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Octane Render is a real-time 3D rendering software that utilizes the unbiased rendering techniques to produce photo realistic images. It is the first unbiased renderer to work exclusively on the GPU. It is being developed by Refractive Software. The most notable feature of Octane Render is the ability to work in real time. Every change that the user makes, be it to materials, lighting or render settings, is immediately reflected in the rendering view port, thus giving the artist a smooth work-flow experience and immediate feedback.

Octane Render is a pure GPU and CUDA-only renderer, meaning that it utilizes only graphic cards that support Nvidia's CUDA technology for rendering. OpenCL support is not planned for the time being and Octane Render does not support rendering on the CPU.

History

Octane render was originally created by Terrence Vergauwen, who also contributed to the development of LuxRender and Indigo Renderer.

Overview

Octane render is the worlds first GPU based, unbiased renderer. It uses the full power and potential of the GPU to calculate all measures of light, reflection and refraction.

Features

• Real-time User Interface

Octane Render provides a true WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) rendering environment that allows the user to focus on creating stunning images without bouncing back and forth between a modeling view and then waiting for a render to complete. The viewport on the screen IS the final render. Any changes to the scene are instantly updated on the screen allowing the user to tweak any setting and know immediately how the result looks.

• Full Spectral/Unbiased Quality

Octane Render is a fully physically based, unbiased rendering engine. All computations are done at the same accuracy as traditional CPU unbiased render engines. Octane Render simulates light not as RGB colors but as an electromagnetic wave. Since it is based on the physics of light, it captures all light interactions in the scene just as in reality. It does it in minutes instead of hours as with traditional CPU based unbiased render engines. Alternatively, even faster rendering experience can be done using Direct Lighting / Ambient Occlusion modes in Octane Render to produce traditional ray traced renders in seconds.

• True GPU Based, Not Accelerated, Not Hybrid

Octane Render is a true GPU based engine, not a hybrid CPU/GPU, nor a CPU based engine that was modified with GPU acceleration (GPGPU). Since a CPU adds a negligible speedup (1/10th to 1/50th) to the total rendering speed, having the CPU free for other tasks while rendering with Octane Render allows to use the system for other tasks while rendering. Octane Render was developed from the ground up to run on a GPU, making it much faster than traditional engines that have been updated with GPU acceleration.

• Real-time, Accurate Materials

Fine-tuning materials in Octane render allows the user to focus on results without guessing on what the final appearance will be. Materials are updated in real-time which allows the user to quickly set-up their materials with confidence. Since Octane Render utilizes physically correct reflection models (BRDF), the results are accurate and realistic.

• Built-in Animation

Octane Render has built-in turntable and daylight simulation animation with true physically correct motion blur. Product designers or architects can render turntable animations or full daylight cycle animations at the click of a button straight from the Octane Render user interface. No complicated animation keying, exporting, intermediate files, batch scripting, or other complex and time consuming processes are needed. Alternatively, Full animations can be exported and rendered with Octane Render with plug-in scripts available for various 3D modeling/animation.

• Customizable Integration

Octane Render Plugins allow for complete integration for single frame or automatic animation rendering. Further more, the workflow for the plugins allows to edit the materials and lighting in Octane Render in real-time, instead of having to use the traditional and tedious workflow of editing materials in the host application plugin, and then export and await the results. Once the scene is configured in Octane Render's User Interface, it can be re-rendered as a new frame or animation using the plugin, keeping the Octane Render settings intact.

Octane Render (commercial version) contains plugins for the following:

Autodesk 3ds Max

Autodesk Maya

Autodesk Softimage

Maxon Cinema 4D

Google Sketchup

Blender (software)

Luxology Modo (software)

LightWave 3D

Rhinoceros 3D

• Flexible Node Graph

Everything in Octane Render is represented by Nodes, complex scene and material settings are possible allowing advanced control of the scene. The Nodes can also be bundled as "macros" which allows them to be shared between users or reused in other scenes. Octane Render also allows users to access the OctaneLive material database which allows them to quickly add community submitted materials to their scenes quickly, without having to leave the Octane Render user interface. However, Octane Render does not require the user to use the nodes, and allows for interacting with every aspect of the scene and materials simply by picking materials off the rendered image and fine tuning parameters in the node inspector window.

• Lights

Octane Render allows for complete control using an HDRI file, mesh emitters or a sun/sky system. Lighting can be fine tuned in real-time with direct feedback, supported with calendar and global position parameters. Any object can be turned into a mesh light by enabling the property of the material. It's color can be controlled by a blackbody spectra, texture, or IES files.

• Real-time Tone Mapping

Tone mapping in Octane Render is also performed in real-time using the power of the GPU. This allows for smooth tuning of the tone mapping settings of the final render. Adjust vignetting in real-time along with F-stop and other realistic camera controls. The inclusion of over 50 camera response curves allows the user to quickly tone map the image with measured camera data and enjoy even more photo-realism in their renders.

Integration with other software

Octane Render is integrated with the following software:

• Autodesk 3ds Max
• Autodesk Maya
• Autodesk Softimage
• Maxon Cinema 4D
• Google Sketchup
• Blender (software)
• Luxology Modo (software)
• LightWave 3D
• Rhinoceros 3D

See also

• LuxRender - An open source unbiased render.
• Maxwell Render – An commercial unbiased render.
• Thea Render – An commercial unbiased render.
• Indigo Renderer - A commercial unbiased renderer.
• Arion – An commercial unbiased renderer.
• fryrender - An commercial unbiased renderer.
• Povray - A historical raytracer.

References

1. http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=6031- featured # 18 in CG Society 2010 Retrospective

2. http://www.evermotion.org/tutorials/show/7961/octane-render-review

3. http://www.cgchannel.com/2010/05/octane-render-gpu-based-rendering/

External links

• Official Octane Render site
• Octane Render Community Forum

• Rendering systems