OctaneRender™ 3.0 for Houdini™ - production build 3.03.3.0

[juanjgon]

Hi! This is the latest production build of OctaneRender™ 3.0 for Houdini™. This 3.03.3.0 release is available for the Houdini 13.0/14.0/15.0/15.5 last production builds for Windows x64, Linux gcc4.8 and OSX 10.10. This plugin is also compatible with Houdini 15.5 Indie. In this case the plugin will have a 1080p limited resolution while rendering sequence, and the scene export and cloud rendering features disabled.


Release 3.03.3.0
https://render.otoy.com/customerdownloa ... _Win64.zip
https://render.otoy.com/customerdownloa ... _Linux.zip
https://render.otoy.com/customerdownloa ... ni_OSX.zip

Standalone version for the network rendering nodes
https://render.otoy.com/customerdownloa ... _3_win.exe
https://render.otoy.com/customerdownloa ... _macos.dmg
https://render.otoy.com/customerdownloa ... _linux.zip


CUDA requirements
Due to a CUDA compiler bug we had to switch to CUDA 7.5, which means on Windows and Linux you may need to update your NVIDIA graphics driver to a current version which supports at least CUDA 7.5. On Mac OSX you may have to update the CUDA driver for Mac to a current version supporting at least CUDA 7.5.

New features
A list of all the new features is provided here: viewtopic.php?f=33&t=51679
The plugin manual is going to be updated in the next weeks to cover most of the changes. https://docs.otoy.com/manuals/products/houdini/v3/


=============================================
RELEASE 3.03.3.0
=============================================

* NEW OCTANE FEATURES:
- The render passes saved as EXR discrete files now supports the compression and half-float features.
- Environment visibility options in the Daylight and Texture enviornment nodes.
- The list of active daemons is stored when the application is stopped or network rendering is disabled. Network rendering tries to restore the previously activated daemons when gets enabled again.
- The net render master shows "authenticating" in the net render preferences while a slave is authenticating (which may wait for a free license for example).
- The net render master will re-distribute unfinished work assignments of slaves where all render devices have failed. This should solve the problem that rendering never finishes if all render devices of a slave failed, but the slave itself is still running fine.
- Tried to implement of a recovery system if a render device fails. The idea is to reset a render device when it has failed and to try using it again. If it fails immediately after recovery, the device will be switched into an error state (as before). You can see in the log when the recovery kicks in.

* OCTANE BUGS FIXED:
- Fixed gaussian spectrum texture nodes in scattering media.
- Fixed the diffuse and glossy render passes - for glossy materials they only should include the diffuse and specular part of the indirect light on that material.
- Disabled motion blur for the wireframe pass, when the motion vector pass is enabled
- By default, distributed ray tracing is enabled on the render passes node.
- Fixed incorrect rendering of the environment medium using the DL AO kernel.
- Fixed preview of materials with an alpha channel.
- Fixed bug causing instances using the offline licensing mode to not be able to re-authenticate when the SSO session has expired.
- Fixed SSO authentication failure when 2 Octane instances are started at the same time.
- Fixed crash when loading a completely empty .vdb file.
- Fixed crash when loading unrecognised VDB grids.
- Fixed deadlock on net render masters, which seem to happen only on OSX.


Thanks,
-Juanjo

[limeforce]

Hey! Newest Houdini production build seems to be 15.5.565, would be cool to have the plugin built for that.

[juanjgon]

Hey! Newest Houdini production build seems to be 15.5.565, would be cool to have the plugin built for that.

I am testing the 15.5.523 version with the new production build and it seems to work fine, without problems so far, so I think that it is safe work with it. Anyway I'll add the plugin for the new Houdini production build version for the next release.

Anyway if you find any problem, please let me know.

Thanks,
-Juanjo

[tigher]

Is there and if not will there be pascal support for the Houdini Plug-in? Would really like to be able to use 1080's in as I will be installing them in my computer.

[juanjgon]

Is there and if not will there be pascal support for the Houdini Plug-in? Would really like to be able to use 1080's in as I will be installing them in my computer.

This plugin build should work without problems with the Pascal GPUs. Octane performance is not fine tuned yet for this GPUs, but it should work fine.

Thanks,
-Juanjo

[tigher]

Thank you, having established this works and researching deeper I have two more questions.

Does the plugin work with Houdini Indie?

Are there any benefits to using the houdini plugin over the standalone version? For example is there a better or faster way of using attributes/point clouds/etc. in the plugin vs. map baking and using the standalone. If there happens to be a thread somewhere that links to a comprehensive comparison of the standalone vs the plugin please let me know.

Thank you.

[juanjgon]

Hi,

Yes, the plugin works with Houdini 15.5 Indie. While running in Indie, the plugin has the same resolution limitation while rendering sequences (limited to 1080p) and the scene export functions are disabled.

About the plugin vs. standalone, well ... the plugin has all the Standalone features integrated inside Houdini, so you can use the Houdini workflow in your projects to direct render your scenes using Octane, and you don't need extra steps exporting information from Houdini to Standalone.

Thanks,
-Juanjo

Thank you, having established this works and researching deeper I have two more questions.

Does the plugin work with Houdini Indie?

Are there any benefits to using the houdini plugin over the standalone version? For example is there a better or faster way of using attributes/point clouds/etc. in the plugin vs. map baking and using the standalone. If there happens to be a thread somewhere that links to a comprehensive comparison of the standalone vs the plugin please let me know.

Thank you.

[Nebucadnezar]

Hello, I can't figure out how to save passes into my .exr? When I activate multi-layered exr I end up with a black image.... Is there a tutorial about setting up passes when rendering with octane inside Houdini? Any help would be really appreciated!

[Stefan]

Is it just me, or does this win64-plugin version not work with the current Houdini production build?

[juanjgon]

Hello, I can't figure out how to save passes into my .exr? When I activate multi-layered exr I end up with a black image.... Is there a tutorial about setting up passes when rendering with octane inside Houdini? Any help would be really appreciated!

What software are you using to load the multi-layeres .exr file? You have some information about render passes in the plugin docs:
https://docs.otoy.com/manuals/products/ ... er-passes/

Thanks,
-Juanjo