Hi Tim - is it possible you are looking at the wrong manual? And am looking at the link I posted above and it covers your questions....
There is no load from DB button underneath the materials node editor as per the manual
See the "Importing/Exporting Materials" section of that manual page - the screenshot shows the LiveDb menu option in the Import menu.
I cant find the "change all materials to octane materials" button to swap from rhino to octane materials
Quoting from that page....You can also convert ALL non-Octane materials used in the scene to Octane materials using the “Convert All Materials To Octane Materials”
rightclick option on the plugin Settings tab.I get nothing if i go to the Rhino object properties button and select my object. if i look onthe rainbow donut it tell me its an extrusion etc, but if i select the materials paint tube button there is nothing.
I suspect you have the material assignment by Parent rather than Object. As per the manual link posted above...."
IMPORTANT: The OctaneRender plugin requires Rhino geometry items have materials assigned By Layer or By Object. Assigning materials By Parent may give unexpected results."
Hope that helps.
Paul