char-renderer-ss13

Space Station 13 character renderer for Node.js

Target codebase: TGStation and downstream NovaStation > The Fluffy Frontier;

Renders SS13 characters from preferences JSON to PNG images with full support for:

• Multiple species (Human, Lizard, Moth, Mammal, Skrell, IPC/Synth, Plasmaman, etc.)
• Hairstyles with gradient support
• Facial hair with gradient support
• Skrell tentacle hair (separate system)
• Body markings
• Accessories (tails, ears, horns, snouts, wings)
• Augmentations/robotic limbs (all IPC chassis styles)
• IPC antennas
• Digitigrade legs
• All 4 directions (SOUTH, NORTH, EAST, WEST)
• Transparent background by default (or custom color/image)

Installation

npm install char-renderer-ss13

Requirements

• Node.js >= 16.0.0
• The package uses @napi-rs/canvas which is automatically installed as a dependency

Usage

Basic Example

const { renderCharacterToPNG } = require('char-renderer-ss13');

const characterPrefs = {
    real_name: "John Doe",
    species: "human",
    age: 30,
    gender: "male",
    body_type: "male",
    skin_tone: "caucasian1",
    eye_color: "#0066cc",
    hairstyle_name: "Short Hair",
    hair_color: "#000000",
    facial_style_name: "Shaved",
    // ... other preferences
};

// Render with transparent background (default)
const pngBuffer = await renderCharacterToPNG(characterPrefs);

// Save to file
const fs = require('fs');
fs.writeFileSync('character.png', pngBuffer);

Background Options

// Transparent background (default)
const png = await renderCharacterToPNG(prefs, 0);

// Solid color background
const png = await renderCharacterToPNG(prefs, 0, { color: '#333333' });

// Image background (scales to fit)
const bgImage = fs.readFileSync('background.png');
const png = await renderCharacterToPNG(prefs, 0, { image: bgImage });

Render All Directions

const { renderCharacterAllDirections } = require('char-renderer-ss13');

// With transparent background
const images = await renderCharacterAllDirections(characterPrefs);

// With custom background
const images = await renderCharacterAllDirections(characterPrefs, { color: '#222222' });

// images contains: { south, north, east, west }
fs.writeFileSync('south.png', images.south);
fs.writeFileSync('north.png', images.north);
fs.writeFileSync('east.png', images.east);
fs.writeFileSync('west.png', images.west);

Direction Constants

// 0 = SOUTH (default, facing down)
// 1 = NORTH (facing up)
// 2 = EAST (facing right)
// 3 = WEST (facing left)

const pngBuffer = await renderCharacterToPNG(characterPrefs, 2); // Facing EAST

Discord Bot Example

const { Client, GatewayIntentBits, AttachmentBuilder } = require('discord.js');
const { renderCharacterToPNG } = require('char-renderer-ss13');

const client = new Client({
    intents: [GatewayIntentBits.Guilds, GatewayIntentBits.GuildMessages]
});

client.on('messageCreate', async (message) => {
    if (message.content === '!render') {
        // Load character preferences from your database/file
        const prefs = loadCharacterPreferences();

        // Render character with custom background
        const pngBuffer = await renderCharacterToPNG(prefs, 0, { color: '#1a1a2e' });

        // Send to Discord
        const attachment = new AttachmentBuilder(pngBuffer, {
            name: `${prefs.real_name}.png`
        });

        await message.reply({
            content: `Character: ${prefs.real_name}`,
            files: [attachment]
        });
    }
});

client.login('YOUR_BOT_TOKEN');

Character Preferences Structure

interface CharacterPreferences {
    real_name: string;
    species?: string;              // 'human', 'lizard', 'moth', 'mammal', 'skrell', 'ipc', 'synth', etc.
    age: number;
    gender?: string;               // 'male', 'female', 'plural'
    body_type: string;             // 'male', 'female', 'Use Gender'
    skin_tone: string;             // 'caucasian1', 'caucasian2', 'asian1', etc.
    eye_color: string;             // Hex color with #
    hairstyle_name: string;        // Hair style name from SS13
    hair_color?: string;           // Hex color
    hair_gradient?: string;        // Gradient type: 'Fade Up', 'Fade Down', 'Vertical Split', etc.
    hair_gradient_color?: string;  // Gradient color
    facial_style_name: string;     // 'Shaved', 'Beard', etc.
    facial_hair_color?: string;    // Hex color
    facial_hair_gradient?: string;
    facial_hair_gradient_color?: string;

