Software Boy, a talented young 3D artist confessed all about NFT art and 3D clothing as well as their importance in Metaverse. In addition to having the opportunity to get to know the artist better, LaGazetta team was introduced to the fact that the NFT world can open solid doors to the new generation of young people early on...

• Can you tell us about yourself? Your background and your current activity?

My name is Niccolò, I'm a 20 years old guy born in Rome and raised in a small nearby town called Monterotondo. Since the lockdown started in 2020, after noticing the amount of time we all had at home, I decided to exploit it by learning a 3D animation software, called Blender, free and accessible to anyone, after a few weeks of practice I started to publish my first works on Instagram, after posting my first videos I started to get positive feedback from people who liked what I was doing and the videos I was creating. More and more people started writing to me in DM, and at some point someone started asking me if I also did custom work for other people. So I realised that I could make money doing what I liked, which was creating 3D animations for other people. So I started creating custom work, built up my own client base and contacts, and made what I did for fun my job. At the moment I work on custom 3D animations, which could become simple videos on instagram, be integrated into websites, or be turned into NFT and thus digital art.

• Can you explain what 3D clothes are for? Why is the demand increasing?

3D clothes are my speciality, in the last few years, also because of the COVID-19 pandemic which has limited all physical human contact and therefore also fashion shows, product shootings, productions etc, the demand for realistic 3D renderings of clothes and accessories in the fashion industry is increasingly high, companies can recreate any type of clothing and thus create real fashion shows digitally, thanks to the help of 3D artists like me, it is now possible to simulate the shapes, folds and materials of fabrics just as if they were real, any dress can be recreated directly from the paper pattern on programs like "Marvelous Designer" and "Clo3D", and then you can animate the movement of a cat-walk, a run, a jump or any other gesture.

• Can you describe NFT auctions?

An NFT auction is usually one piece (it can also be multiple pieces), open for bidding for a limited time, the auction usually lasts 24, 48 hours or 7 days, but we can also choose any time to end it. Only the highest bid at the end of the set time will be the winner, but the artist/creator can choose whether to accept it or not. If you release limited editions of a single piece, the auction might be the right choice compared to selecting a fixed price.  There is only a person that will be able to purchase the NFT in a limited-time auction, so only the person who bids the highest can get it.

• How do NFT royalties/commissions work?

The moment an NFT is created so a video/image is minted (became token and then registered on the blockchain), the creator of the artwork can set a royalty rate between 0 and 40%, for example, setting a royalty rate of 20%, when that same work is resold on the secondary market for $1,000 (i.e. not directly by the creator, but by the buyer to another interested user) the creator of the work will get back $200, 20% of the amount at which the work was resold.

It must be specified, however, that the royalty is exclusive to the collection in which the artwork has been minted. For example, if we mint an artwork in a collection on the platform "Rarible", when the work is resold on "OpenSea", you will actually get no royalties. However, if we create our own personal collection (which currently for example costs between 3000 and 4000€) then we could get royalties regardless of the platform on which the artwork is sold.

• Can you tell us about the companies or brands you have worked with so far?

I started working with micro and mid-tier Instagram accounts, then I moved on to more important brands such as "Pleasures", "Advisory Board Crystals", "Psychworld" and among the Italians, "Doomsday". 

Recently I was contacted by "Adidas" to work on an NFT in collaboration with "Footlocker" and the rapper "Packy", the NFT is currently available on my "Rarible" profile. 

Over the course of time, I have fortunately created my own circle of artists, companies and brands that I work with on a regular basis, but I also aim to work more on my personal projects. Although it is my job now to work on video commissions, I would like to spend more time, in the future, working exclusively on my digital and physical art and pieces.

• Do you also work on physical projects?

Of course I do!

I wouldn't be so happy if everything I work on digitally on my PC didn't come to life in the real world! 

I love designing and 3D printing accessories, statues, characters and anything else I have in mind,my first physical project was XBoy, a character I drew during online classes at school (I was still in 5th grade at the time). After designing it and 3D printing it with my resin printer, I decided I should release it to my instagram audience via my website, softwareboy.studio, in order to make a profit and see if there was anyone willing to buy it! Fortunately I sold a few and received a lot of appreciation from many users. Then this summer I released the Kanye W-Vase, a jar in the shape of Kanye West's head! It has been my best physical project so far, and has also been reposted by pages like outpump, and Highsnobiety Design. 

I have also released physical items available exclusively through an NFT purchase, in collaboration with my English colleague SushiSwag.
We have released shoes, saucers plus sushi chopsticks and will soon be releasing more items.

• What do you think about the future of NFTs in the Metaverse?

NFTs will take the upper hand over real art in real life at the same time that the Metaverse takes over from real life.

As per technology getting better and better, virtual worlds and content will become more and more realistic and very similiar to what we see every day with our own eyes.

In a few years, we will be able to completely reconstruct a virtual world without any difference from the real one! and we will have total control over what happens there... unlike in reality. It is at this point that NFTs will be at the height of their potential, since they can be implemented perfectly and in any field in this new virtual world. Instead of our clothes, we will use virtual skins, instead of our paintings and sculptures, we will use 3D models, and all of this will be interchangeable in the form of NFT tokens. 

I'm excited to be entering this new digital world soon, but at the same time I know there will be many downsides, as if the entire human population were to move into a virtual world suddenly so direct human interactions might be affected. 

21/12/2021