Blockchain-based rendering platform RNDR has harnessed the graphics processing power of more than 14,000 graphics processing units (GPU) provided by individuals who contribute the GPUs to the cloud network.

Los Angeles-Based Otoy, which created software used to make special effects in Westworld and The Avengers, wanted to enable everyday content creators to make awesome graphics that we all admire in video games and movies.

So it launched RNDR, which uses cloud, blockchain, and cryptocurrency technologies to marshal millions of unused PCs and their graphics capabilities to quickly render cool images for the everyday content creator. The goal is to take the cost, time, and labor out of the process by creating an economy for 3D assets, which could be rendered via the shared hardware, hosted in the cloud, and then sold and traded in a decentralized fashion. RNDR pays the computer owners for their contributions to the cloud rendering.

During the second quarter, Otoy did a beta test survey of 1,200 contributors that supports its conclusion that its global decentralized network of GPUs is powering is the world’s largest cloud network of its kind.

Image Credit: Linus Zoll

The RNDR network said that 11,000 of the 14,000 GPUs are still compatible with the platform, yielding a combined rendering power of 1.5 million OctaneBench (OB), which is a benchmarking utility for Otoy’s OctaneRender software.

For comparison, a 0.60 cents/hour G2 instance on Amazon Web Services (AWS) delivers around 37 OB, and a centralized version of the RNDR service, which launched in 2013 on Amazon G2 instances in partnership with AWS, Autodesk, and later, Google and other major cloud providers, is capacity limited at under 1 million OB.

RNDR’s decentralized technology allows the network to utilize the computing power of everyday GPU owners distributed across the world, eliminating ceilings related to capacity and network speed that exist within systems currently offered by the biggest cloud players.

The project has received early support from industry luminaries such as Hollywood producer JJ Abrams, and famed talent agent Ari Emanuel.

“We have been working for quite some time now to build the RNDR network and have reached unprecedented levels in cloud computing, putting us at the top with the largest tech companies in the world,” said Jules Urbach, CEO of Otoy, in a statement. “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. ”

He added, “RNDR is the key to ushering in the increasingly virtual future of entertainment — from AR to VR to video games to film. This significant milestone further demonstrates that we are that much closer to reaching our goal, and we can’t wait to show the world what our platform can do in the near future.”

In an email, Urbach said, “In one week, we have amassed more GPU rendering power, from small individual users on the RNDR network, than we have ever been able to offer in the five years since we launched Otoy’s public cloud services. This indicates that our network will only continue to grow and expand, especially once we allow larger mining facilities onto the network, and also offer MESA/MPAA certification guidelines for studio work. The cost and scale of GPU rendering and compute has been turned on its head through the RNDR platform, just 10 years after I first made the case for this with the CEO of AMD on stage at CES 2009. Through RNDR, we now have the capacity to process jobs for holographic rendering (100 times the compute of VR or film rendering) for games and volumetric media (such as for our partnership with Facebook 360).”