Render Network Celebrates 100K Twitter Followers and Spotlights Nikon Basu (BTN — Friday, June 2nd, 2023)
Highlighting goings on around the Metaverse, Nikon Basu and Render Network surpassing 100k Followers on Twitter
This week’s Behind-the-Network (BTN) focuses on a number of spotlight-worthy features, including a spotlight of Render Network Creator Nikon Basu, who has produced art for blockbuster films and tv shows using the Render Network; a look back at important Render Network Twitter moments on the road to 100K followers; and a deep dive on the Render Network Foundation’s new Grant Program.
Without further ado, let’s dive in:
Render Network hit’s 100k
The Render Network hit a milestone this week, passing 100k followers on Twitter! It’s been a little over 5 years since the launch of the Render Network Twitter account, and we wanted to take a look at some of the key moments from that journey to 100k, and shine a spotlight on the community that built this Network over the years.
2018: The Beta Interest Survey for the Network is released, generating more interest that then combined public centralized GPU cloud for rendering, providing a basis for the network to develop a platform for next generation 3D rendering and immersive computing.
2020: The Render Network Genesis Mainnet hit the Metaverse in the summer of 2020 marking, the year the Beta version of the Network was widely opened to the public. This Genesis Mainnet phase saw strides in UI, UX and feature design that has echoed down the years.
2021: BEEPLE Makes History Live with Render Network during the iconic sale of his First 5000 Days at Christies in 2021, celebrating live on a Closing Party Twitter Spaces with the Render Network community along with some of the most influential 3D artists. This moment would serve as one of the landmark moments in the growth of blockchain digital art, paving the way for the mass popularization of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).
Render Network is Selected as part of The Information’s Top 50 Most Promising Startups in 2022 for its application as a leading platform for decentralized computing and the production of next generation virtual assets, showcasing its role in the deployment of critical infrastructure for the metaverse.
Render Network Ecosystem Expands with the Render Network Foundation in 2023 — a decentralized governing body that has taken the reins of operating the Render Network and overseen recent changes.
More than anything, more than any accolades, the response from the Render Network community and creators has been the shining star in the Render Network’s crown over the last few years:
“Thank you so much!! I was able to get it done in time for the deadline all thanks to RNDR (Render Network)!!” — David Ariew
“RNDR (Render Network) has completely changed my workflow and I have completely stopped using my own render machines. Never looking back.” — yo_Brilly
“I wouldn’t be able to do half of my projects without [Render Network] I love the product and the team!” -LOREM
Creator Spotlight: Nikon Basu
Southeast Asia has seen a global boom in the last decade, with movies like “RRR” and shows like “Squid Game” dazzling global audiences with their blend of storytelling, action and bombastic visual effects. Nikon Basu however, has been one of the pioneers in visual effects in the entertainment industry in the region, having worked in the field for over 2 decades.
Nikon’s journey began with his father, a traditional film photographer, which inspired Nikon’s own interest in visual mediums. This led him to photography and eventually, film school in 2004–2005. It was here that he was further moved by the movies of visionaries like Wong Kar Wai, David Fincher, Chris Cunningham and Jean-Luc Godard, and began his own transition from the world of traditional to digital filmmaking. What began with personal experiments in After Effects, using the techniques he’d honed editing on a classic Steenbeck editing table, rapidly grew out into teaching himself any 3D he could get his hands on, often self-taught through tutorials and guides found online.
While he was personally experimenting with 3D tools like After Effects, C4D and OctaneRender, Nikon was working professionally as a film editor. While editing he got the opportunity to use his new skills, designing titles and credit sequences for some of the films that he was an editor on, such as “Catsticks” and “Tasher Desh (Land of Cards)”.
