Otoy reveals free rendering software for super-fast virtual reality and ‘holographic cinema’

Otoy has released its OctaneVR virtual reality rendering software for virtual reality, augmented reality, and holographic cinema. And it’s available for free for commercial use.

These are new kinds of art forms for animators and game creators, and it requires new rendering tools. Otoy’s OctaneVR helps artists on any budget create hyper-realistic, movie-like experiences. The software is a subset of Otoy’s high-end OctaneRender VFX, a paid product.

OctaneVR lets artists on any budget create hyper-realistic cinematic experiences for VR and AR using a free, feature-complete version of OTOY’s acclaimed OctaneRender VFX software.

Chief executive Jules Urbach made the announcement at the Nvidia GPUTech conference in San Jose, Calif., today. “We saw what was possible here, and we said we just have to do this,” he said after the presentation.

Otoy is all about providing cloud-based production tools so that artists, movie makers, and game creators can create awesome computer-generated images, films, or games.

The goal of OctaneVR is to create art at the same fidelity demanded by consumer VR and AR devices coming to market this year. OctaneVR will be released on Windows, OSX and Linux for free for an unspecified period of time. It supports apps that show scenes in full virtual reality, where you can turn around 360 degrees and see a virtual world.

Otoy’s new tools include the Orbx Media Player, which will work with the Samsung Galaxy Gear VR mobile headset, with support for Microsoft HoloLens and HTML5 WebVR coming in the fourth quarter of 2015.

“Virtual and augmented reality is enabling phenomenal new experiences in education, entertainment, and gaming, but we’re really only at the beginning of this movement,” said Urbach in a statement. “With OctaneVR we’re putting Otoy’s VR technology in the hands of everyone, at no cost, to see what incredible experiences can be created in this medium, once artists are limited only by their artistry and imagination.”

OctaneVR will be available for download on Otoy’s website in April. The Orbx Media Player application be updated on the Gear VR Store simultaneously.

Meanwhile, Otoy also announced an update to its other tools, Octane Render 3 and Octane Render Cloud services.