Pinsel

Pinsel is a fully decentralized art licensing and backing platform which aims to provide lower comission costs and reduce infrastructure expenses by utilizing p2p protocols such as IPFS and Ethereum Blockchain.

How it Works

Image owner uploads image with details containing artwork's name, description and artwork's author name along with the image file. The artwork owner can also specify if the licensing fee is optional to the buyer which results in a lower commission rate. The uploader also able to specifiy the license if he wants. The uploaded artwork file is stored in an IPFS node and the details of the artwork along with the hash of IPFS file in the smart contract ArtworkController.

The buyer browses the gallery through the frontend website and makes a transaction to license digital art. The bought assets are then can be found in the My Items page which is handled by AccountController contract.

TODO: Architecture Diagram

Dependecies

• NodeJS - tested : 10.15
• Windows Build Tools (node-gyp)
• Docker or Ganache for local private blockchain. Not necessary for deploying to main network.
• Metamask enabled browser such as Chrome with Metamask Extension or Brave browser.

Installation

• IPFS and Ethereum Network

Run IPFS and Ethereum nodes with docker compose at the root directory of the project:

docker-compose up

If using a private local blockchain, ethereum clients such as Geth or Parity can be used in a Docker container. Ganache is also can be used to deploy contracts for testing without using docker.

If you want to deploy to one of the main Ethereum networks, you would currently need to edit the truffle.js file.

• Smart Contracts

  Install truffle framework:

  npm -g install truffle
  

  or with yarn:

  yarn global add truffle
  

  Compile and Migrate Smart Contracts to the network:

  truffle compile
  truffle migrate --reset
  

• Web Server

  Install gulp package :

  npm -g install gulp-cli
  

  or with yarn:

  yarn global add gulp-cli
  

  Installing project dependecies
  with npm:

  npm install
  

  or with yarn:

  yarn install
  

  Build project with gulp:

  gulp build
  

  Start server:

  gulp serve
  

  Access to application from localhost:3000 or localhost:3001 if started with browsersync with gulp sync command

  Other gulp commands

  • gulp clean Cleans dist folder.
  • gulp watch Watches file changes without running server.
  • gulp sync Rebuild and start browsersync proxy with server.
  • gulp serveWatch Start server and watch file changes.