Render Network Highlights Spring 2024 Achievements and Future Plans

As summer begins, Render Network took a moment to reflect on its accomplishments from the spring of 2024, highlighting network updates, releases, and Render Network Proposals (RNPs) that have propelled its decentralized platform forward.

Render Network Metrics

The Render Network saw significant year-over-year growth in key metrics, particularly in network compute capacity. Comparing Q1 2024 to Q1 2023, the network’s available GPU power increased substantially, with more intensive GPU rendering jobs being submitted. The growth rate of RENDER usage outpaced the number of frames rendered, despite a notable rise in frames processed.

Frames Rendered

• 17.7% year-over-year growth with 2,495,084 frames rendered in Q1 2024 compared to 2,119,813 in Q1 2023.

RENDER Used

• 60.28% year-over-year growth with 816,602 RENDER used in Q1 2024 compared to 509,469 in Q1 2023.

Despite a 19.4% decline in job creation year-over-year, with 45,966 jobs in Q1 2023 compared to 37,049 in Q1 2024, the average RENDER used per job increased significantly due to a decrease in small frame rendering jobs.

OctaneBench Growth

Year-over-year growth in OctaneBench more than doubled, showing a 111.69% increase in average OctaneBench on the network, from 786,706 in Q1 2023 to 1,665,339 in Q1 2024. Peak OctaneBench grew 136.51% year-over-year, from 884,505 to 2,091,922.

Average and peak OctaneBench compute power per job also grew by 114.38% and 137.26%, respectively, indicating higher performance across the network for artists leveraging Render’s decentralized GPU compute power.

In March 2024, the network saw the second monthly reading of over 1 million frames rendered and over 400k RENDER used, marking significant milestones in the network’s history.

Key Milestones

During NVIDIA’s GTC, a major GPU computing and AI event, Render Network made several groundbreaking announcements, including Emad Mostaque joining the Render Network Board of Advisors and authoring RNP-011: PIWA Creating Millions of 3D Training Assets. This proposal aims to develop a new generative AI model trained on scenes processed using the Render Network.

Founder Jules Urbach presented an updated vision for the convergence of 3D graphics and AI during his annual NVIDIA GTC talk, discussing transformations in 3D graphics, AI, GPU computing, spatial media, and the creative economy.

The talk was followed by a major expansion to the Roddenberry Archive for Apple Vision Pro, featuring life-sized recreations of the U.S.S. Enterprise: Discovery and The Promenade from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, all rendered on the Render Network.

New Render Network Features

Several new features were introduced through the RNP process, including RNP-012: Render Network Wizard for Maxon Cinema 4D, which simplifies the workflow for submitting rendering work directly from Cinema 4D to the Render Network. This initiative aims to reduce network congestion and node error rates by preempting job failures.

The Network Wizard has been expanded to support Blender’s Cycles, as outlined in RNP-014: Integration of Blender’s Cycles in the Render Network. This integration allows millions of Blender users to access Render.

At BCON LA, Jules Urbach introduced RNP-014 and announced free access to the Render Network for Blender users from Octane Prime, providing high-performance on-demand decentralized computing to millions of users.

Other New Features

Render Network introduced the ability to download to third-party storage providers like Dropbox, with plans to support all major cloud storage providers in the future. A Beta of the Render Network Redshift integration has also been introduced for testing.

Additionally, automated Render Network node payments and a Render Network Dashboard were released, advancing the implementation of the Burn-Mint-Equilibrium (BME) passed in RNP-001. Integration of the io.net compute client into the BME is expected to be completed over the summer.

Best of the Metaverse — Render Edition

• Octane X was featured at WWDC — during Apple’s release of the M4 and Apple Intelligence, showcasing the future of large-scale mobile AI on next-generation Apple Silicon. Octane X optimized for the M4 allows artists using next-generation Apple hardware to access high-performance decentralized GPU compute on Render.
• WAI-000 VR at NAB — Render Foundation Grant recipients presented a groundbreaking VR short film, WAI, at NAB, showcasing the future of spatial media. Rendered entirely on the Render Network, WAI VR is a significant 3D experience for Apple Vision Pro.
• Render Network Used for MSG Sphere Experience — Render Power user Brilly shared an immersive advertising experience for the MSG Sphere rendered on the Render Network.
• Render Network Featured at Consensus & Token 2049 — The Render Foundation participated in high-profile talks and events at leading blockchain events, joining panels with the Solana Foundation and leaders in DePIN and decentralized AI.
• Render Foundation Grants — Expanded its growth, supporting multiple new grant classes with larger budgets for ambitious projects in 3D rendering, spatial computing, and AI.

Image source: Shutterstock