Critter Creations

Raise awareness for environmental concerns involving animals in a fun way!

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Inspiration

Everybody loves animals, and animals love us! With all the changes happening to the earth, we tend to forget about our little (and big) friends. Our mission is to raise animal awareness with National Pet Month coming up. So let's have fun but also acknowledge how we can help animals all around the world!

What it does

The user enters the animal they want to learn more about, names it, names an emotion the user wants the animal to experience, and place where the user wants to see it. The program outputs a custom image and heart-warming story of the animal user build. It also informs the user with interesting facts about their new creature and how it can be preserved in the wild.

How we built it

Critter Creations was built with mainly the open-source Python framework, Reflex. Through Reflex, we were able to receive input from the user on what animal they wanted to create (animal species, name, emotion, etc) through an aesthetic user interface. Then, we used OpenAI's API to access ChatGPT and DALL.E to generate an image and story of the animal, along with resources/information on how to help the animal. The front-page was made using a combination of HTML, CSS, Javascript, and Bootstrap.

Challenges we ran into

We initially struggled to get on the same page (both idea-wise and programming-wise). Git merge conflicts did not help particularly help either. It was also a learning curve learning Reflex for the first time with the server crashing many times (due to both poor network connection and programming confusions). Another big challenge was attempting to deploy our Reflex application. We initially tried to host it on Reflex and Render but encountered errors in both scenarios. Ultimately, we decided to host it locally.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Successful prototypes using Figma
  • Learned how to use Reflex
  • Learned how to use Bootstrap
  • Successful and aesthetic final product

What we learned

We learned that we can create and deploy an entire web application using just Python. We learned about good git and file directory practices. We learned to store API keys in a hidden env file and gitignore them so they aren't public on GitHub.

What's next for Critter Creation

  • Implement a database that allows users to login and sign up so the animals that we build together can be saved.
  • Use Google Map's API (or another map API) to show users nearby animal shelters/zoos/similar resources.

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