Introducing qNFT Tools: Saving, Freezing, and the future of QUANTUM METADATA.
Introducing qNFT Tools
qNFT Tools is the next major update to be rolled out for QUANTUM METADATA, and provides several new suites of tools to enhance and improve the experience of all holders of a qNFT.
The initial rollout of qNFT Tools will introduce two new mechanics directly to the qNFT itself. The first mechanic is QUANTUM Saving, which will allow you to set the default image_url of your qNFT to whatever state and customs combination you desire. The second mechanic is QUANTUM Freezing, which will allow you to permanently disable all QUANTUM features of your NFT, and eventually pin the image and metadata directly to IPFS. Leaving you with a final image that will never be changeable again and completely immutable.
How to use qNFT Tools
qNFT Tools works from directly within the qNFT you are looking to make changes to. When you interact with the customs, or states within your qNFT the QUANTUM symbol in the bottom right hand corner will change colors, signalling that the state has changed and could be saved to a different one.
Additionally this update impacts where you can download the hi-res images of your qNFT. Instead of getting the link directly from the qNFT, following the URL provided to you for qNFT Tools will provide access to the download link for this purpose.
Clicking on the symbol will generate a unique URL, which when followed will take you https://qNFT.TOOLS/<unique hash>, the portal for applying any final changes, and connecting your wallet in order to verify your identity and allow for saving and freezing of the qNFT in question. This means that while anyone can see the state and change it around in the listing and navigate to your qNFT in particular at qNFT Tools, however using the wallet of the holder for verification means that nobody is able to make changes to your qNFTs default state other than you.
The unique hash provides additonal security to users as well, allowing the ability to time out links which are generated. This further secures the system by preventing users from re-entering from the same link, or attempting to sequentially find different valid links through the URL. This paired with the wallet signature at the point of confirmation provides the confidence that only the person who is making modifications to the qNFT, and with the actual qNFT in their wallet can go ahead and set the default states of a qNFT.
QUANTUM Saving
The first thing that the user will need to do is connect. When connecting to the site, we verify that the token that is being changed, is contained within the signers wallet. Once you have verified yourself, you are given a series of options, alongside the ability to download the image in question.
The first is the title can be changed. This means that you can rename your qNFT to whatever name you wish to give it. Now, like the DOJI/XCREW you can take your personalisation further by giving your qNFT whatever name you want, as the collector.
Secondly, is the ability to change the description of your qNFT. Like the title, this means that you can provide the story for your qNFT directly on it for everyone to see. With that, every aspect of your qNFT can be updated and changed to most reflect you as a holder.
Or if you are feeling like going back to the original looks of your qNFT you can reset it do default. This will revert your qNFT back to it’s original state, meaning that all of the customs will be taken off of it, the default state of it will be returned, and then it will look like it did when it was minted.
A final note is that you are unable to modify the state of the qNFT from this screen, in a coming update this functionality will be contained in qNFT Tools. All changes to the qNFT should be done in the listing itself, and then will be confirmed at this stage.
After making all of the changes that you want, you can then select to save the state of your qNFT. This prompts a final signature, which just confirms that it is what you want to do, and displays in the signature itself these updates being made. Then the information from your qNFT is taken, sent to our back end servers, and your metadata is changed to reflect the new changes. While the metadata is changed, the backend servers additionally create a new High Resolution version of your qNFT, this image is then set to the new image_url of your tokens metadata.
Finally, after saving the state of your qNFT you are able to utilise the second feature that is being rolled out with the initial release of qNFT TOOLS. QUANTUM Freezing. QUANTUM Freezing allows you to permanently disable your QUANTUM features on your qNFT, and eventually pin the image to IPFS and set it permanently in one state for the rest of time. This feature allows for holders of DOJI/XCREW to begin freezing their tokens for the 1–9 coin, and for those holders who want their qNFT to be completely immutable to get their qNFT into such a state.
QUANTUM Freezing
After you select the button to freeze your qNFT you are given a prompt which will inform you of the irreversible nature of this action, and precisely what will occur with your qNFT, that a high quality image with be pinned to IPFS, and your qNFT will lose all of it’s QUANTUM features. Initially this will be achieved with a flag in the system, disabling the QUANTUM functionality. However once IPFS pinning is implemented, you will be prompted to sign a transaction to complete this, which will incur a gas fee, and then your qNFT will be pinned to IPFS, and never again be changeable.
Once all this is done, customs in place, state saved and/or frozen, and you are happy, only one step remains to have everyone see your qNFT in it’s new state. Simply navigate to the platforms that it is on, and refresh the metadata. Since this causes an entire rewrite of your tokens metadata, this means that you will need to refresh the metadata every time that you change the state of your qNFT.
Standardizing qNFTs
In order to accomodate this, a complete standardisation of the way in which the data is stored and used in our back end systems was required. With multiple projects being managed, created by different development teams at different points in QuantumTECH’s history, and sometimes by partner projects with devs completely outside of QuantumTECH. This led to various ways in which the images and metadata were structured. This posed unique problems both for qNFT TOOLS and for the way in which the iframes for QUANTUM METADATA worked.
To solve this problem a complete overhaul of the backend systems at QuantumTECH has occurred. There are three major updates and upgrades which have occurred within the backend systems. The first is the introduction of a singular framework for the way in which metadata, images, and states for the qNFTs are stored. The second is the introduction of new flags to all qNFTs metadata, allowing for automatic custom selection and freeze detection. Finally the third upgrade, being a new back end image generation and layering system.
