I'm posting an intermediate demo version here.
It's not official as it's not %100 ready,
but i don't want to keep the linux people waiting any longer,
due to the competition we're running.
If you haven't used the previous DEMO release,
please read the included README.txt file completely, before using.
I also need to take a day off as i'm starting to get very tired and worn out.
I will continue and finish it during the next days after i've had a break,
and will publish another official demo release with more functionality and everything fixed.
DOWNLOAD LINKS
Windows 32bit: http://www.refractivesoftware.com/downl ... _WIN32.zip (21MB)
Linux 64bit: http://www.refractivesoftware.com/downl ... _amd64.tgz (23MB)
Please read the following carefully so you know what's new.
CHANGES and NEW FEATURES
LINUX VERSION* directlighting kernel with ambient occlusion
this kernel is now the default preview kernel,
it's much quicker and easier to use to navigate a more complex scene,
and tune/edit your materials.
when rendering finals, switch it to the pathtracing kernel in the node inspector,
when you've clicked on the preview render target in the preview macro.
I would'nt recommend using this kernel for rendering final images though.
* built in material previewing
when you click on a material node,
you see the octane material ball and can tune your material on it.
This works for textures too.
You can enable/disable the activation of previewing the 4 types of viewable nodes,
rendertargets (not functional yet), meshes, materials and textures,
with the 4 buttons above the nodegraph editor.
There is'nt any functionality yet to see internal materials in pins of meshes that are imported,
i'll add this in the next 'official' demo release.
* import paths are remembered.
successive loads of meshes will keep you in the last path where you loaded a mesh,
and idem for textures.
* you can enable/disable filter reconstruction. (this does'nt do anything with the octane8000 executables)
without filtering you might get a little bit of aliasing,
but you won't need it during navigation/editing as it's faster.
the directlighting kernel has it by default turned off.
the pathtracing kernel for finals has it by default turned on.
* white and colour clay rendering modes
There are 2 new buttons ontop of the render viewport which enable the coloured or white clay rendering modes,
this can make navigating a complex scene even faster if needed.
* several other bugs fixes and stability improvements
The linux version is a fresh port and has'nt had as much testing as the windows version.
Please bear with us and if you find any issues, let us know.
This version is a 64bit linux version and requires a 64-bit linux distribution.
It was compiled and tested on a OpenSUSE 11.1 64bit system.
To run the linux version, make sure you have installed the correct drivers as stated in the README.txt,
that comes with the package.
You also need to have the FreeImage (version 3) (packagename: freeimage3) libraries installed,
and the latest FreeType (packagename: freetype2)
you can install these with your distribution's package management system.
KNOWN ISSUES
There are still a few bugs, especially when working in material ball / preview mode,
and when swapping nodes (some connections aren't reconnected propperly).
We're aware of these and these will be fixed in the next official release.
We recommend using this version, if used for creating artwork, to use internal/mesh imported materials,
as this system currently does'nt have those issues.
The linux version is a brand new port, and we had to make some considerable changes to our code to make it work on linux,
we had to include quite a few new threading locks.
The current version is a bit laggy, eg it can be quite unresponsive with a heavy scene and/or a slow GPU.
We're working on improving this and making the locks a bit more finegrained in next releases.
We would appreciate your support to help us test and report feedback (both positive or negative) on it on a variety of systems and linux distributions.
-------------------------
Thanks for your support and helping us test these
Radiance
Here's a copy of the included README.txt for new users:
Octane Render v0.8 alpha TECHNOLOGY PREVIEW DEMO Release Notes
--------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: This is a limited Technology Preview Demo version which does not contain all features planned
for the first beta/commercial versions of Octane Render and as such
does not reflect the complete product feature wise and stability wise.
Released on: Saturday 16 January 2010
Demo Features
-------------
- Only uniform or HDRI (.hdr or .exr) environment lighting (daylight sun/sky is disabled)
- Load any mesh object from Wavefront OBJ format, with MTL material conversion
- directlighting/ambient occlusion and pathtracing kernels
- 3 materials: diffuse, glossy and specular
- spectra or image textures
- full GPU based camera response tonemapping pipeline
Limitations
-----------
- Cannot load or save octane scene files.
- Renderings cannot be saved to image files. (you can take screenshots if you wish)
- No Import of RenderMan RIB files.
- No MLT Sampling, this means some scenes present 'fireflies' eg bright pixels/dots,
which are a natural side effect of unbiased algorithms.
The commercial versions of Octane Render will feature MLT and other options which take care of this issue.
