that it samples. And if a very tight rule set exhausts the sampling budget,
the last few get filled evenly from what's left — so a very large collection
against very restrictive rules can drift slightly from your intended weights at
the tail.

## The numbers

|                            |                      |
| -------------------------- | -------------------- |
| Live rule statistics up to | 30,000 combinations  |
| Exact enumeration up to    | 100,000 combinations |
| Preview size               | 320px                |

Collections generated before this system still work — they take the older path
through launch.