Renderfarm.fi

Last spring I wrote a script that I hoped would transmit the important values that Creative Commons stands for in a funny but informative way. I wrote the original draft with the aim of explaining the six basic Creative Commons licenses Renderfarm.fi supports, but after applying for and receiving a small grant from the Cloudberry fund, I went on to write a story aimed at promoting Creative Commons both in the Nordic region and the rest of the world. This became the script for "BBB loves CC", a short film production that we release today.

I personally feel that Big Buck Bunny and the rest of his Blender Foundation colleagues represent a new chapter in an art form that is as probably as old as speech itself: storytelling. When creative materials are released under Creative Commons and other open licenses, people are free to take those stories to new directions and make up their own where they feel like. This freedom is where endless possibility lies in terms of the story. Fan art thrives, new stories emerge and characters are "kept alive" for generations - not for the love of money, but for the love of the characters and stories themselves.

Obviously not all characters have what it takes to survive in a world packed with information and in constant transition. Some do. Perhaps the most loved Creative Commons character to date is Big Buck Bunny. We have had the pleasure to work with him (notice the wording, we do not "use" him, that would be just wrong!) in many previous Studio Lumikuu productions (including Renderfarm.fi's very own "What is Renderfarm.fi?" video). It was indeed clear to us from the start that there was only one bunny big enough to pull off this enormous task!

Please note that even though this video is aimed at encouraging people to use Creative Commons, we will not force you to do so here on Renderfarm.fi. Ultimately big decisions like this should always be left for the artist to decide. Still we feel that if you can afford it, using Creative Commons is a sure way to gain that many more loyal followers. Anyway, without further due, we'll let The Bunny (as in The Dude) do the talking from now in the Renderfarm.fi/Studio Lumikuu production "BBB loves CC":

Our open source back-end BURP has been in constant development since 2004 when Janus Bager Kristensen (jbk) first conceived the original Big and Ugly Rendering Project. At the time yours truly was still focusing on a totally different field (wireless networks and indoor positioning) and it was only three years later, in 2007, that I thought somebody should set up a volunteer computing service for rendering (I was actually originally inspired reading an article about Star Wreck, but that's another good story I'll save for later:). Starting background research on the topic for what I thought then was an original idea I have to admit I felt a bit disappointed when I found out that it had already been achieved. I soon heartened though and it's now been nearly four years since the first time I called up jbk and we started collaborating.

Since starting up Renderfarm.fi in 2008-2009, I decided that we would focus on making distributed rendering as accessible as possible. Meanwhile Janus, a coder by heart, decided to keep BURP firmly focused on development. In fact to this day, from a technical stand point, BURP represents the cutting edge of what our shared technology can do, while Renderfarm.fi represents a fusion between the technology and usability. While many have asked why we started a second project in the first place instead of collaborating on one, we always felt acting in two separate projects has enabled us to explore the novel concept of open rendering (or publicly distributed rendering as we sometimes call it) much more effectively. It is my belief that this choice has increased our chances of making open rendering into a credible, yet accessible technology for solving the universal dilemma of rendering power.

Finally I get to the cool stuff. I would like to invite everybody to join us in completing the BURP Sunflower challenge and help render Blender Foundation's fantastic 2008 short Big Buck Bunny in no-less than 3D, HDR (High Dynamic Range, something we contributed to the source code), 60FPS and 4K! All you need to do is to create an account on BURP and attach the project through your existing BOINC client (the same you use for Renderfarm.fi, just point it at http://burp.renderfarming.net). Keep in mind that you can keep both project attached at the same time. By joining BURP you will help us test the next-generation technologies that will eventually become accessible right here on Renderfarm.fi and directly from within your installation of Blender. These improvements include, among other things, a much higher memory stamp (64BIT), library and HDR support. Now how cool is that? See you there!

Before going into anything else, I'd like to thank everybody for the past week. The response we got for the new look and the "What is Renderfarm.fi?" video featuring Big Buck Bunny has been phenomenal. Since my last post a week ago, we've received over 600 new registrants out of which many are now volunteering their computers to the cause. This kind of support fees truly amazing. It took us over a year to reach our first 600 registered users! Hopefully and with your assistance we can offer many more people a glimpse of what distributed rendering can be about. Thank you all.

In other news, I'll be present at the FMX between the 5.-6. of May 2011. FMX, the 16th Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Interactive Media will be held in Stuttgart, Germany is held between 3.-6. of May. The Blender Foundation is also having a booth at the conference with many favourite developers, including chairman Ton Roosendaal, present. Renderfarm.fi is sponsoring the Foundation this year by taking part in the expenses of producing a Blender DVD with the latest 2.57 stable release. The free DVD to be handed out at the Conference will also include all the Blender Foundation open movies and have lots of cool tutorials by people such as Sebastian Koenig and Gottfried Hoffman.

Apart from the DVD, you can get some of those cool Jerico posters "Join the Blender Army: Post your propaganda at Renderfarm.fi" from the Blender Foundation stand. If you're interested in meeting up and having a coffee, tea or a beer and talk, I'd be more than glad to. I'll probably spend my days walking around in a Renderfarm.fi t-shirt so you can also always just say hi when you see one passing by. :) Here's the cool FMX intro, created by the Institute of Animation students Falko Paeper, Roman Kaelin und Florian Wittmann: