Knittables

Summary

Knittables is an art-focused project that is looking to elevate the standard for 3D animated art on Solana. With their technology and a highly-experienced graphics team backing the project, they have set themselves up to redefine art on Solana as we know it.

Art

Historically speaking, 3D art hasn't done that well on SOL. Besides Degenerate Ape Academy, there hasn't really been a 3D project that has seen long-term success. 2D and pixel art have run the show. Rightfully so, as most of the 3D art that we have seen has been pretty sub-par.

Enter Knittables.

Not only have we never really had great 3D art, but we've definitely never had great animated 3D art. There are a couple of projects on Ethereum, such as Invisible Friends and Imaginary Ones, that have done a good job with the "walking animation" type art. Now we're able to get that experience on Solana with a level of quality worthy of investing in. A cute base character with a ton of different traits makes each Knittable feel truly unique.

Team

The Knittables team includes a total of 12 people when you include advisors, but we'll look at the founders and core team members that bring extremely relevant experience to the project.

wivarior - Founder who is handling marketing & strategy. I've had the pleasure of speaking with him in-depth multiple times and his commitment and passion for the project is evident. I reached out for WL spots and we ended up having an hour-long phone call about the project.

bivarior - Brother of wivarior, he is the head of 3D design. His design background actually stems from the car industry, where he has worked on designs for BMW, Mercedes and Hyundai.

ADCdsb - Founder and Art Direction lead. He helps bring every detail of the Knittables world to life

v0xelator - Animation focused with a background to match. He has worked as a visual effects supervisor on films such as Justice League and Deadpool, as well as shows like Game of Thrones. Winner of two Visual Effects Society (VES) awards.

seedbender - Developer for the project and also helping with strategy & marketing. Has worked with gaming brands El Gato and Sony Online Entertainment

Oh, and did I mention that most of the team graduated from Harvard together and are friends in real life?

Utility/Roadmap

As previously mentioned, this is another art-focused project. The art is center-stage in everything they hope to accomplish, including integration into other metaverses for which their characters are already built. There's also a lore aspect to the Knittables world, with each character fitting into one of three factions: Neo, Proto, and Evo. With these factions comes room for lore expansion as they continue their journey.

They plan to consider creating things such as an animated series or video games. While there's an opportunity to expand the Knittables world into these areas, I am always cautious with these roadmap items. We've seen many projects list them before, but we have yet to see a project succeed.

The most significant opportunity may be the rendering capabilities in their possession. Generating and rendering 10,000 pieces of animated high-quality art isn't the easiest of tasks, nor the cheapest. With the technology and computing power in their possession, Knittables can offer their graphic services to other projects which cannot afford to pay for this endeavor entirely on their own. While not officially listed as a roadmap item, it came up in my discussions with the team.

Final Thoughts

We're reaching a point where the art quality on Solana needs to be turned up a notch, and Knittables can help start the movement. Other projects, such as y00ts and Claynosaurz can also help with this trend.

The Knittables universe (lore, animated series, etc.) has potential because the fundamental character is attractive enough. Think Sackboy from Little Big Planet. Offering their rendering services to other projects may be the most lucrative opportunity, and is definitely something I hope is pursued, but we all may be able to see Knittables thrive solely by living in their own little world.