a.quaihoi

Hey Roger, I think even a base model M2 is pretty fast, one of my friends bought the first gen M1's when they came out when I egged him to buy one, in Australia it was about $998 if you consider the cost of a new phone, its pretty damn good value, the most amazing thing was, on stock configuration that little M1 was running rings around his maxed out Trashcan video editing mac - maxed out with full ram and dual D700 gpu's, he couldn't believe it and I suspected as much as prior to the the M1's if you actually edited video on a iPad pro its was blazingly fast. I hear you about the sticker shock on upgrades, a base M2 pro at $2000 aud over here is pretty good - BUT - the 512 GB HD is a real deal breaker, 10core Cpu + 16core Gpu + 1gb HD @ $2000 is the sweet spot, anything over that, might as well get a Studio, even when they release the M2 Studio's there wont be many 1gig M2' floating around as they are all built to order, they should make this the standard for a mid range machine while they prepare whatever it is they are planning to do with a new mac pro, but then again external Thunderbolt hard drives are fast and good price these days. Saying that, Im actually surprised at the performance we're getting for Davinci Resolve on our Old Mac Pro 4.1, dont think you can really go wrong if you upgrade either way, I would love to but its just that we dont NEED to, so we're bought the Dell machine pretty much for 3D work with AM exclusively and have time to see what other new Mac's are coming

Hey Rob, no, this is on 2009 Mac Pro " Upgraded with Opencore" to 5.1, running max config of dual processors @3.46, 12 Core with maxed out Ram to 128gb, Radeon RX 580 8 Gb graphics card, I know this machine is beastly for AM if booted to windows, but most of our print and design jobs are done on Mac Side of things and dual booting becomes a PIA, the other issue is the Xeons in this machine are old now with a very slow single core performance which all new apps including AM greatly benefit from, not to mention no AVX instructions its time to upgrade, we will get a new MX Series Mac soon and then we can test out AM on emulation and translation platforms like WINE. Going from the performance on this old Mac, I would assume that it would certainly fly on the new ARM Processors as they can emulate Direct X and windows apps really well, they support the AVX instructions too, so I am thinking that wine versions including crossover which support Mac OS Catalina and above, which also have Mesa 3D implementation will most likely work fine with AM18+ and future versions for production, including 32bit versions of apps. The caveat being things which rely on the Rosetta emulation - most 32bit apps which would eventually be phased out, but with what the people are developing in software and performance of new ARM from Apple, even Nvidia tech for servers, new processor technology could have massive gains in emulated software. I really do want to try out the new version of AM with AVX instructions via this route eventually, if this all works well, then there is a common code base for AM but which can also be used on Mac OS and even Linux platforms without writing new code or any ground up rebuilds - Happy Days ! , as the Fonze would say AAAAiiiiieeeeeeeeee 👍 Just waiting on Apple to see what they're doing about a new Mac Pro, might just buy a M2 Mac Mini in the meanwhile as they are pretty good bang for buck and regulate the old mac pro to a server and rendering slave. Im downsizing all computers at our shop, no more big boxes, just high performance tiny work stations that are highly effecient and that don't suck too much power. We are getting a second Dell Precision 3260 Workstation Compact, at 2 litres, with a i7 or i9 with a Nvidia A2000 Gpu just for AM, massive performance, tiny foot print, tiny power consumption, and great price. Will upgrade this old Mac Pro after that since we really can do all daily work on it for now, then we can test out AM proper on new processors

v15 works good through parallels with the direct x driver !

will have to give it go tonight - the mesa3d is interesting as you could theoretically run it on Catalina and newer Mac OS and also on MX Processor Macs, if someone built a Mesa3D to Metal translation that would good too, but Im sure the Vulkan Implementation would work very well through Metal, considering the performance of the Mx series processors in emulating games through parallels etc., the horse power is definitely there on those chip to do a good job running AM, will be upgrading the Mac to the a Studio or M2 Mini soon so I can also try these out. The various non standard wine ports already have metal rendering in beta development

Yes tried both G1 - GL3

Hey Rob , Ive got installers for AM 19 to 15 - is 15 Direct X ? Last night I did a bit of reading and tinkered with installing various Mesa 3D Windows builds on Wine / Parallels, the earlier distributions allow software rendering - but this did not work for real time, the later and latest builds which use Vulkan SDK and Zink Divers to push through GPU instructions translated via Vulkan, although these drivers are reading inside AM it still doesn't fix the real time rendering issue, further reading and it looks like your processor needs to have AVX 2 instructions for this to work which my old Mac pro doesn't. I tried version 20 through to 23 which is the latest builds, but all come up short for real time rendering, perhaps someone with a Intel Mac with a newer processor with AVX2 might want to give it a try, one thing is with the vulcan drivers if you turn on Polygon rendering, that works, but shaded rendering do not for me. Im guessing that for me the miss match is due to not having AVX2 instructions on my old xeon processors that is stopping the Zink/Vulcan implementation really cant test it. If I have time tonight I'll tinker with version 15 if it supports direct x.

