2016 is the year of virtual reality. In the past months, we’ve seen the release of the Microsoft HoloLens Developer Edition, the HTC Vive, and the PlayStation VR. That doesn’t even include the developments we’ve seen in VR and AR software, including the overnight hit Pokémon GO. Despite its growing popularity in the global playing field, one thing that virtual reality needs in the local stratosphere is introduction and education. Virtual reality technology is all too familiar for Philippine gamers and developers, but not much else.
Virtual reality isn’t just for gaming, of course. Wherever 3D space needs to be altered or created, there is a potential need for VR technology. Think of architecture, film, and art. Virtual reality desperately needs democratization through awareness. Sadly, the technology’s hurdles don’t end with just an education campaign. Creating virtual spaces can be quite a hassle as well.
Making a 3D virtual space isn’t as easy as making a house in The Sims. The actual creation is manageable enough for skilled professionals but the one thing that all creators dread is the rendering. That’s the process of creating the actual video, photo, or 3D file you and I can enjoy after the creators are done with it on their preferred art creation program. Rendering can take as little as a few hours to weeks non-stop, depending on how big the file is. If a creator is bogged down with subsequent projects or hampered by a weaker device, it’s wiser to bring down this burden to a render farm.
A render farm is a service that uses multitudes of high-performance computers to render graphics-intensive projects for creators. With architecture and animation still being popular career paths, render farms are much needed in the Philippines. That’s where Renderbee comes in.
Renderbee is a render farm that caters primarily to the architecture and interior design industry. Starting initially as a service for students who need the service, Renderbee quickly saw the need for a dedicated render farm to help companies to produce visualizations for their marketing purposes. Having a visualization is especially helpful for foreign companies who need to show Philippine customers their products, or overseas customers who need to see a condo model in the Philippines before they buy property. Dubbing their service as “Architectural Visualization,” Renderbee is dedicated to translating its clients’ works into reality.
The Renderbee Farm carries 192 cores and has 16 servers to provide the ideal hardware to achieve fast rendering time. They are also staffed by professionals with years of experience in architecture, animation, graphic design, and many other fields. They promise to trim rendering times by a huge margin. A three-minute animation which usually takes two hours to render can be trimmed to just two to eight minutes of rendering. Besides this example, Renderbee also promises to cut an 80-day rendering project to just six days.
Renderbee’s advantage lies in being the fastest renderer in the country couple with its competitive pricing which can be applied to both professionals and students with limited budgets alike. Since its resources are located in one data center in the Philippines, Renderbee is a one-stop shop for quick and easy client servicing.
The premier renderer also offers several other render services. Renderbee VR allows users to experience unconstructed model walkthroughs through virtual reality. Renderbee Farm speeds up the workflow for faster rendering times. Renderbee ArchVis translates 2D designs to actual 3D models and walkthroughs with the help of Renderbee’s team of architects. Renderbee Creatives is Renderbee’s art creation branch which helps its customers to establish their corporate branding and digital marketing services.
Besides helping the design industry with their projects, Renderbee ultimately wants to educate the Philippine masses with the advantages of virtual reality technology. By enabling their customers to deliver their projects faster, Renderbee also allows virtual reality technology to be available to the public faster and more accessibly.
In the future, Renderbee hopes to expand its market to other industries like art and film. They predict that the demand for virtual reality will skyrocket in the future to coincide with the amount of developments that will eventually make its way to the public.
