GPU Renderer - 99 Euro

[truevis]

Octane Render (http://www.refractivesoftware.com/index.php)

I wonder if this is worth looking into. Looks like it would need some other software to get from Revit into Collada format or something but hmmm...


"With current GPU technology, Octane Render can produce final images 10 to 50 times faster than CPU unbiased render engine..."

"FILE FORMATS
Import of wavefront OBJ format with parameters and material import
Import supplied vertex normals or calculate them via supplied smooth groups
Import of Collada .dae format**
Full support for RenderMan RIB format for animation environments**"

Their Gallery (http://www.refractivesoftware.com/gallery.html) is amazing.

[aaronrumple]

GPU is the future. However it is still early.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIMn1fsVmXI

Vray has also been doing some cool stuff. The nice thing with Vray is that it is 100% compatible withn all Vray materials and objects.
http://www.cgarchitect.com/news/newsfeed.asp?nid=4899

[trombe]

truevis,

you should see some of the Max and Cinema 4D oriented galleries in Russia and other eastern block countries...some of them make Octane look fairly tame.
Also, you will notice that Octane gallery does not have that much that isn't glitz, (which is disappointing).
I like this stuff quite a bit:
http://www.luxology.com/gallery/image/index.aspx?page=2
old abandoned hospital

or: http://www.luxology.com/gallery/image/index.aspx?page=57
the JO Rust time lapse rendered building with Georgian wired glass windows and plaster.

The glitz is good and what the punters want to see I suppose but its boring after a time CUDA or no.
cheers
trombe

[truevis]

you should see some of the Max and Cinema 4D oriented galleries in Russia and other eastern block countries...some of them make Octane look fairly tame....Of course, I have seen many renderings so good they make me want to cry (http://www.vismasters.com/gallery.cfm) I guess my point is that it seems that proper renderings can be made with GPU, claiming to be 50x faster.

Who will be the first here to take something from Revit and render it on GPU? (Realistic Mode doesn't count!)

[trombe]

truevis,
fair point - of course, you are right.
Everything is going to be hugely better of with gpu acceleration at the finger tips I imagine....but assume also Revit will have to wait for next year ? or the year after I assume ...they must have a lot to deal with....
yip, well it won't be me having access to gpu rendering until the next version of modo arrives and then I have to go and buy the CUDA hardware too !
I am happy to wait to catch up later (err, well I think...)
trombe

[ron.sanpedro]

Of course, I have seen many renderings so good they make me want to cry (http://www.vismasters.com/gallery.cfm) I guess my point is that it seems that proper renderings can be made with GPU, claiming to be 50x faster.


Speaking of renderings that make you weep, check this guy out! www.aldr.us

Gordon

[trombe]

I think someone might have posted about this or some like it some months ago, but it is really worth looking at .......seems like specialist cg people and lots of computing grunt.

check out the range of the various sub forum threads - well worth the time..as you said, make ya weep .
http://www.render.ru/gallery/?gal_rub=2&gal_add=award
trombe

[rpict]

that's definitily a great soft, the workflow and the results are outstanding.
we need such thing in revit. (instead of the ribbon)
mental images has a similar tool, called iRay. too bad mental images belongs to nvidia...

-rpict

[truevis]

I went out and bought a $60 CUDA video card (http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_gt_220_us.html). Installed Octane Render demo version. RVT>FBX>OBJ. Imported the OBJ's mesh to Octane. Edited two materials. Added HDRI environment. Here are some screen shots after 3 minutes rendering.

The scene's adjustments happen in real time because the rendering is almost instantaneous. The grain starts out a little rough then gets finer.

[truevis]

After 1 hour & 47 minutes, the result is just that any graininess goes away. (Its default is 16000 samples.)

Next step: make a way to be able to map materials easily. I'm working on an application for that.

I think that the rendering workflow would be that one can just keeps deleting and replacing the OBJ as the geometry changes. The developers are also promising to have material libraries in the future.

[trombe]

Hi truevis,
thanks for posting that.
good job. I have been following some commentary on the creator and the progress of Octane in these early days and it looks interesting if he can keep it together...many of his replies to queries are reputed to be.....not ideal however it appears as though there is not much infrastructure there at the moment. Hope he can keep it going.

good tip on the card !!! as my current expectation was for a 3800 NVidia despite the early not so good reviews as 1Gb seems a good idea....great top try out a lower end card for no great outlay and check out CUDA so very good cheers.
trombehttp://forums.augi.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[truevis]

...good tip on the card !!! as my current expectation was for a 3800 NVidia despite the early not so good reviews as 1Gb seems a good idea....great top try out a lower end card for no great outlay and check out CUDA... The card seems to be fabulous for the job. The challenge is setting the objects, scene, and materials. The cool part is that the rendering is constantly going (really fast) so you see changes right away. Like you can spin and tilt the HDRI background and see what it looks like in the scene instantly.

I wonder if Autodesk is on to this technology in regards to Revit.

PS: I need to find some 3D glasses again. I threw out the pair that the kids had. (Attached rendering is in 3D.)

[narlee]

"RVT>FBX>OBJ...

How do you do this successfully? I have tried, using ADesk's FBX converter (which doesn't list Revit, actually), and in Max, the imported model is on its side and without materials.

[narlee]

Oh DOH! I just realized, your image only has a couple of materials.

[narlee]

Next step: make a way to be able to map materials easily. I'm working on an application for that.



Now, THERE'S the key to Shangri-La

[truevis]

"RVT>FBX>OBJ...

How do you do this successfully? I have tried, using ADesk's FBX converter (which doesn't list Revit, actually), and in Max, the imported model is on its side and without materials.I used 3ds Max for the conversion. There must be other ways, too.

My idea is to do RVT>DXF export, then get the render materials and put each element in a layer named for its material. My original thought was for Twilight render which runs inside SketchUp

I got some clues to how to do it at last week's Dev Lab at Autodesk's Waltham office.

Octane seems to identify materials by their color. I'm sure that there is more to learn, there, too.

There are still the problems with lights, entourage, plantings, etc. Like in any outside-Revit renderer.

[narlee]

"There are still the problems with lights, entourage, plantings, etc."

Their website definitely has pretty good lighting and plants showing in their gallery. I wonder how.

Also, their website says they can import "wavefront" (forgive me; I don't even know what that means) .obj files that INCLUDE materials. And that once you've loaded the file, you can re-load the geometry without reloading materials...it all sounds wonderful. I wonder, when you made an .obj file out of Max, did the materials carry forward?