Frequently Asked Questions

FrameForgeX is an AI-powered sports photography platform that automates the entire workflow from camera capture to fan delivery. It uses edge AI to filter frames in real time, scores images across multiple quality factors, mints top shots as blockchain-verified digital collectibles, and delivers them to fans via SMS — all in under 30 seconds.

FrameForgeX is sport-agnostic at its core. The PromptForge engine generates sport-specific scoring rubrics, and the platform has been validated for soccer, basketball, football, and baseball. The system adapts its AI prompts and scoring weights based on the sport and venue configuration.

From shutter click to a fan receiving an SMS with their digital collectible: under 30 seconds. The edge AI gate runs in ~70ms, S-Score computation takes less than 200ms per frame, and delivery is initiated immediately upon scoring threshold.

No. Fans receive their moments via SMS with a link to view and save their digital collectible. The experience also integrates with Google Wallet for pass-based access — no app download required.

The current proof of concept is built around the Nikon D850, connected via USB PTP. The architecture supports any camera with USB tethering capability, and the system is designed for multi-camera expansion with a camera orchestrator that manages primary, secondary, auxiliary, and replay camera types.

The S-Score is our proprietary 0.0–1.0 quality index computed for every frame. It evaluates four pillars: Technical Quality (sharpness, exposure), Action & Composition (decisive moments, framing), Brand Visibility (sponsor logos, jersey numbers), and Emotional Impact (expressions, crowd energy). Each pillar can be weighted by sponsors or operators, and all scoring decisions are fully auditable.

The system has a 5-tier graceful degradation controller. It moves through Normal → Queue → Store → Reduce → Best-of-N modes as conditions worsen. Frames are spooled locally with offline queuing and automatically uploaded when connectivity returns. No keeper shots are ever lost.

The edge AI gate uses a conservative threshold — it only discards frames that are clearly low-value (severe blur, missed exposure, no subjects). The 85% discard rate targets obvious throwaways. Borderline frames are always uploaded for the cloud scoring engine to evaluate with more sophisticated models.

The sidecar includes active thermal monitoring with multi-stage throttling. It adjusts capture rate, inference complexity, and upload priority based on device temperature. The system is validated for 3+ hour continuous operation in outdoor field conditions.

Dynamic NFTs are minted on a low-fee L2 blockchain via RPC. Images are pinned to IPFS via decentralized storage for permanence. The NFTs include full provenance metadata — camera, timestamp, S-Score, and event details.

Revenue is automatically split via on-chain smart contracts: League (40%), Photographer (35%), and FrameForge (25%). The SettlementSplitter contract handles both native MATIC and USDC, with configurable payout cadences (instant, daily, or weekly). Each stakeholder has an earnings dashboard with full transaction history.

Yes. Multi-sponsor gating requires brand/logo verification before minting. The system uses brand aliases matched against on-device detections and VLM reasoning — a sponsor's logo must be verified in the frame before their sponsored NFTs are minted. This ensures every collectible has genuine sponsor visibility.

A single-camera proof of concept can be operational within days. The sidecar units are pre-configured and provisioned with one-command scripts. Multi-camera deployments typically require a brief venue survey and network assessment before going live.

Minimal. Photographers shoot normally — the sidecar is a companion device that attaches to their existing rig. A Photographer Field Guide covers setup, voice commands, and dashboard usage. Most photographers are fully comfortable within their first event.

Yes. The Command Center provides real-time fleet overview, per-camera health, scoring distributions, delivery status, and budget burn tracking. The Grafana dashboard offers 17 panels of detailed system metrics. Photographers also have their own mobile-optimized dashboard for field monitoring.

Yes. The Virtual Camera Emulator simulates up to 5 professional cameras for testing the full pipeline without physical hardware. There's also a Multi-Sidecar Simulator for stress testing, and a simulation mode that replays real photos through the scoring engine.