Updated 2026-10-01
SheepIt (sheepit-renderfarm.com) is a free distributed render farm since 2007: you upload a .blend in the browser, volunteers render the frames with a client app, and your place in the queue depends on points you earn by rendering for others; it has rendered over 560 million frames and supports new Blender versions within days (Cycles, EEVEE, Workbench), but it has no API and no preview tool, so an AI agent cannot drive it. JANCTION Render is a render farm for AI agents: Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Claude Code or Cursor send a .blend, a bpy script or a 3D file through MCP, HTTP or the CLI and get a 4-frame preview in about 4 seconds and the final frames or MP4 from an NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 in a data center; the free beta gives 10 GPU-minutes per key per day with jobs up to 240 frames at 1080p. Pick SheepIt for a long animation you render yourself and can wait for; pick JANCTION Render when an agent is doing the work, you want to iterate on previews, or you need the result in minutes. They combine: iterate on JANCTION, send the final long animation to SheepIt.
| SheepIt | JANCTION Render | |
|---|---|---|
| what it is | volunteer distributed farm (free since 2007) | datacenter GPU render farm built for AI agents (free beta) |
| who presses the button | you, in the browser | an AI agent (MCP tool), a script (HTTP API) or you (CLI, Blender add-on) |
| input | .blend uploaded in the browser | .blend, a bpy script written by the agent, or glTF / FBX / USD / OBJ / STL / PLY / Alembic |
| GPUs | volunteers' machines (CPU and NVIDIA; AMD and Apple GPUs announced) | NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (96 GB) in a data center |
| price | free; points earned by rendering for others decide your queue position | free beta: 10 GPU-minutes per key per day; paid plans per GPU second planned |
| time to first image | depends on the queue and your points (minutes to hours) | about 4 seconds for a 4-frame preview (measured) |
| preview loop | none (you render, then look) | scene_info, render_preview, render_estimate, render_final: the agent looks and fixes before the final |
| limits | project size and frame rules of the farm; long animations are its strength | 240 frames and 1080p per job in the free beta (split longer ones) |
| Blender versions | new versions within days; Cycles, EEVEE, Workbench | 5.0 and 5.2; Cycles and EEVEE |
| privacy | your file is rendered on strangers' computers | a disposable container with no network on JANCTION's GPU; files deleted 24 hours after last use (security) |
| scale shown | 562 million frames rendered, 461 clients connected at the time of writing | a beta on one shared GPU; live status |
SheepIt figures from its public front page on 2026-10-01; tell us at the support page if a row is out of date.
| from | how |
|---|---|
| Claude.ai (web / desktop / mobile) | Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector → https://render.janction.jp/mcp. "Connect" opens a page that creates a free key |
| ChatGPT | Settings → Connectors → Advanced → Developer mode → Create → https://render.janction.jp/mcp (OAuth) |
| Claude Code | claude mcp add --transport http janction-render https://render.janction.jp/mcp, then /mcp to authenticate |
| Codex | codex mcp add janction-render --url https://render.janction.jp/mcp |
| Cursor / VS Code | Add to Cursor Add to VS Code The button opens the editor; confirm and it is added. Manual: Streamable HTTP at https://render.janction.jp/mcp |
| Other MCP clients | Streamable HTTP at https://render.janction.jp/mcp; OAuth or Authorization: Bearer <api key> |
| Terminal (stdio, sends local files) | claude mcp add janction-render -e JANCTION_RENDER_SERVER=https://render.janction.jp -- uvx --from janction-render janction-render-mcp |
| Inside Blender (for people) | The add-on; extension repository https://render.janction.jp/extensions/index.json. Maya / Houdini / Cinema 4D: submit tools |
Using JANCTION Render, build a glossy red cube rotating on a grey floor and show me a 4-frame preview. If it looks right, render 24 frames at 1280x720 as an MP4.
During the beta, yes: 10 GPU-minutes per key per day with no sign-up (a key is created on first use). Paid plans per GPU second will be announced before they start; SheepIt stays free with its points model.
Not directly: SheepIt has a browser upload and a volunteer client, no API or MCP server. An agent can only tell you how to upload. JANCTION Render exposes MCP tools and an HTTP API, so the agent renders by itself.
For a preview, JANCTION Render: about 4 seconds. For a long final animation SheepIt can finish sooner if many volunteers pick your frames and you have points; JANCTION's free beta caps a job at 240 frames.
Yes. Iterate on JANCTION Render with the agent (previews, estimates), save the .blend, and upload the final long animation to SheepIt.
JANCTION Render v0.4.8 · JasmyLab Inc. · 日本語