---
title: Book of Voxels
description: Notes on Cryptovoxels metaverse interoperability experiments
image: https://i.imgur.com/LxMtESX.jpg
robots: index, follow
lang: en
dir: ltr
breaks: true
---

# Book of Voxels

###### tags: `cv`

{%hackmd @xr/dark %}


---

## Community

Member of M3 (Metaverse Makers _*): https://github.com/m3-org


---

**What is this?**

gm, I needed a better way of organizing all of the notes I had on Cryptovoxels: a virtual world on the Ethereum blockchain created by [Ben Nolan](https://twitter.com/bnolan). Hopefully it can be useful to others interested in 3D web, Ethereum, WebXR, and metaverse interoperability also 😎


If you ever want to chat you can reach me [@dankvr](https://twitter.com/dankvr) on Twitter or `jin#6455` on Discord.

---

**Openvoxels DAO**

This hackmd book is a labor of love, containing notes from 4 years of pro-bono projects and experiments related to Cryptovoxels. To take things to the next level we need additional support, metaverse interop has become a hot subject making our time more scarce. We have done so much with Voxels that it's been really useful in showing other metaverse projects the possibilities.

Openvoxels is a juicebox DAO formed by members of [M3 org](https://m3org.com/) to raise funds for open metaverse collaboration projects with Voxels. Early supporters receive more governance tokens. These tokens will unlock future benefits that are TBA. For now we have some prototypes for NFT collections, avatars, and are developing infrastructure that can lead to creating a time machine for the metaverse (sort of like the Internet Archive Wayback Machine).

:::success
Support the DAO here: https://juicebox.money/@openvoxels
:::

---

**Makers**

It was [September 2018](https://slate.host/jin/cryptovoxels-history) when I lead a friend group of seasoned VR devs into the Cryptovoxels world for the first time, then on how to buy their first NFTs. We carved out a little neighborhood east of The Center that we named `Makers` and began experimenting on metaversey ideas we had. I bought extra parcels in the neighborhood to hang onto so that later we can bring people we knew into the district whom we can coordinate with on making it awesome. Let me know if you're interested in being a resident!

[Metaverse Makers](https://github.com/m3-org/research) is still activate today, operating like an online virtual hackerspace arts district.

---

**Interoperability Lab**

We accumulated so much dank content and interesting metaverse case studies that we needed a place to put them more deserving than an [image gallery](https://slate.host/jin/the-grid).

:::info
Twitter thread with examples: https://twitter.com/dankvr/status/1494819639418892298
:::

To that end I've been using these HackMDs to create 3D [digital garden](https://maggieappleton.com/garden-history). New connections and ideas emerged while drag n' dropping media and links into [Anarchy Arcade](https://store.steampowered.com/app/266430/Anarchy_Arcade/) while spending time in it. This garage lab has served me well as a thinking space as well as a presentation tool for discussing metaverse interop.

[](https://gyazo.com/c15e4f523f74494bdb7b899edb17d8d0.gif)
Software used: https://store.steampowered.com/app/266430/Anarchy_Arcade/

[](https://i.imgur.com/7ErlwgH.jpg)

Each of the screens you see belongs is a 3D shortcut that hyperlinks to an image screenshot, website, live demo or video. Anarchy Arcade works like a local-first 3D desktop that you can use for designing memory palaces or digital gardening.
| [](https://i.imgur.com/Do69YMF.jpg) | [](https://i.imgur.com/my7u9x5.jpg) |
| ------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------ |
| [](https://i.imgur.com/PblCddu.jpg) | [](https://i.imgur.com/GmYwPiX.jpg) |

---

**Thoughts and Strategies**

:::info
I started a github thread on interop ideas: https://github.com/M3-org/research/issues/14
:::

> **Do you think Cryptovoxels should go open source?**

Although I'm an evangelist of open source software, it's not the first thing that comes to mind for Voxels being a major player in helping build an open metaverse. I think that import / export of VRM avatars is a lesser risk and higher upside goal for Voxels to execute now.

> **Thoughts on metaverse interoperability in general?**

It's generally not great for the user when web2 companies compete with each other by copying each others products inside their walled gardens. It incentivizes platform lock-in, higher switching costs, and less say about your data since businesses naturally want to prevent leakage to competitors.

Web3 is special since the incentives can actually align with making platforms more open and decentralized. This space rewards positive sum thinking on how to the pie bigger by means of open protocols, composability, and empowering users with greater ownership of their data.

I think every metaverse project / game engine / framework has some exceptional stand out features. Interoperable data unlocks those benefits out of the box for the user, allowing each project to lean into their strengths instead of being spread thin on too many fronts.

> **What do you think Voxels is exceptional at?**

Many have agreed with me that Voxels has one of the best editors in the space because of how easy to pickup for beginners that wish to design their own space in the 3D web. It's simple like Minecraft while packing powerful features like server-side lightmap baking, drag n' drop file placements, and real-time collaboration.

