Knittables is the next creator to launch using Metaplex’s self-serve minting solution, Creator Studio. Building on the success of previous Creators Studio launches and paving the way for new creators to enter Web3, Knittables is an exciting new project that combines high-quality 3D animated NFTs with storytelling and lore. 

Metaplex’s Creator Studio has quickly become the trusted solution for professional talent looking to use NFTs to build their own communities and connect directly with their audiences, powering both Claynosaurz’ and Knittables’ drops in recent weeks. As Creator Studio opens up to the next wave of early access users, expect to see more creators leveraging the tool to power their mints and build their digital communities. 

What are Knittables?

Knittables is aiming to deliver what many NFT collectors expect, but few collections have been able to deliver so far: NFTs that are usable in real-time game engines and compatible with a variety of Metaverse standards, Web and AR applications, and much more.

While that may sound ambitious, there’s a lot of work that goes into bringing that vision to life. 

“Creating one of the most complex 3D-animated collections with more than 300+ individually custom-created and textured traits was one of the biggest challenges of our lives and we are incredibly excited to see our Knittables out there in the wild soon. We have been working tirelessly on this collection and project for almost an entire year. Our mission is to set a new standard of quality for 3D-animated NFTs on Solana and beyond. Therefore, we had to make sure that every aspect of Knittables lives up to the expectations of our community and our team. The entire project was bootstrapped and no single part of the asset creation process was outsourced as we have created our own custom-built asset pipeline. One of the perks in doing so is that we were able to render our entire 10,000 NFT collection in a bit less than 4 days with our own soft- and hardware in-house.”

The Knittables collection contains three distinct eras (Proto, Evo, and Neo) with unique color palettes, textures and traits, as well as backstories. Each Knittable starts with an initial concept crafted together by the team’s creative lead as well as their 3D team. 3D models are then built by hand, led by the project’s co-founder Bivarior, whose experience in the automotive industry with high-end brands like BMW and Mercedes-Benz has prepared him well for the creation of high-quality 3D-animated NFTs, where details and accuracy matter. For all designers involved, working on Knittables meant that they could finally bring their entire vision to life without having to compromise on aspects of engineering and inefficient hierarchies apparent in most web2 production processes.

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Once the 3D models have been created, they are processed and prepared for potential future applications using the project’s custom-built in-house, semi-automated asset pipeline. The models are designed in a way that makes them easily adaptable for different use cases, providing a real-world example of what interoperability looks like. 

What really makes Knittables’ art stand out is the quality of the texture and lighting. “We wanted to make sure to deliver the highest quality possible while retaining interoperability to make this collection “future-proof” and provide actual use-cases for holders on top of being able to enjoy looking at their NFTs on their wallets and marketplaces, etc. We believe that the entire web3 space will move more and more towards 3D content / assets and we are ready to contribute to this movement.”

The Team Behind Knittables

The team behind Knittables aren’t your average degens, in fact IRL they are award winning artists with resumés that include professional experiences such as:

- Game of Thrones
- Deadpool
- Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
- Love, Death & Robots
- Justice League
- Pacific Rim
- Riddick
- Stranger Things
- Ant-Man and the Wasp
- Paddington 2
- Legend of Tarzan
- The Last Witch Hunter
- Underworld: Awakening
- Godzilla II: King of the Monsters
- Sony
- BMW
- Mercedes

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“With Knittables, we wanted to work on the forefront of today’s technology and push the web3 space forward by combining our web2 and web3 experience and creating a project that will last for years to come. Web3 provides a whole new array of opportunities unseen in the history of mankind. All of us strongly believe in the future development of the blockchain, NFTs, creator economies and more and we need to make sure to contribute to web3 in the most sustainable manner to improve existing standards, create new standards, and to onboard as many people as possible into this new era. We could not be more excited to achieve our very first major milestone by minting the Knittables in December 2022.”

