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The Rebirth of the Phoenix, Introducing 3D Artist and Entrepreneur, Reinaldo Handaya

As the sponsor and long-term partner of the CGarchitect 3D Awards, which is referred to as the Oscar of ArchViz, Fox Renderfarm, the best cloud rendering service provider, is very pleased to speak with Mr. Reinaldo Handaya, who led his team to create an amazing project -- Born Neo, and got nominated in the Image (Non-commissioned) category in CGarchitect 3D Awards. In our interview, Mr. Reinaldo shared a lot of details about how his team endeavored to make this project happen, and also revealed that he made this competition into an internal challenge. He explained the reason and shared with us the unforgettable hours behind. Besides, his story of how he got into the industry is quite inspirational and motivating. In 2004, his family factory was razed by fire and left him with $100,000 debt, in the later years, his life was changed because of 3D creation. After winning awards and praise in the ArchViz field,with his partner Evan Mandala, he set up ArchViz studio, 2G Studio, and 2G Academy, a 3D educational platform. With his relentless efforts and business mindset, he is a top-tier ArchViz artist in Indonesia now. His experience keeps us wondering how he got out of the trouble, kept his pursuit and succeeded at the same time, which Fox Renderfarm thinks you will find the answer in the latter part where he speaks about his plan in the interview. - Reinaldo Handaya - CEO at 2G Studio - From: Indonesia - Artwork Caption: This project is for our internal challenge to challenge our artist to work together as a team and as a family. We call it a pressure challenge, they have to finish the still image and animation in just 1 week, the building also needs to be modeled from scratch and have to design by themselves. This pressure challenge is also to help the artists to be creative as they want, because most of the commissioned projects are boring and for the team that wins the challenge will be rewarded with a bonus. BORN NEO © 2G Studio BORN NEO ANIMATION © 2G Studio Fox Renderfarm: Hi Reinaldo! Congratulations on being nominated in the 2020 CGarchitect Architectural 3D Awards, how do you feel about it? Reinaldo: First of all, I want to thank you for having us here. We never thought, not even once, that we would get the nomination, especially in the non-commissioned category. Having been one of the judges in 2014, and I know there are thousands of images submitted to the 3D awards, and there are tons of talented artists in this world, and I feel blessed that one of our team’s works got nominated. Fox Renderfarm: What’s your inspiration for this amazing project Born Neo? Any idea behind this name? Reinaldo: I can’t take full credit for this project, me and Evan (Co-Founder of 2G Studio) only help our team to give some space to express themselves and be creative. We give them direction, how to think, how to create the storytelling, the rest is theirs. However, this is also teamwork, not just a single-artist work. The inspiration for this building came from The Heydar Aliyev Center by Zaha Hadid, and the Harbin Opera House by MAD Architect. The rendering look and feel was heavily inspired by our own friend, Arqui9. ArchViz by Arqui9 The idea behind this name is because our president decided to move the capital from Jakarta to Kalimantan. Kalimantan’s International name is BORNEO ISLAND. And moving to a new place is kinda like being born new, and the team comes up with BORN NEO, matching the island name. And in fact, there was a competition to design the new capital city, but we didn’t join the competition since it was a design competition, not rendering. Fox Renderfarm: The building is so terrific, could you introduce the function of the building? Reinaldo: The building is a convention center, which is a meeting place and also a place for all large-scale activities such as concerts, shows, seminars, as well as national and international level meetings which will certainly be held in the new capital city. Fox Renderfarm: As you introduced, this is a project from your team’s pressure challenge, so why did you hold this challenge and how long did it take to finish the work? Reinaldo: There are several reasons why we held this challenge and they only had 7 days to finish 1 still image and a 60 sec animation. Because if there are more than 7 days, chances are, they will never finish. The first one is to let the team express their creativity, and as you know, our field is filled with people who love architecture, and we challenge our team to do the concept, and the story about why they come up with the concept. The second reason is to challenge them working overtime. Because we cannot deny that sometimes we’ve got tons of work that we need to work overtime. We just don’t want our team to get spoiled. The third reason is to give more pressure by