OTOY Forums

Have to agree in part with kraken. The poor customer support by Otoy. Just check the many support questions never being answer. If theirs is delay at least just progress reports on the state of the plugin. If Otoy was serious about Blender they would have started development on version 3 of the plugin months before the release of Octane 3.0. Just like the other plugins. So at least we would have had an alpha of the plugin with the release of Octane 3.0.

I own also own Modo plugin and their is no comparison. Even thou the upgrade cost the same. All support questions are answer by the developer within a day. Their customer input that is listen too, progress reports, tutorial videos on new features, and beta release of the plugin 3.0 before the official release of Octane 3.

pegot wrote:

"...due to the extended delay in releasing V3 versions the special upgrade price will continue indefinitely for the Maya and Blender plugins."

Not terribly encouraging in terms of when the Blender plugin will be ready…..

Crazy

Sorry guys, but it is not my fault in this delay. But I see all the frustration here, so I feel the need to make some comments to clarify the situation for you all...

kraken wrote:For all I know, the developer quit.

Wrong. I'm here and have no plans to quit.
But there were no comments from my side 'cause it was not me personally the reason of delay - I depended on company lawyers and executives decisions. I just was unable to start working on 3.X for Blender before new GPL issues get resolved by company (this is not a developer who must take responsibility for such strategic company's decisions). In the worst case scenario the Blender integration could have been stopped completely after 2.X - so serious are the GPL issues and possible consequences for Otoy.

Moreover, I was forced to work on several additional complex projects in parallel (e.g. 3ds Max plugin development, reworking it to 3.X, plus other projects...), and all this work needed to be finished before switching to Blender.
Please don't try to compare the plugins with each other - some of them are just a simple toys in comparison to others (in terms of development complexity)... For example Blender plugin is a complicated client-server system consisting of specially rewritten full-blown Blender application, plus absolutely separate complex project of stand-alone render-server application, plus the intermediate GPLed library allowing special edition of Blender to communicate with the server application. All these must be developed in parallel and be in sync with each other. All these need to be implemented for all three operating systems (Linux, OSX, Windows). Plus every new release of Blender by Blender Foundation (BF) leads to a lot of work of rewriting the new BF Blender release again into Otoy special edition - 'cause there is absolutely no documentation of the internal code changes with every new BF release of Blender, so a lot of reverse-engineering is needed every time to just migrate the existing Otoy's special edition of Blender to a new Blender Foundation's version with every new BF release.

Happily the GPL issues have just been resolved by Otoy, and I've just started a full migration of Octane's Blender integration system to 3.X and to most recent version of Blender. Moreover, we hired a new developer to be dedicated to 3ds Max plugin development only (this is a huge fully integrated plugin project too), so I have more time freed from now on to work on other projects.
I can't give any estimations here, 'cause as I wrote - Blender code is not documented at all, so it is highly unpredictable how much time the reverse-engineering mixed with new features development will take. All I can say - I am really fast developer, especially when I'm allowed to concentrate on one particular project. I've just started the work on 3.X Blender, and it is already in a state of supporting everything from Octane 3.X features except volumes (I just had no time left at the end of Friday to start with volumes after I implemented everything else). Plus it still needs to be migrated to the most recent Blender version (I will do it as a last step, to catch the most recent BF Blender version before release). I will continue with this and will release a Blender 3.X as soon as these last steps are finished. But as I said - no exact time estimations here.
Don't ask me please to release it in not finished state, this will not happen. I have one experienced Blender alpha-tester here and it is enough for me to be sure that the first Blender 3.X release will be already quite usable...

Thanks JimStar. it was important to receive your message.
Blender is fantastic and combined with Octane become an excellent tool.
I'm looking forward to working with your new plugin.
Good job!
Goodbye, simdal

Thanks JimStar.
Finally an answer, it was important to receive your message..

Thanks JimStar. I Understand all effort you have to put into Blender Plugin development, but in the matter of customer support it's just a shame i've got an answer only 9 months later I first asked for any news here.

Thanks JimStar, after 9 months of silence we got the promise.

Thanks JimStar for the update. The work you have done with the Blender plugin when you have had the time to work on it is great especially considering the complexities.

I know a number of issues are out of your control. In the future customer support and keeping Blender users up to date is quiet important and something that can be control. Just doing 1/2 to hour a week in support would go a long way in satisfying and increasing the user base of the Octane Blender users.

Eric

Thanks Jimstar, It is really nice to get an update!

Thanks Jimstar!

Any official update is music to my ears. Please keep us updated on development if possible.

Cheers /Erik