Standardised Storage
QuantumTECH provides QUANTUM METADATA for several projects, from projects designed around QA like Blazed Cats, DOJI/XCREW, RUG.WTF, and more, to projects that were eventually added to the qNFT family such as Dizzy Dragons and Space Poggers. All of these projects came in and were created at different phases and several have different smart contract authors and devs, which required for each project and the iframe that they used to have code written for each project specifically.
With the changes we have introduced we have standardised the storage process for all projects across the board, and have created the groundwork for turning the onboarding of projects into qNFTs as simple as image and metadata upload, and changing of a single master file.
Without delving too deep into the details of this restructuring the following states for files exists for the projects
- Current: All projects will have a current state, this is the state of the qNFTs that are being referenced by the qNFTs metadata. This will be an ever shifting image which can be updated and changed by the user through the qNFT Tools interfaces with ease.
- Original: The original images are those that would be found on IPFS, and make for the base default image. This image is important, as it is the base for all layering, and additionally whenever the user resets the default state of their qNFT this is what is being pointed to by your qNFTs metadata. This is static, and will never change, much as it won’t on IPFS.
- Inventory: The Inventory files provide the brains of your qNFTs. For the iframes to know precisely what customs are on your qNFT, and not have to layer on top of pre-exisitng customs the Inventory file exists. This file tracks the status of the qNFTs, what customs are equipped to it, and allowing for the iframe to rapidly generate these directly on the qNFT. It additionally knows if a qNFT is frozen or not, allows for systems to detect this and react accordingly.
These rigid forms allow for the introduction of one very important file which will be referenced across many different QuantumTECH tools. This file is the projects.json file. Which will contain the information to link to the specific projects supported with QUANTUM METADATA. This file, and the supporting file structures will enable the iframes to simply reference this master file, determine what path to extract data from for a given project, and where to get the information about the specific qNFTs. This will allow for the ability to boot a new project into the qNFT family purely by uploading the relevent data files needed, and updating the baseURI for tokens, meaning no need to code special cases for these new ones. It additionally permits for all qNFTs to share the functionalities of other qNFTs by updating the flags of the projects.json file to reflect this.
Alongside these clear project boot up speed increases it introduces much simpler maintenance and efficieny in the operations of the systems. Now qNFTs are no longer tightly coupled to specific projects, meaning that an update to a state impacts all projects which use this form of state, not just one single project. Additionally, the data is more readily available, no longer having different routes and mechanisms to access the same information, and with the introduction of Inventory files, the qNFTs can rapidly read what is required, and what is not required, instead of calculating it itself using complex internal logics.
qNFT Metadata Flags
In order for the qNFTs to be able to recognise freezing, and to equip the customs that are on the qNFT directly on it in the image generation process we have introduced new Metadata Flags to the qNFTs. Along with the OpenSea Metadata, the new flags will provide the information required to not only show the qNFT but also have a singular process for the actual generation of images in the iframes. These changes are necessary for the freezing, to make sure to remove all additional icons and features from the frozen qNFTs, but additionally lays the groundwork for future releases from QuantumTECH.
There are two primary tags which are introduced to the qNFTs. The first one is a tag which will define whether a qNFT is frozen or not. This will then be checked by all qNFT iframes, and qNFT systems. If this flag is ever set to true, any QUANTUM functionality that is being attempted with it will automatically fail, or not load. Meaning that no QuantumTECH systems can accidentally treat these NFTs as full qNFTs. The second tag is for the customs that are currently equipped. This way systems can reference the metadata directly, and see what is and isn’t equipped by a qNFT. This way your qNFT will always load with the right customs on it, without worrying about missing customs, or the wrong one being rendered on it.
Backend Image Generator
The final major change that was needed for the release of qNFT Tools was the creation of a new Backend Image Generator. This generator functions very similarly to the way that the qNFT iframes work, and will take the information about a given qNFT and it’s states and customs and create a composite image of all these components.
This generator is capable of building images based upon the information fed to it by qNFT Tools. By crafting a specific sequence of data points for the image generator, it is able to build from scratch the image which is being saved, with proper layering and selection of customs/states.
This not only provides for highly secure, and efficient image creation for the saving of qNFTs, but additionally provides a solid framework for the future introduction of Layer Based Occlusion for QUANTUM METADATA, which will allow for the complete rebuilding of a qNFT’s image to better accomodate customs with the pre-exisitng layers of the qNFT.
Coming Next
This first release of qNFT Tools is a massive update to QUANTUM METADATA and the ability for holders to take control of their qNFTs even more. But it is not the final state for this, and there are already in production further upgrades to the system. Below are a handful of updates to come:
- Direct IPFS Pinning: In order for Freezing to be all the more accurate, IPFS pinning and pointing will be introduced as swiftly as possible. This way not only will your qNFT no longer be able to generate QUANTUM features, but additionally will have an even more permanent location for the image to reside in.
- Customize in qNFT Tools: Future updates to the site will allow for the ability of users to update and customise their qNFTs in the saving/freezing page. This will allow for an even simpler process for users to make last minute changes to their qNFTs look.
- Commenting: Commenting will allow for people to comment directly on your qNFT. Discuss the customs, description, or any other topic about the qNFT in a place that directly verifies and shows their wallet as well.
- Layer Based Occlusion: Specific projects where the layer files are available to the QuantumTECH team will be able to receive Layer Based Occlusion. This will allow for the removal or moving of layers on a qNFT to allow for customs to fit better on the qNFT itself. No longer will your qNFTs default image and layers clash with those of your customs, making for a much cleaner and clearer image.
