Otoy has launched its Octane X graphics rendering engine on the Mac App Store with support for all Macs running macOS Big Sur, including M1 models.
Credit: Otoy
First debuted at WWDC 2019, Octane X is an update on Otoy's OctaneRender that has been rewritten in Metal as part of a collaboration with Apple. A public preview was made available in 2020.
Octane X features a new mesh geometry engine with near perfect linear scaling of rendering speed in multiple GPU configurations, including external Thunderbolt 3 eGPUs. It's also available with distributed rendering platform RNDR, which lets graphic artists use a network for decentralized eGPUs for rendering tasks.
Along with those features, Octane X also supports ACES, OpenColorIO, and deep pixel EXR rendering. It features a node-based material, shader, and scene editor and an advanced AI Denoising system.
"For the past decade, OctaneRender has been democratizing visual effects, leveraging the power of GPU rendering to enable anyone with a creative vision to realize their imagination," said Otoy CEO Jules Urbach. "With Octane, we have seen our users create remarkable films, design new products, publish everyday renders that have transformed the social media landscape, and now, build careers creating blockchain digital art through the RNDR cloud service, which for the first time, will be offered for free to all artists using Octane X on pro Mac systems."
In addition to the launch on the App Store, Otoy is also unveiling two new exclusive subscription offers for Mac users. MacBook Pro, iMac Pro, and Mac Pro users will be able to get a free year of Octane X Enterprise, which has access to RNDR. All other Macs, including M1 devices, will have access to a free year of Octane X Prime.
The app requires that a Mac is running macOS Big Sur 11.1 or later and has the latest AMD or Intel integrated graphics.
"Apple has always had a special place in our hearts as the company that made personal and mobile computing widely accessible. We are thrilled to usher in the next generation of creativity with Octane X now available for free for millions of artists across the Apple ecosystem," Urbach said.
The app is available from the Mac App Store for free. More information can be found on Otoy's website.