System Requirements
-------------------
This release requires a PC with a Cuda capable video card
and the MS Windows Operating System (Windows 2000 or higher),
or a 64bit Linux Distribution.
To check if you're GPU is Cuda capable, please refer to this list:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_learn_products.html
This release requires the any of the following Cuda/Video Drivers to be installed:
*** Geforce ***
http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_get.html
Geforce Desktop Cards: NVIDIA Driver 190.38
Geforce Notebook Cards: Beta Notebook Driver for Developers (190.38)
***************
***************
*** Quadro ***
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index5.aspx?lang=en-us
Quadro Desktop Cards: NVIDIA Driver 191.78 WHQL
Quadro Notebook Cards: NVIDIA Driver 195.62 WHQL
***************
We cannot guarantee that the software will function correctly with any other driver,
including newer beta drivers.
Users with low-end video cards, such as most low-end laptop GPU chipsets,
or cards like 8400, 8600, 9400, 9600 series should'nt expect any decent performance,
we suggest upgrading to a newer mid-range or high-end GPU in the GTX260 or higher class.
Linux Required Dependencies
---------------------------
FreeImage (freeimage3 / latest version 3.x) should be installed, aswell as FreeType (freetype2)
Please use your distribution's package management system to install it prior to running Octane Render.
You also need to get download and install the CUDA Toolkit available here:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_get.html
Which Version of Octane Render to use
-------------------------------------
This release comes with 2 executable versions of Octane Render.
octane9000.exe
This is the full featured release that requires a 9000 series or higher GPU.
We recommend all users with 9000 series or higher to use this version.
Should you experience poor performance when using a low-end card like the 9400 or 9600 series,
try using the octane8000.exe below:
octane8000.exe
This is a backwards compatibility release that runs on any Cuda enabled GPU.
At present this release does not support image filter reconstruction,
so users might see slight aliasing/jaggies in the resulting renderings produces with this version.
A solution to this problem is to render at a higher resolution,
then downscale your image in a 2D image editing application.
This release is also a bit faster than octane9000 so it can be used
by people who are experiencing poor performance with the latter.
Refractive Software is currently working to solves these issues and provide
a consistent executable and experience accross all Cuda enabled products.
Known Limitations and other issues
----------------------------------
Please note that this is an alpha version, there are still a few rough edges that we are ironing out.
- We recommend changing the render resolution before loading any mesh object/starting the engine.
changing the resolution during rendering might cause problems with some cards.
- Keep an eye on your Device Manager's memory usage graph (File -> Device Manager),
when working with large scenes or scenes with lots of textures.
The engine will alert you when you're trying to load more data into your GPU than can fit.
We are working on intuitive solution to automatically take care of these situations.
- Please report any major problems on our forums, situations where you can't get octane to work.
With your help we can make sure these issues are solved as fast as possible.
- Note that we have not done extensive testing with various 3d modeling applications
with regards to export/import of OBJ files.
Please report any issues you might have on our forums.
Refractive Software Forums: http://www.refractivesoftware.com/forum
USE
---
We will be supplying some documentation regardin the use of Octane Render,
and tutorial videos on the Refractive Software Website during the weeks following this release.
We would like to point you to the demo video on the website's videos page for a quick introduction on how to use the software,
and don't hesitate to ask questions about it's use on our forums.
Some quick tips to get you started:
To load and object, right click in the nodegraph editor window (bottom left),
and add -> object -> mesh.
You can fine tune your import settings with File -> OBJ Import Preferences.
To Access the preview configuration, and change the renderer configuration,
double click on the 'macro' node that's visible by default in the nodegraph editor,
which will open this macro and give access to the different nodes that make up the render preview configuration,
by clicking on these nodes, you can change the parameters in the node inspector panel on the right.
Use the material picker on your render to select materials. (little glass ball with pipette icon on top of render viewport)
Use the 3 buttons with small to large checkerboards to change the subsampling resolution, if the navigation gets too slow with a more complex model.
Disclaimer
----------
Refractive Software LTD cannot be held accountable for any financial loss,
hardware or software damage/loss or injury caused by use of this demo release.
Users who damage hardware by modifying, upgrading or overclocking CPU's or GPU's
or any other hardware do so at there own risk.
This software and included documentation, demo scenes, textures,
HDRI maps are the sole property of Refractive Software LTD,
and can not be redistributed, puclished, modified or sold by any 3rd party in any form,
unless with permission from Refractive Software LTD.
CREDITS
-------
Octane Render uses the FreeImage library, available at: http://freeimage.sourceforge.net/
