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 2026.2.0.1 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 2026.2.0.1 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 2026.2.0.1 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 2026.2.0.1
=============================================
PLUGIN FEATURES AND FIXES:
- Much improved update behaviour. This should resolve a lot of bad performance issues on complex scenes and resolve freezing of the IPR.
- These things now also update the IPR: COPs edits, Object merge dependencies, material transforms linked to control nulls, focus expressions etc
- New option in octane options under IPR tab: disable IPR async (enabled by default). Generally the async IPR "should" improve viewport usability in heavy scenes as the IPR releases the Houdini UI much faster (instead of being frozen until the actual rendering starts). But we added a toggle here for debugging purposes or scenarios where async creates other issues.
- Fixed info pass kernel info settings not propely working.
- Improved light placer performance in heavy scenes
- Added an octane options button to render setup
- Fixed a bug where the octane toolbar would create an outdated version of the universal light HDA
- Improved IPR reload/reopening performance with large texture files (they are now cached/kept around)
- op: context support for mtlx image nodes
- op: context now uses hdr 32-bit colors - so values beyond 1 are no longer clamped and reduces stepping on things like displacement etc
- A sop octane quickmaterial now no longer forces the geometry of the current node to be reloaded resulting in decreased lag when modifying parameters.
- Octane RenderSetup and RenderTarget now by default include a linked camera imager in the outputAOV example setup - for quick and easy "ipr look aov - including imager settings postprocessing with tonemapping applied"
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"
}
}
]
}
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