Table Of ContentOctaneRender®for Graphisoft®ArchiCADPlugin Manual
Version4—Manualpublicationdate:29January2019
DevelopedbyPaulKinnane.
Allrightsreserved.OctaneRenderandOTOY®andtheirlogosaretrademarksofOTOY,Incorporated.Graph-
isoftandArchiCADareregisteredtrademarksofGraphisoftSEanditssubsidiariesandaffiliatesintheU.S.and
othercountries.
OctaneforArchiCADPluginManual
http://render.otoy.com
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OctaneforArchiCADPluginManual
Contents
Installation andOverview 1
SoftwareandHardwareRequirements 1
InternetAccess 2
InstallationofthePluginintoArchiCAD 3
GPUSettings 6
Configuration 7
RenderingPerformanceandQuality 9
MaterialCaching 9
UsingOctaneRender for ArchiCAD 11
OctaneRenderViewport 11
OctaneRenderSetupWindow–RenderingTab 12
OctaneRenderSetupWindow–SettingsTab 14
PostProcessing 15
SavingRendertargetstoanArchiCADView 18
OctaneRenderSetupWindow–MaterialsTab 21
ConnectingandDisconnectingNodes 25
PhotoRendering 27
RenderingKernels 29
DirectLighting 29
PathTracing 31
PMC 33
DeepChannelKernel 36
AdjustingRayepsilon 37
OctaneCamera 38
OctaneDaylight,EmittersandArchiCADIBL 40
OctaneDaylight 40
OctaneforArchiCADPluginManual
Emitters 42
ImageBasedLighting 43
MaterialsandTextureInterface 45
Materials 45
DiffuseMaterial 46
GlossyMaterial 48
SpecularMaterial 49
MixMaterial 53
PortalMaterial 55
Emissions 57
BlackbodyEmission 58
TextureEmission 59
Null/NoEmission 61
Mediums 63
AbsorptionMedium 63
ScatteringMedium 64
Textures 66
ChecksMixTexture 67
FloatImage(GrayScale) 68
Image(ColorImage) 69
MarbleTexture 70
MixTexture 71
TurbulenceTexture 72
GeometryProxies,andInstancing 74
Octane 2.0Features 82
Octane 2.1Features 88
Octane 3.0Features 89
Octane 4.0Features 91
Limitations 99
FAQ 100
OctaneforArchiCADPluginManual
Glossary 103
Index 117
OctaneforArchiCADPluginManual
Installation and Overview
ByJeroenTapperforTapperworks
Software and Hardware Requirements
TheplugindoesnotrequireOctaneRender®StandaloneEditiontobeinstalled.Howeveryoumustowna
licenseforStandaloneEditioninordertousetheplugin(yourStandalonecredentialswillberequestedwhen
youactivatetheplugin).IfyoudoinstallStandaloneEdition,itdoesnotneedtobethesameOctaneversionas
theplugin–sincetheyoperateseparately.
Thepluginrunsonthe64-bitWindowsversionofGraphisoftArchiCAD.
Itisalsohighlyrecommendedthatyouuseyouron-boardgraphicsorasecondgraphicscardfortheWindows
displayadapter.Ifyoudonothaveanon-boardorsecondgraphicscard,usetheLowPriorityRenderPriority
describedinthetopicoftheStandalonemanual.
1—InstallationandOverview
OctaneforArchiCADPluginManual
IfyouarerunningaGTX690,ormultiplegraphicscards,itisimportanttodisableSLIintheNvidiacontrol
panel.
Internet Access
TheOctaneRender™forArchiCADpluginrequiresinternetaccesstolaunchthefirsttime.Internetaccessisnot
requiredtousebothOctaneRender™andOctaneRender™forArchiCADplugin.
Whennointernetaccessispresent,theLiveDatabasewillnotbeaccessable.Uponlaunchingthepluginforthe
firsttime,theuserwillneedtologintotheirOctaneLive™accountwhichassociatedwiththeirforumlog-in
information.ThisinformationcanbefoundinthecustomersectionoftheOctaneRender™website.
2—InstallationandOverview
OctaneforArchiCADPluginManual
Installation of the Plugin into ArchiCAD
EnsureArchiCADisnotcurrentlyrunningonyourPC,andthenruntheprovidedinstallationfile(OctaneRender
forArchiCADSetup[versionnumber].exe).SelecttheinstalldirectoryofyourArchiCADinstallation.The
installerwillcopyallthepluginfilesintotheappropriateplace.
3—InstallationandOverview
OctaneforArchiCADPluginManual
ThenrunArchiCADandselect:
-> Options -> Add-On Manager -> tickthe “OctaneRender for ArchiCAD” addon.
TheOctaneRenderRendershouldalreadybeticked.Thepluginisnowinstalled.
Itisrecommendedthatyouaddapluginshortcutontoyourtoolbar:
Rightclicktoptoolbar -> Toolbars -> Current Menu Structure -> Document -> Creative Ima-
ging-> OctaneRender -> AddSelectedtothe “MiniNavigator” toolbar.
NOTE:YoumayneedtorestartArchiCADinordertodothislaststep.
Tostarttheplugin,choosetheDocument -> Creative Imaging-> OctaneRender,orselectthe
Octanebuttonfromthetoolbarifyouaddedtheshortcutaspertheaboveinstructions.
Youwillneedtoactivatethepluginpriortousingitforthefirsttime.EnteryourOctaneLiveUserIDandPass-
wordandclicktheActivatebutton.Onceactivated,theothertabs(ie“Settings”,“Materials1”,etc)willbe
selectableandyoucanstartusingtheplugintorender.
1Asetofattributesorparametersthatdescribesurfacecharacteristics.
4—InstallationandOverview
OctaneforArchiCADPluginManual
Extractingthe ArchiCADlibrary
TexturemapsconnectedtoOctane“image”,“alphaimage”and“floatimage”nodesmustbeanactualimagefile
inyourfilesystem,notanimageintheArchiCADlibraryarchive(ie.ArchiCADLibrary22.lcf).SomeGDLtex-
turesmaybeinthe“lcf”archive,soiftheplugincannotfilethesetexturefiles,extractthearchiveasfollows:
1. “File”->”LibrariesandObjects””ExtractaContainer”.Selectwhicheveryourcurrentlibraryis(which
containthetreetexturemap)–mostlikely“C:\ProgramFiles\GRAPHISOFT\ArchiCAD22\ArchiCAD
Library22\ArchiCADLibrary22.lcf”.ExtractintoyourMyDocument\ArchiCAD22Libraryfolder(orsim-
ilar)
5—InstallationandOverview
Description:Graphisoft and ArchiCAD are registered trademarks of Graphisoft SE and its subsidiaries and affiliates in the. U.S. and other countries. Ensure ArchiCAD is not currently running on your PC, and then run the provided installation file (OctaneRender refraction and B which is the dispersion coeffici
