Last week I had the opportunity to test Arion and I have to say that I am very unimpressed.
The current version 1 has very few advantages over the last Octane Beta2.2 to justify the significantly higher price of the product:
1. CAD Plugin (Rhino) – The information posted on the Arion website is misleading. At the moment there is NO plugin integrating Arion to Rhino. Instead a Fryrender plugin is provided to export the Rhino scene in Fryrender file to be imported into Arion MANUALLY! The only real advantage over OBJ export is the fact that the current Rhino camera is included.
2. Save/Load materials + database – The next Octane Beta2.3 will have that.
3. Scene object browser – I don't know if that is planned for Octane, but as far I know the next beta will allow multiple OBJ files to be mixed into the Octane scene.
4. CPU/Network resource rendering acceleration – the render speed increase utilizing the CPU (in my case i7 OC to 3.4GHz) was insignificant. With 1-2 GTX480s I don't think I would ever need to bother with a network setup too.
5. Save/Load cameras – I hope this is planned for Beta2.3
6. Emitting materials – Planed for Beta2.3
My biggest disappointment was the fact I couldn't save DSI files (like in Fryrender) to be resumed later or to adjust the intensity/color of the lights. The GPU rendering is fast, but not so fast (for large resolutions) to ignore this most essential feature of the pathtracing technology. I wish the Octane guys would agree with me on that and will add this function in some of the next releases.
The bottom line is: With the next beta, Octane will be in excellent shape to compete with Arion and blow it away because of its low price. So my advice to those ready to spend over $1000 for Arion – just wait few more months for B2.3 and spend your budget balance on hardware.
Arion or Octane?
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I think most people would agree with you, just found this through google:
http://forum.cgpersia.com/f27/randomcon ... ane-14585/
Radiance
http://forum.cgpersia.com/f27/randomcon ... ane-14585/
Radiance
Win 7 x64 & ubuntu | 2x GTX480 | Quad 2.66GHz | 8GB
Good bit of information on that forum. I think that the price, along with capabilities, is really pushing Octane over most people. Even with Arion's cpu enabling, even though it lends little to the performance, a $1000 bucks is just ridiculous. I'd rather spend that on a few gpu's.
System 1: EVGA gtx470 1280Mb and MSI gtx470 1280 in Cubix Xpander for Octane, AMD 945, 4Gb Ram
All systems are at stock speeds and settings.
All systems are at stock speeds and settings.
an...interesting... site to point toradiance wrote:I think most people would agree with you, just found this through google:
http://forum.cgpersia.com/f27/randomcon ... ane-14585/
Radiance

I loved the post about wondering if Octane had been cracked yet. Seriously? What would be the point? It is just so damn inexpensive who would waste the time? Plus I know Radiance put some pretty hardcore protection on it, so good luck.
System 1: EVGA gtx470 1280Mb and MSI gtx470 1280 in Cubix Xpander for Octane, AMD 945, 4Gb Ram
All systems are at stock speeds and settings.
All systems are at stock speeds and settings.
i was on the site few days ago early and someone had posted a cracked octane dont know if it worked or not but they deleted the post and banned the person that posted it they are not allowing octane on there site which i think is good
amd 1090t 6 core 16 gigs ram wind 7 ult. 2 gtx 285
Well, I believe that Arion was a bit faster (vs pathtracing) and better at interior with sunlight. I dont compare emitters, sss or render passes as those are on the way for Octane.
Anyway, I am sold to Octane since I believe it will be better than Arion in future.
Anyway, I am sold to Octane since I believe it will be better than Arion in future.
- Mr Getdown
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Wed Jun 02, 2010 2:53 am
- Location: London
I'm suprised no one has mentioned the Navigation of Arion.
Just experimenting with veiws would be the most used aspect for most, yet just rotating the camera around an object is the most painful expirence I've had in any piece of software. It takes me over 2 minutes to rotate to the other side of an object that's just plain unusable.
Just experimenting with veiws would be the most used aspect for most, yet just rotating the camera around an object is the most painful expirence I've had in any piece of software. It takes me over 2 minutes to rotate to the other side of an object that's just plain unusable.
Can't agree more. Navigating around the scene in Arion is a nightmare. Although I don't really care... what the hell were they thinking?Mr Getdown wrote:I'm suprised no one has mentioned the Navigation of Arion.
Just experimenting with veiws would be the most used aspect for most, yet just rotating the camera around an object is the most painful expirence I've had in any piece of software. It takes me over 2 minutes to rotate to the other side of an object that's just plain unusable.

Win 7 64bit | GTX 470 | Intel i7 920 | 12 GB RAM