OctaneRender 2023.1.3.4|OctaneSolaris - RC14[OBSOLETE]

[BK]

OTOY® is proud to announce the availability of the new DCC plugin OctaneRender 2023.1.3.4|OctaneSolaris - RC14.

The world's fastest unbiased GPU rendering engine on CUDA and Metal now integrates completely with Houdini 19.5, Houdini 20.0 &Houdini 20.5 Solaris.
OctaneSolaris builds supported by this release: 19.5.805, 20.0.724, 20.0.751, 20.5.278.

What is OctaneRender for Solaris?
The OctaneRender for Solaris plugin is based on Pixar’s USD (Universal Scene Description) and Pixar’s Hydra API to empower artist workflows across look development, scene layout, lighting, and final rendering.





Pixar's USD pipeline
https://renderman.pixar.com/stories/pixars-usd-pipeline



-Installation steps-

Insert the OctaneRender® plugin folder path to the houdini.env file. Houdini®creates this file after launching it for the first time.
On Linux and macOS® systems, append a single line to enable OctaneRender®:

HOUDINI_PATH = "/path/to/octane;&"

On Windows® systems, you need to set the PATH to point to the plugin bin folder as well:

PATH = "C:/path/to/octane/bin;$PATH"


Setting this environment variable outputs any error related to loading the OctaneRender® plugin on the command line for diagnosing installation problems:
HOUDINI_DSO_ERROR = 2

-Houdnin Packages/json installation steps-

- Please create a folder inside Documents\houdini19.5 and name it as Packages
- Open notepad or any text editor and use these lines

Code: Select all

{
    "enable": true,
    "env": [
        {
            "OCTANE_AUTOSPAREPARAMS": {
                "value": 1
            }
        },
        {
            "OCTVERSION": "PATH_TO_OCTANE_SOLARIS_Win64 FOLDER"
        },
        {
            "HOUDINI_PATH": {
                "value": "$OCTVERSION"
            },
            "PATH": {
                "value": "$OCTVERSION\\bin"
            },
            "PXR_PLUGINPATH_NAME": {
                "value": "$OCTVERSION\\dso\\usd_plugins"
            }
        }
    ]
}

- Then Save as OctaneSolaris.json
- Please make sure to disable the .env paths

New features
To learn more about the new features and improvements of OctaneRender 2023.1.3 and the Render Node app, please check out the 2023.1.3 release post


- Change log since last release

• - Unified build with OctaneRender for Houdini 2023.1.3.4(viewtopic.php?f=102&t=83957)
• - Implemented the Octane_setGPU husk command line option.
• - The F-Stop now has a range between 0.025 and 1000.
• - Fixed an issue where the camera settings get copied to the HoudiniFreeCamera.
• - Fixed the Husk render status bar updates.
• - Improved the interactive viewport frame updates..

Note: Click the link below to refer to Important SOP to USD attribute conversion
https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini18.5 ... mport.html

-Known Issues-
- Deep AOV is yet to support!

Important: if using macOS, we strongly recommend that you update to version 14..

Linux Note
On Linux only default Houdini builds are supported.
This means that for Houdini 20.0 and 20.5, gcc11.2 builds are supported, and for Houdini 19.5, gcc9.3 build is supported



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Subscription Studio+ Downloads
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OctaneSolaris [Windows]

OctaneSolaris [macOS]

OctaneSolaris [Linux]


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Demo Downloads
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OctaneSolaris [Windows]




Happy GPU Rendering !!



Your team
OTOY

[EyasArraf]

Hey BK, thanks for the update.
I'm going to point some issues I found that are not specific to this version only, but previous ones also:

1) Camera Texture Environment - Gamma Slider
When enabling the "Camera Texture Environment" in the "Octane" LOP and using some texture file, the "Gamma" slider doesn't work or affect the result at all.
My guess is that the hidden (unexposed in the parameter interface) "Color Space" options menu is set to "sRGB" and out of reach for the user to change it and set it to "Linear sRGB + legacy gamma".
You can see a good working case under the "HDRI Environment" tab where the "Color Space" options menu is exposed for the user.

2) Camera Texture Environment - Dome Light
When enabling the "Camera Texture Environment" in the "Octane" LOP, it doesn't work if the "Environment" option is set to "Dome Light".
As for the rest of the options ("Daylight", "HDRI" and "Planetary") it seems to work fine except for the above issue with the "Gamma" slider.

