A Kernel in OctaneRender® is the central part of the rendering engine that interfaces with the GPUThe GPU is responsible for displaying graphical elements on a computer display. The GPU plays a key role in the Octane rendering process as the CUDA cores are utilized during the rendering process.. There are five major rendering kernels in OctaneRender: Direct Lighting, Path Tracing, PMC, Photon Tracing, and Info Channel. Each kernel has a set of parameters to adjust.
Figure 1: Accessing the OctaneRender KernelsBy definition, this is the central or most important part of something. In Octane, the Kernels are the heart of the render engine. from the Octane Render Target Actor's Details panel