Introducing qFrame Upgrades, and Beta Testing in the qNFT Hub.
We have just released the latest update to the qFrames that allow all new functionalities for holders of qNFT tokens, and improvements to the currently existing functionalities that are contained in it. Along with this new the qFrame itself has been upgraded significantly to increase the efficiencies of the system and the way that customs and versions are actually accessed and used.
This upgrade has been a long time coming, and is a continuation of development on QUANTUM Metadata. This technology has been in constant development since the Summer of 2021 with the introduction of “dynamic metadata” from Blazed Cats.
Alongside it we began the start of a more open beta access program in the qNFT Hub. This program will allow qNFT holders the ability to participate in advance to the releases and updates from QuantumTECH before they go out in the public, allowing us to find problems before they appear, give opportunities for holders to get a sneak peek at releases, and more rigorously test out systems we are releasing more rapidly.
What is new?
Rebuilt Customs
First off are the changes made to the way that the Quantum Customiser works and operates. This is through the introduction of a brand new drawer which replaces the old tray of tags which users would use to select the custom they wanted to apply to their qNFT. Users will first notice that the old button in the bottom left hand corner is replaced with a T-Shirt icon.
When the user clicks this button they are presented with an array of customiser options With miniature examples of the custom to be used on the qNFT in question. The scrollable low profile tray provides a better experience for the user as they can see the qNFT as they update it directly without it being overly obscured, when a collection gets a large number of customs.
Finally in the event the user wishes to see even more available customs by hitting the button on the far left, they can open the tray even further, displaying all the more customs. And giving easier navigation through all of the customs.
Versions
Those who have held a Blazed Cat, RUG.WTF, or Dizzy Dragon qNFT will notice that the versions button in the top right hand corner is no longer present. This is because it has been included into the new Quantum Customiser drawer.
All the same versions are available for the different collections, but now they have a better home that consolidates the space used into one location containing the customs, versions, and newly introduced Framing component.
With this the process of exploring the different ways to display and show your qNFT all come together. You now have a single component, within a single interface to effortlessly modify the customs, versions and the framing of your qNFTs.
Framing
Framing is an all new addition to the way in which you can display your qNFTs. This new addition to the Quantum Customiser allows for the newest form of customisation to your qNFTs. Now not only can you change what is going on your qNFT but you are now able to change how it is oriented and displayed as well.
This works with customs added to the qFrames, meaning you can deck out your favorite qNFT with all your favorite add-ons, and then change the direction, orientation, or zoom of the token itself. All collections are able to automatically have the introduction of the Flip and the Rotate frame to them, this is because they operate on the X and Y axis in a way that is predictable for any qNFT. Other collections however, where we can identify specific zoom points, or different framing options that showcase them best can also be displayed. A clear example of this is the Blazed Cats with the Close-Up framing option. OG Blazed Cats holders in particular will be happy to find this included as an option for framing their cats, instead of needing to get their close ups done by hand. As this requires specific manipulation of the X, Y and zoom elements of the qFrame, this is something that can only be done on a case by case basis as the close-up coordinates for Blazed Cats is not necessarily going to work for a DOJI/XCREW
Behind the scenes
In order for this all to be done, and to better support future development, there were several fairly major modifications in order to allow for this release. These are all back end developments that are not going to be right in the face of the user, but nonetheless provide the groundwork for this release, and future releases as it relates to the Quantum Customiser and other qFrame updates.
Restructuring the qFrames
The first major update that allows for the creation of this new system is a complete overhaul of the code base that underpins the qFrames. The introduction of the qFrames goes all the way back to early days of QUANTUM.TECH before the current standardisation practices were in place. As a result, projects such as Blazed Cats and RUG.WTF were comprised of a higher volume of custom code, with little overlap between the future projects. While this worked great initially, it posed issues for future system wide updates as various projects needed to have specific cases written for them in order to receive these updates.
To address this the qFrames, in particular the elements related to older projects, have been completely restructured. Removing most of the hard coded elements that are project specific, and pushing all qNFT projects to a componentized structure that will allow for even better and more efficient development on the qFrames.
This has two major benefits for development as it relates to qFrames. The first is the fact that it means that updating all projects will be incredibly simple. Instead of needing to make sure older projects are accommodated for in the updates to the system, if an update works on one project then we can be confident that it will work on the other ones which share these components. This will lead to decreased development and testing time as the system more efficiently accepts updates. Secondly it will allow for simpler booting up of new projects, the more templatized and standardized the systems for qFrames the less time and energy is needed to get a project booted up into it. New qNFT projects will simply need to know what features they want, and then their frames will be given the needed components. Allowing for a simpler process on the part of QUANTUM.TECH but additionally an easier and faster experience for Clients and other projects being booted into the system.
