This is the 8th alpha release of v3 and fixes some major bugs introduced with alpha 7.
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 7
- Added support for region rendering with PMC. I.e. region rendering is now fully supported, except for deep pixel rendering.
- Added support for the import/export of sphere primitives from/to Alembic.
- Added support for motion blur of sphere primitives.
- Shutter settings use now a new percentage display.
- Fixed random large allocations in VRAM causing random crashes.
- Fixed a crash when you try to render a scene with camera animation.
- Fixed incorrect rendering of shadow catchers if its normal is pointing away from the shadow casting light source.
- Fixed a bug that caused Octane to not bring all windows to the foreground.
- Fixed some UI refresh issues when a Lua script is started.
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
