OTOY Forums

Beside a lot other more important feaure requests like pan/zoom, would be the backdrop function of blender node compositor in octane.
additionally to blender it could be a "3d view" backdrop where you even can change the cam view while editing nodes.
It will give a lot faster workflow without any need for a multimonitor setup. I loved it in blenders node editor and think there it could also work for the ipo/grapheditor..

ok back to octane, what do you think?

best regards dave

Octane would need additional preview modes for the render window (or as a backdrop in GE), like:

* a 2D texture preview when working with texture nodes.
You don't really need to see the model when you are mixing noises & colors and creating textures. Actually the preview ball can get in your way because it distorts the mapping and a 2D preview can give you better view of the whole texture. The current texture workflow is slow because there are render re-starts for everything you touch, even during node dragging. You must also wait more than it would be necessary - If you tweak a parameter on a generator texture, for example, it takes atleast some seconds before the noise clears and you can clearly see the new effects. A 2D preview (implemented even in software) would be more comfortable and faster to work with.

* an OpenGL preview for stuff that doesn't really need a fully lighted mode, but you need to see your model, like searching POV, tweaking scale / offset of your textures on the model, during other administrative stuff (like loading images or selecting colors), manipulating objects & working with instances (which will come someday), etc..

The user should be able to choose in which mode to work by toggling buttons and by specifying presets like: when clicking on texture nodes, use the 2D un-lighted mode, but when I click on the material node start the real render or start the real render only when I click on the mesh node, etc.

This modes would relieve the load on the graphic card, speedup worklfow and also minimize the need for an dedicated card for your monitor.