asking them to finish in 7 days and should not disturb the real project schedule. But the ultimate reason is to train them to work as a team. So we split our team into 4 small teams and they have to deliver different concepts, so we got 4 different renderings. Fox Renderfarm: What’s the most unforgettable and interesting part of the creation process? Reinaldo: The team is actually enjoying this challenge although they work till 4 am. And it shows that they really love to do some designs and do the render, completely different than working on a real project. Just make sure not to let them do this all the time, or they will hate me for sure hahaha. The unforgettable moment is that working as a team is not as beautiful as we think, working as a team requires a lot of sacrifice. As you know, people will easily point a finger to others when under pressure. Actually the rule is when one of the team members points a finger to others, the team will be disqualified. We always believe when we point a finger to others, we need to know that the other 4 fingers are pointing to ourselves. One of the teams was actually unable to deliver the animation, only able to deliver 1 image. And of course they would have lost, but this is the most interesting part, the team still continued to work on the project, and finally created another 1 image and 1 animation. And this team is the one that created this BORN NEO. Here we can learn that it's ok to fail, but it shouldn’t stop you to keep doing what you love. The challenge only stops when you said so and they didn’t stop before they delivered 1 image and 1 animation. Well, you know how proud I am with my team. Fox Renderfarm: How long have you been in the visualization field? Who inspires you most in this industry? Could you briefly introduce your career story? Reinaldo: On November 3, 2004, my family factory was razed by fire and left me with $100, 000 debt. And then I built my furniture workshop, then in 2008 I learned 3D to present my design to my client. And I deeply fell in love with 3D ever since. My career started when I got my first award, Visualization Pro of the Week from CGarchitect, and that was in January 2011. And in March I established 2G Studio with my business partner Evan Mandala. Somehow we got lots of exposure, in 2012 one of my renderings got awarded by Ronen Bekerman, the reinterpretation render of Starbuck by Kengo Kuma and that work skyrocketed my name in this industry. And Evan’s work got Visualization Pro of the Week from CGarchitect. One of our works was also selected to be in the 3D World magazine. And in 2013-2014, CHAOS group chose me to be guest speaker for their Asia Pacific V-Ray Community Meetings and Siggraph Asia in Hongkong. In 2014, Jeff asked me to be one of the 3D awards judges. Master Bedroom PIK © Reinaldo Handaya (Won Visualization Pro of the Week from CGArchitect, January 2011) Reinterpretation render of Starbucks by Kengo Kuma © Reinaldo Handaya (Awarded by Ronen Bekerman, 2012) House La Invernada © Evan Mandala (Won Visualization Pro of the Week from CGArchitect, 2012) Most of my clients both direct clients and other 3D studios were coming from CGarchitect, and that is why I strongly believe that CGarchitect is the place where talents meet the clients. I was inspired by lots of people, not just one. But the one person that gives me a lot of influence is Jeff Mottle. It's not because CGarchitect Visualization Pro of the Week started my debut in this industry, but I can see that Jeff built CGarchitect not for himself, but to help others in this industry. Somehow it resonates with me a lot, since I also love to help others to learn 3D. And I established 2G Academy in 2013 with the spirit “helping others”. In 2017, I learned from Simon Sinek, why you do what you do is the most important thing, and I learned money is only a result from what you do. Jeff Mottle President/Founder, CGArchitect 2G Academy: Simon Sinek Author/Motivational Speaker Fox Renderfarm: What is the development vision for 2G Studio? Any new projects or plans that you can share with us? Reinaldo: The development vision for 2G Studio itself is definitely to provide the best marketing tools for our clients both developers and other 3D companies that work with us shoulder to shoulder. However we also have other developments outside the production, which give back to the community. We have our educational platform, 2G Academy and we want to give back to the community. We started a new movement in Indonesia when the lockdown happened in March 2020, we call this movement AVIS ID, meaning ArchViz Indonesia. We are aware the lockdown will affect lots of Indonesian 3D artists. Since Indonesian ArchViz artists' quality is pretty stuck, it is the time to focus on improving the rendering skills when the world stops spinning. We share free tutorials on our YouTube channel, do free portfolio reviews for Indonesian 3D artists. And we also did