> **What's the future hold?**

Voxels can be the on-ramp for people to design their own spaces in the metaverse, no matter the platform. Every parcel owner has version controlled snapshots that can be downloaded as a JSON file. With better support to render this data in other programs I think Voxels can become like Wordpress for the metaverse, making 3D webspace creation easy and fun!

---

🏠 Home
---
- [Main index](https://hackmd.io/@XR/voxels)
- ## Voxels
- [Website](https://voxels.com) [target=_blank]
- [Wiki](https://wiki.cryptovoxels.com/) [target=_blank]
- [Twitter](https://twitter.com/cryptovoxels) [target=_blank]
- [Medium](https://cryptovoxels.medium.com/) [target=_blank]
- [Discord](https://discord.gg/voxels) [target=_blank]
- [Github](https://github.com/cryptovoxels) [target=_blank]
- ## Openvoxels
- [Mirror blog](https://mirror.xyz/openvoxels.eth)
- [Dework](https://app.dework.xyz/m3/openvoxels/overview) [target=_blank]
- [Twitter](https://twitter.com/openvoxels) [target=_blank]
- [Discord](https://discord.gg/m3org) [target=_blank]
- [Github](https://github.com/M3-org/openvoxels) [target=_blank]
- [Videos](https://vimeo.com/madjin) [target=_blank]
- ## Support
- [Juicebox DAO](https://juicebox.money/@openvoxels) [target=_blank]
- ### Art Collections [close]
- [Openvoxels](https://opensea.io/collection/openvoxels)
- [Voxels Relics](https://opensea.io/collection/voxel-relics)
- [Makers District](https://opensea.io/collection/makers-district)
- [Openvoxels Pin](https://zora.co/collect/eth:0x889b4c8e99944e84a314427ed701bdf9f6bc55e6)
- [Openvoxels Season 1](https://zora.co/collect/eth:0x49ee82df94eb7733e2c673b87cd5c824c7ad45c9/2)

📖 Mirror blog
---

- [Openvoxels Summer 2024](https://mirror.xyz/openvoxels.eth/xdoTDfOWZYM0_y5eYH6aFocxbEG7wMbDcMof8pfMzSo)
- [The Wearables Museum](https://mirror.xyz/openvoxels.eth/FVpOzDZ1vh_1qaGcQ1ZjFNcFfkvvEVR8DvNIWAebXJ0)
- [Why Voxels?](https://mirror.xyz/openvoxels.eth/EfRDpkAmbWozYnKvDYJeHSyF-Xoq6nP7kuz96N7E9VA)
- [Manifest Destiny](https://mirror.xyz/openvoxels.eth/yXytN5j_BCK5KJTLz-PutDuqnQsj8T2lFEqd-BDMkFU)
- [How Archiving leads us to Metaverse Interoperability](https://mirror.xyz/openvoxels.eth/EuyhWGFufJRjcBxh8QxYk42m_XebWzvuB4gQjIIsxOo)
- [Immortalizing Voxel Wearables](https://mirror.xyz/openvoxels.eth/k693J7KFEX3y8cOSereh432yy2nUUjft05X4L0UgANo)
- [Dataset: Voxel Wearables](https://mirror.xyz/openvoxels.eth/MVy5cs90cH5ae8GNha1goMQHqFAFOKbzVSHCV_fu5jI)
- [Dataset: Origin City Archives](https://mirror.xyz/openvoxels.eth/PDMw151D333CwJx-eGMufPawzbrFqP3Yr6ov_FY4jSk)
- [Motivation and Mission](https://mirror.xyz/openvoxels.eth/hBQzBNwFXrOnwj5S5oOiYaBpQrpM8HfjENYMjKcy6Cs)

