Just purchased Studio subscription, but can not use 2 GPUs Tweet

[linograndiotoy]

Then please include the server into the Octane installer. Make an installer that is installing both in one step.

I downloaded and installed the free Blender Octane Edition and OctaneServer Prime. It was working for me. Then I purchased a monthly subscription for the second GPU. But the installed software was not able to activate it. I had to install another version of Octane Server, the OctaneServer Studio. Sorry, but I think it is stupid. And I will tell why:

The OctaneServer will check valid licences in the internet. So I can’t see any reason why the server should not be able to check all type of licenses of a major version of Octane. One major version of a server should be able to check all licenses for all Octane Software of the same major release.
It looks to me that the developers are not good enough to make it user friendly.

Everything can be improved and is good to receive requests to improve the usability. I'll ask if what you ask for is technically possible. Just a note: our developers are well more than "good enough". Octane for Blender evolution has been quite impressive lately, stability and feature wise.

I am using Octane since 2015 and I loved Octane very much. But since I am using Octane with Blender, it is a pain in the ass! When I try to render my animation, every frame shows the same content. The renderings are too dark, and often it doesn’t render at all.

Not sure which version have you been using before Octane, but concepts as Color Space and Object Types are valid for any plugin. Using a different software implies a learning process, and we're here to help.
Moving objects need to be set to Movable, deforming objects to Reshapable. This helps Octane know which items are static, moving or deforming, limiting the preparation time needed for each frame.
About Color Space in Octane we have Camera Imager and Post Process settings in the main Octane menu for the Perspective View and the same settings in the Camera Options.
Using the Override option you can get "unify" the settings for both Perspective and Camera (Render).

Then I tried to export the animation to the stand alone renderer, but it will not work in any way. I can export an Alembic file from Blender as described here:
https://docs.otoy.com/BlenderH/BlenderPluginManual.htm#Blender/ORBXandAlembicExport.htm

ORBX export works as long as everything is correctly set in Blender (Color Space and Object Types).

But it is not possible to open it with Octane Standalone. So I can’t render the animation. Actual I have spent 4 days in investigating this issue. And I simply wanted render an animation only.

The forum, but even more the Octane groups on Facebook can solve this kind of questions very quickly (on Facebook you basically receive instant help).

Next week, when I’ll come back from a trip, I will look for an other rendering software. I have a deadline for my job. And with Octane it is not possible to catch the deadline.

Again, we're here to help with any question or issues you may have.

[linograndiotoy]

Some meshes need to have Object type assigned in Octane settings (setting is located in Object properties tab). By default it is set to Auto and it may not properly detect the mest type.
You can override this for all meshes using a setting in Server settings – "Render all meshes as"

Just never, ever use Render all mehses as Global if you don't want to face extremely slow preparation time.

[linograndiotoy]

I've asked developers about the possibility to have a single installer for both Blender and OctaneServer.
They confirmed it would be of course technically possible, but, as I suspected, we cannot merge the server and client into one package due to the GNU General Public License(GPL) limitation.

[frankmci]

Another issue is the sheer number of different plugins and the vast number of possible hardware combinations and configurations. Trying to to take all of that into account in an automated installer is a development and support nightmare. On the other hand, the idea that Stand Alone, Plugin, and Slave all have to be the same version is a pretty simple idea to get across. On top of that, all users are already self-selected for technical proficiency. The choice seems pretty clear.

[linograndiotoy]

Another issue is the sheer number of different plugins and the vast number of possible hardware combinations and configurations. Trying to to take all of that into account in an automated installer is a development and support nightmare. On the other hand, the idea that Stand Alone, Plugin, and Slave all have to be the same version is a pretty simple idea to get across. On top of that, all users are already self-selected for technical proficiency. The choice seems pretty clear.

I couldn't agree more.