It's 2022 and the NFT craze has not slowed down one bit. In 2021, NFT trading reached $23 billion and "NFT" became the word of the year. Artists have a whole new venue to use for creating experiences that are unique and experimental. The challenge? Code and technology. Most artists that want to enter this space are confronted with the awkward new rise of Web3 technology that is still in its infancy, and the requirements to launch an NFT project can even make a software developer run and hide. There are many who brave it and launch VSCode for the first time, but it's still difficult.

However, thanks to Mintplex, Typedream, and Pinata, an artist can launch an NFT contract that they own, a website where their fans can mint the NFTs, and create content that can only be unlocked by said NFTs, with zero code. Might sound crazy, but it's true, and we'll see how it's done right now!

Before You Begin

If you're a creator and you're new to Web3, crypto, and NFTs, I would highly suggest visiting Odyssey Dao first! There are a lot of underlying concepts when it comes to creating NFTs and using the technology, and it would help you a ton to know the basics before making your own NFT project. They have a simple "12 Days of Web3" email list that you can use, or just jump straight into their articles. If you're already familiar with the space and you know what crypto wallets and smart contracts are, then press forward.

There are a few things you will need before starting this journey. The first thing you will need is a browser wallet like Metamask. The great thing about Mintplex is that they can help you launch your project on a test network that does not use real money, so you can get your feet wet without losing all that precious crypto. Then when you're ready, you can deploy that contract to the mainnet in one click.

Of course the other thing you will need is some art. It's probably a good idea to start with a small project before you do a huge 10,000 generated PFP drop. Maybe just start with 10 images. If you want to jump into randomly generated assets, be sure to check out NiftyGenerator.

‍Mintplex - The NFT Contract

To get started you will want to visit Mintplex.xyz, and select "Launch a Project." You will need Metamask to sign into the app; no need for emails and passwords here! From there you'll be taken to the projects page where you can click "Create new project."

The team at Mintplex has done an exceptional job of breaking down the complexities of making NFTs. You'll see from the card that there are several steps you will click on, each one leading to the next. They are in order:

1. Setup Images and Metadata on IPFS
2. Create Custom Smart Contract
3. Deploy Contract to Testnet
4. Deploy Contract to Mainnet
5. Mint Button & Landing Page

We won't be deep diving into these steps too much because honestly Mintplex has already done that! Each of the stages has lots of explanations, instructions, videos, and screenshots. We'll just look at each step from a bird's eye view so you can get a good idea of what to expect.

Setup Images and Metadata on IPFS

When it comes to NFTs, you'll want to make sure your files are secure and verifiable. You could try to just upload an image to the blockchain, but the price to do so would be astronomical. As NFTs started being released, people used old technology like Dropbox or Google Drive and put a link to the image in the NFT. The problem with that is the data could be taken down or changed; not very reliable for a decentralized asset. That’s why we’ll be using IPFS, a file sharing protocol that keeps assets immutable and decentralized. And we’ll be using Pinata to make IPFS easy.

As you go through the steps, Mintplex will show you how to create an account with Pinata, how to upload your assets, and what information you'll need to go to the next step. One of those pieces will be the Content Identifier, or CID. The CID is the address to the content on the IPFS network, as well as a way to verify that it has not changed. The CID hash is determined by the contents of the folder or file, so if that content changes, the CID changes.

Once you give Mintplex the CID for your images, it will walk you through creating the metadata for your NFTs. If you used something like Nifty Generator this will already be done for you, but if not it's pretty easy to fill out. Mintplex will provide a sample you can copy and edit to your needs. Here’s a simpler example you can use that does not have any attributes or extra features!

{ “name”:”name of your NFT goes here, along with a number if you’d like ”, “description”:”describe your NFT here”, “external_url”:”this can be the link to your website, not required”,}

Once you've created the metadata files, you'll upload them to Mintplex, then they will edit them for you to include all the image links so you don't have to. Once this is completed they will provide a link for you to download the folder. This completed metadata folder is what you will upload to IPFS next. Once this is done Mintplex will need the CID for that folder too.

So far, so good. But let’s take a second to summarize what we’ve done so far.

• We uploaded the assets to Pinata and got the CID
• We gave that CID to Mintplex.
• We created metadata for the NFTs and then uploaded them to Mintplex
• Mintplex edited the metadata files and gave us the final metadata folder
• We uploaded the final metadata folder to Pinata and got the CID
• We gave that CID to Mintplex

Now that we have the assets ready, we can move onto the smart contract!

Create Custom Smart Contract

One of Mintplex's most powerful features is the ability to create a custom smart contract. Smart contracts are the code that decides how the NFT is made, how many there are, who can have one, how much they cost, and more. The code lives on the blockchain and people can interact with that code through a website, a mobile app, a server, and just about anywhere else you can think of.

