new features of OctaneRender™ 3.00 (updated 10.8.) Tweet

[Notiusweb]

Postby abstrax » Wed Dec 09, 2015 3:49 am
Overhaul of the integration kernels

Since the beginning of Octane the integration kernels had one CUDA thread calculate one complete sample. We changed this for various reasons, the main one being the fact that the integration kernels got really huge and impossible to optimize. Also OSL and OpenCL are pretty much impossible to implement this way. To solve the problem, we split the big task of calculating a sample into smaller steps which are then processed one by one by the CUDA threads. I.e. there are a lot more kernel calls are happening than in the past.

There are two major consequences coming with this new approach: Octane needs to keep information for every sample that is calculated in parallel between kernel calls, which requires additional GPU memory. And the CPU is stressed a bit more since it has to do more work to do many more kernel launches...

Postby abstrax » Wed Jan 13, 2016 11:14 pm
Yan wrote:
When will you release support for OpenCL?
Thanks!

OpenCL has been on hiatus for quite a while and we will continue working on it after OSL has been done, i.e. it may become available around middle of the year. Please be aware, that there is a chance that we may run into unsurmountable problems and we can't get it working (Octane is not a simple path tracer anymore). I didn't run into any issues during my initial tests, but everybody tells me how bad it is, so we will have to see.

There is also a small possibility that AMD's CUDA implementation as part of AMD's Boltzman initiative could be used instead of an OpenCL implementation, but we will see, when we get there. Most likely it will not be useful for Octane.

If OpenCL is unnatainable, does this untie your hands to optimize the code in favor of the CUDA model? As in, it could be optimized to not have so many kernel calls, leading to less stacked communications with GPU.
I'm not going to say I'm rooting for this necessarily, but I guess I might be rooting for this unnecessarily.

[Refracty]

I always thought the main reason for the Octane 3 development was the OpenCL feature.
It should have top priority to make Octane usable for ATI cards. This is one of the main reason for studios who don't want to use it in their pipeline.

[oguzbir]

I always thought the main reason for the Octane 3 development was the OpenCL feature.
It should have top priority to make Octane usable for ATI cards. This is one of the main reason for studios who don't want to use it in their pipeline.

I also do not like the monopoly.
AFAIC for every new version development the main demand is more features to be added to the core engine.
Being able to use octane regardless of hardware is of course a good thing. But I think it shouldn't be announced in the earliest stages.
It has to be worked on behind the curtain. Once you're sure you'll announce and release it.
I believe major studios would choose Nvidia over ATI because of their enterprise grade quadro products which give more stability.
Even when studios won't but quadro series because of money they will tend to buy consumer grade cards from nvidia because much more credibility of the company.

I think otoy has to focus more on features that involves listening to artists about what they need and add features matter to artists.
Just saying.

[Notiusweb]

Could Otoy make a switch to a separate OSL and OPenCL version. This could keep the CUDA model, which already existed, clear of things that are potentially holding back general development of the others, and maybe dodge some of the current issues experienced.

Like, they have a Windows version, Linux version, and an OSX version. Could then there be a sub version to each. In this case they would really only work on the others and tweak the Cuda to be optimized with new features. I mean, I'm assuming anyone who has already been using Octane 2 has at least 1 CUDA GPU, wouldn't you rather see that version more optimized while you wait for the others.

I understand, if I had only an OpenCL GPU, I couldn't wait for a release supporting my card. But given that I only have CUDA, I have a complete and utter lack of understanding.

[Refracty]

For sure the big VFX studios use mostly Nvidia cards but I am talking about the fancy design studios that put a MacPro on their tables just because it looks good.
I know agencies (design studios) that use VRay in their pipeline (for stills) and I am always telling them they should switch and use Octane because OpenCL support is just a question of a few months. Now I see that it is no certain when OpenCL will be there for Octane. It can take 4 month, 12 month or longer - knowbody knows and I have to explain them this situation.
There are many Mac users that don't have an Nvidia GPU in their laptop or computer. Additionally many educational institutions inside the field of design use Mac pools.
With windows OS software you can use bootcamp but when it comes to hardware there is no easy workaround.

I always thought the main reason for the Octane 3 development was the OpenCL feature.
It should have top priority to make Octane usable for ATI cards. This is one of the main reason for studios who don't want to use it in their pipeline.

