Q1-Q3 Data Update: December 2nd, 2022 [Behind the Network (BTN)]

While the turbulence in crypto markets over the past few months has garnered headlines, progress continues to accelerate in blockchain infrastructure. The Render Network is no exception, and amidst unprecedented macroeconomic uncertainty, the network has continued to see growth and consistent usage from creators and node operators all around the world:

Continued Growth

The Render Network maintained consistent usage throughout the market uncertainty this past year, while managing to grow in key metrics. Comparing data for the last quarter to this same time last year (Q3 2021 and Q3 2022), you can see there is a 30% increase in the frames rendered (1,530,585 v. 1,990,352), with a 2.8% increase in the tokens used (449,946 v. 462,594).

Extrapolating out further to Year-over-Year (YoY), that growth can be seen across the first three quarters of 2022 vs. the same period of 2021 to an even greater extent.

Comparing the data for the first 9 months of 2021 with the first 9 months of 2022, there was a 75% increase in frames rendered YoY (4,129,865 in 2021 v. 7,233,922 in 2022) and 36% increase in RNDR used (994,234 in 2021 v. 1,352,154 in 2022).

These same upticks in YoY usage are reflected in more granular Network metrics as well. While scenes uploaded traditionally correlate with Jobs data, the graph below displays a clear uptick in scenes uploaded in both August and September, showing increased use of the network over the course of the last 9 months.

Consistency in Usage

While the Render Network has seen YoY growth in key metrics, it has just as importantly been able to maintain consistency from quarter to quarter, showcasing a level of strength in the face of the increased scrutiny and turbulence cryptocurrency projects have faced in the last year.

RNDR token usage for Q3 2022 clocked in at 462,594, vs. a Q2 2022 figure of 465,251, essentially unchanged. A more consistent frame process rate often correlates with increased RNDR token usage — more consistent user usage implies a healthy network with DAU (Daily Active Users) and MAU (Monthly Active Users), which has been one of the Network’s goals for 2022.

Total Frames Rendered in Q2 amounted to 2,547,260 vs. a total Q3 number of 1,990,352, reflecting a 22% decrease in total frames rendered. Part of the deviation is accounted for by a demand spike in April of 2022, which we will analyze further in the data below. Overall, the Frame Render rate remained consistent throughout the quarter, with a more stable and less patchy network throughput rate.

Not accounting for the uptick in frames processed and rendered in March and April 2022, the Network consistently processes around 600,000 frames a month, accounting for ~20,000 frames a day, or 13.8 frames per second of non-stop work. In fact, the Network passed $15m total frames rendered since the Network’s inception in Q3 2022.

Including that data gives a true average of 803,769 frames processed per month; with that, the daily and per-second numbers respectively increase to ~26,800 and ~18.6 frames per second.

This consistency lines up with the Networks steady lifetime growth statistics reflected in the above graph. The three-month and six-month average in jobs continues to remain steady, showing user retention and continued usage of the platform as the Render Network continues to implement new features and ways to provide more value to its users.

Parsing 3D Generative Art in the Data

In the last quarter, the Render Network has seen usage by 10K 3D generative art collectible projects. An example of this is Qubits on Ice, which has been using the Render Network throughout 2022. 10K generative 3D collectibles are a powerful application for Render because the network’s node parallelization allows projects to render out NFTs much faster, and at a much greater scale than rendering locally. This enables creators to increase the quality of generative collectibles when on a time deadline — pushing resolution, samples, or complexity when compared to what can be rendered locally or on the cloud.

The increasing use of the Render Network for 3D generative art projects partially explains the increase in RNDR Tokens used when compared to frames. Because 10K collectibles are generally 1-frame or very short animation loops, they do not have high frame counts to overall job costs. With more and more 3D generative art projects leveraging Render to increase the quality of 3D collectibles, there is a chance that the RNDR Tokens / Frames ratio will further increase, all things being equal. It is a very important focus for the Render Network to increase utilization of the network for 3D generative art — the Render Breakpoint presentation provides more details on the work to provide services for next generation NFT’s — including 3D generative art tool-sets like Delta Syncing — summarized in the previous Behind-the-Network.

Black Friday Octane 2023 Release

One major factor in expanding the Render Network is in more closely integrating the network into a larger demographic of OctaneRender users’ workflows. For this year’s annual Black Friday Octane 2023 preview release, Render was featured prominently as an addition to the OctaneStudio+ — the largest package of software and services ever offered. The bundle provides an avenue to attract a wider demographic of users to Octane — providing access to some of the leading 3D tool-sets including: KitBash3D, Greyscalegorilla, World Creator, MoI3D, Machina Infinitum, Cascadeur, Architron, Sculptron, and all new LightStage MetaFace and MetaBody scans. All subscribers will gain unlimited access to the Render Network for free as part of the subscription. As a result, the growth of the OctaneRender ecosystem through an increasing amount of software integrations can lead to a wider variety of users trying out Render.

Finally, as part of the Black Friday release, Render Network previewed a demo version of Stable Diffusion 2.0, C4D and Redshift — which is expected to become available in early beta at some point in 2023. All three integrations have the potential to bring on a much wider group of users and applications to the network. Future behind-the-Network posts later this year and early next year will provide more information about these new Beta services coming to the Render Network.

Summary

During an unprecedented period of macroeconomic turbulence in the crypto market, the Render Network has maintained consistent levels of network usage — with ~75% YoY growth levels vs 2021. Meanwhile, significant progress has been made on making the network more accessible to a wider range of users, positioning the network to expand to a wider variety of users. The recent Behind-the-Network series with updates from the Breakpoint conference give a glimpse into how the Network is developing toolsets for emerging technologies that can attract a wider variety of applications on the network.

The integration of the Render Network more deeply into the OctaneStudio+, as well as expanded hardware interoperability (such as the iPad) and partnerships are also exciting avenues for network growth in the coming year. Future Behind-the-Network posts will further explore these releases as well as provide updates on network activity.

Join us in the Rendering Revolution at:

Website: https://render.x.io
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rendernetwork
Knowledge Base: https://know.rendernetwork.com/
Discord: https://discord.gg/rendernetwork
Render Network Foundation: https://renderfoundation.com/