business and mindset talks and open for the public, we did this consistently till now. We also follow our government program “Bali Kembali” meaning Bali is back, since Bali is a tourism island. We live in Bali and we love Bali so much. And we want to promote Bali through ArchViz. We are still working on this project and we choose 3ds Max and V-Ray to do this project, and we are also going to work on this project with our students. It is going to be epic, lots of still images and animations. And this is not for our personal benefit, but for a greater cause, we also want this industry to be aware about Indonesia as one of the best in this ArchViz world, and also want to break the stereotype that outsourcing to Asia is low cost. The upcoming movement is following the CGarchitect movement, Women in ArchViz. Our version is Kartini in ArchViz, as you know there are lots of women that are not exposed in this industry. Why we call it Kartini is because Raden Adjeng Kartini is an Indonesian heroine and she is a symbol of women's right movement in Indonesia. This project is all about women in ArchViz in Indonesia, and we are also surprised that around 40% of our students are women. Sanctum © 2G Studio Fox Renderfarm: As the founder of 2G Studio, you established the leading 3D ArchViz Company in Indonesia, so do you have any views and prospects for the development of this industry in Indonesia? Reinaldo: It is very challenging, having been in this industry for years, we’ve only worked with 1 local client. The reason why it is challenging is because in Indonesia we don’t have any belief in products labeled “Made in Indonesia” and this is happening in every sector not just ArchViz. Most big developers in Indonesia send inquiries to other 3D companies outside Indonesia, because they don’t believe there is a company in Indonesia that can produce high quality images. So definitely more time is needed to build the trust. As 2G Studio itself never tried to work with locals, we know the problem, that is why we always aim to work with international clients. All the movements that we build, and all the architectural talks we did every Saturday by inviting architects in Indonesia to share their thoughts, is also to build a strong community. Definitely it's not a quick result that we are chasing after, it is a journey, and for a good cause. Fox Renderfarm: As an outstanding 3D Artist and architect, do you have any advice for the young artists in ArchViz Industry? Reinaldo: We can say that this industry is easy to make money while we are doing what we love. Most people in this industry are artists, either architects or interior designers, and most of us here is because we are introverted people that enjoy our time when we do what we love. But this comes with a cost, and what happened in Indonesia is that most people don’t know anything about business and the art of negotiation, don’t know how to add value and end up slashing the price and racing to the bottom. Racing to the bottom will always happen in any kind of industry, Arch viz is not exceptional. The only way to get out from the red ocean is learning about business and marketing. Business and marketing are the art itself with a different form. It is also the same when we learn about rendering, rendering is a journey, it needs time, business and marketing also need time, and learning about these 2 things will help us overcome our own fear. 2G Studio: www.2gs.co Instagram Facebook Youtube 2G Academy: www.2gacademy.com Instagram Facebook

Evergreen Program: Fuel the Community with Vigor and Vitality

2020 has been an overwhelmingly crazy year for all of us. One year ago when the pandemic was crazily torturing people around the world, Fox Renderfarm cared deeply about every staff and our friends worldwide. We’ve sent numerous masks to customers domestically and mailed packages of surgical masks to European and Asian countries including Spain, India, Malaysia, etc. After that, Fox Renderfarm has tried our best time after time to support the community, concerning the artists especially those freelancers and those who work in SMEs may have been in huge difficulties due to the lack of both financial and rendering support to meet up their deadlines. Last April, we launched a Customer Care Program, providing over $88,000 to support our users worldwide. And in last August, GoCreation Program was initiated to assist freelancers with preferential rendering prices and subsidies. All these programs received praise and thanks from numerous artists. We learned that no one is fighting alone in the community, only by holding our hands together can we get through the crisis, grow and prosper. The pandemic rages, yet it can never suffocate vigor and vitality. The economic consequences need time to alleviate, what’s more pivotal, the wounded souls need more artistic and creative expressions to heal. Fox Renderfarm has contemplated what more we can do to make your projects “come true” with a fast and easy rendering experience while enjoying the greatest and the most cost-effective cloud rendering services. So we push the boundary once again. We have decided to launch Evergreen Program to benefit more individual artists and SMEs. However, we might not be able to make it for a very long time. Grab the chance, and let’s grow together! Rules: For every new user* 1. Any new user whose first top-up is equal to/ above $10 and under $100 will get a $15 render coupon. 