Octane for Houdini

The Solid environment  provides a single color as the light for the environment. This creates an overall consistent color cast with no variation in the scene (figure 1). 

Figure 1: A scene rendered using the Solid environment

The Solid system is found in the Environment tab of the Render Target parameters window (Figure 2). The Solid system can also be found in the Octane Render Setup node located in the Object window (figure 3).

Figure 2: Accessing the Solid environment node from an Octane Render Target. 

Figure 3: Accessing the Solid parameters in the Octane Render Setup node

Parameters specific to the Solid system are found in the Intensity, Medium, and Options rollouts.There is a Backplate tab available to further control the options for displaying backplate elements (figure 4). If the Backplate is set to anything other than Disabled, such as Backplate Solid,  the Backplate parameters will override any duplicate background elements available in the Solid tab. Note that the Backplate parameters do not affect the physical lighting on scene objects. 

Figure 4: Accessing the Environment Backplate parameters

Solid Environment Lighting Tab Parameters

Intensity Rollout

Power - Controls the brightness of the solid light color. 

Color - Determines the color of the light environment. 

Medium Rollout

Offers control of a medium used to give aerial density and fog to the Solid system. This is an actual volume medium effect, not a cheat. It interacts directly with any lighting in the scene.

Options Rollout

Importance Sampling - This toggles the Sky texture's importance sampling, similar to the Texture environment's importance sampling.

Cast Photons - If photon mapping is used, this option casts photons from the bright areas of the scene. 

Backplate Solid Tab Parameters

These parameters will override their conterparts in the Lighting tab. 

Intensity Rollout

Power - Controls the brightness of the solid light color. 

Color - Determines the color of the light environment. 

Options Rollout

Backplate - Makes the Background Plate environment visible in the background.

Reflections - Makes the Background Plate environment visible in reflections..

Refractions - Makes the Background Plate environment visible in refractions.