Besides Otoy talk at GTC, I'm really curious about this one:
"S6647 - Maxwell Render Meets the GPU
Juan Cañada Head of Maxwell Render Technology, Next Limit Technologies
We'll take you through the challenges the Next Limit team have overcome to create a GPU version of their highly acclaimed Maxwell Render engine. Maxwell Render was the first unbiased, spectral, physically based render engine on the market (2004) and due to its impeccable quality, serves as a ground truth reference for many. We'll reveal some of the technology behind our new GPU-based renderer, taking a look at both its advantages and limitations -- and you will of course be one of the first to see it running live! We'll show you how the GPU version has maintained the core qualities of the current CPU engine -- enabling users to create images from 3D scenes in a reliable and predictable way but with one key difference: faster than ever. "
https://mygtc.gputechconf.com/form/sess ... ay+Tracing
I switched from Maxwell to Octane 5 years ago because of the obvious speed problem, but always missed some Maxwell for Maya functionalities and its great quality.
Nice to see Maxwell might join the race again, competition is good.