How to Create a Voxel NFT to Sell
At the end of this blog, you will have learned how to:
1) Export and render your voxel using MagicaVoxel
2) Upload your voxel to IPFS with Pinata
3) Mint an NFT for your voxel with Rarible to sell on marketplaces
This tutorial assumes that you have a basic understanding of how to create voxels using MagicaVoxel, how to use crypto wallets, and why NFTs need to use IPFS.
Create Voxel
Export your voxel file from MagicaVoxel. To do so, go to the lower right-hand corner and open the menu. From there, click “vox” to export to your computer.
Next, click on “Render” in the upper left-hand corner. The render environment will allow you to generate an image for you voxel. This image will be used by NFT marketplaces, such as OpenSea, to represent what your voxel looks like. The marketplaces do not display the vox file itself.
You will then want to go to the display menu and click the gear icon.
From here, you will want to pick a “Ground” color and a “BG” color for your voxel’s image.
Once you have picked your background colors, go to the bottom to click the camera icon to save the image of the voxel as a png. Next, head over to pinata.cloud.
Upload to IPFS
If you don’t already have a Pinata account, sign up. Once you are logged in, click on “Pinata Upload” in the upper right of the page.
Next, browse your computer for the vox file of the voxel you just created and exported from MagicaVoxel.
Once you have selected the vox file, be sure to check “Preserve filename” before uploading.
Click “Upload” to upload the vox file to Pinata and pin on IPFS.
Next, navigate over to the “Pin Explorer”. The Pin Explorer is where you can manage all of your IPFS files on Pinata.
In the “Pin Explorer”, find the vox file you just uploaded and click on the “IPFS Hash” link.
The IPFS hash link will take you to an IPFS page. On this page, find the vox file link and right click on it.
After right clicking, click the “Copy Link Address” to copy the IPFS link to your clipboard. This IPFS link will be how the buyer of your voxel NFT will download the vox file through Rarible’s “Unlockable” feature explained later in this post.
Mint NFT
With the IPFS link copied, head back over to the Pinata “Pin Explorer” and click on the “Menu” on the right side of the page next to your file.
The “Menu” will drop down and show additional actions. Click the “Mint NFT” action.
By clicking “Mint NFT”, you will be brought to the Rarible Create collectible page. Once there, click the “Chose Image” button. Here, you will want to find and upload the png image of your voxel you created earlier in MagicaVoxels.
With the image uploaded, you will want to select what collection you want the NFT to be in. You can simply choose the Rarible collection or create your own collection with your own name and brand.
From here, you’ll need to name the NFT and add a description. For the description, be sure to explain that the link to download the voxel itself will be available to sign for on Rarible after they purchase the NFT.
Next, select to put the NFT on sale and enter a price for your voxel.
Next, you will want to select the “Unlock once purchased” button. Once selected, it will give you a place to paste the link that will be unlocked for the buyer once they purchase the NFT. Paste the IPFS link you copied to your clipboard earlier here. Finally, click “Create”. You will now need to follow the wallet prompts provided by Rarible to finish minting the token and signing the transactions.
Your voxel NFT is now minted and ready to be sold across a variety of marketplaces to buyers looking to add unique voxels to their Metaverse. Happy Pinning!
