AP Octane

If you haven’t already, download AP Octane from BLENDERender.com

If the folder is zipped, you need to unzip it before you install it.

To install AP Octane, go to Edit > Preferences

Then go to Install and locate the file you downloaded. It should be called ap_octane.py. Double click.

Then make sure to check the box on.

At the bottom left, click on the menu button and manually save to make sure it stays enabled.

AP Octane can be found in the 3d Viewport, in the “N Menu” on the right side, in the Octane tab.

Octane Render Engine

Switches to Octane Render Engine

Basic Setup

Adds a camera, three lights, a monkey with a basic Octane material.

Add Day Environment

Adds a basic Octane Daylight Environment to the active World.

Cam Imager Override

Activates Camera imager and activates override.

Setup Color Management

Sets up the correct color settings for Octane for Blender.

Out of Core On

Turns on Out of Core

Out of Core Off

Turns off Out of Core

Path Trace Quick Settings

*This should be used with caution.

Settings provided by Krešimir Jelušić makes path tracing very fast. If quality is not good enough, you may need to raise the settings.

Sets Kernel to Path Trace, sets GI Clamp to 5, max glossy depth to 2, max scatter depth to 2, max diffuse depth to 2, caustic blur to 0, enables ai light, and sets coherent ratio to 0.3

Convert to Octane Mat

Takes an existing Cycles/Eevee material and converts it to Octane. Principled BSDF is supported, but not all materials. If the conversion doesn't work, you might need to bake your textures out before trying to convert.

Open Octane DB

Opens Octane Database where your local materials can be stored as well as the Live Database, where you can access free Octane materials online.

Save Mat to Local DB

Saves selected object's material to your Local DB. *MUST BE OCTANE MATERIAL AND MUST HAVE LOCAL DB PATH SET. To set the path for Local DB location, go to the Octane Render add-on and follow instructions.

Cam Visibility On

On selected objects, sets camera visibility to on so you can see it. MIGHT NEED TO RENDER TO SEE RESULTS

Cam Visibility Off

On selected objects, sets camera visibility to off so you don't see it. MIGHT NEED TO RENDER TO SEE RESULTS

Render Layer 1

Moves selected objects to render layer 1

Render Layer 2

Moves selected objects to render layer 2

Installing the HDRIs

Download the HDRIs that came with AP Octane, they are in a folder called “hdri”, then put that folder in C://

So for example the path to 1.hdr should be C://hdri/ClearDay/1.hdr

Background

Turns on or off the background.

Setup HDRI World

You must activate this button before the HDRI’s will load properly. It sets up a World called AP World and adds a custom HDRI setup.

Numbers

There are 25 HDRIs that you can choose from (and you can replace any of those HDRIs with your own, as long as you rename it to 22.hdr for example). 

Denoise Compositor

*THIS DELETES THE CURRENT COMPOSITOR. Then adds Denoiser to the Compositing Tree.

Adaptive Sampling On

Turns on adaptive sampling.

Resolution > Half

Sets your scene resolution to 50%.

Resolution > Full

Sets your scene resolution to 100%

Max Samples > 10

Sets max samples to the specified number

Render Frame in Background

Switches view to solid and Renders frame in the background. Blender will lock up when you use this option. It can save some memory and may give faster results.

Z

When you press Z, it will allow you to go up for Octane (and if you’re already in Octane, you can use this to refresh your viewport), down will go to Eevee. You can also switch your render kernel to Direct Light, Path Trace, PMC or Info-Channel.

Setup HDRI creates a new world and adds nodes to set up an HDRI for Octane as well as the same HDRI for Eevee. It rotates them to match as well

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 - Loads ‘1.hdr’, ‘2.hdr’ etc.

You can use your own hdrs, by putting them in this HDRI folder and replacing the name. For example, you can delete the existing ones, and if you have an hdri called “Sunset_Beach_4.hdr”, rename it to “1.hdr” and it will load that one instead.

All HDRIs are from HDRI Haven and have been renamed for convenience (in case you want to use your own). If you want to know which hdrs were used, here is the key.

DayClear

1 = abandoned_hopper_terminal_04_4k

2 = goegap_4k

3 = hilltop_construction_4k

4 = noon_grass_4k

5 = spiaggia_di_mondello_4k

DayCloudy

6 = konzerthaus_4k

7 = driving_school_4k

8 = evening_road_01_4k

9 = mud_road_4k

10 = small_rural_road_4k

Night

11 = dikhololo_night_4k

12 = kloppenheim_02_4k

13 = moonlit_golf_4k

14 = preller_drive_4k

15 = vignaioli_night_4k

Studio

16 = photo_studio_01_4k

17 = studio_small_02_4k

18 = studio_small_03_4k

19 = studio_small_05_4k

20 = studio_small_06_4k

Sunset

21 = signal_hill_sunrise_4k

22 = spruit_sunrise_4k

23 = the_sky_is_on_fire_4k

24 = umhlanga_sunrise_4k

25 = venice_sunset_4k