OTOY previews OctaneRender™ version 2.0, further advancing the
science of CG rendering
New version to build on application’s reputation for unmatched performance, superb realism, and broad
application support including upcoming plugin for Adobe After Effects
SAN JOSE, Calif. – March 25, 2014 – During a presentation at the NVIDIA GPU Technology Conference,
cloud graphics pioneer, OTOY Inc., today previewed the forthcoming version of its
acclaimed OctaneRender™ software, showcasing a range of features that will let artists, animators
and designers create the most realistic renders possible using a more efficient workflow on their
workstations or in the cloud. OTOY also announced application support for Adobe After Effects,
demonstrating the ability to import a complete 3D scene into the After Effects timeline which can
then be edited in real-time. OctaneRender™ 2.0 builds on the incredible performance of previous
versions, harnessing NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs) to dramatically accelerate rendering
time. All of OTOY’s technologies including OctaneRender™ are on display at the GPU Technology
Conference at the OTOY booth, #512 in the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose.
“As a long-time effects artist, it’s my job to recreate reality through creative computer-generated
rendering for some of the most well-known television programs and feature films. OctaneRender is
one tool that continues to make my life much easier. It has been an integral part of the work I’ve
created for projects such as Boardwalk Empire, Star Trek Into Darkness, and the upcoming Godzilla
film, allowing me to spend more time refining my work and less time waiting for renders. Incredible
quality and phenomenal speed define OctaneRender. I am excited to see how the program improves
from here,” said Steve Messing, Visual Effects Art Director.
“As an effects artist and supervisor who’s worked on some of the biggest live action and animated
film franchises, I’ve had the opportunity to use a wide variety of tools and technologies to bring
creative visions to life. OctaneRender is without a doubt one of the most advanced render engines
I’ve ever seen. It really feels we are finally nearing the point in time where the technology keeps up
with the artist instead of being a creative bottleneck. The result is more iteration time, better images,
and happier artists. We put OctaneRender through its paces for Space Station 76 to great effect, and
I look forward to getting my hands on the bells and whistles included in the new version to see how
the best got better,” said Billy Brooks, Visual Effects Supervisor, Space Station 76, which premiered
at the 2014 SXSW Film Festival.
“OctaneRender is the centerpiece of a suite of OTOY rendering technologies that epitomizes
exacting realism and unparalleled performance,” said Jules Urbach, Founder and CEO, OTOY.
“OctaneRender 2.0 will build on those pillars, harnessing NVIDIA GPUs both client-side and in the
cloud to deliver even more accurate renderings in real-time through new features and workflow
improvements that are a direct response to the artists, designers, and engineers who use the
product every day.”
“OctaneRender, coupled with the power of NVIDIA GPUs and the CUDA programming model, has
proven to deliver exceptional results,” said Andrew Cresci, General Manager, Manufacturing
Industries, NVIDIA. “Using these tools, artists with demanding visualization needs can keep up with
their increasingly complex and compute-heavy workloads.”
OctaneRender™ 2.0 will include new features such as:
- Displacement mapping – Used to give objects depth and detail, displacement mapping allows the
height of points on a surface to be adjusted based on an image value.
- Object motion blur – The blurring effect that simulates motion of inanimate objects in a rendered
scene will be supported and can be applied independently of the camera movement.
- Hair and fur – An optimized hair render primitive is now available to allow rendering of hair or fur
while reducing memory usage by 20 times compared to previous processes. OctaneRender™ 2.0
will also simulate the distribution and fluidity of movement of those primitives.
- OpenSubDiv surfaces – Pixar’s powerful library for fast refinement of subdivision surfaces using
the capabilities of graphics processors will be integrated within OctaneRender™. This useful
technique in animation will conveniently be integrated into OctaneRender™’s user interface,
allowing subdivision surface refinement specifically based on Pixar’s OpenSubDiv implementation.
- Rounded edges – Artists will have the ability to easily and efficiently round the sharp edges of
geometric objects without modifying and reloading the geometry. The process is done during
rendering by special shader algorithms that recalculate normals near the sharp edges and corners
to make them appear smooth allowing for the tuning of edge sharpness in real-time throughout
rendering.
- Random color texture for instances – Useful for easily modifying the colors of instances which
otherwise have the same material.
- Improved sky rendering – Using HDRI + Sun, OctaneRender™ 2.0 will enable the use of textures
as sky backgrounds, and ensure that objects in the scene accurately reflect the loaded sky texture.
- Node folder structure – OctaneRender™ 2.0 will facilitate a cleaner, more organized workspace
with a new folder structure that allows users to create packages of nodes, node graphs, and node
trees, and organize them in folders along with thumbnails for easy identification.
- Region rendering – To save time on test renders, this feature will allow users to specify a region in
the scene and partially preview rendered results in real-time.
- Network rendering – The rendering process can be made faster than ever by leveraging remote
GPUs on render slaves connected via the network.
- Support for new display types – OctaneRender™ 2.0 will support new presets that can be used to
render scenes directly for new display types including VR devices such as the Oculus Rift.
- Compatibility with Brigade – OctaneRender™ 2.0 will further expand its integration with Brigade,
OTOY’s cloud rendering technology for photorealistic next-generation games. Within Brigade,
users will be able to open scenes created in OctaneRender™ and walk through those scenes in
real-time over the cloud.
The Adobe After Effects plugin is expected to be released in the second half of 2014. To follow along
with OctaneRender™ 2.0’s progress, continue watching the OTOY blog at http://render.otoy.com/newsblog/.
About OTOY Inc.
OTOY Inc. is the definitive cloud graphics company, pioneering technology that is redefining content
creation and delivery for media and entertainment organizations around the world. OTOY’s Academy
Award®-winning technology is used by leading visual effects studios, artists, animators, designers,
architects, and engineers, providing unprecedented creative freedom, new levels of realism, and new
economies in content creation and distribution powered by the cloud. For more information, visit
http://www.otoy.com.
Additional Resources:
- Read about the new features introduced in the release of OctaneRender™ 1.5 here.
- For a demo of OTOY’s technologies, visit the OTOY booth #512 at the GPU Technology Conference, March 24th to 27th at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, or arrange a meeting by contacting us here.
- Check out OTOY’s panels at the GPU Technology Conference here.
- Follow OTOY on Facebook and Twitter.
- Download the OTOY logo here.
- Get more images rendered using OTOY software here.
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