How to Mint NFTs with Manifold: No Coding Required
by corporate trash
3/9/2022
Many creators are interested in minting NFTs of their own to share with the world — from photography to digital art to music. However, learning how to code and become a smart contract expert to mint NFTs can take a lot of time, and usually isn’t something that NFT artists are familiar with.
Enter an innovative Ethereum smart contract solution for minting NFTs: Manifold.xyz.
Instead of minting an NFT using a marketplace’s smart contract solution, artists can create their own custom contracts, for ultimate ownership and provenance.
What is Manifold.xyz?
Manifold.xyz is an NFT minting company whose mission is to simply empower creators. On the website, it states it aims to “enable web3 creators to have true creative ownership, preserve on-chain provenance, and interoperate with all major NFT marketplaces.” Manifold was founded by three Web3 developers: Wilkins Chung, Richerd Chan — who is perhaps most known in the community for once turning down a $9.5 million offer for his CryptoPunk, and Eric Diep.
The company’s $7.91 million seed round was funded by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Initialized Capital in October 2021, which coincided with the company’s announcement of Manifold Studio.
The company had been working with many prominent creators in the Web3 space using its Creator Contract in 2021. Then they launched Manifold Studio to scale their NFT minting tools.
Manifold Studio is a powerful and free solution for anyone in the space to create their own smart contract and mint NFTs, even with zero knowledge of coding. It has quickly become a household name in the Web3 and NFT community as a strong but simple tool for artists to mint their own NFTs.
Projects Minting NFTs with Manifold
Manifold started out partnering with artists like FVCKRENDER, Pak (on their burn.it project), and Mad Dog Jones on REPILICATOR. They have expanded to power NFT contracts for Steve Aoki, Jay-Z, Micah Johnson (Akudreams), the Sacramento Kings, pplpleasr, and many more.
Manifold is also known for their ability to integrate an ASCII signature within the smart contract, which is a fun Easter egg for artists who want to put even more of their unique personality into the contract. In a world where creators can sometimes be left out or taken advantage of, Manifold is building a world where “the creator is the platform.”
Why Mint NFTs with Manifold?
Marketplaces like OpenSea and Rarible allow artists to easily mint NFTs using their smart contract, which means only the marketplaces have true ownership over it. In the Web3 world, ownership, authenticity, and transparency is everything.
By using Manifold Studio instead, the smart contract is 100 percent retained and owned by the creator. More and more creators have been migrating contracts away from OpenSea to create their own.
Manifold allows both ERC-721 and ERC-1155 tokens to be created, and can be linked to sell on third-party platforms like OpenSea, Rarible, Foundation, SuperRare, Nifty Gateway, LooksRare, and more. The NFTs can be high-res images, audio, 3D files, video, and even HTML pages. The contracts can have their own custom properties, be extremely dynamic, and have the ability to airdrop to certain owners.
The Manifold team is adding more features on a consistent basis.
How to Mint NFTs with Manifold.xyz: Step-by-Step
For minting an ERC-721 token on Manifold.xyz, here’s the step-by-step process. If you have problems through the process, feel free to ask questions in the Manifold Discord or on Twitter.
- Connect your wallet and sign up to Manifold with an email address.
- Choose the token type in Manifold Studio.
- Fill out your contract details, including name, contract symbol, and ASCII mark. All are required.
- Use the Rinkeby Test Network to run a test mint (free using a Rinkeby faucet) to check that everything is working the way you’d like it with your contract. Keep in mind that once something is minted on the Ethereum mainnet, it is permanently on the blockchain.
- Mint your smart contract onto mainnet. This part will cost gas fees, which is out of the control of Manifold.
- Set the royalty percentage — this also costs gas.
- Mint the art onto the contract — this also costs gas.
- Go to Rarible, OpenSea, and other marketplaces to check the collection and double check royalty settings. Whatever you name your contract will likely be the name of the collection in the marketplace.
Manifold has created detailed videos with every single step outlined, plus any edge cases that may occur with your NFT minting.
Minting NFTs with Manifold: FAQ
Here are a few key topics that you may be interested in before choosing Manifold Studio for your NFT project.
Can I mint a generative art project on Manifold Studio? Currently, generative art projects (like 10,000 PFP projects) are not supported using Manifold Studio without Extensions or coding knowledge needed.
Can I use “lazy minting” i.e. just-in-time minting at the moment somebody purchases my NFT? Currently, this is not supported by Manifold Studio.
Is there a file size limit? Manifold currently doesn’t have a file size limit, but marketplaces like OpenSea might.
How much will manifold cost me in gas fees? It varies, but you can check estimates here, along with details for the beta Batch Minting feature.
Can I transfer ownership or use a multisig contract like Gnosis Safe? Yes, you can do this if you ever want to transfer contract ownership to another wallet.
Is the data stored directly on-chain? Manifold Studio stores all metadata and assets related to your NFT on Arweave. This is a much cheaper solution to storing all this data on the Ethereum blockchain while still being decentralized and ensuring your assets can never be taken down.
However, Manifold Studio offers a tutorial on how to move some of your data on-chain.
Does Manifold Studio support other blockchains? Currently, Manifold Studio only supports Layer 1 Ethereum network, but they’ve mentioned they hope to adopt other blockchains in the future.
TL;DR: Minting NFTs with Manifold.xyz
The basis for Web3 is all about interoperability, authenticity, provenance, and transparency. As more creators and artists enter the space, they will need a solution to mint NFTs where they have true and complete ownership. At the same time, many of these creators won’t know how to code, or even know too much about what a smart contract is.
Manifold Studio makes it clear and simple for anyone to put their ideas and creations out into the world by minting NFTs. You can see all the details in Manifold’s Creator Architecture, which is what fuels the company’s roadmap.