What is an NFT and how is it stored?
NFT stands for Non Fungible Token which means it’s a unique token on the blockchain in comparison to a fungible token like currency where each token is the same. So NFTs are perfect for creating unique digital assets such as art but can be used for many other purposes too.
It’s important to understand that NFTs are made up of separate parts. The NFT art and its information, which is referred to as its metadata are not actually stored in the token itself. The token is a separate thing that gets stored on the blockchain and contains a link to that specific tokens metadata. This will also be known as a URI link and points to the place in which the metadata is being stored, which can then be looked up and retrieved by the application trying to display the NFT art and its information.
How does this dapp store my NFTs?
Most NFT metadata is stored on the IPFS which is a decentralized peer to peer storage system similar to a blockchain. There are other ways of storing NFTs such as the Arweave blockchain, which is a blockchain dedicated to file storage. Sometimes NFT metadata can even be stored on the same blockchain as the token which is how crypto punks stores it’s NFTs! But this can be very limiting.
The Friendly Shapes Systems dapp stores your NFTs through the NFT.storage service. Which is a very secure way of storing your NFTs, making sure they are super resilient and can’t be taken down. It uses IPFS in conjunction with the FileCoin crypto project which is what makes this service so secure. FileCoin coin will reward users who contribute to the network and gives people an incentive to host your data which will make it more resilient! The NFT.storage service is trusted in the space by projects such as Opensea and Rarible, so you can be sure it is good enough for hosting your NFTs.
ERC-1155 Collection Creator
This is the first tool to be released on the dapp as mentioned this was the reason for me creating the dapp in the first place. But what is an ERC-1155 collection? An ERC-1155 is a type of NFT collection that allows you to mint tokens that have multiple editions. For example an ERC-721 NFT collection only lets you create tokens with a supply of 1, making this collection type good for unique 1 of 1 pieces of art. But an ERC-1155 will allow you to create a token with a supply that you set, so you could have a supply of 100 for a particular piece of art and this type of collection is good for collectable NFTs for example something like trading cards.
Why should you use this dapp to create an ERC-1155 for your project?
By using the Friendly Shapes Systems dapp to create your ERC-1155 collection you will be able to easily deploy your own ERC-1155 smart contract which you have full ownership and control over. This means minting and other functions on the contract can only be accessed by your wallets address. It’s important to understand that you can in fact create an ERC-1155 from a marketplace however in most cases creating a collection this way means you are actually using a shared contract that is owned by that marketplace and so you do not have full control over that contract. Therefore the marketplace can do what they like with your collection and this is why it’s good to have your own collection contract that you deployed yourself. Usually deploying your own collection contract involves a lot of code. However the Friendly Shapes Systems dapp makes it it super simple to do with no technical knowledge or code needed. The dapp also offers a dashboard with tones of user friendly UI for interacting with your ERC-1155 collections and it’s NFTs. Making minting, updating metadata, transfer, burning and other functions super easy with no code!
What if the dapp is down or disappears, how can I use my collection?
Not to worry the dapp just provides UI for an easy way to interact with your collections contract but it is not the only way to do so. You can access all your contracts functions through websites like Etherscan and Polygonscan.
Cheap gas fees when using the dapp to deploy an ERC-1155 collection?
Anther benefit of using the dapp to deploy your collection is cheap gas fees. Gas fees are cheap on Polygon anyway but they are made cheaper by the use of a Minimal Proxy Contract to deploy your collection. Also known as EIP-1167 and I know you will probably be wondering what on earth this is. Basically its an efficient way to “simply and cheaply clone contract functionality in an immutable way” so rather than deploying the whole contract again it will clone what is necessary from an already deployed contract making the process a lot cheaper in gas. This is a simplified explanation of what it does you can read more about the EIP-1167 here.
How do I use my collection to sell NFTs on a marketplace?
Because this is a collection contract fully owned by you. It means you should be able to sell your collection across any marketplace depending on the blockchain that your collection is on. Most marketplaces will recognize your collection is tied to your wallet address when you connect to the marketplace. However some may require you to import the collection using the contracts address. This is usually very easy to do and the marketplace should have clear instructions on how to do this.
Uploading NFT Properties
You can upload pre-defined properties for your NFTs. This will fill in the property fields on the mint page for you. To do this you must upload a .txt file with the properties laid out exactly as shown in the image below with the type on the left and the name on the right separated by a ":" and a new line for the next property.
How do Royalties work?
Thanks to blockchain technology, paid royalties to artists are now possible. This means you can set a percentage on your NFTs or collection. This will be paid to you forever on every secondary sale and has become a standard in the NFT space. However not all royalties can be used across different marketplaces. Up until recently the only way to set royalties for your NFTs was on the marketplace you sold it on. This means those royalties would only apply to sales made on that specific marketplace. So someone could sell your art on a different marketplace without having to pay any royalties at all, meaning you miss out! Luckily the EIP-2981 fixes this issue.
What is the EIP-2981?
This allows for royalties to be set within the contract itself. This is a new royalty standard that aims to unify royalties across all marketplaces and anywhere your NFT is being sold. The EIP-2981 royalty standard is quickly being adopted by most of the popular NFT marketplaces. I think it’s super important that artists always get the royalties they deserve and so I wanted to make sure any contract you make with the dapp can provide this. Find out more about the EIP-2981 here.
Rewarding Art Holders!
I wanted to reward my art holders by making this dapp. So all art holders will be airdropped this FS Digital-key NFT on the dapps launch and through out the project timeline. This will allow any holders of the NFT to access special tools on the dapp that are only available to key holders. I will also give lifetime access to the any tools for free, as some tools will be available to non-key holders too but for a small fee.
What is Friendly Shapes Systems?
To explain why I created Friendly Shapes Systems and what it is I will tell you a bit about myself! I’m Mr Vector Man and I have been an NFT artists in the space since February 2021. I am also a developer professionally who specializes in tools. After being in the space for a while I wanted an easy way to create my own ERC-1155 collection on Polygon. At the time the only option was to create my own smart contract and deploy it through code or use a shared contract created through a marketplace. This is when I thought, hang on I’m a tools programmer so why not bring my skills and experience to web3 and at the same time offer my NFT holders something special. And so I set out to create the Friendly Shapes Systems!
What it is Friendly Shapes Systems though? Or better yet what will it become. Friendly Shapes Systems is a dapp (decentralized application) which aims to bring useful web3 tools to artist and collectors within the NFT space. Currently the first tool will be an ERC-1155 NFT collection contract deployer. But I plan to develop many more in the future and create tools based on the requests of my art holders! Eventually the goal of the dapp will be to become a library of useful and easy to use tools for many different types of NFT projects, empowering artists in the space so they can focus on the art and not have to worry about the code.
What blockchain is the dapp built for?
Currently the dapp will be releasing on Polygon. The reason I chose Polygon first is because I noticed a lack of NFT based tools for the blockchain where as Ethereum has many good existing tools already. I also believe Polygon is growing extremely fast within the NFT space and it is also cheap to use. I will consider releasing the tools for other blockchains in the future if there is a high demand for this.
