The key change in OctaneRender 2024.1 is the new geometry workflow, which among other improvements, allows for combining PCs running Windows, Linux, and macOS into a rendering network. Currently, Otoy supports CUDA in Windows and Linux versions of OctaneRender, and Metal in Octane X, the version for Apple devices. Previously, the company had different memory layouts for geometric data in CUDA and Metal, making it impossible to use Windows/Linux and Mac machines in the same network. OctaneRender 2024.1 standardizes the arrangement of geometric data, enabling network rendering across different platforms. Otoy has temporarily included network rendering in the free Prime version of Octane X to make it easier for subscribers to test the new functionality.
Additionally, it's noted that in the new geometry workflow of Otoy, they have "fully switched to hardware ray tracing." OctaneRender 2024.1 utilizes RT cores in NVIDIA GPUs for all mesh primitives, including hair, spheres, and displacement triangles, thereby enhancing rendering performance. In a standard test scene showcased in a forum post, the rendering time was reduced by about 20% compared to the previous version, although Otoy mentions that in "extreme" cases with heavy motion blur, the reduction could reach up to 80%.

The software has also been optimized for hardware ray tracing in the new Apple M3 processors, resulting in a "2x or 12x(!) speed increase in scenes with a high number of instances." Other changes include a new "Texture" Output AOV layer node in AOV Compositor, which can be used to composite textures into render passes on-the-fly, as shown above. Apart from image files, it works with node trees and OSL shaders, allowing for more complex tasks such as combining and color correcting light passes.

The update also introduces new AOV nodes for noise reduction, adapted from the Open Image Denoise (OIDN) framework. These nodes are supported on both CPU and GPU (GPU support was added in OIDN 2 earlier this year) and can be accessed from both the Imager node and AOV Compositor. This allows for creating "powerful noise reduction filters," including per-light noise reduction and OSL-based noise reduction effects. Among other features that will be added to OctaneRender 2024.1 before the final stable release are built-in MaterialX support, a new AI assistant called OctaneGPT, and support for baking light fields.

OctaneRender 2024.1 is currently in the alpha stage. Otoy hasn’t announced the final release date yet, but recent updates have taken 6-12 months to move from the initial preview version to the stable release. The current stable version, OctaneRender 2023.1, is compatible with 64-bit Windows 7 and above, Linux, and requires an NVIDIA GPU with CUDA 10 support. The Apple version, Octane X 2023.1, is compatible with macOS 14 and above on Macs with Apple M1 processors or newer, as well as iOS 17 and above, and iPadOS 17 and above on devices with A12 Bionic chips or newer.
The software is available only through a subscription to Otoy's Studio+, which costs 23.95 euros per month and includes integration plugins for 21 DCC applications, as well as a range of third-party software. Otoy also offers free "Prime" versions of OctaneRender and Octane X, which are limited to rendering on a single GPU and come with a smaller set of DCC integration plugins.