How assets are revealed to the world!
In the process of assembling a collection, it's paramount to ensure the confidentiality of metadata (traits) along with your image or video content, preventing any premature leakage of information that might offer an undue advantage or influence speculative value. The content remains cloaked, visible only upon minting and its consequent public reveal. To gain a deeper understanding of this process, let's delineate the varying states within the creation and minting lifecycle.
When you generate a collection from Layers, or upload it as Private, the content remains exclusively visible to you. While it's possible to share a link to your project with select individuals, note that this link remains operative for a brief window (defaults to 1 hour).
Given that your collection is private, it remains impenetrable to external viewing or interaction. However, the moment an item is minted through your dedicated minting site, one of two possibilities ensue:
The minted asset could instantly become public. In this scenario, the one who mints the asset is granted immediate access to inspect the image and metadata, either in their wallet or on marketplaces. This procedure is referred to as Reveal On Mint, implying the simultaneous minting and revealing of an asset. In such an instance, should an attempt be made to access data or the image of an unminted token, a dead-link would be encountered alongside placeholder metadata that bears no reference to traits.
Alternatively, certain collections might prefer a delay between the minting of assets and their subsequent reveal. This approach, known as Reveal on Schedule, permits you to stipulate a future date and time for the public unveiling of your assets. Until this designated moment, the image and metadata remain as placeholders.
This introduces the concept of a Placeholder image. Within the contract tab, you can upload a chosen image (or select the default one) that represents your content during the pre-reveal phase. If your asset is listed on a marketplace in this state, its traits and post-reveal image remain indeterminable until the timer concludes.