Octane for Sketchup?

MrMikeEsq · 20 Mar 2012, 08:28

Hey everyone
As I've mentioned in another thread, I'm considering Octane render. It's a nice unbiased option and the direct lighting kernel is a good quick option that gives me nicer results than what I currently get with Podium! I have a gtx 580 and I may get another one to see how much of a speed increase I get
However the trial doesn't let you use the sketchup plugin. Unless I'm mistaken TIG of this parish made this plugin? Which is a good sign! But I'm still curious as to how well it works. Does anyone here have experience?
I'm only worried as I've had trouble with importing and exporting between programs in the past, even when it should apparently work fine.

Any help appreciated

Mike

kjc · 26 Mar 2012, 06:33

Hi!
I`m using SU + Octane, and it works great for me. There are two usefull plugins available from Octane site. (made by TIG) Octane OCM batch export and Octane exporter.
There were some problems in the past with the materials (they were mixing), now it works fast and flawlessly.

MrMikeEsq · 26 Mar 2012, 09:09

Hi KJC
Thanks for the reply. Can you give me a more info on the 2 exporters?
Also, what type of speeds do you get? I'd like to use Pathtracing when I can to avoid the direct lighting kernel

Myhand · 27 Oct 2012, 13:56

@unknownuser said:

Hi!
I`m using SU + Octane, and it works great for me. There are two usefull plugins available from Octane site. (made by TIG) Octane OCM batch export and Octane exporter.
There were some problems in the past with the materials (they were mixing), now it works fast and flawlessly.

Hi KJC,

I have tried Octane renderer with Sketchup but the model export does not work well. I loose faces and materials. It appears to still be in Beta. Which version are you using and where did you find the plugins?

Are there any special parameters I should set for Sketchup?

Any help much appreciated!

TIG · 27 Oct 2012, 20:45

Trying to export meshes with tiny facets will cause issues [with many apps] - scale up - after all, the renderer knows nothing of the SKP's real size.
There are some issues with missing/distorted small facets/pixels with some models, but this is a problem Octane are acting on.
The exported OBJ/MTL format is fine in itself - within the limits of that format - it's an issue within the renderer itself that is solvable.

There is a separate Sketchup sub-forum within the Otoy Octane forum, where all of the versions of the exporters are available, and also other code and advice too...
There's also some new Instancing-code examples, which show an interesting trend...

Myhand · 28 Oct 2012, 14:31

Thank you TIG, will go and look there. Performance was very impressive on my old GTX285 card, just that I could not export the model properly. Also tried Bloom Unit last night and not so impressed. Rendering speed significantly slower than Octane, and as they charge per hour you will soon rack-up costs.

Now looking forward to Thea with GPU support!!!

panixia · 30 Oct 2012, 09:30

@tig said:

There is a separate Sketchup sub-forum within the Otoy Octane forum, where all of the versions of the exporters are available

any working link to this? i tryed to google it, but the octane forums seems to be offline..

TIG · 30 Oct 2012, 09:36

@panixia said:

@tig said:

There is a separate Sketchup sub-forum within the Otoy Octane forum, where all of the versions of the exporters are available

any working link to this? i tryed to google it, but the octane forums seems to be offline..
It does seem to be off-line right now, but http://www.refractivesoftware.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=31 should normally get me in [although you will still need a login ]

panixia · 30 Oct 2012, 12:19

tank you!

TIG · 30 Oct 2012, 12:58

@panixia said:

tank you!
It's back on line now...