3) Render Viewport - Timer
After rendering a scene using Octane in the Houdini "Scene Viewer", the timer that counts the seconds keeps counting up even after the rendering is finished.

The next two are feature requests:
1) Adding a "Solid Color" option for the "Camera Environment" for a quick solid color background when rendering. This feature already exists under the "HDRI Environment" tab.
2) Adding support for the new "Copernicus" context for the textures to be used in Octane Image nodes.

* I'm currently using: Windows 11 - Houdini 20.5.278 Py3.11 - Octane 2023.1.3.4

[BK]

Hey BK, thanks for the update.
I'm going to point some issues I found that are not specific to this version only, but previous ones also:

1) Camera Texture Environment - Gamma Slider
When enabling the "Camera Texture Environment" in the "Octane" LOP and using some texture file, the "Gamma" slider doesn't work or affect the result at all.
My guess is that the hidden (unexposed in the parameter interface) "Color Space" options menu is set to "sRGB" and out of reach for the user to change it and set it to "Linear sRGB + legacy gamma".
You can see a good working case under the "HDRI Environment" tab where the "Color Space" options menu is exposed for the user.

2) Camera Texture Environment - Dome Light
When enabling the "Camera Texture Environment" in the "Octane" LOP, it doesn't work if the "Environment" option is set to "Dome Light".
As for the rest of the options ("Daylight", "HDRI" and "Planetary") it seems to work fine except for the above issue with the "Gamma" slider.

3) Render Viewport - Timer
After rendering a scene using Octane in the Houdini "Scene Viewer", the timer that counts the seconds keeps counting up even after the rendering is finished.

The next two are feature requests:
1) Adding a "Solid Color" option for the "Camera Environment" for a quick solid color background when rendering. This feature already exists under the "HDRI Environment" tab.
2) Adding support for the new "Copernicus" context for the textures to be used in Octane Image nodes.

* I'm currently using: Windows 11 - Houdini 20.5.278 Py3.11 - Octane 2023.1.3.4

Hi EyasArraf,

Thank you so much for your feedback.

For 1 & 2, would you please try enabling the Reflection, refraction and backplate? And see if the Gamma works for you!
We are unable to replicate the 3. Render viewport timer issue.. Do you happen to have the region render enabled!

We have created a request ticket to implement the Solid color.. hope we can add it asap!
Yes, the Copernicus is an exciting feature.. we are working on it from the main plugin SOP side.

Cheers

[EyasArraf]

Hey BK, thanks for taking in account those feature requests.
As for the 3 issues:

Issue #1:
After checking again seems I was wrong in relation to number #1 and the gamma works properly.
Regardless of that, it would be better to have the ability to change the "Color Space" of the texture in the "Camera Environment" tab in the next plugin version.

Issue #2:
As for number #2, I checked the issue and it seems like a missing functionality.
When choosing the "Dome Light" for "Environment" in "Octane" LOP, for some reason Octane fails to render the "Camera Texture Environment" as a background and ignores it completely continuing to render the "Dome Light" as a background.
To double check the issue and be certain, I used the "Show Octane Window" under the "Tools" tab to view the render settings from inside Octane itself.
I attached here an image showing this.

Issue #3:
The Render Timer issue persists for every session and introduces new problems like not being able to "denoise" the image after completion.
I will submit a dedicated bug report for this issue.

[adrianr]

Not sure how to reproduce it but I can confirm the render timer bug. There's another potentially related bug whereby you kick off a new render and nothing updates in the viewport, but the image is clearly rendering in the background, as all of a sudden it will jump to a clean frame.

[TakuanParadise]

Sorry for the similar posts.

There were some Solaris specific issues that have existed for some time and I will share them with you.
(This is same what I previously contacted Support about)

Issue #01
I cannot use my own HDA(Subnet) within Octane Mat Builder. (An error is displayed).

Specifically, the nodes can be placed in the subnet, but the following error message appears during rendering and not recognized.

Code: Select all

Unhandled surface network node: /materials/octane_solaris_material_builder1/subnet1_undefined identifier:
Unhandled Octane material node: Unknown
Unknown Octane material input node: /materials/octane_solaris_material_builder1/subnet1_undefined

Issue #02
When using NativeInstancer("Instance-able" primitives), certain conditions are not properly instantiated.

about Native Instancer
　　https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/solaris/usd.html#instancing

For normal USD assets, if make instanceable is checked, vram will not increase and instancing will be done properly even if you do a lot of layouts.
However, when using a USD asset with a model variant, the vram will increase with each layout even if make instanceable is checked. (Instancing is not done).

