Otoy releases OctaneRender 2027.1 in alpha
OctaneRender 2027.1’s neural rendering mode promises “near noise-free interactive rendering”, even of complex lighting and material effects, such as subsurface scattering.
Otoy has released the first public alpha of OctaneRender 2027.1, the next major version of the GPU production renderer.
The experimental build – available in parallel to the stable OctaneRender 2026 releases – adds a new real-time ‘neural rendering’ mode, an update to the AI Light system, and USD export.
Below, you can read our summary of the new features, which other features are currently scheduled for future alpha builds, and when you can expect the stable release.
New neural rendering mode improves viewport renders of complex scenes
Key changes in OctaneRender 2027.1 include the new “neural rendering” mode to improve performance and reduce noise in viewport renders.
It builds on the neural radiance cache (NRC) system introduced in OctaneRender 2026, which uses a neural network trained at render time to reduce noise on first pixel.
According to Otoy, neural rendering “enables near noise-free interactive rendering” with “very low sample counts compared to traditional path tracing, even in complex lighting conditions”.
The system is based on both the ray reconstruction system in NVIDIA’s DLSS (Direct Learning Super Sampling) AI rendering technology, and Otoy’s own research.
OctaneRender 2027.1 also introduces two new render upscaling technologies: DLSS 4 and AMD’s FSR 3 (FidelityFX Super Resolution) – the latter for NVIDIA GPUs only, since OctaneRender is CUDA-based.
AI Light 2.0 reduces noise in scenes with many light sources
AI Light, OctaneRender’s hierarchical algorithm for sampling scenes with multiple light sources, gets its first major update since it was originally introduced in OctaneRender 4.0.
It now incorporates “full spatial and directional information” for all emissive primitives, reducing noise for a given sample count: you can see a side-by-side comparison above.
USD export and extended MaterialX support
The release also extends support for USD and MaterialX workflows.
Firstly, OctaneRender can now export geometry in USD format as well as import it – USD import was added in OctaneRender 2021 – with “limited support” for USD Preview Surface materials.
The standalone edition of OctaneRender now includes a USD Stage editor, making it possible to select variants and layers in a USD scene without the need to save and reopen the USD file.
Support for the MaterialX open material standard, introduced in OctaneRender 2026, has been extended with three new EDF (Emission Distribution Function) nodes.
Other new features and workflow improvements
Other changes include a new Vectron tube primitive, and support for named UV vertex attributes.
The maximum number of UV maps allowed per primitive has also been raised from three to 10.
What other features are scheduled for OctaneRender 2027.1?
Features currently due to be added to OctaneRender 2027.1 before the stable release include the much-delayed Anime and Sketch renderer, and the option to render to 3D Gaussian Splats.
Otoy also plans to add new AI features, including built in PBR material generation, and integration with Otoy Studio, its new set of online generative AI tools.
You can read a full list of changes planned in the OctaneRender 2027.1 online roadmap.
How long will it take OctaneRender 2027.1 to reach a stable release?
In recent years, it has taken 6-12 months for major versions of OctaneRender to go from initial alpha to stable release.
The initial alpha of OctaneRender 2027.1 is available for Windows only, with macOS and Linux versions due in future builds.
Price, system requirements and release date
OctaneRender 2027.1 is currently in public alpha for Windows only.
The software is rental-only, via Otoy’s Studio+ subscriptions, which cost €23.95/month or €239.88/year, and which include integration plugins for 21 DCC applications, plus a range of third-party software.
Otoy also provides free ‘Prime’ editions of both OctaneRender and Octane X, which are limited to rendering on a single GPU, and which come with a smaller set of DCC integration plugins.
Read a full list of new features in OctaneRender 2027.1 on Otoy’s forum
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