Frequently Asked Questions

Hardware and Software

What are the hardware requirements for Octane Render?

Octane Render requires a CUDA enabled NVIDIA video card. An up to date list can be found here http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_learn_products.html

If you are interested in purchasing a new graphics card to use with Octane Render, the Geforce GTX470 or GTX 480 currently have the best Performance to Price ratio.

Are OpenCL compatible cards supported?

OpenCL is currently not as mature as CUDA. As OpenCL matures, it is planned to be supported which will open up the video cards that will be able to be used with Octane Render.

What technology is Octane Render based on?

Octane Render's engine is a custom Cuda implementation, it does not rely on any 3rd party middleware like Nvidia Optix, and as such it can run on older consumer video cards (Nvidia 8000 series and up), instead of high-end Quadro cards that most other solutions and middlewares require.

I'd like to use Octane Render, but i have an ATI video card, or any other non-CUDA capable video card, what should I do?

Currently, Octane Render requires a CUDA enabled video card to be installed. If your motherboard can accept a second video card, it is possible to install a second video card and dedicate the non-CUDA card for gaming and general display in the operatings system. The newly added Nvidia card can be dedicated to Octane Render. The cost of Octane Render is low. The additional cost of integrating an Nvidia GPU into your system is very low compared to purchasing 10 to 15 more computers to get equal performance with a CPU based solution.

What are the software requirements for Octane Render?

Window XP (32 or 64 bit) / Windows Vista (32 or 64 bit) / Windows 7 (32 or 64 bit) / Linux 64 bit
Current CUDA 3.0 Software Drivers (http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_get.html)

What about other operating systems?

MS Windows (32bit & x64), Apple Mac OS X (32bit), and GNU/Linux (x64) systems are currently supported.

How can I check to see if I have the software and hardware necessary to run Octane Render?

CUDA-Z (http://cuda-z.sourceforge.net/) is a utility that provides information about the CUDA environment that is currently installed. If it fails to run, the CUDA drivers, toolkit or SDK may not be installed correctly. When CUDA-Z runs properly, CUDA is installed properly and information about the current NVIDIA card can be determined. Additionally, we recommend to try our free demo version to check compatibility and performance for your system.

Is Octane Render multi-threaded?

Octane Render is a new type of renderer that doesn't use the CPU (with the exception of handling file management and other mundane program tasks.) Octane Render completely relies on the GPU for rendering performance. Therefore, to increase rendering performance in Octane Render, a more powerful graphics card will be necessary, not adding CPU cores. Adding multiple graphics cards allows you to render even faster as Octane can use multiple graphics cards (CUDA Compatible cards) in your system, without the need for SLI, and the cards can be different models.

Does Octane Render take advantage of SLI?

No, but it can use multiple video cards for rendering. This will allow two completely different architectures to be used in a machine with multiple PCI-E slots (such as a GTX 260 in the primary slot and a 9800GTX+ in the second.)

Availability and the Beta Program

When is Octane Render available?

The beta version is currently available for 99 Euros. There is no date set for the release of Octane Render 1.0 final yet.

Why are you selling Octane Render Beta Versions?

Octane Render is the first renderer of its kind and Refractive Software is eager to release this powerful tool. Instead of teasing users with web videos, Refractive Software wants to get the power of Octane Render into the user’s hands.

The beta version of Octane Render will be priced at 50% of final release cost. This will allow user’s to start using Octane Render and enjoy all the benefits of the lightning fast renders and interactivity now, and having a full Octane Render Version 1.0 license at a much reduced rate.

If Octane Render is as great as it sounds, why is it so cheap?

Refractive Software could have charged much more for the performance of Octane Render and sold to fewer people, but in these hard economic times, that wouldn’t do much for helping out smaller studios and individuals from having access to this powerful software. By keeping the cost lower, more individuals will have access to this power and will be able to generate more economic growth than if only a few were able to afford Octane Render.

Why isn't feature "X" yet in the beta version? I thought that I was buying a feature complete render engine?

Beta software, by nature, is not the final software. It is a work in progress. Participating in the Octane Render Beta program allows the user to start using it right away and will allow them to download new versions as new features are added.

The Render Engine

What are the features of Octane Render?

Fully GPU Based
Fully Interactive
Physically Based Materials and Lighting
Realistic Camera Model (Supporting Real-time Depth of Field)
Un-biased Spectral Algorithms

What is interactive in Octane Render?

In Octane Render, the current view of the scene is constantly rendering. As you adjust the materials of your objects, you can see the changes immediately on the screen. You can adjust the camera parameters and see the results on the screen. You can adjust the position of the sun in the sky and watch the reflections change as the sun moves across the sky. The interactivity in Octane Render ends the crazy cycle of adjusting parameters and waiting for the resulting render. With Octane Render, you can work at the speed of your imagination.

Is Octane Render really Un-biased? How can it be and be so fast?

Yes, Octane Render is a true, un-biased ray tracer that runs completely on the GPU. Octane Render doesn’t sacrifice accuracy in order to provide a 10x to 50x speed increase over traditional, CPU based un-biased ray tracers. It doesn’t use biased methods to approximate results. There are no tricks…it’s just really fast.

Why is my computer so slow when running Octane Render?

Octane Render completely tasks the video card while rendering and previewing the current scene. This leaves much less video processesing power left for the operating system to draw windows and do screen refreshes. This can be overcome by either pausing the render to work with the operating system at full speed, or by adding a second video card (if the motherboard supports it) and using one video card dedicated to Octane Render and one for all other operating system functions.

What are the materials available in Octane Render?

All materials are physically based in Octane Render. The current types are Glossy, Diffuse, and Specular (Glass).

What types of lighting is available in Octane Render?

All environments that are typically used in un-biased renderers are also available in Octane Render such as Sun / Sky, Environment Maps and Area Lights.

What modeling software can be used with Octane Render?

You don’t have to be jealous of package “X” anymore because they have a great render package only available to them. The power of Octane Render can be enjoyed by users of most modern 3D modeling packages.

The Octane Render beta imports geometry and materials using the Wavefront “obj” format, which most modeling software supports, or via RenderMan(TM) compliant RIB file import. Once the scene is setup in Octane Render, the geometry can be re-imported without the need to recreate all the materials.

Is animation supported in Octane Render?

The release version (Octane Render V 1.0) will include RenderMan™ compatible RIB importing, which is supported by many animation packages.

How fast is Octane Render compared to CPU Un-biased engines?

Just as it depends on which CPU you use, it depends on which GPU you use with Octane Render. Speeds increases of 10x to 15x can be expected over traditional CPU based unbiased engines.

What is the typical workflow for Octane Render?

The scene is exported from the modeling software and imported into Octane Render. Once the scene is in Octane Render, the materials and lighting are adjusted to the user’s liking. The render resolution and rendering settings are lower at this point to provide maximum interactivity. Once the scene is ready to be rendered completely, the resolution can be increased and the render engines settings cranked up. The final render will be complete in a matter of minutes, not hours as is typical with CPU based un-biased renderers.

How flexible is Octane Render for scripting?

Octane Render is completely node based which allows for very flexible and complex setups. Octane Render 1.0 will ship with a scriptable console version as well which will allow even greater control from external applications.