[ANN] BitWrk 0.5.1 "Moon": Distributed Blender Rendering fueled by Bitcoin

[indyjo]

I would like to announce the release of BitWrk 0.5.1 "Moon".

bitwrk.net | GitHub | Download | Quickstart Instructions

BitWrk is an open marketplace for computing power, fueled by Bitcoin. I've been working on it since 2013 (see the original announcement post). At Chaos Communication Conference, I even held a Lightning Talk. What makes BitWrk special is that participant can not only buy computing power, but also sell it for Bitcoin.

BitWrk is now running in BETA phase and its first use case, rendering 3d imagery with Blender, is working quite well. Accepting payments in Bitcoin has been implemented in August's 0.5.0 release. Withdrawals are not implemented yet.

The 0.5.1 release brings the following changes:

• Support for Blender 2.76
• Work data compression reduces uploads to BitWrk peers
• Transaction fee is now always 3% of price
• ... and a couple of small enhancements and bug fixes.

Both server and client are Open Source Software, released under the GPLv3. There are binaries for Windows and Mac OS X.

If you happen to be a Bitcoin fan and you use Blender for your projects, please try out BitWrk!

I'd love to hear your questions, experiences and criticism. I'll also grant 20 mBTC of BitWrk credit to the first five participants who post their BitWrk account IDs here.

[torusJKL]

So I unziped and run the executable.

I get the following:

Code:

Own BitWrk account: 18P5aa4tfPbSuPeVpdAvHossQkWrZ6TK2g

Is this the ID?
It looks like a bitcoin address.

How do I retrieve the private key?
Can I change the address/ID to one of the addresses of my wallet?

[indyjo]

Congrats, you just received 20 mBTC to your new BitWrk account!

Yes, that's your account ID. It doesn't only look like a Bitcoin address, it is one. BitWrk took a lot of inspiration from Bitcoin technology. If you want to, you can also import that key into your wallet: the WIF file is in <userdir>/.bitwrk-client/privatekey.wif

Apart from that, there is no real need to worry about the Account ID. I recommend following the quickstart instructions!

[torusJKL]

Yes, that's your account ID. It doesn't only look like a Bitcoin address, it is one. BitWrk took a lot of inspiration from Bitcoin technology. If you want to, you can also import that key into your wallet: the WIF file is in <userdir>/.bitwrk-client/privatekey.wif

Should I backup that file so that I could restore it if I reinstall on the same computer or on another?
Can I have the same ID on multiple computers at the same time or should they stay unique per computer?

I see the 20 mBTC on the account page.
But it's not on the blockchain: https://blockchain.info/address/18P5aa4tfPbSuPeVpdAvHossQkWrZ6TK2g

[shorena]

Code:

2015/11/03 21:45:27 Bitwrk URL: http://bitwrk.appspot.com/
2015/11/03 21:45:27 Resource directory: resources
2015/11/03 21:45:27 External port is -1. No connections will be accepted from ot
her hosts.
2015/11/03 21:45:27 Only buys can be performed.
2015/11/03 21:45:27 Internal port: 8081
-snip-

Does that mean I have to open a certain port to allow selling or is selling currently not implemented?

[torusJKL]

You have to open a port (e.g. 8082) and start bitwrk with a flag.

Code:

bitwrk-client -extport 8082

See https://github.com/indyjo/bitwrk/blob/master/QUICKSTART.md

[kama]

hello ! im in !
my account id: 15oejBEzUE1EPXncpQfXThNmqJvVWPY9os

also this is my first time im trying a program like that its so amazing like a new network i liked this

[shorena]

You have to open a port (e.g. 8082) and start bitwrk with a flag.

Code:

bitwrk-client -extport 8082

See https://github.com/indyjo/bitwrk/blob/master/QUICKSTART.md

Thanks, should have read that.

Just placed an offer for 10 uBTC. They seem to expire rather quickly.

Code:

Error performing sell (delaying next sell by 20s): Error awaiting transaction: Bid expired without match

Is it because no one is buying at the moment?

Also 10 uBTC per order or is it time based?

Oh and one more if you dont mind. Do I have to change settings in blender to allow GPU usage? Its currently running in a VM without proper GPU setup, but I will probably change that in order to offer helpful amount of rendering power.

[indyjo]

my account id: 15oejBEzUE1EPXncpQfXThNmqJvVWPY9os

Congrats! Here is your 20 mBTC. Have fun  

Should I backup that file so that I could restore it if I reinstall on the same computer or on another?
Can I have the same ID on multiple computers at the same time or should they stay unique per computer?

I see the 20 mBTC on the account page.
But it's not on the blockchain: https://blockchain.info/address/18P5aa4tfPbSuPeVpdAvHossQkWrZ6TK2g

Yes, please backup that file, or use it on two computers. You can have two or more BitWrk clients using the same account ID at the same time, but not too many. At some point, performance will degrade. Two is probably not a problem. Your mileage may vary. BitWrk has its own accounting/ledger system, that's why you don't see a transaction on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Just placed an offer for 10 uBTC. They seem to expire rather quickly.

