OTOY Forums

Posted: **Mon Feb 23, 2026 11:20 pm**

This is a production release of the OctaneRender™ 2026.2.0.0 for Houdini™ plugin compiled with the Octane 2026.2 core. This 2026.2.0.0 release is available for the latest Houdini production builds on Windows x64, Linux.

Houdini production builds supported by this release: 20.0.896, 20.5.684, 21.0.559, 21.0.596 and 21.0.631.

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 2026.2, please check out the 2026.2 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 2026.2.0.0 Studio+ license
Windows Houdini 20.0.896
Windows Houdini 20.5.684
Windows Houdini 21.0.559
Windows Houdini 21.0.596
Windows Houdini 21.0.631

Linux Houdini 20.0.896 (gcc11.2)
Linux Houdini 20.5.684 (gcc11.2)
Linux Houdini 21.0.559 (gcc11.2)
Linux Houdini 21.0.596 (gcc11.2)
Linux Houdini 21.0.631 (gcc11.2)

Release 2026.2.0.0 macOS Prime license
MacOS Houdini 20.0.896
MacOS Houdini 20.5.684
MacOS Houdini 21.0.559
MacOS Houdini 21.0.596
MacOS Houdini 21.0.631

Release 2026.2.0.0 Demo version
Windows Houdini 20.0.896
Windows Houdini 20.5.684
Windows Houdini 21.0.631

Linux Houdini 20.0.896 (gcc11.2)
Linux Houdini 20.5.684 (gcc11.2)
Linux Houdini 21.0.631 (gcc11.2)

Release Notes
=============================================
RELEASE 2026.2.0.0
=============================================
PLUGIN FEATURES AND FIXES:

Changes:
Probably the biggest difference is that the IPR Render update is mostly async now which should make working with big scenes less painful while the IPR is running.
This means that Octane will release the Houdini UI faster after the scene changes are updated to Octane node graphs, which means less freezing time of the Houdini UI. This doesn't necessarily mean that the IPR will load faster, but it means you can keep working while the image is being rendered out by Octane. This should lead to less interruptions of the creative flow.

Fixed instanced light object transformation
IPR "Fill window" mode fixes
- Skip scale if zoom level is 100%
- Fixed resolution change in fill window mode and zoom level is not 100%
- Fixed crash due to scroll area and image widget have same width or height
- Made sure fit is same as 100% for fill window mode
- Update image widget size when camera resolution changes
Faster IPR image drawing
Avoid checking referrencing node for OctaneRenderSetup for better performance
Don't collapse standard surface when Octane material is created
Avoid creating duplicated same instanced object
Change "Priority" checkbox to "Use priority"
Added NT_MAT_OPEN_PBR_SURFACE node
Fixed instanced light object transformation
Fixed instanced light layer settings
Support H21 native GS (generated by bakegsplat sop node)
Automatically guess which GS geo mode according to availabe point attribute set (GSOPS compatibily mode parameter is now depreciated)
Imager, post processing, OutputAOVs (when Lock render AOVs settins is enabled) parameter changes in most cases no longer restart the render.
Fixed several IPR issues related to Fill Window mode
Changed default analytic light spread from 180 degree to 60 and cutoff hardness from 1 to 0.5 to match Octane Standalone defaults
Improved Octane Render Settings file path python callback script to better accommodate expressions (use ` quotes for expressions)
Fixed crash when using GSOPS Evaluate Spherical Harmonics node
Switched back to faster IPR canvas scale mode, but found different workaround to fix the alpha channel bug.
When creating an Octane Material Builder the Standard Surface node inside is no longer collapsed by default.
Fixed crash when using too many individual obj level instance nodes referencing the same object
Renamed GPU setting "Priority" checkbox to "Use priority" to avoid confusion
Other small performance improvements
New barndoor option in Universal Light - Modify options
Added a new message to the IPR bottom right corner that shows how many octane changes are pending -> since the IPR is now async this lets users know how up-to-date the IPR is/how many changes are in the queue.
Added neural radiance cache parameter to photon tracing kernel
Added new info render aov: Metalness AOV Updated info kernel's Type parameter for the new option: Metalness Added universal camera's compatibility version parameter
New color attribute parameter in the object attributes panel -> this is used for mtlx geometry color node -> set to Cd by default
The attribute panel now by default has Cd in the point attribute section
Fixed gaussian splat focus picking not working
HScript command to export a specific material to orbx file: `Octane_exportMaterial <Octane Material Path> <exported orbx file path (ends with .orbx/.ocs)>`

OctaneRender for Houdini tutorial
Still updating

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.

Code: Select all

{
    "enable": true,
    "env": [
        {
            "OCTANE_AUTOSPAREPARAMS": {
                "value": 1
            }
        },
        {
            "OCTVERSION": "<path_to_plugin_directory>"
        },
        {
            "HOUDINI_PATH": {
                "value": "$OCTVERSION"
            },
            "HOUDINI_MENU_PATH": {
                "value": "$OCTVERSION/config/Menus"
            },
            "HOUDINI_SCRIPT_PATH": {
                "value": "$OCTVERSION/scripts"
            },
            "PATH": {
                "value": "$OCTVERSION/bin"
            },
            "PXR_PLUGINPATH_NAME": {
                "value": "$OCTVERSION/dso/usd_plugins"
            }
        }
    ]
}

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.
- If you are having any issues with the Deadline - please submit a support ticket to the AWS.

Happy rendering,
Your OTOY Team

Posted: **Tue Feb 24, 2026 12:22 pm**

Thanks for the awesome release and good work Bruce!

OTOY Forums

OctaneRender 2026.2 for Houdini Production (2026.2.0.0)

OctaneRender 2026.2 for Houdini Production (2026.2.0.0)

Re: OctaneRender 2026.2 for Houdini Production (2026.2.0.0)