[BK]

Hey BK, thanks for taking in account those feature requests.
As for the 3 issues:

Issue #1:
After checking again seems I was wrong in relation to number #1 and the gamma works properly.
Regardless of that, it would be better to have the ability to change the "Color Space" of the texture in the "Camera Environment" tab in the next plugin version.

Issue #2:
As for number #2, I checked the issue and it seems like a missing functionality.
When choosing the "Dome Light" for "Environment" in "Octane" LOP, for some reason Octane fails to render the "Camera Texture Environment" as a background and ignores it completely continuing to render the "Dome Light" as a background.
To double check the issue and be certain, I used the "Show Octane Window" under the "Tools" tab to view the render settings from inside Octane itself.
I attached here an image showing this.

Issue #3:
The Render Timer issue persists for every session and introduces new problems like not being able to "denoise" the image after completion.
I will submit a dedicated bug report for this issue.

Hey EyasArraf,

Thank you .. Regarding the 1, we have added the color and Color space..
for 2, check if you have the Viewport light disable button on. This button sortof overrides the Dome light.. The Visible environment in Show Octane windows is constantly replaced when we change any parameter.
The number 3, we would need a sample scene to test on our workstation.

cheers

[BK]

Not sure how to reproduce it but I can confirm the render timer bug. There's another potentially related bug whereby you kick off a new render and nothing updates in the viewport, but the image is clearly rendering in the background, as all of a sudden it will jump to a clean frame.

Hi Adrian,

Thank you for the post. Yeah, the timer seems to be dedicated feature for Karma render.
It looks like another render gives the same issue. We have requested our dev to check if we can expose the Octane render stats instead.
Are you able to share the steps or make a video. We used the GPU monitor and seems to be okay on our side.

Cheers

[BK]

Sorry for the similar posts.

There were some Solaris specific issues that have existed for some time and I will share them with you.
(This is same what I previously contacted Support about)

Issue #01
I cannot use my own HDA(Subnet) within Octane Mat Builder. (An error is displayed).

Specifically, the nodes can be placed in the subnet, but the following error message appears during rendering and not recognized.

Code: Select all

Unhandled surface network node: /materials/octane_solaris_material_builder1/subnet1_undefined identifier:
Unhandled Octane material node: Unknown
Unknown Octane material input node: /materials/octane_solaris_material_builder1/subnet1_undefined

Issue #02
When using NativeInstancer("Instance-able" primitives), certain conditions are not properly instantiated.

about Native Instancer
　　https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/solaris/usd.html#instancing

For normal USD assets, if make instanceable is checked, vram will not increase and instancing will be done properly even if you do a lot of layouts.
However, when using a USD asset with a model variant, the vram will increase with each layout even if make instanceable is checked. (Instancing is not done).

Hi TakuanParadise,

Thank you for the report.. Could you please DM me your HDA?
Regarding b issue, we used to have a similar issue in the past.. Is it okay to share a sample scene and the steps?

cheers

[TakuanParadise]

Sorry for the similar posts.

There were some Solaris specific issues that have existed for some time and I will share them with you.
(This is same what I previously contacted Support about)

Issue #01
I cannot use my own HDA(Subnet) within Octane Mat Builder. (An error is displayed).

Specifically, the nodes can be placed in the subnet, but the following error message appears during rendering and not recognized.

Code: Select all

Unhandled surface network node: /materials/octane_solaris_material_builder1/subnet1_undefined identifier:
Unhandled Octane material node: Unknown
Unknown Octane material input node: /materials/octane_solaris_material_builder1/subnet1_undefined

Issue #02
When using NativeInstancer("Instance-able" primitives), certain conditions are not properly instantiated.

about Native Instancer
　　https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/solaris/usd.html#instancing

For normal USD assets, if make instanceable is checked, vram will not increase and instancing will be done properly even if you do a lot of layouts.
However, when using a USD asset with a model variant, the vram will increase with each layout even if make instanceable is checked. (Instancing is not done).

Hi TakuanParadise,

Thank you for the report.. Could you please DM me your HDA?
Regarding b issue, we used to have a similar issue in the past.. Is it okay to share a sample scene and the steps?

cheers

Thanks for the reply.
I will send you each a sample scene via DM.

I am a fan of OctaneRender and would love to see it improved and used in production on Solaris.