This is the 7th alpha release of v3 and brings new features and bug fixes.
We split the v3 alpha release notes into two posts: This one, which provides the download links and information specific to this particular release and a features post describing and discussing the new features and changes of 3.00. The features post will be continuously updated until we reach the stable version 3.00.
Alpha and beta version disclaimer
In contrast to v2 we want to do the alpha and beta testing publicly, to get more feedback earlier and to have changes tested more thoroughly. The plan is to let all users with a valid v2 license use the v3 alpha and beta versions until we decide that the beta period has ended and we release the first stable v3. After that you will have to upgrade to v3 or will not be able to use any v3 versions (including alpha and beta versions) anymore. We don't know yet, when that will be, but we will give you a warning a few weeks in advance so you can prepare.
Since there is a higher likelihood of severe bugs in alpha and beta versions you shouldn't use them for production work. It would be nice if you could test some production scenes with the alpha and beta versions, but you should definitely not rely on the stability of those versions to finish your projects.
In the Standalone you should be able to load v3 scenes in v2, losing only features provided in v3 and maybe some converted settings (like the new "mid level" in displacement nodes). With the plugins this isn't necessarily the case, which means that you should not create any plugin projects with v3 alpha/beta if you are not 100% sure that you want to upgrade to v3 or that you don't mind losing these projects when the beta period ends.
Offline authentication is disabled in alpha and beta versions.
Manual
We don't have an updated manual for v3 yet. It's pretty much ready and we plan to make it available next week. Until then, please refer to the v3 new features thread and its discussion.
CUDA requirements
Due to a CUDA compiler bug we had switch to CUDA 7.5, which means on Windows and Linux you may need to update your NVIDIA graphics driver to a current version which supports at least CUDA 7.5. On Mac OSX you may have to update the CUDA driver for Mac to a current version supporting at least CUDA 7.5.
Changes since 3.00 alpha 6
- Added support for motion blur to volume rendering. The volume data needs to provide a speed grid which you can select in the import preferences. If you want to disable motion blur, even if the volume data provides speeds, you can do so via the import preferences.
- Added a new "visible environment" pin to the render target node. If specified this environment is used for reflections, refractions and all camera rays that leave the scene and the regular environment is used only for the direct light calculation.
- Introduced new sphere primitive, which can be used for particles. Support for motion blur and the ability to load/save from/to Alembic is still missing.
- Overhauled the pane docking code to allow you to move panes between windows. It's also more reliable and intuitive than before.
- Added shortcut editor (File -> Preferences -> Shortcuts). This is work in progress. All shortcuts except the render shortcuts are global again. The render shortcuts will be processed only if the mouse is over the viewport.
- Made toolbars customizable on undocked panes.
- Added possibility to switch the node type of collapsed nodes by right-clicking the node in the node inspector and selecting "Replace node".
- UV lookup data structures are now only compiled when texture baking is enabled and only for that geometry for which textures are baked.
- Moved the shutter alignment and shutter time from the project settings to a new animation settings node which is connected with the render target. This way you can have different shutter/motion blur settings via different render targets.
- Added the possibility to specify a sub-interval in the animation settings, which you can use to bump up the frame rate without recompiling the whole scene more often.
- Implemented region rendering for all kernels except for PMC, which will follow with the next release.
- Moved the volume step length from the kernel node to the volume medium node. This allows you to tweak the value for each volume and depending how close and how big they are.
- Fixed various volume tracing bugs.
- Fixed picking for volumes.
- Fixed loading of OpenVDB files with non-standard grid names.
- Fixed dramatic shifts in some animated volumes.
- Fixed bug that caused the whole scene to recompile, when loaded from an Alembic file, even if only parts changed.
- Fixed incorrect calculation of the total frame count in the time slider.
- Selecting one window will bring all other windows of the same Octane process to the foreground, too.
- Fixed incorrect initialization of toolbars.
- Fixed missing scroll bars of mesh import preferences dialog.
- Fixed a crash triggered when resetting the project workspace.
- Fixed background colour of the node preview UI.
- The macro storage dialog is now resizable.
- Fixed invalid node pin accesses when trying to load certain Alembic files.
- Fixed crash when multiple threads are reading from an Alembic file.
- Fixed crash when undoing a time change.
- Split
octane.gui.createSettingsComponent()into smaller functions and moved them into new moduleoctane.settingsgroup.
OctaneRender Standalone downloads
Windows
- 64-bit commercial version (installer)
- 64-bit commercial version (ZIP archive)
Mac OS X
- 64-bit commercial version (DMG image)
Linux
- 64-bit commercial version (ZIP archive)
Photoshop workflow plugin download
You can download and install the updated plugin either via the Adobe Exchange platform (version 1.0.1) or you can download it from the link below and manually install it:
Windows and Mac OS X
- Photoshop extension (ZXP archive)
Happy rendering,
Your OTOY NZ Team
