OctaneRender® pre-Beta 2.42 (win/mac) [OBSOLETE]

[SamCameron]

Not working

VFX -> we cannot help you if you don't explain your issue...

Radiance

Let me explain you... change the security system, the actual method is very painfull for your clients, it needs internet all the time, if the connection has a problem, then we cannot render, if you server has a problem, then we cannot render, is too much dependency from you. The Piracy affects every one, big companys and small companys, face it and please change the actual system cause your costumers are not very happy with this.

[irene]

hi friends, can you please recommend me a second video card -- for surfing (not much more) at ease while rendering with my Gainward GTX460 2 GB.

i have an old Radeon/AMD card, but did not try yet, as i read in the forum it does not work together well in one PC with Nvidia.
i'd like a card with as little power usage (below 50 Watt) as possible.

it would be great, if i could use it to render together with the Gainward GTX460 and the 2.42 version or later, while not working on the pc.
thank you for your help!

[abstrax]

Let me explain you... change the security system, the actual method is very painfull for your clients, it needs internet all the time, if the connection has a problem, then we cannot render, if you server has a problem, then we cannot render, is too much dependency from you. The Piracy affects every one, big companys and small companys, face it and please change the actual system cause your costumers are not very happy with this.

It's quite simple: If we remove the current licensing scheme, Octane will be cracked (takes an experienced hacker only a few hours) and then copied and then not bought anymore. Yes, there will still be people who would pay for it, but according to Refractive's experience in the past, chances are high that they are not enough. And if there isn't enough income the whole OctaneRender project will have to stop. Do you want that?

-> At the moment we see only one option: Improving the reliability of OctaneLive and of the connection mechanism to it. For that we need more details about the problem and not flame posts in the forum. For example:

- Are these connection problems intermittent?
- Can you connect after a few tries?
- At which times do the connection problems occur?
- Is the problem on the server side and affects everybody or is it on the network side and affects only particular areas/countries?
- Can you ping the servers (live1.refractivesoftware.com and live2.refractivesoftware.com)?

We know that sporadic connection problems break the current animation workflow and today or tomorrow I will have a look and see, what we can do about it in the short term. But the general concept works quite effective and we couldn't find a better method, that is similar effective.

Cheers,
Marcus

[face]

hi friends, can you please recommend me a second video card -- for surfing (not much more) at ease while rendering with my Gainward GTX460 2 GB.

i have an old Radeon/AMD card, but did not try yet, as i read in the forum it does not work together well in one PC with Nvidia.
i'd like a card with as little power usage (below 50 Watt) as possible.

it would be great, if i could use it to render together with the Gainward GTX460 and the 2.42 version or later, while not working on the pc.
thank you for your help!

Thats correct, don´t mix cards from different manufacturer.
Maybe a GT210-220 would be good for the job.
GT210 ~31Watt
GT220 ~58Watt

face

Edit:
I have purchased a G210, because it´s a 1slot card...

[VFX]

Just one thing, that your program is needed to work the internet.

That is all.

Often, the ISP has a failure, or have a place where no internet connection ..... I do not know ... whatever. This software does not depend on an Internet connection. It's logical. Your software is not antivirus, firewall, etc.. This is software that must operate under any conditions.We can not guarantee that the Internet will work 24/7....

I understand your reasons, but I do not understand your solution.


Sorry, but I Octane does not work since I bought it. (two-three weeks?)

[Jaberwocky]

Let me explain you... change the security system, the actual method is very painfull for your clients, it needs internet all the time, if the connection has a problem, then we cannot render, if you server has a problem, then we cannot render, is too much dependency from you. The Piracy affects every one, big companys and small companys, face it and please change the actual system cause your costumers are not very happy with this.

It's quite simple: If we remove the current licensing scheme, Octane will be cracked (takes an experienced hacker only a few hours) and then copied and then not bought anymore. Yes, there will still be people who would pay for it, but according to Refractive's experience in the past, chances are high that they are not enough. And if there isn't enough income the whole OctaneRender project will have to stop. Do you want that?

-> At the moment we see only one option: Improving the reliability of OctaneLive and of the connection mechanism to it. For that we need more details about the problem and not flame posts in the forum. For example:

- Are these connection problems intermittent?
- Can you connect after a few tries?
- At which times do the connection problems occur?
- Is the problem on the server side and affects everybody or is it on the network side and affects only particular areas/countries?
- Can you ping the servers (live1.refractivesoftware.com and live2.refractivesoftware.com)?

We know that sporadic connection problems break the current animation workflow and today or tomorrow I will have a look and see, what we can do about it in the short term. But the general concept works quite effective and we couldn't find a better method, that is similar effective.

Cheers,
Marcus

perhaps there is a halfway house solution here.

Part of the problem is that Octane checks with the servers far to often.

Perhaps the answer is for Octane to check with the servers that it is a legit copy say once every 2 days.That way anyone who is say rendering overnight or has a dodgy internet connection would have minimal impact on their workflow whilst also solving your Piracy concerns.It's all down to a bit of agreement on how long between checks.

