Otoy releases first public beta of EmberGenFX
An EmberGen simulation rendered in OctaneRender. Otoy has just shipped the first beta of EmberGenFX, making the gaseous fluid simulator avaialble free to artists with OctaneRender subscriptions.
Otoy has released the first public beta of EmberGenFX, making EmberGen, JangaFX’s real-time gaseous fluid simulator, available free to OctaneRender subscribers during the trial period.
The beta is a standalone application, and includes features introduced in EmberGen in the latest beta build, EmberGen 0.5.5, which has also just been released.
So what is EmberGen?
Although it has only been publicly available for a year, and is still officially in beta, EmberGen has become one of the most hotly tipped products in the DCC market.
A GPU-agnostic standalone real-time tool for simulating gaseous fluids like fire and smoke, it promises to enable users to create effects of a complexity approaching that of offline tools like FumeFX.
The results can be rendered directly within EmberGen, or exported to other DCC applications in VDB format.
Due for integration in every edition of OctaneRender
Otoy first announced EmberGenFX earlier this year, during CEO Jules Urbach’s presentation at Nvidia’s GTC 2020 online conference.
The firm is planning to integrate EmberGen technology into every version of OctaneRender, its GPU renderer, including both the standalone edition and its DCC integration plugins.
The integration will make EmberGen, currently a Windows-only application, available on other platforms: Urbach namechecked macOS and iOS – the latter due in the upcoming Octane X, currently in closed beta.
Initially available as a standalone application, but free for commercial use
The initial public beta isn’t the new integrated version: it’s a Windows-only standalone application, and the changelog in Otoy’s forum post announcing the release is that for EmberGen 0.5.5 itself.
Otoy told us that the two edtions are “virtually identical at the moment, but that will change when we begin the integration [work and] port to Metal for Mac and iOS/iPad”.
However, EmberGenFX standalone is available free to anyone with a paid subscription for OctaneRender: a Studio or Enterprise product rental, or perpetual licence holders with an active maintenance plan.
Unlike the standard EmberGen 14-day trial, OctaneRender subscribers will be able to use the EmberGenFX standalone free throughout the beta period, including for commercial projects.
According to Otoy, subscribers will “have the option to upgrade to the full EmberGenFX suite, featuring direct integration of EmberGenFX … across all OctaneRender DCC plugins” on its final release.
Pricing and system requirements
The standalone edition of EmberGenFX is available in beta for Windows 7+ for OctaneRender 2020 subscribers. It can be used for free during the beta period, including for commercial projects.
Enterprise box licences of OctaneRender – perpetual licences for the standalone edition and one integration plugin, plus subscription access to the remaining plugins – start at €699 (around $796).
Subscriptions give access to all of the plugins and cost €19.99/month or €199/year ($23/month or $227/year) for use on up to two GPUs, or €29.99/month or €299/year ($34/month or $341/year) for unlimited GPUs.
Otoy hasn’t announced pricing or a release date for the integrated version of EmberGenFX, but according to JangaFX, it will be a “paid add-on subscription” to a standard OctaneRender subscription.
Read more about the public beta of EmberGenFX on Otoy’s forum