alright after seeing the renders, hearing about render times...I am neigh chomping the bit to get at it.

BUT....

I keep reading it will only work with an NVIDIA card? is that right? no other card?

That would be correct.

Octane uses CUDA calls, which can only be done by Nvidia cards (hardware wise).

There are CUDA emulators for older versions of CUDA, but using one to run a program like Octane would be dreadfully slow even if it did work.

Yep, that's right.  Octane only works with Nvidia CUDA enabled graphics cards, and the better Nvidia card, the faster Octane will render.  Nothing below the GTX line would be recommended, and it must be CUDA enabled.

You are correct, for now at least, it only works with Nvidia/Cuda. If your using a desktop or similar, good cards for using with Octane can be purchased for around $200 US.

Other options for non nvidia cards include using gpu (opencl) or hybrid renderer in LuxRender via Reality3 or pose2lux, or exporting to Blender and using Cycles. The GPU options in lux aren't real user friendly yet, but with some effortit is possible.

I have Octane and the beta plugin for DS, and I'm very happy with it. The poser plugin is even better than the DS plugin, and on my wish list (got the DS plug because the betas are half price). The interactive nature of Octane is what makes it really great, you see within seconds the results of lighting or shader modifications.

Dustrider's points are excellent.  I'd like to add also that another great benefit of Octane vs. Luxrender or some other engines is not only the speed difference, but also the ability to render biased OR unbiased lighting kernels in different "modes".  You can get Luxrender-like PathTracing, or GPU-optimized PMC kernel, which handle refractive/reflective caustics and other problematic physics more efficiently.  There's also a Direct Lighting mode, which is the fastest mode, and provides biased results, similar to Vray, but much, much  faster in most cases.  Seperate passes for compositing are also available (llike Z-depth pass), and render almost instantaneously.  It would be considered an impressive render engine, even if it weren't GPU based.

Quote - Dustrider's points are excellent.  I'd like to add also that another great benefit of Octane vs. Luxrender or some other engines is not only the speed difference, but also the ability to render biased OR unbiased lighting kernels in different "modes".  You can get Luxrender-like PathTracing, or GPU-optimized PMC kernel, which handle refractive/reflective caustics and other problematic physics more efficiently.  There's also a Direct Lighting mode, which is the fastest mode, and provides biased results, similar to Vray, but much, much  faster in most cases.  Seperate passes for compositing are also available (llike Z-depth pass), and render almost instantaneously.  It would be considered an impressive render engine, even if it weren't GPU based.

aye it is speed issues with REALITY that is forcing me to look elsewhere. I have seen octane renders that took 9 minutes that were SWEEEETTT

If you have a high end ATI/AMD workstation card, there is a program that will do GPU renders.

It has a drastic learning curve, and is no longer being developed in any way. Most of the documantation for it has vanished, you have been warned....

Setting up a Poser scene in it is a daunting process till you get the hang of it, and so is learning all the settings and quarks the program has. If you have the hardware, it is well worth checking out. Beauty renders, (which is the lowest setting), are all but instant. Renders that use all the bells and whistles will obviously take a longer to do.

Here are some links to it.

http://www.cgchannel.com/2011/10/machstudio-pro-developer-studiogpu-shuts-up-shop/

http://download.cnet.com/MachStudio-Pro/3000-6677_4-75498419.html

Here are some of the videos that were posted about it as well. Some of them demonstraite the all but instant rendering of scenes.

http://www.youtube.com/user/machstudiopro

It is a shame that developement stopped, it showed/had huge potential.

There's some other GPU engines out there that are as good as well, but most rely on CUDA, the same as Octane.  The problem is also, they are either very expensive, or geared only to the high-end platforms (Maya, 3dsmax).  There's standalone versions, but no plugins for Poser or DazStudio, for any of these.  They are all faster than Luxrender/Reality, with results as good as Octane.

Furryball is a really good one.  It's as fast as Octane, using the Nvidia CUDA, but also has some deeper features that are usually only seen in CPU rendering.