Most places that have no code NFT minting do not allow creators to own their smart contracts. Rather, the smart contracts are owned by the platform. This can be unfavorable as the platform reserves the right to close out or shutdown the NFTs, and the creator has no control over it. That's not how the blockchain should work. Thankfully, Mintplex solves this.

We start with some project information such as the name, what network we want, symbol, etc. You can even set royalties so any time your NFT sells on the secondary marketplace, you'll get a cut! If this is your first time I would recommend using Ethereum as the Rinkeby test network is a bit easier to use than Polygon. However if you're going to deploy to the real world, Polygon could save you a bunch of money in the long run.

Next, Mintplex will lay out some contract features you can use. They do a great job of explaining all of these, so you’re encouraged to take the time to read through each of them carefully.

From there Mintplex will ask for a payout address. This is where you can put in your Ethereum wallet address. You can also add multiple other wallets if you have other team members that are getting a cut. Keep in mind, Mintplex will take 5% of the proceeds in exchange for the no-code service they’ve built.

Lastly, you will need to generate a smart contract. With a single button, Mintplex will take all this information, the IPFS info, your selection of features, wallet addresses, and put them into a custom smart contract that you will own. It takes about 3 minutes and it will let you download the smart contract files. This is an awesome feature because you get the raw code if you ever want to take it with you or give it to a developer for future use!

Deploy Contract to Rinkeby

Now it's time to make this thing go live! If this is your first time deploying a smart contract, you will want to use a test network, the one we’re using is called Rinkeby. It works just like the real thing, but you will use fake Ether instead of the real stuff that costs real money. Mintplex will show on your project a button to Deploy to Rinkeby. Once you click on this, they will walk you through each step of the process. First you will switch your Metamask wallet to the Rinkeby network, then you will need to request some fake Ether from the Rinkeby faucet that Mintplex links in their step.

After your wallet is loaded with fake Ether, just click the Deploy to Rinkeby button and bam you're done! Mintplex also provides some helpful info that you'll want to save, like the smart contract address and transaction ID. This is basically how you can locate the smart contract on the blockchain and make sure everything went through. You'll also use that contract address in the future of this post, so hang onto it.

Mintplex also provides instructions on how to verify and validate your smart contract. This will help other people view the smart contract and make sure that it's trustworthy, always a good idea in the crypto space.

Deploy Contract to Mainnet

This is a step you should probably come back to later. You still have some testing to do, and launching a full NFT project can be expensive, so best to do it only once. However once you are ready, Mintplex makes it super easy. Just load up your crypto wallet with real Ether, hit the button, and it's deployed to Mainnet! Works just like the Rinkeby network.

Mint Button & Landing Page

Now that you have a smart contract with a bunch of NFTs waiting to be released into the world, you will need a website with a minting button! Minting is the term used for "creating" an NFT. Your smart contract is on the blockchain, but the NFTs will only exist if people pay the contract money and interact with it. For people to mint the NFTs you need a site they can visit and use their wallet with. Mintplex has two options: you can use their embed widget if you already know how to do some web development, but they also have a link to Typedream which is a no-code website. That's where we're off to next!

Typedream - The Minting Website

Typedream is a great platform for making your own website without any code. When you click on the link from Mintplex it will take you to their website where you can create a free account to start out with. Once signed up, they give you different options for what template you want. You will want to select the Web3 template, and in the next page select the NFT page, and the NFT Minting page.

If you've never made a website before, that's ok! Take a few minutes to read and watch the tips and tutorials that Typedream provides. They make it really easy to click and drag any elements you may want for the website to make it your own. On the right side of the site you can see a home page, and a Mintplex x Pinata page below it. If you click on the Mintplex x Pinata page you will see the mint button we need to setup.

At the top of the page Typedream will have a link to a guide on how to set up this button, but in case you need it you can use this link. What you're going to do is go back to Mintplex, click on the Mint Button & Landing Page section on the project, then click on the embeddable widget. From here you can change the colors and some of the other appearances, and on the right side there will be a big embed snippet for Rinkeby and Mainnet. Mintplex will take the info from the smart contract you deployed earlier and link it to the button; too cool!

Once you copy that snippet, you'll just head back to Typedream, select the mint button, and click "replace embed." From there you'll choose "code" and paste in the snippet from Mintplex. That's probably the closest you'll come to "coding" in this process. After you've done this and the site is to your liking, you can launch it. Just like that you have a website that can let people mint your NFTs!

Wrapping up

If you've gotten this far, just step back and think about everything you just did:

• Used Mintplex to create an NFT smart contract and deployed it to a blockchain
• Used Typedream to create a minting website for the NFTs
• Used Pinata to gate content that can only be unlocked with an NFT

The best part? You, as the creator, didn't need to write a line of code. This is a huge step for the industry to offer so many powerful tools to creators that want to enter the web3 space and share their content in a new medium. We're so excited to see this no-code-trifecta come to life. Mintplex, Typedream, and Pinata are already looking at ways to integrate and make the process even smoother between the platforms. We all have the common goal of making tools creators can use to make experiences worth paying for!