Curious about using Octane in Cinema 4D? Here’s everything you need to know before you get started.
Welcome to part two of our render engines series, where we’re exploring the key third-party render engines for Cinema 4D: Arnold, Octane, Redshift, and Cycles. If you missed the first part, where we covered Solid Angle’s Arnold, be sure to check it out. In this article, we’re diving into Otoy’s Octane Render Engine. This is a great starting point whether you’re new to Octane or just curious about using it in Cinema 4D. There might be some technical terms used in this series, so we’ve created a 3D Motion Design Glossary to help you along if needed. Let’s get started!
A Quick History of Otoy, the Creators of Octane
Otoy is a relatively young company with a concise history. Founded in 2008 by Jules Urbach (Founder & CEO), Alissa Grainger (Co-Founder & President), and Malcolm Taylor (Co-Founder & CTO), they’ve grown to over 60 employees. Their render engine has been used to create incredible 3D art at the highest level. That’s essentially the story. Even the Wikipedia page is sparse. I guess their work speaks for itself.
What is OctaneRender?
According to Otoy, “OctaneRender® is the world’s first and fastest GPU-accelerated, unbiased, physically correct renderer.” Simply put, Octane is a GPU render engine designed to produce photorealistic images. It’s similar to Arnold but leverages GPU technology.
The Benefits of Using Octane in Cinema 4D
These articles are designed to provide you with the information you need to make informed decisions. We’ll have a comparison of render engines for you soon.
#1: Octane is Incredibly Fast
One of the greatest advantages of GPU rendering technology is the speed at which it can render an image, compared to CPU rendering. If you’re currently using standard or physical rendering in Cinema 4D, you know that a single frame can take minutes to render for even a simple scene. Octane cuts through these simple scenes, turning minutes into seconds.
#2: Octane will Increase your Workflow Speed with the LiveViewer
A major benefit of using any third-party render engine is the Interactive Preview Region (IPR). The LiveViewer is Octane’s IPR. It allows users to see a rendered scene in near real-time, especially since Octane uses GPUs. IPRs update in real-time when an object is changed, a light is added, or a texture attribute is altered. It’s incredibly useful.
#3: You Can Use Octane Anywhere…Soon…
When Otoy announced Octane v.4, they mentioned that users would soon be able to switch between different 3D software using a single license. However, that feature isn’t currently available. We’ll explore this further below.
#4: The Octane Community is huge
At the time of writing, there are 25,000 members in the main Octane Facebook group. Plus, there are numerous other places to find users and get help, from Reddit to the official Otoy forums.
#5: GPU Seems to be Where Rendering is Headed
Since Octane is a GPU engine, you’re embracing the future. While there are still many reasons to use a CPU render engine, the speed improvements with a GPU are hard to ignore. A GPU is also easier to upgrade than almost any other computer component. After a couple of years, as technology advances, you can swap out your old card for a new model. You don’t need to build a whole new system like you sometimes do to get the newest, fastest CPU. You can save that money and spend it on things that you really need.
The Downside to Using Octane in Cinema 4D
As we mentioned in the previous Arnold article, using a third-party engine means an additional learning curve and purchase. It’s hard to beat having everything you need to render within Cinema 4D, so there are potential downsides. Here are a few pain points for Octane right now.
#1: It isn’t Render Farm Friendly…yet…
One of the biggest drawbacks to Octane is the limitations with large projects since you are restricted to having a render farm in your office/home. Octane does have ORC (Octane Render Cloud), which is their version of a render farm. However, it’s quite expensive. There are other render farms you can use, but this could violate the EULA (end user license agreement), which could result in losing your license. That would be a bummer…
#2: Octane Licenses Only Cover a Single Application
As mentioned previously, when you purchase an Octane license, you can only use it for the 3D software covered by your license. If you use Cinema 4D, but also use Houdini, Maya, or any other supported software, you currently have to buy a license for each application. Otoy announced this would change with Octane v.4. However, at the time of writing, this is a notable limitation compared to other third-party engines.
Source: Liam Clisham – Schoolofmotion