Arion - This one uses ALL availabe resources for rendering.  All CPU's and CUDA GPU's at it's disposal.  That makes it blazingly fast, and capable of things no GPU-only render engine could do.

Again, those engines are only plugin-ready for Maya or Max.  I think Arion can plug into some other platforms, but they're all very expensive as well.

I think the best GPU engine that doesn't cost anything right now is CYCLES, inside of Blender.  You can use that one for free, and it's very good.  Not sure it supports SSS or some other things yet, but the light quality is on par with Octane at least.  IDL in Poser is good, and can produce great results, but it take a lot of setting up to get there, and by the time you figure out how to get good results in your scene, you could have quickly transferred the scene over to Blender and just re-applied the textures there manually.  Plus, there's some major flaws in the Poser IDL still.  Light leaks, spots in tight corners of enclosed spaces, and diffuse reflectance issues that are impossible to fix except in post.

Quote - There's some other GPU engines out there that are as good as well, but most rely on CUDA, the same as Octane.  The problem is also, they are either very expensive, or geared only to the high-end platforms (Maya, 3dsmax).  There's standalone versions, but no plugins for Poser or DazStudio, for any of these.  They are all faster than Luxrender/Reality, with results as good as Octane.

Furryball is a really good one.  It's as fast as Octane, using the Nvidia CUDA, but also has some deeper features that are usually only seen in CPU rendering.

Arion - This one uses ALL availabe resources for rendering.  All CPU's and CUDA GPU's at it's disposal.  That makes it blazingly fast, and capable of things no GPU-only render engine could do.

Again, those engines are only plugin-ready for Maya or Max.  I think Arion can plug into some other platforms, but they're all very expensive as well.

I think the best GPU engine that doesn't cost anything right now is CYCLES, inside of Blender.  You can use that one for free, and it's very good.  Not sure it supports SSS or some other things yet, but the light quality is on par with Octane at least.  IDL in Poser is good, and can produce great results, but it take a lot of setting up to get there, and by the time you figure out how to get good results in your scene, you could have quickly transferred the scene over to Blender and just re-applied the textures there manually.  Plus, there's some major flaws in the Poser IDL still.  Light leaks, spots in tight corners of enclosed spaces, and diffuse reflectance issues that are impossible to fix except in post.

Thank you for posting that! I do like the IDL in poser. BUT after seeing OCTANE renders I really was hoping to try it. As it stands this very instant...I cant with the card I have. So it look like for now the money will have to be funneled to a new card first :(

Quote - If you have a high end ATI/AMD workstation card, there is a program that will do GPU renders.

It has a drastic learning curve, and is no longer being developed in any way. Most of the documantation for it has vanished, you have been warned....

Setting up a Poser scene in it is a daunting process till you get the hang of it, and so is learning all the settings and quarks the program has. If you have the hardware, it is well worth checking out. Beauty renders, (which is the lowest setting), are all but instant. Renders that use all the bells and whistles will obviously take a longer to do.

Here are some links to it.

http://www.cgchannel.com/2011/10/machstudio-pro-developer-studiogpu-shuts-up-shop/

http://download.cnet.com/MachStudio-Pro/3000-6677_4-75498419.html

Here are some of the videos that were posted about it as well. Some of them demonstraite the all but instant rendering of scenes.

http://www.youtube.com/user/machstudiopro

It is a shame that developement stopped, it showed/had huge potential.

oooo I think I will have a look at that. Thank you for posting that! I had never heard of it before.

Octane is more or less for studios that work on the fly and don't have $$$ for renderfarms.ah ,studios that make cartoons, commercials.

Nvidia badest 3D card & Octane is still cheeper then renderfarms buy lightyears.

games have killer realtime engines compared to 15 years a go.

All the engines will be real time sooner or later :)

Does Octane use the GPU for cloth and hair simulations as well as for rendering?

Anyone try it?

Quote - Does Octane use the GPU for cloth and hair simulations as well as for rendering?

Anyone try it?

Octane is a render engine - so it does not assist poser in any other way