OTOY Forums

OctaneRender 2025.3.0 for Houdini production (2025.3.0.0)

This is a production release of the OctaneRender™ 2025.3.0.0 for Houdini™ plugin compiled with the Octane 2025.3.0 core. This 2025.3.0.0 release is available for the latest Houdini production builds on Windows x64, Linux, and macOS arm64.

Houdini production builds supported by this release: 20.0.896, 20.5.613, 20.5.654, 20.5.684, 21.0.440.

If you are not sure if your Houdini version is compatible with the plugin - just run it and you will see an error message in case of incompatibility.

Linux Note
On Linux only default Houdini builds are supported.
This means that for Houdini 20.0, 20.5 and 21.0 gcc11.2 builds are supported.

New features
To learn more about the new features and improvements of OctaneRender 2025.3.0, please check out the 2025.3.0 release post

Known bugs
On Linux, MPlay IPR may not be working. If you are having problems with it, please switch to QT5 IPR and disable "Render to MPlay" in ROP nodes.

Downloads

Release 2025.3.0.0 Studio+ license
Windows Houdini 20.0.896
Windows Houdini 20.5.613
Windows Houdini 20.5.654
Windows Houdini 20.5.684
Windows Houdini 21.0.440

Linux Houdini 20.0.896 (gcc11.2)
Linux Houdini 20.5.613 (gcc11.2)
Linux Houdini 20.5.654 (gcc11.2)
Linux Houdini 20.5.684 (gcc11.2)
Linux Houdini 21.0.440 (gcc11.2)

Release 2025.3.0.0 macOS Prime license
MacOS Houdini 20.0.896
MacOS Houdini 20.5.613
MacOS Houdini 20.5.654
MacOS Houdini 20.5.684
MacOS Houdini 21.0.440

Release 2025.3.0.0 Demo version
Windows Houdini 20.0.896
Windows Houdini 20.5.684
Windows Houdini 21.0.440

Linux Houdini 20.0.896 (gcc11.2)
Linux Houdini 20.5.684 (gcc11.2)
Linux Houdini 21.0.440 (gcc11.2)

Release Notes
=============================================
RELEASE 2025.3.0.0
=============================================
PLUGIN FEATURES AND FIXES:

• Support Houdini 21.0
• Fixed Instances Disappear when modifying the source geometry
• Fixed IPR not update after switching lights off
• Use current render pass for "Save Image to MPlay"
• Only show octane material nodes in Quick Material
• Added "Show Octane log" in IPR
• Open snapshot folder from IPR
• Added ROP button in Octane toolbar, and replaced the "octane" setting with rendersetup node
• Small fix on octane quick material (global projection checkbox had a wrong "hide when" script in it)

Octane for Houdini - IPR Update
The video covers the IPR updates listed above.

Note
From 2025.1.Beta_1.0, Octane plugin for Houdini uses Houdini package file. Each build ships a script (createPackageFileForOctane.bat for Windows, createPackageFileForOctane.sh for Linux and Mac) to help create the Octane.json file as below under C:\Users\<username>\Documents\houdiniXX.Y\packages on windows, ~/Library/Preferences/houdini/XX.Y/packages on Mac, or ~/houdiniXX.Y/packages on Linux. Important Note
2024.1.0.2 fixed the problem that the layered material nodes cannot be loaded properly, however this fix affects all layered material nodes and OSL material nodes in existing saved .hip files. When loading a .hip file for the first time using this build, it's necessary to adjust the connections of these nodes. Once the file is saved with the updated connections, the issue will be resolved.


Common Issues and Solutions
- If the plugin doesn't work at all, set HOUDINI_DSO_ERROR = 2 in houdini.env and check for messages in the terminal.
- If you're missing libglut.so.3, install the freeglut package. On some Linux distributions, you may also need to manually create a libglut.so.3 symlink pointing to the current version in /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu.
- If you are having any issues with the Deadline - please submit a support ticket to the AWS.

Happy rendering,
Your OTOY Team

Really excited for this release! Thank you for adding the two features I requested (navigate to snapshots folder and only octane nodes in quick material)!

I've been running into this issue when loading files that contain an Octane Quick Material. Project file, text log and screenshot in the Dropbox link.

Running on Houdini 21.0.440

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/qjnd6f16vkxkukph7m083/AIuV2c-2UgEXq5GE4ppNxNE?rlkey=6rk1w1rmn2q7f43pu8vnglvio&dl=0

Hey everyone,

Copying Octane_Lights results in a bunch of errors saying parameters don't exist etc. Could you take a look at it? Octane Lights specifically not Universal Lights. Also opening HIP files with these Octane Lights also raises some errors all the time. They seem to work fine though!

lavrenovlad wrote: Fri Sep 19, 2025 10:16 am Hey everyone,

Copying Octane_Lights results in a bunch of errors saying parameters don't exist etc. Could you take a look at it? Octane Lights specifically not Universal Lights. Also opening HIP files with these Octane Lights also raises some errors all the time. They seem to work fine though!

Same here

rifat wrote: Thu Oct 09, 2025 10:06 pm

lavrenovlad wrote: Fri Sep 19, 2025 10:16 am Hey everyone,

Copying Octane_Lights results in a bunch of errors saying parameters don't exist etc. Could you take a look at it? Octane Lights specifically not Universal Lights. Also opening HIP files with these Octane Lights also raises some errors all the time. They seem to work fine though!

Same here

Hey guys!
Sorry about this!
Will fix this in the next build, but in the new time you can self resolve this, just by unlocking the HDA and saving it again. (right click on it, "allow editing of contents", right click again, "save node type")
On the octane quick material just make sure you're doing this on a fresh instance of the node, as otherwise any custom setups in the subnet/dive target will get saved into the HDA.

futoryan wrote: Wed Sep 17, 2025 4:02 pm I've been running into this issue when loading files that contain an Octane Quick Material. Project file, text log and screenshot in the Dropbox link.

Running on Houdini 21.0.440

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/qjnd6f16vkxkukph7m083/AIuV2c-2UgEXq5GE4ppNxNE?rlkey=6rk1w1rmn2q7f43pu8vnglvio&dl=0

Screenshot 2025-09-17 095309.png

See comment above

Super! Waiting for 2025.4.0.0 update so I can try it with macOS Tahoe. Cheers!

Hello!

I'm seeing a strange performance issue that I suspect is related to the new IPR QT5 overhaul.

I've been able to replicate this issue consistently across different scenes, both complex and extremely simple. After the IPR image posts, zooming in/out and panning around the IPR eventually leads to a full Houdini crash. This typically occurs after roughly 10-15 seconds of the IPR running, and appears specifically tied to zooming in/out.

I've recorded the Octane Debug Log, and will attach here for reference. Across all attempts to diagnose this, the crash happens when this action is taken: 'Drawing the raster buffer in the Qt5 image window'.

Here's some relevant information:
Houdini: 20.5.684
Octane: 2025.3.0.0

Windows 10 Pro, OS Build 19045.6456
NVIDIA Studio Driver: 581.57

CPU: Intel(R) Xeon(R) W-3175X CPU @3.10GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090
RAM: 64 GB

You'll find attached:
- Screen recording of the issue
- Troubleshoot HIP file
- Octane Debug Log

Thanks,

Aaron