Code:

Error performing sell (delaying next sell by 20s): Error awaiting transaction: Bid expired without match

Is it because no one is buying at the moment?

Also 10 uBTC per order or is it time based?

Oh and one more if you dont mind. Do I have to change settings in blender to allow GPU usage? Its currently running in a VM without proper GPU setup, but I will probably change that in order to offer helpful amount of rendering power.

Correct, probably nobody is buying. At the moment, buyers are a rare species. Building a functioning eco-system seems to be the hardest part. That's why I'm advertising BitWrk mainly on Blender-related boards, where chances are higher meet potential buyers. By the way, BitWrk really needs all the publicity it can get (*cough*Twitter followers*cough*).

All bids time-out after 2 minutes if they're not matched. You can setup a mandate to automatically enter a new bid.

WRT to GPU, I actually don't have any experience in that area yet, my hardware is all AMD based which isn't yet supported by Blender on Mac OS X.

By the way, is your IP 95.90.xxx.xxx? Please make sure that port is really open. I recommend using http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/open-ports/

[shorena]

-snip-
By the way, is your IP 95.90.xxx.xxx? Please make sure that port is really open. I recommend using http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/open-ports/

Yes that was me, I got some transaction canceled message a while after posting. I assumed it is an issue with the as well, but was to tired to look into that.

[hexafraction]

Just to clarify, security is dependent on the security of Blender itself (which AFAIK was not designed to handle REALLY untrusted data being rendered)? Or does bitwrk sanitize blends before rendering? If I can figure that out, I will gladly join the network as a provider of computing power.

[indyjo]

Just to clarify, security is dependent on the security of Blender itself (which AFAIK was not designed to handle REALLY untrusted data being rendered)? Or does bitwrk sanitize blends before rendering? If I can figure that out, I will gladly join the network as a provider of computing power.

It's a valid point. Python scripting is obviously disabled, but Blender is not engineered for security. I recommend running workers on dedicated hardware or in a VM. Additionally (or at least alternatively), create two dedicated user accounts: one for the BitWrk client, and one for the Blender slave.

Looking at how small BitWrk still is still in terms of user base, chances of being attacked are very small, though.

[hexafraction]

Just to clarify, security is dependent on the security of Blender itself (which AFAIK was not designed to handle REALLY untrusted data being rendered)? Or does bitwrk sanitize blends before rendering? If I can figure that out, I will gladly join the network as a provider of computing power.

It's a valid point. Python scripting is obviously disabled, but Blender is not engineered for security. I recommend running workers on dedicated hardware or in a VM. Additionally (or at least alternatively), create two dedicated user accounts: one for the BitWrk client, and one for the Blender slave.

Looking at how small BitWrk still is still in terms of user base, chances of being attacked are very small, though.

I do have some dedicated hardware, so I might try it (or spin up a VM). Still leaves the question of network security from internal threats if the render machine is compromised.

[indyjo]

How about setting up a firewall so that the workers can't initiate connections to other hosts (apart from the BitWrk service)?

[shorena]

I think I have solved my issues with the port and my ISP. If anyone wana help me test this within the next ~40 minutes... I have a bid placed. Get me something to render.

Edit: Placed another 3 hours.

[hexafraction]

How about setting up a firewall so that the workers can't initiate connections to other hosts (apart from the BitWrk service)?

That would be a good idea, but I've already made a bad setup. I'll try doing a quick setup and running it when I have more free time on my hands.

[indyjo]

So, did you have any success in the end? As a seller, you have to be very patient at the moment until BitWrk's eco system has grown bigger. We need buyers mostly, so this is a call to all the Blender enthusiasts who also happen to a have some (milli-)Bitcoins to spend.

I don't think there is a cheaper commercial rendering service for Blender at the moment.

[shorena]

So, did you have any success in the end? As a seller, you have to be very patient at the moment until BitWrk's eco system has grown bigger. We need buyers mostly, so this is a call to all the Blender enthusiasts who also happen to a have some (milli-)Bitcoins to spend.

I don't think there is a cheaper commercial rendering service for Blender at the moment.

No, I am pretty sure I fixed the issues with the VM and my ISP and that the port was open though. I will give it another try later tonight.

[achow101]

Hm. Seems like an interesting project, although I don't use blender much. Guess I'll be a seller

Here is my account id: 1G2brX7vm8CnRLzE3xuGnJXkbNyJb6W9xP

Also, I think you should add upnp to allow automatic port forwarding.

[indyjo]

Congrats! 20 mBTC just arrived on your account. Have fun 

By the way, I agree that uPNP would make selling easier.