Many of the founders also have significant business experience, including backgrounds in marketing, strategy, operations, as well as extensive start-up / entrepreneurial experience. The team is close-knit, all founders know each other in person and have worked on projects together in the past. Some of the founders have known each other since their time at Harvard together years ago, or even longer in the case of Wivarior and Bivarior who are brothers.

You may recognize others on the team who have significant web3 experience working with projects such as MonkeDAO, Cets on Creck, Cupcake protocol, and more. 

By combining professional experience in the 3D / CGI industry with business and web3 acumen, Knittables is aiming to set a new standard of quality for 3D-animated NFTs on the Solana blockchain.

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Building a Tight-Knit Community

Knittables is about giving everyone the chance to be part of a community whose members are the threads that keep it together.

Prospective holders have been given the chance to earn white list spots through active participation in the Knittables Discord where community members can earn the project’s own $YARN, a Discord token that’s redeemable for WL spots, NFTs, and other perks.

Collabs with other well-known collections such as MonkeDAO, Boogle, Chimpions, DeGods, Degen Ape Academy / DAOO, Okay Bears, BoryokuDragonz, MonkeyBabyBusiness, Cets on Creck, and even ETH collections such as Doodles and CloneX, have helped spread the Tribe’s message far and wide. 

Everything you’ve seen so far has been done organically. That means no payments for promotions, followers or fake engagement. The team has even gone so far as to publish additional details around use of proceeds, vesting provisions, and other details as it aims to raise the bar for what level of transparency should be expected of NFT projects going forward.

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“One of the major downsides of the current way web3 projects are set up today that we see is the lack of transparency. Most times, NFT collectors are not sufficiently informed about the related project to make fully-informed decisions before minting the NFTs. In our opinion, web3 is about decentralization and transparency and we wanted to make sure that we provide as much transparency around Knittables as we possibly can. By doing so, we want to serve as an example for existing and future projects in web3 and push this space forward towards a more sustainable and solid future. Here is an example of the level of transparency we are providing: https://twitter.com/theKnittables/status/1602776848504684549”

As they say, doing it the tight-knit way, together as a tribe we stay!

Building for the Future

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The team is aiming to bring Knittables to life in more ways than one. Given the interoperability of the assets, expect to see the project explore a wide range of applications post mint, up to the potential creation of phygital items that unlock the characters’ “knitted” theme. 

In addition to developing the Knittables collection, the team has also managed to create a scalable and replicable 3D rendering service capable of transforming other web3 projects into metaverse-ready assets. The prime objective for the entire Knittables team is to provide real value to Knittable-Holders as well as other communities and creators. This is why the team has already started working with other projects in the web3 / web2 space. With doing so, the team ensures that the project does not merely rely on the mint proceeds and royalties to generate a profitable and sustainable business.

“The corporate entity behind Knittables is set up in a way that allows us to cater services to other creators and projects in web3 and web2. We did not want to apply our skillset and asset pipeline solely to the Knittables project but to help others in this space achieve similar or even higher quality- and efficiency-levels in the future. Holders will experience first-hand, what we are able to accomplish together post mint. Stay tuned for updates after our mint.”

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Closing Thoughts

Knittables is the latest example of a top-tier creative team that’s chosen to launch their collection on Solana, using Metaplex’s Creator Studio to power their drop. Metaplex was founded as a platform to elevate creators above traditional gatekeepers and its no-code minting UI, Creator Studio, delivers on this by allowing creators to drop whenever and however. Creator Studio provides no-code access to the Metaplex protocol and its  popular open-source Candy Machine program, which remains the most used minting solution on Solana powering ~75% of all NFTs minted. 

As creators and builders ourselves, we know how critical a smooth mint experience is and we couldn’t be more thrilled that Knittables trusted Metaplex’s Creator Studio tool for their drop. If you’re interested in learning more about the project, make sure to follow Knittables’ Twitter. And for creators who are interested in learning more about Metaplex’s self-serve tool, Creator Studio, be sure to check out our Twitter and sign up for early access at https://studio.metaplex.com/.

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