🤔 Metamedia FAQ

While we may support GIFs in the future, they can be rather large; please convert them to MP4 instead for now.

Most operating systems are set to open any HTML file with your default browser, such as Chrome; therefore, to edit the HTML in code editor, you may have to right-click the file and select the editor to open it, or open the editor first, select Open from the File menu, and choose it manually. BBEdit (macOS only), Visual Studio Code (macOS and Windows), or even a plain text editor should allow you to edit the HTML.

For file size efficiency and maximum compatibility, MP4 is the only supported video format; please convert other formats for now.

For file size efficiency and maximum compatibility, MP3 is the only supported audio format; please convert other formats for now; use a bitrate of 320 kbps for highest fidelity.

For file size efficiency and maximum compatibility, PNG is the only supported image format; please convert other formats for now.

Currently, no. We may find a way to add this in the future, but at the moment all media layers must be exported to MP4 video, MP3 audio, PNG image, or TXT text.

We may add more styling options in the future but to minimize potential issues on different browsers, for now we’ve reduced styling options to serif or sans serif screen fonts in a limited selection of colors. For more advanced styling on text, try creating them in a graphics program and exporting them as transparent PNG layers.

Each layer’s default activation state for when the file is first loaded (or re-loaded) is determined by the data-checked="" setting; layers that you want on by default should read data-checked="true"; layers that you want off by default should read data-checked="false".

Make sure you have pressed the play button and the correct audio or video layer is active; if the video layer is definitely active, make sure it is not covered by another image or video layer. Failing the above, make sure your file is in the correct format (MP3 or MP4), and ensure the file name and number matches the Layer reference in your index.html

Unfortunately, audio toggles are browser dependent; we have tried to fade audio layers out when toggled off and in when toggled on, but not all browsers recognize this behavior in the same way.

No, not necessarily. You could simply mint a collection of text or visual layers, or audio only, or video only, or any combination of those, however you like. It’s all up to you and your imagination.

Absolutely, yes. However, if you want a video layer to be silent, you must remove or mute audio from the recording in your video editor before exporting it as an MP4.

When you mint your token, the entire stack of media assets will be minted as an interactive work, just as it functions in your platform's minting preview sandbox. To determine which layers are on or off by default, use the data-checked flag for each layer in the layer stack of your index.html file. If data-checked=”true” a layer will be on by default; if you prefer a particular layer switched off when first loaded, set that layer to data-checked=”false”.

We may add a pause button and other controls in future versions, but for now, we want to reinforce Metamedia as an artistic experience that demands attention and engagement from participants as the artist intends - as opposed to passive media that can simply be paused and resumed like typical web content.

Toggles are automatically created whenever a media layer is correctly referenced in the index.html file to a corresponding media asset in the assets folder. To remove a toggle, remove the corresponding media asset and its layer reference in your index.html. The play/stop toggle will only appear if one or more video or audio layers are present in the assets folder and referenced in the index.html.

Click here to interact with a variety of Metamedia pieces. After opening a piece, click the circular toggles at bottom to turn different layers off or on, and use the play/stop button at left to start the audio and video layers (which may or may not be active, depending on your layer toggle states at the time).

Unfortunately, Zora no longer allows HTML uploads - but you can still mint Metamedia on Teia.

The layer control menu will disappear when the mouse is not hovering over the display tab, so just make sure the window is selected and your mouse is hovering over it to show the control menu with play/stop and layer toggles.

Click here to download the current Metamedia template version.

First, prepare your media asset layers, then assemble and create your Metamedia.