2. Any new user whose first top-up is equal to/ above $100 and under $2000 will get a $30 render coupon, and also a 90-day Gold Membership, which is 20% off for CPU rendering, and 30% off for GPU rendering. 3. Any new user whose first top-up is equal to/ above $2,000 will get a $30 render coupon, and Gold, Platinum or Diamond membership accordingly. The more you recharge, the more you save, you can save up to 50%. 4. All users will follow the regular membership scheme according to the accumulated recharge amount after the 90 days. 5. All the coupons offered will be validated before 12/ 31/ 2021. 6. Fox Renderfarm reserves the rights to alter, amend or add these conditions at any time without prior notice. *New User: User registered in 2021 who is ready to accomplish the first top-up. Coupons and membership will be automatically offered after top-up. We will inform you about any changes concerning the Evergreen program in our multi-channel network, including our website, blog, newsletter and social media platforms. Fox Renderfarm would like to thank all the artists who strive and contribute relentlessly in the darkest time. Let’s hold our hands tighter until the sun shines every corner again.

Creating Memorable Animations:Introducing Kukari Animation Studio

Kukari Animation Studio is a studio from Mexico, specialized in Commercial & MKT digital, Cinematic video game, Movies, Series and Music Video. The team boasts of great artists with a mix of talent and experience in the 3D animation film industry, who work passionately on each project to give you a unique and distinctive approach that will be remembered forever. Fox Renderfarm is dedicated to providing fast and secure cloud rendering service for our clients around the world. We have over 200,000 happy customers from 50+ countries and regions. And Kukari Animation Studio is one of them! We are glad and thankful that Kukari has chosen Fox Renderfarm. Here‘s our exclusive interview with Javier Mendez Lafon, one of the founders of Kukari Animation Studio, in which he talks about his CG journey as a Supervisor Lighting/ Comp & CG Director and his belief & vision as an entrepreneur in Mexico. Javier Mendez Lafon Fox Renderfarm: Hi, Javier, thank you so much for accepting our interview! Would you please introduce yourself? Javier: Hello, first of all, thanks for the opportunity of letting us know each other. My name is Javier Méndez. I'm 31 years old from Ciudad Juárez. I studied Digital Animation and since I was a little kid my dream was to become a movie Director. Fox Renderfarm: How did you encounter CG and get started in the CG industry? Javier: My first approach was seeing an ad in the local newspaper about a 3D animation course that was completely new to me and as it caught my attention, I decided to enroll. I remembered we used an old software that doesn't even exist anymore. My first experience in the industry was at the age of 18 when I was starting my career. It was then that I had the opportunity to collaborate as a volunteer in the first full CG film made in Mexico. Fox Renderfarm: What movies/tv shows/ games are your favourites respectively? Javier: My favorite movies are Jurassic Park, Star Wars and Back to the future. My favorite TV shows are Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones. And games Zelda, Mario Kart and Halo. Fox Renderfarm: Any artists or artworks inspired you most? Javier: Guillermo del Toro, Steven Spielberg are two of my favorites directors. And something that inspires me a lot is to look at my friend's artworks. Guillermo del Toro © Danielle Levitt for Variety Steven Spielberg © The Sun Fox Renderfarm: The Indie 3D animation short, HOME of my MEMORIES, received many awards and honors, how do you feel about it? Javier: I feel very satisfied because after 7 years of work I see now the results of so much effort by so many people and I am very pleased that so many people in different parts of the world recognize the great work and story that was carried out. Fox Renderfarm: What’s the inspiration of the HOME of my MEMORIES? How do you come up with the idea and style? Javier: My inspiration comes from personal experiences from my childhood. When I was a child I liked spending time with my grandfather, who had a hobby of making models of miniature houses. It was fascinating to see how we can make so many beautiful things with our hands. Years later when my grandfather