    // For non-human species
    mutant_colors_color?: string[];
    mutant_bodyparts?: {
        legs?: { name?: string; color?: string[] };
        skrell_hair?: { name?: string; color?: string[] };
        [key: string]: any;
    };

    // Skrell specific
    feature_skrell_hair?: string;  // 'Short', 'Long', etc.
    skrell_hair_toggle?: number;
    skrell_hair_color?: string[];

    // IPC/Synth specific
    feature_ipc_chassis?: string;  // 'Bishop Cyberkinetics', 'Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals', etc.
    feature_ipc_head?: string;
    feature_ipc_antenna?: string;  // 'Angled Antennae', 'TV Antennae', etc.
    ipc_antenna_color?: string[];

    // Augmentations
    augments?: {
        [slot: string]: string;    // 'Left Leg': '/obj/item/bodypart/leg/left/robot/weak'
    };
    augment_limb_styles?: {
        [slot: string]: string;    // 'Left Leg': 'Mariinsky Ballet Company'
    };

    // Accessories
    feature_tail?: string;
    tail_color?: string[];
    tail_toggle?: number;          // 0 = hidden, 1 = shown

    feature_snout?: string;
    snout_color?: string[];
    snout_toggle?: number;

    feature_ears?: string;
    ears_color?: string[];
    ears_toggle?: number;

    feature_horns?: string;
    horns_color?: string[];
    horns_toggle?: number;

    // Digitigrade legs
    digitigrade_legs?: string;     // 'Digitigrade Legs'

    // Body markings
    body_markings?: {
        [bodypart: string]: {      // 'head', 'chest', 'l_arm', 'r_arm', etc.
            [markingName: string]: [string, number];  // [color, alpha]
        };
    };
}

interface BackgroundOptions {
    color?: string;   // Hex color like '#ff0000'
    image?: Buffer;   // PNG/JPG buffer - scales to fit
}

Supported Species

• Human, Felinid, Hemophage
• Lizard, Synthliz
• Moth
• Mammal, Synthmammal, Vulpkanin
• Skrell (with tentacle hair)
• IPC/Synth (full robotic body)
• Plasmaman (with envirosuit)
• Akula, Aquatic
• Insect, Insectoid
• Vox
• Teshari, Nabber (simple sprites)
• And more...

Supported Augmentation Styles

• Cyborg, Surplus, Engineering, Mining, Security
• Bishop Cyberkinetics (1.0 & 2.0)
• Morpheus Cyberkinetics
• Hephaestus Industries (1.0 & 2.0)
• Shellguard Munitions Standard Series
• Ward-Takahashi Manufacturing
• Xion Manufacturing Group (1.0 & 2.0)
• Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals
• Mariinsky Ballet Company
• Zhenkov & Co. Foundries
• E3N AI

Output

• Image format: PNG (with alpha channel)
• Dimensions: 256x256 pixels (32x32 upscaled 8x with crisp pixel art)
• Background: Transparent by default (customizable)
• Pixel-perfect rendering with no smoothing

Performance

• First render: ~100-300ms (includes sprite loading and caching)
• Subsequent renders: ~50-100ms (sprites cached in memory)
• DMI sprites are cached automatically for better performance

Changelog

1.1.5

• Transparent background by default
• Added BackgroundOptions - set solid color or image as background
• Skrell tentacle hair support (feature_skrell_hair, skrell_hair.dmi)
• IPC/Synth antenna rendering
• Hand inherits augmentation style from arm automatically
• Added base lizard snouts (Sharp, Round, Sharp + Light, Round + Light)
• Added synthliz snouts

1.1.0

• Hair and facial hair gradient support
• IPC/Synth species rendering
• Full augmentation system
• Digitigrade legs support

1.0.0

• Initial release

License

MIT

Credits

Character sprites and assets are from Space Station 13:

• TGStation
• NovaStation
• The Fluffy Frontier;