Deep-Dive: Phase III RNDR Update

A closer look at Phase III and a recap of the RNDR Network’s development trajectory.

Published in

Render Network

5 min readNov 13, 2018

It’s been almost a year since our team began development on the RNDR Network. The goal is to build an open decentralized network that democratizes the tools and services artists need to produce advanced photorealistic computer graphics and holographic media.

Looking back on the process that guided this project, Jules Urbach, OTOY founder and CEO, stated:

“Our vision when we first began this journey was to scale and democratize rendering, creating more efficient processes, and to reach not only high-power Hollywood studios, but also everyday content creators who might not otherwise have access to this technology. ”

Right now, we’re half-way through Phase III of our roadmap, which will conclude with a completed Beta on Ropsten (Ethereum Testnet Environment) and the V1 launch of the RNDR Network on Ethereum’s Mainnet. This version will come with streamlined back-end processes and full automation of the rendering-streaming flow through smart contracts and blockchain technology.

In addition to the progress made during Phases I to III, our team gained valuable insights on the most challenging aspects of the project. With this input and the main milestones for the last part of the year in mind, our team has an updated roadmap with detailed technological and platform milestones outlined.

As initially planned, Phase III was set for Q3 and Q4 2018. After evaluating the current state of the development, we are pleased to announce that we will maintain the set date for Phase III as set out in 2017. We have broken up Phase III into four stages with specific objectives attached to each stage, allowing us to methodically complete this phase of development. The stages will be named as follows:

Phase 3-A
Phase 3-B
Phase 3-C
Phase 3-D

As Testnet development continues and more users join our beta, we believe that having our community aligned and informed on our latest advances is absolutely essential.

Recap of Technical Development Phases I-III

Phase I

Phase I was focused on integrating the RNDR Token with the existing ORC system through Metamask. At the end of this first stage, users were able to exchange RNDR tokens for rendering services using centralized third party servers.

Phase II

After users could redeem RNDR credits on ORC, we focused on developing a System Tray Application on Windows (with Linux support available in the near future) that is able to render ORBX files and process them through the Ethereum Blockchain, assigning RNDR tokens directly to GPU contributor crypto-wallets in return for providing their processing power to the network.
Please see the RNDR Network Phase II Walkthrough for more details.

Phase III-Q3

Since the beginning of Q3, selected nodes have started to provide their GPU power to the RNDR Network to process predetermined rendering jobs on Ropsten (Ethereum Testnet Environment).
In the RNDR Network Node Side Application Walkthrough we have described the steps involved for the nodes to download and run the Node-side application. These same steps will soon be followed by the users/nodes from the Genesis list and Beta Interest Form.
The RNDR Network released a Beta Interest survey to help get a picture of GPU supply and demand for the Beta phase of our launch. The results were astonishing, showcasing the power of a decentralized GPU compute network to scale exponentially faster than centralized structures. With over 1,100 responses, RNDR was able to accumulate over 14,000 unique GPU’s with a total OctaneBench power of over 1.5 million. The quality of the GPU’s was also very high, with over 40% of the GPU’s as premium cards.

A deep dive into Phase III

We’ve decided to split the remaining part of Phase III into four stages that will focus on specific goals:

Phase III-A:

Invite Genesis and Beta list members (in that order) to test network functionality and provide feedback.
Testing will be based on 10 pre-determined scenes.

Phase III-B

Artists can upload their own scenes.
Continuing to test how complex scenes and different node configurations are working on the Testnet.

Phase III-C:

Implement watermarking for RNDR escrow system.
More efficient job allocation and distribution.

Phase III-D:

Integration of RNDR token on RNDR platform and full launch on Mainnet.

Phase IV-A:

Users can buy RNDR Tokens on exchanges to use on platform.

A Glimpse into Phase IV

The end of 2018 is just around the corner, and we are excited about 2019 when the network will expand to offer services beyond the base layer of rendering work. As outlined in RNDR: A Photon Driven Economy, we plan for the network to grow into not just a rendering marketplace but also a creative ecosystem for producing, distributing, and monetizing holographic works. In Phase IV, the network will evolve into a marketplace where users can exchange computing power as well as virtual objects rendered on the network. We look forward to making collaboration easier in artistic pipelines and democratizing high-end rendering for a new era of widely accessible holographic media.

The Future is Holographic

OTOY has focused on developing the first end-to-end holographic pipeline with Capture (LightStage, Manifold), Render (OctaneRender, LightFields, Baking) and Stream (ORBX, X.IO). In Mixed Reality (MR) these pieces will come together to form an integrated service needed for the next generation of spatially rich computing that blends the real world and rendered content, and where capturing, rendering and streaming processes happen simultaneously. RNDR will make this possible as the hub and framework for OTOY’s internal and external development:

RNDR = Capture (LightStage) + Render (OctaneRender) + Stream (ORBX)

All of OTOY’s software and services will be migrating to the RNDR SDK, which will have backends for RTX Raytracing, CUDA, x86, Vulkan, D3D, DXR, and Metal — bringing Apple users to the OctaneRender ecosystem for the first time. OctaneRender will be rebuilt on the RNDR SDK, with the Render Network eventually replacing the ORC cloud service and LiveDB asset library. Artists and developers will be able to build services and modules through RNDR, and then publish them as ORBX packages that are registered on the blockchain, facilitating a creative marketplace and economy.

As we move closer to 2019, we’ll make sure to keep you updated on the progress made on each stage of Phase III.

Stay tuned for future updates regarding the beta!

Join us in the Rendering Revolution

Stay in touch with us and learn more about RNDR Token:

Through our community chat!
By subscribing to email updates on our mailing list!
By following us on Twitter!
By subscribing to our subreddit!
Checking out our Telegram!