passed away, I went to visit his house and there was still a shelf with some of the little houses that my grandfather had made. While remembering those beautiful moments, I imagined myself making me small as the same scale of the little house to enter through that small door that was half open. And in my imagination I saw how when I opened that door I found my grandfather living inside that model house. It is curious to see how people who are no longer around are still alive through memories and in the things they did in life. Fox Renderfarm: What’s the pipeline of the HOME of my MEMORIES? Javier: In 2012 we started doing a lot of the pipeline in Softimage, but the software was discontinued, forcing us to move to Maya in the Lighting and Lookdev processes. For textures we used Mari, for all the Fur we used Yeti, for render Arnold and for comp we used Nuke. The software was loaned by the animation studio I was working for at that time, which was very supportive. Character design "The grandfather" Sets and Props Lookdev Fox Renderfarm: What is the most enjoyable part and the most difficult part while creating the Home Of My Memories. And how did your team solve it? Javier: I really enjoyed the last processes (lighting & comp, Sound Mix), when you can already see your idea materialized. But the hardest part is getting resources to be able to cover some expenses, and to achieve this, we did a crowdfunding campaign. Fox Renderfarm: What projects have you worked on in Huevocartoon? Is there any unforgettable experience to share? Javier: In Huevocartoon, I worked on three different films, in two of them I had the opportunity to supervise the Lighting & comp area. The experience is always unforgettable because of the people you meet along the way. You will hardly remember how you solved your assignments, however the moments lived with the team are always unforgettable. And making projects in Mexico is so fun due to the warmth of the people who feel very close. Fox Renderfarm: Would you tell us the pipeline and production about the 85 mins animated feature film, UN RESCATE DE HUEVITOS? Javier: It is one of the largest projects that have been done in Mexico, however the budget is a bit limited, which makes us be very careful when working and planning the pipeline.The movie has a lot of characters with fur and that was a big challenge in all departments. Fox Renderfarm: What’s the motivation of founding the Kukari Animation Studio? Javier: Our main motivation is to have fun while we enjoy doing what we like the most. We want to bring all of the ideas from anywhere in the world to life, creating memorable stories that make us proud. Kukari's philosophy is to be a home and family for everyone who wants to work with us, human relationships are very important to us, both with the client and with the artists. There are a lot of talented people in Mexico and we would love to be able to do projects from anywhere in the world. Fox Renderfarm: Would you please introduce your team? Javier: The key of the team is the experience of the people and their human quality. The studio has been founded between Andy Rodriguez and me. To strengthen the visual and technical part, Chuy de Leon joined the team as Art Director. And for the Technical part, Alberto Juarez and Sergio Diaz joined. We are currently a team of more than 15 artists, all with experience in the film industry. Fox Renderfarm: Being an entrepreneur, what’s your belief? Javier: Being an artist, my belief is largely oriented to the people and their talent. I have witnessed how projects work so much better when the artist is trusted. As a studio we want to keep communication channels opened and equal treatment of anyone within the company. We want to be a big family. Fox Renderfarm: Would you share with us your next step? Javier: Mexico is a great option to produce 3D animation because we have a lot of talented people and we are extremely competitive in prices. As a studio we want to grow these next two years and show what we are capable of doing, to receive projects from other parts of the world. Fox Renderfarm: Could you share with us the CG industry in Mexico? Javier: The CG industry in Mexico is growing a lot, however much of the talent emigrates abroad, now that we have realized that we can work from anywhere in the world I believe that the industry in Mexico is going to take a big leap. Fox Renderfarm: How do you like Fox Renderfarm’s rendering services? Javier: Alberto Juarez, our technical consultant, recommended your rendering services to us due to a great experience he had, achieving the best results in a very short time and with a low budget. Fox Renderfarm: Any other things you want to share with CG enthusiasts? Javier: Whatever you are doing today, do your best work, make it with passion and joy, because what we do today, is for what we will be remembered for tomorrow. Click here to know more about KUKARI ANIMATION STUDIO.