In 2016 Nikon continued his pattern of evolution, moving to Mumbai to be closer to commercial work and focusing more on motion design work. Unfortunately, local render farms were not able to provide the support, flexibility or technical combinations that Nikon needed as an independent creative, often lacking the ability to work with C4D and OctaneRender, or outright lacking the GPU capabilities to render out entire projects. This created an inflection point, and like the 3D creatives that inspired him Raoul Marks and Beeple, Nikon found himself moving to the Render Network, a change that would end up catapulting his career and creative capability into the stratosphere.
“I was doing 3D in my personal work, but didn’t have the confidence to scale it up to production level for professional projects on a system which gave me full flexibility and support.
I just got hooked to the immense power of RNDR (Render Network) and it completely freed me up, to scale up in my production and realize my creative ambitions. The first of these was Tanaav and Qala, and then Dancing on the Grave and recently Rana Naidu.”
“Rana Naidu,” an Indian adaptation of the hit show “Ray Donovan” for Netflix India, had the digital elements created while on the move on Nikon’s Macbook Pro, with all rendering done on the Render Network and being entirely comped and delivered on the Macbook Pro! His most recent project, the True Crime documentary “Dancing on the Grave” for Amazon Prime, also had its visual elements created using the Render Network.
“I love the flexibility of RNDR (Render Network), being free to try out iterations while working on design and process and not having to worry about render power locally.”
Even this far into his career, Nikon has not lost his experimental spark that first propelled him to begin working with 3D. In fact, as he sees it, it’s more alive than ever.
“I love motion design because of its ever changing form, not strictly as 3D or 2D but as a whole shifting form constantly.
These are very exciting times ! Possibilities are limitless. and wonderful artists creating in the fields of 3D design, photography or architecture etc that keeps me going !
I really enjoy the process, and learning new tools and applying them in my work.”
Render Network Foundation Grant Cohort 2023
For those that may not have seen last week’s post, the Render Network Foundation recently launched its brand new website! Among the features included were a new updated version of the Render Network Whitepaper, as well as information about the Foundation and access to the Render Network Creator portal. Perhaps most exciting among the new features on the website is the launch of the Render Network Foundation’s 2023 Grant Cohort.
As a part of the commitment to grow the Network, the Foundation is offering funding, technical support and community resources to worthy projects that seek to grow and strengthen the Network. The Grant Cohort will function under a call for entry system, whereby certain needs or areas of focus will be identified by the Foundation and the community for emphasis, and during that period of time grants for projects aimed at those areas of focus will be the only grants accepted for consideration.
For those potentially interested in applying for a Grant, the following are the current areas of emphasis:
- Development
- Resources
- Community Events
- Educational Resources
If you believe that you have a project that will contribute to Network growth in any of those areas, please make your quick pitch through the Grant Cohort page on the new Render Network Foundation website.
Best of the Metaverse
Multicoin’s Kyle Samani Features the Render Network in AI Essay
The essay explores ways that blockchain protocols and advances in AI technology are converging, examining the intersections between both rapidly growing sectors. The Render Network is specifically mentioned for its potential to help resolve critical compute bottlenecks in AI inference and training with its “AirBnB for GPUs” decentralized computing platform. The essay also explores ways that blockchain media verification via public key cryptography can help authenticate imagery in an age of deepfakes.
Pro Tharan’s Short Film Leverages Stable Diffusion on the Render Network
Pro Tharan released a stunning short film pushing the boundary of Generative AI, cinematic storytelling and 3D animation — created using the Render Network, leveraging Octane X and the Beta of Render Network Support for StabilityAI’s Stable Diffusion.
NFC Summit 2023
The Non Fungible Conference takes place next week in Lisbon, one of the leading NFT Conferences in the world, featuring a number of prominent Render Network artists giving keynote talks, NFT releases and performances, including: Pak, Carlos Marcial and Vector Meldrew.
Pudgy Penguins New Ad Series Produced on Render Network
The blockbuster NFT collection Pudgy Penguins is expanding into physical product lines that have been trending as the #1 product on Amazon for the past week. To promote the release, the Pudgy Penguins creative team used the Render Network to create adorable ad sequences.
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/
