OTOY Forums

Hello,

I'm an employee working in a small architecture firm which is considering using this software as its primary rendering software.
I've been given a couple of questions to ask before purchasing the Beta version of this software, which are as follows:

1. When an .obj file is imported as a mesh, the Octave Render Demo Version abruptly crashes without being able to load the file. Are there some other things that should be done before importing an .obj file?

2. If the Beta version is purchased now, how much of a reduced rate would the Octane Render 1.0 licence be able to be purchased?

3. If 1 licence was installed on computer A and then uninstalled, would the licence be able to be installed on computer B?

4. Are the tutorials and resources available on the forums the only available sources or will there be a more permanent library?

Sorry if there are questions that may already have been answered, but this is what my colleague has asked me to ask.

Thanks!

Try loading some of the demo objects, like the space ships or the chess set. If you don't have them they should be in a zip file on the same page you downloaded the demo program. If those are working you may need to look at the file you're exporting.

1. Make sure all faces are re-calculated outside, remove doubles, etc. I've found that to be the biggest issue for some of my models. List for us which modeling program you are using as this could help us help you.

2. The beta version you're using is technically v1. The "commercial" version referred to is actually v2.0. When that comes out you would pay an addition 99 euros to the 99 you would pay now. Essentially equaling out to the 199 euros that the v2 will go for.

3. Simple answer is yes. You will need to resend an activation request to get a new activation code. Just remember that they process them by hand and so would notice if they're getting multiple requests from the same user often.

4. There aren't that many tutorials around as the software is still pretty new. There are some on the video page and on vimeo, but the software is pretty simple really. Youll find a lot of tricks and such on the gallery and WIP pages of the forum as people are pretty good about sharing their techniques. If not feel free to ask. Good luck. Hope this helps.

havensole wrote:Try loading some of the demo objects, like the space ships or the chess set. If you don't have them they should be in a zip file on the same page you downloaded the demo program. If those are working you may need to look at the file you're exporting.

1. Make sure all faces are re-calculated outside, remove doubles, etc. I've found that to be the biggest issue for some of my models. List for us which modeling program you are using as this could help us help you.

2. The beta version you're using is technically v1. The "commercial" version referred to is actually v2.0. When that comes out you would pay an addition 99 euros to the 99 you would pay now. Essentially equaling out to the 199 euros that the v2 will go for.

3. Simple answer is yes. You will need to resend an activation request to get a new activation code. Just remember that they process them by hand and so would notice if they're getting multiple requests from the same user often.

4. There aren't that many tutorials around as the software is still pretty new. There are some on the video page and on vimeo, but the software is pretty simple really. Youll find a lot of tricks and such on the gallery and WIP pages of the forum as people are pretty good about sharing their techniques. If not feel free to ask. Good luck. Hope this helps.

4 a complete user manual is included in the commercial version in PDF format.

Radiance

Thanks for the replies.

Apparently the .obj file was a simple cube drawn in Sketch-up when the program crashed...

My colleague also has 2 additional questions.

5. Would improving the RAM or CPU of a system have much influence on the performance of the program? We are using Quad Core Q6600 2.40ghz for CPU and 4GB DDR2 RAM.

6. Would you recommend purchasing a GTX or Quadro graphics card?

Thanks again

Check that the faces of the cube are calculated facing out. Also make sure to try the demo scene files. There have been some issues with the different program's obj exporters. Which program are you guys using to make the models?

5. adding more ram or better cpu's will only help with the exporting from the modeling app and the importing in octane. Otherwise the program works completely on the graphics card(s).

6. This mainly depends on your applications with Octane. If you don't think you'll need much vram go ahead and grab one of the higher end gtx400 cards. If you think you'll need the vram, for arch-viz for example, grab a tesla c2000 series card. These have a lot more vram and may process a little faster, but they are expensive and you will need a second video card for display as the tesla's do not have a display port (they're strictly processing cards).

Ah thanks for that.

We've used Sketch-Up version 7 and 3DS Max to export but the demo version of Octane is still crashing. The faces have not been reversed from Sketch-Up or 3DS Max but the same thing happens every time... On top of that the demo scene files also fail to be imported as obj. so it seems all obj. files are crashing at the moment.
When the ocs. files are imported, the program doesn't crash but an error message appears "Unable to open scene file."

Is it maybe because it is the demo version? Or is there something that must be fixed?

Also with regards to materials in the program, is there lighting or the ability to create an emitter with materials for example to make a light-bulb?
And are there any materials which have a net-like effect where there is partial visibility and where shadows drop for example to make a fence?
Finally are there any materials with a fur-like effect for example to create a fur-coat on a hanger?

Sorry and thanks again; we really need to be sure that this program is right before the firm decides to change because it would also require us to upgrade our computers.

Can you list your hardware specs and which OS you are using.

The plugins for those modeling apps you use should help with the whole process but those are available only to licensed customers I believe. Most likely there is something else the matter as it wont load even the basic demo scene files (demo will open those). Make sure your drivers are up to date, you have a cuda enabled video card (you should if octane even start up), and maybe try re-installing Octane. Biggest thing is to let us know your system specs so we can base our help a little more specific.

Light emitting objects aren't here yet, though they will be in the next version (maybe on Monday but Radiance will have to verify).
I haven't tried a material like you state, fence like, but I would imagine its possible. There aren't preset materials yet as a material library isn't here yet. This will be coming soon too I believe. As far as fur this has to be done in the modeling app and then the hair particles converted to geometry before exporting. Point based particles, like most modeling apps use for hair/fur, aren't supported yet.

pyungwonlee wrote:Ah thanks for that.

We've used Sketch-Up version 7 and 3DS Max to export but the demo version of Octane is still crashing. The faces have not been reversed from Sketch-Up or 3DS Max but the same thing happens every time... On top of that the demo scene files also fail to be imported as obj. so it seems all obj. files are crashing at the moment.
When the ocs. files are imported, the program doesn't crash but an error message appears "Unable to open scene file."

Is it maybe because it is the demo version? Or is there something that must be fixed?

Also with regards to materials in the program, is there lighting or the ability to create an emitter with materials for example to make a light-bulb?
And are there any materials which have a net-like effect where there is partial visibility and where shadows drop for example to make a fence?
Finally are there any materials with a fur-like effect for example to create a fur-coat on a hanger?

Sorry and thanks again; we really need to be sure that this program is right before the firm decides to change because it would also require us to upgrade our computers.

I think you're probably trying to open an OBJ file via the File -> Open ?
You need to add the obj file with adding a new node.

watch the tutorial video on our videos page to see how, it's all explained in detail in it.

Radiance

The best way is the use of the several Octane exporters for your 3D-App instead of exporting to obj-File....
I know that the Blender and C4d-Exporters of Octane are stable and good enough....

Hello and thanks again

The system we're using to test is using a 8600GT, Q6600 Quad Core 2.40ghz, 4GB DDR2 RAM running on Windows XP. We've updated the CUDA drivers to the latest available as well as the video card drivers. It's good to know that the emitter materials will be included; that was our biggest concern to do with materials.

With regards to opening the obj. files, the files were added on the graph editor as an object-mesh. We have been able to view the materials with no problem.
We'll try reinstall Octave and if that doesn't work maybe try a system format.