Annecy 2025 Interview: Inside Ringling College Grad Fletcher Rainey’s 3D Workflow

After graduating from Ringling College of Art and Design’s Computer Animation Program, Fletcher (Ellie) Rainey shares first impressions of the animation scene and how Fox Renderfarm played a key role in supporting student projects. From easing tight render deadlines to providing cost-effective and accessible cloud rendering, Fletcher reflects on how Fox Renderfarm streamlined the rendering workflow. Join Fox Renderfarm, a leading cloud rendering services provider and render farm in the industry,  to hear how creators like Fletcher are discovering new opportunities, learning through hands-on experience, and building careers with the help of powerful production tools.

Fox Renderfarm: Thank you for joining us. Please briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Fletcher Rainey: I'm Fletcher (Ellie) Rainey, and I am a computer animator who just graduated from Ringling College of Art and Design’s Computer Animation Program.

Computer Animation Program at Ringling College © Ringling College of Art and Design Website

Fox Renderfarm: How has your experience been at the Annecy Festival so far?

Fletcher Rainey: It's been wonderful, honestly. Just connecting with everyone and getting a bit drunker than usual at this altitude. But really, connecting with everyone has been a joy. This is my first time actually entering the animation community, and it's been very welcoming.

Mifa Presentations © Annecy Festival Website

Fox Renderfarm: Could you introduce some of your recent projects to us, if you don't mind?

Fletcher Rainey: My school does have a dedicated render farm, but it would get really overloaded a lot of the time, especially with tight turnarounds and me needing to do a lot of animation and fixes. During the early process of just showcasing my rigs and stuff, Fox Renderfarm was really a big help in allowing me to skip the queue and get my work turned around really fast and really tightly. 

I also just think the price structure was really good. The actual cost per second was very reasonable, and yes, the interface did take a bit of getting used to, but in terms of being helpful and clear about what you're paying for, it's a really good deal. 

Fox Renderfarm: What was your greatest experience while using Fox Renderfarm? Would you recommend it to your friends or your classmates?

Fletcher Rainey: Actually, the way I learned about you guys was from my friend, who primarily works in Blender and was working on a dinosaur documentary. She was using Fox Renderfarm services to essentially get her documentary across the finish line, and she would not stop talking about Fox Renderfarm. I was like “Ah, fine, I'll try it.” When I did, I was humbly impressed by how good the service was and how simple and easy it was to use and install into Maya specifically. 

Fox Renderfarm:  Do you have any suggestions for us? Maybe ways we could improve our service?

Fletcher Rainey: Not that I can really think of, honestly, because the way the service works, it was more a misunderstanding on my end of how render farms actually operate. Your service was really clear and actually helped me understand how render farms work. After that, I got a job as a render wrangler at my school, helping manage their HBC farm. You guys were a really good education tool as well as a dedicated farm, so thank you for that!

Fletcher’s Social Media:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spazzls
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fletcher-rainey/