Framing Support
The ability to support the framing options goes beyond just updating the qFrame itself, but goes all the way to the backend. This is because there are two primary systems that need to be able to frame the token properly. The first of which is the qFrame itself. This is fairly obvious, but the qFrame required the creation of new systems to allow the clean, repeatable and accurate implementation of a framing when a user selects it.
Secondly is the need for the backend to do the same. This follows in a similar form of modifying the canvas the token is on, but required updates to these systems in order to allow for them to be able to automatically resize and change the view in order to display what was shown to users on the front end.
With these in place however, the capacity to create new framing options and token specific ones is introduced. This will allow for the simple integration of new framing selections. Thus, as desired framings are discovered they can be condensed down to the way it changes the X and Y coordinates and the zoom and then be quickly introduced in across an entire collection in a streamlined and systematic way.
More Efficient qFrames
In order to display in advance the customs that will be applicable to a qNFT the system needs to pull reference images for all of the customs and then render them on to the screen. If done inefficiently this would pose major accessibility concerns, and increase loading times exorbinantly. In order to handle this two efficiency gains were pushed for in order to make this load as quickly as possible and not decrease the ability of users to interact with the qFrames.
The first of these was the introduction of more lazy loading and other methods to load what was needed as needed, and to have enough loaded to not have to constantly trigger a loading state. This means that the system is not trying to immediatly load 90+ customs and render ~200 images for a single Blazed Cat, but instead is moving through them as needed to strike a balance between preloaded and efficiently loaded elements.
The second is by introducing new image file sizes to our systems. The previous smallest images were 500x500 images which work very quickly for the most part, until you are needing to grab this image and reuse it 100+ times in a qFrame. To deal with this, we have introduced sizes of images as low as 100x100 to our systems. This means that for the smallest displays and icons we can quickly and smoothly retrieve the best sized file instead of retrieving and resizing something significantly more massive.
This will go beyond just supporting the qFrames themselves, but will additionally provide new images where very small display images are required, or loading mechanisms for where high numbers of images are needed but not immediately seen. Meaning that across all tools by QUANTUM.TECH further increases in efficiency is achievable.
Future Impacts
The benefits from these changes are readily apparent with the qFrames Customiser and its current upgrade. But the changes to the qFrame structure, and the efficiency gains in terms of image use will have a wider impact to the wider qNFT ecosystem as a whole.
When it comes to introducing new updates and upgrades to the system there will be less work spent on making sure these upgrades work everywhere and will be all the more faster for it. Additionally images, and high numbers of them, are required across many of the QUANTUM.TECH projects and sites. As a result the more efficient mechanisms for accessing and displaying smaller images will provide for shorter loading times across the board on those sites which can leverage these upgrades, and those that use high volumes of them will be able to load just as much as they need to.
Beta Testing
A final element of this was the use of beta testing in a new way by QUANTUM.TECH. Due to the nature of this release many projects were going to be impacted, and as a result the ability to adequately and confidently test everything in house before a public release was not present. In order to allow for this large update to be adequately tested in advance we have started the first of many beta tests to come in the qNFT Hub.
In order to participate holders of qNFTs were given the opportunity to react to a post in the qNFT Hub which would then allow them access to a hidden channel. This hidden channel provided access to a handful of links to development builds of the new qFrames. Holders were then urged to do whatever they could think of in order to break it, and to just generally play around with the functionality.
This provided a direct funnel of issues to the development team at QUANTUM.TECH, as the team could provide insight into areas that could use further testing and specify areas to look at, and additionally through Discord be able to asynchronously observe and note the issues as they occurred and were reported.
This process was a great success, identifying many potential issues that might have taken longer find internally. And allowed for a lot of issues to be found and fixed in tandem as opposed to in a back and forth manner internally. The speed the wide number of beta testers allowed in terms of finding issues was a huge boon to the testing process.
In the future holders of qNFTs within the qNFT Hub can expect more of these beta tests to occur. This means that if you hold a qNFT, and want to see the releases we are working on in advance, and additionally help find issues and bugs before they go out to the public, then you should make your way to the qNFT Hub and keep your eyes and ears peeled for opportunities to join the beta testing rounds. The QUANTUM.TECH team wants to thank all of the people who participated in this beta testing round, and helped identify issues to speed up the rate at which we were able to release this new upgrade to the qFrames.
