questions from a potential customer

[boyleo]

hi, I'm looking for a solution for my time consuming rendering process.
and octane really looks like the answer. But I need answers to a few questions here.

- Can I render camera or character animation (animated from maya/blender)?
- Will there be "timeline" support for scrubbing fwd/backwd in the commercial version?
- Can I control camera focus in animation?
- I believe light will shine through transparent glass in commercial version, won't it?
- Is it possible to tell octane to stop a frame when time limit is reached?
- Does octane support 16/32 bit color depth output, which file format does it support?
- What is the status of maya plugin/exporter at the moment?
- Is there a way to filter/remove some hot pixels in the final image?
- Is there a plan to support distributed network rendering in the future? something like Rendition would be very welcome.
- Is internet connection really required every time to run? It will be a major let down in case I want to bring my rig to show off to a client where there's no internet available.

these are few questions that comes to mind while testing the demo, there could be a few more I forget to think about.
overall, I'm really impressed by the speed and simplicity of the workflow.
but I wish simplicity doesn't mean giving up on some key features.
really itching to buy a license now ....
thank you for answers.

[kubo]

You can render an animation just fine with the help of the plugins, check out a video of them working in the video section, they are all the same, independent of modeling soft and they all share the same UI http://www.refractivesoftware.com/videos.html
You can control focus depth in the plugins.
Direct light will pass thru transparent materials in version 1.0, which will be here shortly.
Right now Octane stops when max samples are reached, but a time limit is in the to do list, along with 32bit output, I think the might be schedule for 1.0, but I'm no certain, allthou you could search the forums, 'cause I think it's been answered before.
The maya plugin is working fine, all the plugins available work the same and are fully compatible with octane.
The current build, pre 2.3_5 is so much better than the 2.2 (demo version) that is incredible, there is almost no fireflies, but even for those little buggers left there is an inbuilt hotpixel removal tool that works flawlessly, check out the wip and gallery forums.
DR is available using 3rd party soft.
Internet conection is needed to start octane, once working you can render away even if your conection is lost. In case you want to show your client you could use a 3G usb antenna, there is usually some prepaid ones in most countries that you could setup just for that use.
Actually, Octane is simple to use (that's one of it's great features), and has realtime feedback, which makes setting up your scenes really fun and easy, but at the same time, all the technical and professional tools are there, some features will come along as it grows out of its beta stage.

[boyleo]

thank you. that's very informative.
I think I'll jump on board too, despite the fact that internet connection is required.
sadly, I live in Thailand where 3G was recently turn down. best i can get is EDGE (112k) through my phone.

in the rendering animation video,it shows that octane will re-launch every frame...
which implies you need internet connection all the time... what a let down...
the thought of buying a usb EDGE modem and monthly service just to render animation doesn't make sense at all.

I really wish this sharing thing will be a "feature" not "limitation".
please consider changing this policy in the future release.

I managed to squeeze my powerhouse of Q9550 + GTX460 in a LianLi PC-Q07 case which is very mobile...
I expect to take it on the road and still roar...

[radiance]

The bandwidth consumption required is not even close to 3G speed, even an old 5kb/sec modem
Or old Bluetooth mobile should get you going.

Yours,
Radiance

[boyleo]

well, my concern is not the bandwidth,
but the fact that octane need internet connection every time it launches.
and in rendering animation, it means before start rendering every frame...

you have to have the connection all the time while rendering a sequence.
it could drain my phone's battery real quick. and without 3G, no one can call in while data is transmitting.

anyway, I'm making a purchase now.
99 euro is quite a bargain for such impressive software.

[radiance]

well, my concern is not the bandwidth,
but the fact that octane need internet connection every time it launches.
and in rendering animation, it means before start rendering every frame...

you have to have the connection all the time while rendering a sequence.
it could drain my phone's battery real quick. and without 3G, no one can call in while data is transmitting.

anyway, I'm making a purchase now.
99 euro is quite a bargain for such impressive software.

that is not true, we can easily change the system and plugin specs, so we feed the data with a pipe so octane does not need to restart for each frame,
it's a small issue that's not a showstopper for rendering an animation sequence.

Anyways, you will see some other features soon that will solve this problem already, including the GPU memory issues.

Radiance

[boyleo]

ok, I'm a customer now.
waiting for a link to download the real thing...

about changing the system and plugin spec you mention,
is it already there or I have to wait for the future release?

[boyleo]

still waiting...

[radiance]

we activated you monday morning, (here), eg yesteday, is there a problem still ?

Radiance

[boyleo]

thank you.
I'm messing around with it now.

still, no light shine through glass... please implement it soon,
otherwise I can't use octane for my final production.