Generating Synthetic Hand Tracking Data with stick-gen for Better AI Models

Jan 22, 2026

Introduction to stick-gen

In the fast-paced world of development and digital organization, sometimes the simplest tools are the most effective. stick-gen is an open-source Python command-line interface (CLI) tool designed with a singular, practical focus: generating images that look like sticky notes directly from text input. Whether you need visual reminders for your desktop, quick assets for documentation, or automated image generation for a larger pipeline, this lightweight utility offers a streamlined solution.

This article will explore the capabilities of stick-gen, guiding you through its installation process, demonstrating its usage with practical examples, and detailing how developers can contribute to its ongoing development on GitHub.

Key Features

While designed to be minimalist, stick-gen includes several features that enhance its utility for various use cases:

  • Command-Line Interface: Generate images quickly without needing a graphical user interface, making it ideal for scripting and automation.
  • Text Customization: Easily handle multi-line text inputs to ensure your notes contain all necessary information.
  • Color Options: Customize the background color of the generated sticky note to categorize your visual reminders.
  • Font Selection: Support for specifying different fonts to alter the appearance of the generated text.
  • Lightweight Dependency: Built with standard Python libraries to minimize installation overhead.

Installation Guide

Getting started with stick-gen is straightforward, provided you have a modern Python environment set up on your machine. The tool is typically distributed via PyPI and can be installed using standard package managers.

Prerequisites

Ensure you have Python installed (preferably version 3.6 or newer) along with pip, the Python package installer.

Installation via pip

Open your terminal or command prompt and execute the following command to install stick-gen globally or within a virtual environment:

pip install stick-gen

Once the process completes, you can verify the installation by checking the version:

stick-gen --version

How to Use stick-gen

Using stick-gen is designed to be intuitive. The core functionality revolves around passing text string arguments to the CLI command.

Basic Usage Example

To generate a simple sticky note with default settings, provide the text directly in quotes. By default, the tool usually saves the output as sticky.png in the current directory.

stick-gen "Remember to update the documentation before the release."

Advanced Customization

You can leverage various flags to customize the output image. Below is an example demonstrating how to change the color, specify a font, and define a custom output filename.

stick-gen "Urgent: Fix the login bug on staging" --color "#ffeb3b" --font "Arial.ttf" --output "bug_reminder.png"

Note: When specifying fonts, ensure the path to the font file is correct on your local system.

Contribution Guide

Open-source projects thrive on community contributions. If you are interested in improving stick-gen, the maintainers generally welcome contributions in the form of code improvements, bug reports, and documentation updates.

Steps to Contribute

  1. Fork the Repository: Navigate to the GitHub page and create a fork of the repository to your own account.
  2. Clone locally: Clone your forked version to your development machine.
  3. Create a Branch: Create a new branch for your feature or fix (e.g., feature/add-new-color-palette).
  4. Implement Changes: Write your code and ensure it adheres to existing style guidelines.
  5. Submit a Pull Request (PR): Push your changes to your fork and submit a PR to the main repository for review.

Always review the CONTRIBUTING.md file in the repository (if available) for specific project guidelines.

Community & Support

Support for stick-gen is primarily handled through its GitHub repository channels. Engaging with these channels ensures that issues are tracked properly and discussions are visible to the community.

  • Issue Tracker: Use the GitHub Issues tab to report bugs, suggest enhancements, or ask technical questions related to the tool’s functionality.
  • Pull Requests: For code contributions and fixes, utilize the Pull Request system for code review and discussion.

Conclusion

stick-gen offers a specialized, efficient solution for developers and power users who need to generate visual sticky notes programmatically. By adhering to the Unix philosophy of doing one thing well, it provides a reliable utility that can be easily integrated into various workflows. Whether you are looking to use the tool for personal organization or contribute to its codebase, it represents a neat example of practical Python CLI tooling.

Useful Resources

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the system requirements to run stick-gen?

To run stick-gen successfully, you must have Python installed on your operating system, preferably version 3.6 or higher. Since it is a command-line tool distributed via pip, it is generally cross-platform and should function on Linux, macOS, and Windows environments that have a standard Python setup correctly configured in the system path.

Can I integrate stick-gen into other Python scripts?

Yes, while it is primarily designed as a standalone Command Line Interface (CLI) tool, because it is written in Python, you could potentially import its core functions into another Python script. You would need to examine the source code structure to identify the relevant functions for image generation and call them directly within your own codebase, passing the necessary parameters programmatically.

How do I handle errors if the font file is not found?

If you provide a custom font path using the command-line arguments and stick-gen cannot locate the file, it will typically exit with an error message indicating that the resource is missing. To resolve this, you must ensure that you are providing the absolute or correct relative path to a valid TrueType Font (.ttf) file readable by the current user on your system.

Where should I report bugs or suggest new features?

The official channel for reporting bugs, suggesting new features, or discussing improvements is the ‘Issues’ tab on the GitHub repository page. When filing an issue, it is highly recommended to provide as much detail as possible, including steps to reproduce bugs or clear rationale for requested features, to help the maintainers address them effectively.

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