I also do not like the monopoly.
AFAIC for every new version development the main demand is more features to be added to the core engine.
Being able to use octane regardless of hardware is of course a good thing. But I think it shouldn't be announced in the earliest stages.
It has to be worked on behind the curtain. Once you're sure you'll announce and release it.
I believe major studios would choose Nvidia over ATI because of their enterprise grade quadro products which give more stability.
Even when studios won't but quadro series because of money they will tend to buy consumer grade cards from nvidia because much more credibility of the company.

I think otoy has to focus more on features that involves listening to artists about what they need and add features matter to artists.
Just saying.

[bepeg4d]

Hi,
in my opinion, for v3, is much more important the Open SL instead of Open CL feature. Open SL can "open" Octane to complex shaders by extending its features, while Open CL is almost targeted only to black-Dyson-Mac-Pro and its ATI FirePro.
For all the other Mac users (like me), I think that should be more interesting to have a more easy and solid Thunderbolt driver with external GPU support without having to hack the system kext files, but this depends to Intel and Apple
For all the other Macs, having Open CL on the internal unIque GPU is not so useful because the high res dysplay has already sucked a lot of resources, and an external GPU is needed in any case
I have worked for some months with a Mac Book Pro 13" Retina and an external Thunderbolt box with 2x GTX 780 and it was a real pleasure, but the kext hack is not for everyone and has zero comercial attraction
ciao beppe

[mib2berlin]

Hi, testing the OpenVDB import feature in Octane 3.0 Alpha.
The next Blender 2.77 release support creating OpenVDB files from Blender´s Smoke simulation system.
Import work fine but grid is rotated X -90° in Octane.
Iirc Blender is lefthanded.
Is it possible to rotate the grid in Octane with nodes, I cant figure out how this work, if it is possible.
If not it would be nice to have a xyz, yxz and so forth in the OpenVDB import settings.
Atm. I try to speak with the OpenVDB developer of Blender how to manage export of OpenVDB files but he is not often reachable in #blendercoders (only way to contact him for me).
I add simple OpenVDB file created in Blender, rename to .vdb.

Thank you and cheers, mib

[haze]

Hi, testing the OpenVDB import feature in Octane 3.0 Alpha.
The next Blender 2.77 release support creating OpenVDB files from Blender´s Smoke simulation system.
Import work fine but grid is rotated X -90° in Octane.
Iirc Blender is lefthanded.
Is it possible to rotate the grid in Octane with nodes, I cant figure out how this work, if it is possible.
If not it would be nice to have a xyz, yxz and so forth in the OpenVDB import settings.
Atm. I try to speak with the OpenVDB developer of Blender how to manage export of OpenVDB files but he is not often reachable in #blendercoders (only way to contact him for me).
I add simple OpenVDB file created in Blender, rename to .vdb.

Thank you and cheers, mib

The output of vdb_print from your vdb shows very little rotation, so it must be the different coordinate system.

You can rotate the volume by attaching it to a Placement node (right click -> Geometry -> Placement) for now, I'll liaise with the blender developers and find out what their plans are.

[Daniel_Ward]

Hi Team,

any idea of when FBX geometry support will be added to Octane 3 Alpha?

Cheers, Dan.

[grimm]

Hi, testing the OpenVDB import feature in Octane 3.0 Alpha.
The next Blender 2.77 release support creating OpenVDB files from Blender´s Smoke simulation system.
Import work fine but grid is rotated X -90° in Octane.
Iirc Blender is lefthanded.
Is it possible to rotate the grid in Octane with nodes, I cant figure out how this work, if it is possible.
If not it would be nice to have a xyz, yxz and so forth in the OpenVDB import settings.
Atm. I try to speak with the OpenVDB developer of Blender how to manage export of OpenVDB files but he is not often reachable in #blendercoders (only way to contact him for me).
I add simple OpenVDB file created in Blender, rename to .vdb.

Thank you and cheers, mib

Hey mib,

I don't know how much they will do as this is just the cache files right now, not an export. You don't want to start messing with the caches as it will slow things down. I was going to use a placement node just like Haze suggested, have you tried that? I will do some tests tonight and see how well it works.

Jason

Edited: Confirmed, using the placement node works great! Like you said adding -90 to the R.X works perfectly.