Regards

The Jaba

[Faizol]

Let me explain you... change the security system, the actual method is very painfull for your clients, it needs internet all the time, if the connection has a problem, then we cannot render, if you server has a problem, then we cannot render, is too much dependency from you. The Piracy affects every one, big companys and small companys, face it and please change the actual system cause your costumers are not very happy with this.

It's quite simple: If we remove the current licensing scheme, Octane will be cracked (takes an experienced hacker only a few hours) and then copied and then not bought anymore. Yes, there will still be people who would pay for it, but according to Refractive's experience in the past, chances are high that they are not enough. And if there isn't enough income the whole OctaneRender project will have to stop. Do you want that?

-> At the moment we see only one option: Improving the reliability of OctaneLive and of the connection mechanism to it. For that we need more details about the problem and not flame posts in the forum. For example:

- Are these connection problems intermittent?
- Can you connect after a few tries?
- At which times do the connection problems occur?
- Is the problem on the server side and affects everybody or is it on the network side and affects only particular areas/countries?
- Can you ping the servers (live1.refractivesoftware.com and live2.refractivesoftware.com)?

We know that sporadic connection problems break the current animation workflow and today or tomorrow I will have a look and see, what we can do about it in the short term. But the general concept works quite effective and we couldn't find a better method, that is similar effective.

Cheers,
Marcus

Hi Marcus,

I'm sure you know a few alternatives out there as oppose to *only* using live online license system. A few well known applications have multiple control points in their license verification system and with any of the point is disrupted, the software will slowly degrading its functionality (like the UI slowly will be heavier and such), makes it unbearable and ineffective to be used in a production environment. This multiple control verification system would not use a generated license text file as the only entry point to fully enable the program to work as it's supposed to. As an example, CmiVFX employed a unique sound noise encryption as a signature and tie it to the individual account each time a video streaming is downloaded to the local harddisk, so any video found in the wild can be directly tie up to the respective account (which should have a valid credit card and other personal information).

Checking some popular warez sites can confirm of what I've said before, that there's no Renderman Pro crack out there. Not sure though what methodology did Pixar use for their licensing scheme, but I think that's something worth to look into, if possible.

The problem with current licensing scheme is that there's a factor of a single point of failure. If it just happen like previously, then the whole users worldwide gonna be affected. And worst is the users themselves can't actively do anything to fix the problem, which is different from if the downtime is a local incident.

I'm sure everyone of legit user here would want to support the development of Octane. But if Octane wants to be seen as an enterprise level renderer, it's not just enough to produce nice images, but Octane should also has to consider to have an enterprise level management system, and one of the features is of course the licensing scheme employed (how each license segment is managed). That's why I've suggested before to look into volume license management scheme (ala Renderman Pro server employed by Pixar). That will only increase the trust from the buyers towards refractive in particular (it's a two lanes street), as oppose to the *live internet* only solution.

[SamCameron]

To be honest Marcus, there's no a security system that can't be cracked, you need also to think in your actual costumers and what they deserve, you already know that the actual price of the Octane Render is quite competitive and friendly, is far cheaper than any other for what It can offer, so the people who are interest in work legaly would buy you a license anyway, and the people who cannot affort your price is not going to buy it even if they can use a pirate copy, cause the people who works legally needs legal software, and legal bills, the rest is not going to give you any money at all, but you clients... you need sometimes to think in your clients, and what is good for them also, not only for you, by the way I know very much people that doesn't buy your software because the restricted limitations with your security system, please think about it, you're not only avoiding piracy, but also possible clientes.

[radiance]

Hi guys,

Sorry but there's no point in a 134th debate about octanelive, if we did'nt switch to it we would have declared bankruptcy and the last octane release you would have had would have been 2.3 v1-v2.
Alternate activation schemes won't help as the current system is the only way to make sure it cannot be cracked, which has proved itself as after many major attempts it hasn't.

VFX -> We have already discussed the issue you're having this in length via email, no reason to start posting unconstructive posts here.

We are working to improve stability of octanelive for rendering animations, however we cannot do everything at once. (not that it does'nt matter if you get disconnections while using the software, it will keep functioning.

Octanelive has saved the company and is here to stay, even if that presents an issue to licensed customers, if we remove it or change it so it can be used offline for periods, we might aswell close the company and octane will be gone.

On a side note, we have had 2 outages in 6 months, totalling 14 hours. That's 99.67 % uptime, which is higher than the availability of most renderfarm networks. I used to be a unix systadmin in 3d animation studios and have a lot of first-hand experience...

I am looking to expand our backend to a different provider and in different continents soon, which hopefully push that up to my goal of 99.99%.
Nonetheless, i don't see any reason to complain about availability, it's pretty darn stable.
I think frustrations come from stuck copies with intermittent connection failures during animation rendering, which is something we are currently fixing.

We live in a connected world nowadays, according to reports most of your software will be running on a cloud in 3-4 years, might aswell prepare for it.

Radiance

[irene]

Thats correct, don´t mix cards from different manufacturer.
Maybe a GT210-220 would be good for the job.
GT210 ~31Watt
GT220 ~58Watt

face

Edit:
I have purchased a G210, because it´s a 1slot card...

thank you very much, face!
that helps.