📄 Notes
---
- [The Street 5](https://hackmd.io/@XR/thestreet5)
- [Openvoxels NFTs](https://hackmd.io/@XR/openvoxels-nfts)
- [Voxels vs DCL Avatars](https://hackmd.io/@XR/voxels-dcl-avatars)
- [Arweave Snapshot 3-25-24](https://hackmd.io/@XR/arweave_3-25-24)
- [Make Voxels Punk Again](https://hackmd.io/@XR/make-voxels-punk)
- [Wearables Contest](https://hackmd.io/@XR/wearables-contest)
- [Openvoxels AMA](https://hackmd.io/@XR/openvoxels-ama)
- [2024 Snapshot Notes](https://hackmd.io/YMXZXjuDS1ylfDCG9MGU6w)
- [Wearables Museum notes](https://hackmd.io/Gp88sC8sSbaxobfXDU1hWg)
- [Openvoxels Wearables 2](/NumZhCVuS0Czh1evxcbLPw)
- [Loading Parcels Faster](https://hackmd.io/xzfxodxCTF-Dlu6pSvkm1g)
- [Smoothvoxels CLI Tool](https://hackmd.io/UV9tEqxbRhuZuncd4BzyCw)
- [Github](https://github.com/madjin/smoothvoxels-tools) [target=_blank]
- [Arweave + Voxels](https://hackmd.io/uTskcDAuSm2Td5PnH_-N7Q)
- [Voxels Wearables Archive](https://hackmd.io/0BQG_FgLQb6xKIkEdxqQ7Q)
- [NFT + ENS Avatars](https://hackmd.io/@XR/openvoxels-avatars)
- [CV Costumer Interop](https://hackmd.io/wWCx0soHRmajnD4oCe6ZQA)
- [Iron Biscuit Commission](https://hackmd.io/@XR/iron-voxels)
- [Openvoxels Museum](https://hackmd.io/@XR/openvoxels-museum)
- [Openvoxels wearables](https://hackmd.io/@XR/r1mq1AZwj)
- [Ephemeral Metaverse](https://hackmd.io/fdCa2VfRR3CTZUS-KyOSdQ?both)
- [Datasets](https://hackmd.io/HMJzYW4rS-G_YPqg0Q8ASQ)
- [Part 2: Living Museums](https://hackmd.io/jMW0iYHaRuixP4GISv7E9Q)
- [Archiving as glTF 2.0](/qqOs04L4SjG370jowGmb4g)
- [Recent screenshots](https://hackmd.io/@XR/H1xteAx7i)
- [Converting vox](/ncYMwk87QzS0BNEVlQ8SMg)

📒 General
---
- [Intro vid 📼](https://vimeo.com/364451108) [target=_blank]
- [Cities (DCL vs CV)](https://hackmd.io/@XR/cities)
- [cv 1](https://hackmd.io/@xr/cv)
- [cv 2](https://hackmd.io/@xr/cv2)
- [cv 3](https://hackmd.io/@xr/cv3)
- [The Grid by bnolan](https://medium.com/@bnolan/the-grid-a-digital-frontier-7269fb934711) [target=_blank]
- [Dev log 1](https://hackmd.io/@xr/grid)
- [Dev log 2](https://hackmd.io/@xr/grid2)
- [Dev log 3](https://hackmd.io/@xr/grid3)
- [Dev log 4](https://hackmd.io/@XR/grid4)
- [Dev log 5](https://hackmd.io/@xr/grid5)
- [Neon Buidl book](https://hackmd.io/@xr/neon-buidl) [target=_blank]
- [Mirror Post](https://mirror.xyz/0xFbdEDabcD240997d4fb6A6496f5cC87dA5D8dAa9/8PUt8EP-zqQps6-mS-XTGRyFhpWxxg4yW2bf5Y73pJ4)
- [Buildathon 2 🌿](https://hackmd.io/@XR/neon-buildathon-2)
- [LoFi Voxels](https://zora.co/collect/eth:0x5b8533fb01aacd7a77a6b98feca729dd4dd710f8/3)

🕺 Avatar Interop [close]
---
- [📆 Community Calendar](https://github.com/m3-org/avatar-interop#Calendar) [target=_blank]
- [Avatar builders](https://hackmd.io/@xr/avatarbuilders)
- [Wearables Notes](https://hackmd.io/@XR/wearables1#Cryptovoxels-Wearables)
- [Edit Costume (Voxels)](https://www.voxels.com/account/costumes) [target=_blank]
- [Github repo](https://github.com/madjin/cryptovoxels-avatars) [target=_blank]
- [Demo video](https://vimeo.com/455114096) [target=_blank]
- [VRoid hub](https://hub.vroid.com/en/tags/cryptovoxels) [target=_blank]
- [CV x Meebits](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOJ6BVSLF04) [target=_blank]
- [Slides](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14Xk4Lpl5nbqWmLbPUjbM1CrpKNOPY47inmAIkphPS-w/edit?usp=sharing) [target=_blank]

🌐 Demo Worlds [close]
---
- [Voxels](https://www.voxels.com/play?coords=E@171E)
- [Internet Archive parcel](https://www.voxels.com/play?coords=NW@429E,441N)
- [Hyperfy](https://hyperfy.io/cv-viewer)
- [JanusWeb (WIP)]()
- [VRChat](https://vrchat.com/home/launch?worldId=wrld_deef02ee-ed4f-47f4-9a93-fae9b9ea573c)
- [Neos VR](http://cloudx.azurewebsites.net/open/world/U-jin/R-fec6fe2f-d6e9-43de-af37-31068a7ebcd9)
- [Webaverse (WIP)](https://local.webaverse.com/?src=.%2Fscenes%2Fmakersdistrict.scn)

## VRchive
---

- [VoxelsArchive.sh](https://gist.github.com/samcamwilliams/26e0505d11a7c25cafc95e08c5be9c13) [target=_blank]
- [Arweave backups](https://viewblock.io/arweave/address/f7QsdAM6sBC0UsUp1JoEXT93yMbCAPQIo1uBLhjDGSE) [target=_blank]
- [2019 Snapshot archive.org](https://archive.org/details/cv_2019)
- [2019 Snapshot Sketchfab](https://skfb.ly/oyOxO)