This Guide Will Explore the Basics of Using RNDR Tokens. A RNDR Token is different than a RNDR Credit.
- RNDR Tokens can be exchanged - for example, by miners who want to exchange RNDR tokens to cover electricity and other operational costs.
- RNDR Credits exist only inside the RNDR Service for the purpose of paying for rendering work. These can be easily purchased using PayPal and Stripe. They provide a simple interface for artists, while miners still get paid with RNDR Tokens for their work.
You can find more information about using RNDR Credits here. [Special thanks to RNDR Community members Bryan Bui-Tuoung and Victor Naumik for their contributions to this guide]
Steps to Use RNDR Tokens:
- 1) Install MetaMask
- 2) Check RNDR Tokens in Etherscan
- 3) Add RNDR Tokens to your account via MetaMask
- Note: Ensure that you have ETH to cover Gas fees
1) Installing MetaMask
To use RNDR Tokens, you need a wallet like MetaMask. It is a browser extension and is currently supported by the following browsers: Chrome, Opera, Firefox and Brave. Installation is simple - just go to metamask.io and follow their installation instructions.
[Be extra careful with every click you make here - because there is no “undo” button, and if you lose your wallet’s private keys or click on some phishing website instead of the official MetaMask website - your coins may be gone forever!]
First step after you install MetaMask will be a creation of your Ethereum wallet. MetaMask will generate a private key and a recovery passphrase for you. . Write this down and store in a safe place. Treat the recovery passphrase (and private key derived from it) as your actual wallet - anyone who knows it owns your money, so never show to anyone.
It’s very important - please re-read the above again and just do it, for your own peace of mind. You can later import it to any other wallet, hardware keychain, or just keep it on a piece of paper in a safe.
If you already had an Ethereum wallet and you have a passphrase or a private key - you can skip the creation of the new one above and just import the one you had.
After your MetaMask wallet is set up and ready to go - just copy your Ethereum wallet address to clipboard (see the screenshot above) - it will be needed to transfer tokens. The address looks like 0x followed by some numbers and letters.
On any exchange you can Deposit money and Withdraw money. Now you need to withdraw RNDR and ETH from an exchange to your MetaMask wallet - just go to Withdrawals and put in your MetaMask wallet address. Then wait for a transfer to succeed and the coins will appear on your MetaMask.
[A Note on Using Brave]
When using the Brave Browser it can occasionally interfere with MetaMask because Brave has its own wallet. To connect to RNDR, you have to change the browser settings when using the MetaMask plugin in Brave. Go to Settings --> Extensions --> For Web3 provider select --> "MetaMask"
2) Checking RNDR Tokens in Etherscan
You can check that your RNDR tokens are in your MetaMask wallet by using Etherscan - an Ethereum blockchain explorer - meaning that it shows you what’s happening on the blockchain in general, which includes what is happening in your wallet.
If you put your address in the search box - you will see the amount of ETH funds you have on your address, and also the Tokens you possess. Under the “Overview” section of Etherscan, you can see and select which tokens are in your wallet. Click the drop down and you should see “Render Token (RNDR).” Select that and it will take you to your transaction history for that token.
Please Note: The RNDR network has migrated to a new RNDR token contract - please check that you have the new Render Tokens (RNDR) under the new contract address: 0x6de037ef9ad2725eb40118bb1702ebb27e4aeb24
If you have RNDR tokens with a different (old) contract address - please follow our Migration Guide to convert them to New RNDR. You will also be prompted to migrate your tokens in the RNDR interface.
Metamask - Custom Token
To see your RNDR balance on MetaMask token list in the left-side menu - you must add a Custom Token. Just follow the steps on a screenshot above and paste the RNDR contract address (0x6de037ef9ad2725eb40118bb1702ebb27e4aeb24) into the Token Contract Address input field and after pressing “Next” - RNDR should appear on the list of your token balances in the Menu on the left.
Also check that you have at some ETH funds on your MetaMask wallet to cover transaction costs.
- [Note] In order to pay for a RNDR job using RNDR Tokens, you will need to cover Ethereum Gas fees [Ethereum's version of a transaction fees]. You can view resources on purchasing ETH here.
3) RNDR Website
With the above steps completed - you are now ready to upload a scene to be rendered on the distributed GPU RNDR network!
Go to rndr.otoy.com and login to your Artist account (or create one).
In the top right corner you will see your RNDR balance in the system. If it’s zero - you have to move some RNDR tokens from your MetaMask wallet - just click on the balance for the deposit window to appear (you might have to allow MetaMask to connect to the website).
Enter the needed amount, and press Deposit - then confirm the transaction in your MetaMask and voila! After the transaction is approved - the balance will appear in the system. Now you can upload scenes, create jobs and render with RNDR. See our tutorial on using RNDR here.