Episode 1:

Regis And Community Renders

17 May 2023

In this interview, we dive into the world of creators and NFTs with Regis. He shares his background, how he discovered RTFKT, and his journey in the creator economy.

Background – Experience before RTFKT

M: Hello Regis, can you introduce yourself and tell us about yourself, your background, what you do before getting into the NFT movement and discovering RTFKT?

R: My background is quite varied, not from a design background but more focused on innovation and entrepreneurship. I've always been interested in exploring new technologies. I discovered RTFKT while working in real estate, where I was constantly searching for tech to incorporate into spaces and properties. This led me to blockchain and NFT use cases. One interesting use case I came across was Citadel successfully tokenizing real estate, which was fascinating considering the strict regulations in Singapore.

I was drawn to RTFKT, especially when Murakami-san came on board, because of his art – the vibrant colors and the juxtaposition between emotions. As a huge gamer, the concept of gaming, culture, and art coming together was very appealing to me.

On Starting Out With Blender

M: You mentioned getting started with 3D. How did that journey unfold?

R: I had no prior experience with 3D before RTFKT. When Ben mentioned Blender and how everyone should try it out, I decided to give it a shot. While most people start with the donut tutorial, I delved into the operating manual and followed the steps before doing actual renders. That's how I began my journey with Blender.

M: What was the first thing you did with Blender? Did you focus on objects, animations, or implementing RTFKT assets?

R: Once I got the hang of Blender, I started creating renders. The first project I did with RTFKT was for Art Basel Miami. I haven't ventured into animation yet, but I joined Clone Tools to make 3D more accessible for creators. The first creator challenge I did was the one after the mint –the Pod challenge, and I created a bunch of clouds with pillars. I thought it was a fun way to motivate people to learn 3D and create something.

B: I also participated in the Creator Challenge and did a small feature, but I didn't continue further with Blender. What is it about your Blender journey that motivates you to keep going? And what design softwares were you using before?

R: Before Blender, I used PowerPoint for all my design work. I tend to find one tool that works for me and dive deep into it, using it for everything. With Blender, I have an end goal of wanting to make a game. I've always wanted to create a game and have a friend who works at Square Enix, which is a huge inspiration. My path with Blender is leading me in that direction, although I don't want to rush into it. It's also likely due to my childhood influence when I played games like Terraria and Earthbound, similar to Minecraft, where you use 2D to craft and build the environment and architecture.

On Clones And Traits

M: Clones PFP are a half-body representation. Did you discover anything interesting when playing with full-body models?

R: Yes, there are many interesting details. For example, the astronaut jacket, which many thought was fully white, and white below, is actually orange on the lower half. The undead jacket also has a glow-in-the-dark feature, which they used really well in SZN1. That's also something I'm very impressed about with RTFKT, a lot of these details in designs were thought out way ahead of time.

B: What is your favorite trait and the most unusual trait of the clones?

R: My favorite trait is definitely the deity arms, which I was camping for but got bought up before I could. I also love the CYBR DRDZ. As for the most unusual trait, it would have to be SPLASH, in a good way. The GRILLS trait is also very unusual for me as it's not something we see every day in Singapore.

On The 3D Design Journey

M: Are there any artists who inspire you?

R: In the 3D scene, there are a few people I appreciate. Wutianqing (https://twitter.com/wutianqing_), who develops ink geometry nodes, and Cartesian Caramel (https://twitter.com/Bbbn192), who creates geometry nodes like wormholes or rolling stone walls similar to those in Indiana Jones movies or nanotech effects.

B: How do geometry nodes work?

R: Let's say you have a cube, and you assign geometry nodes to it. With one simple step, you can transform the cube into a full effect of stones rolling apart to open a door or a bolt of animated electricity. Geometry nodes are a powerful life hack for Blender.

M: How was your experience transitioning from Clone Tools to RTFKT? Have you left your day job in real estate?

R: I have a part-time contract with RTFKT, but I'm still working in real estate. Clone Tools was a magical moment for me. I was exploring the asset library for Blender when I realized that 0xBGoat (https://twitter.com/0xBGoat) and Beb (https://twitter.com/beb_eth) were developing their own versions of CT. Beb saw me using the asset library to store poses for Mixamo, and that's how the three of us came together to start working on Clone Tools.

We studied how to use the library and make it accessible for everyone, enabling poses and animations. From just 30 poses, we have now built a library of 1,500 animations for Clone Tools. It was a serendipitous moment when each of us was doing our own thing, and Beb brought us all together. Currently, there are only around 10 to 20 people using this feature, so there's still a lot we can do.

M: My son's favorite trait is the Medusa hair. I hope we can see an animated version of that in the future. What's next on your agenda?

R: Speaking of animation, what Ali (https://twitter.com/aalasady_) has been doing with animated PFP is amazing. My favorite Clone is #10757, which I call the "robot god in Hawaii" with deity arms and cyber dreads.

On AI, Animation, and Clones

B: Are you considering using AI to assist with 3D rendering and animation, similar to what Vega is doing with Clones?

R: I'm a huge fan of Wonder Dynamics and what Vega (https://twitter.com/VegaGenesisTM) is doing. The software is translating motion data into something usable for videos. Speaking of which, Cam (https://twitter.com/camx1021) is an expert on this. So with a mo-cap suit, you get a bunch of motion data that needs to be cleaned up and superimposed on 3D models. I'm excited about this technology, which is what Wonder Dynamics and Rococo do in automating this process and superimposing the motion on the video reduces a lot of man-hours required.

B: Since we're on that, can you help us understand the interview RTFKT did with Nvidia? What's the significance?

R: Nvidia is making efforts in AI with their Nvidia Omniverse, which aims to unite different platforms into one space. They want to merge AI for 3D files, sounds, writing, and more. What you can possibly do is have a Clone fully animated by AI, with dialogue scripted by AI and voiced by AI. This essentially creates a living, breathing avatar. Currently, I only see one or two creators doing this, so it's not very common.