Hi Rob, everything works fine, you can Model in wireframe, real-time rendering doesn't work, onscreen renders don't work either, but overall it pretty fast all the same, you can run multiple instances of AM in different WINE apps, Render Cue also boots u and you can set console so I assume this also works, I also tested it in Crossover from Mac with a trial - but thats the same thing as installing through wine, I actually used Port Kit which supports 32/64 bit apps to Run on Mac Os Catalina. Regular wine doesn't support Catalina yet, I did a bit of reading and one of the issues is, that WINE only supports up to Open GL 2.0 and I think its actually using open GL 1. etc. the you look at the GL Driver settings in AM Options its not reading the full set of Open GL Instructions available, pretty sure on Mac Os they have Open GL 4.1 drivers and extensions which don't have any translators for WINE, this would also mean the same issue for Emulation software like parallels and VM ware. The issue seems to be be Open GL translation instructions or lack thereof interfacing with host platform drivers, doing a bit more reading on WINE HQ, they say that updates to support open GL Translation beyond 2.0 is a long way away. The good is that AM functions and in 64 bit through translation layer technology, its software drivers from the various platforms that don't work. Im sure the peoples at Crossover could get it to work, or someone updates and recompiles WINE binaries with these missing instructions and updated open GL version implementation that would get AM, a lot of other Apps and games working through the translation layer. I think Ive reached the end of the tinkering after exhausting all options that I'm savvy to, waiting on a new Dell PC to arrive to set up the new rig, my curiosity is taken care of Many thanks to Jason for helping me through the tinkering ! I was really hoping that magically this would work so there was a solution for AM people on Mac, but looks like there is a long wait for this tech to get to the point where AM is useable.

Waiting for a new PC to arrive for new AM rig and I got to tinkering trying to get AM to run on the Mac I have now, first tried Parallels which worked craptacular, then tried through wine, after reading on how to set it up and going through the process a few times, finally figured out how it all works. So, AM actually works fast and smooth without emulation penalty through WINE, BUT the graphics driver support is not working, I think WINE is using a translation thing and passes graphics instructions though the host platform which translates it to the GPU, when I looked into the Open GL settings it look like it is using the stock minimum drivers /extensions and obviously Apple Has their own extensions . . . which you can see when you click the show all extensions from opengl options . . . when you quit the app, for a brief second the Apple GL Drivers kick in and the rendering works or redraws in AM as it closes . . . soooooo clooossseeee !!!! Does anyone know if Open GL engine drivers read from the system by AM ? Im thinking if there is someway to convert / translate the Apple native GL Drivers, then AM through WINE would work at almost native speed perfectly, and yes I tried to install regular AMD Drivers onto the WiNE Wrapper but it wont detect the GPU, which points to communication between WINE and Mac OS through to GPU hardware and translation layers . . . just thought Id share some tinkering, if it worked Mac users could have a viable option to work with AM on new OS and hardware

Parallels uses a really old version 3 ati drivers in their environment, I tried this as I’m in between getting a new rig with only my Mac as a working machine and put am in parallel - if you check the video driver it thinks it using that would be the problem, I think the issue is more license issues with incorporating graphics card drivers in their emulation environment rather than parallels not being able to emulate on Mac iNtel / m1, they would either have to get a license to distribute recompiled versions of drivers rebuilt from closed source code from either nvidia / amd that and they probably don’t want to invest time and money into it probably

Cool man, I agree about the time issue, if there was more time for AM life would be better 😁 Keep up the great work

Ahhh awesome, I thought it would be something similar, Dylan Perry asked the question too, we are always looking for more hands when we get jobs, if you're interested in paid jobs I'll let Dylan know and he can contact you, you're really talented man, youtube channel is a great showcase of your work.

Awesome, I just saw the block heads animation - you captured the stop motion look perfectly ! Its pretty ground breaking to get the stop motion look since 3D animation is way too smooth, could you share how you achieved this with AM ?

Is there a reason why we cannot get additional contracted developers to work with Steffen on these future versions with him overlooking development and managing it, be it ARM64EC ? Im not a developer, but Ive certainly had experience developing and managing software which had to be re written twice because of changes in html, then flash no longer being supported on mobile devices, the projects were not as complex as rebuilding AM but it was a lot of resources and time, Im sure if there was a crowd funding campaign of sorts all the users could help fund the development of our favourite software, and while the process is happening, we could implement a wish list of new features that could be implemented in to the build timeline - here's hoping ! Itry running AM in emulation on Arm the instant I get my hands on a new arm machine

Soooo…… with the world moving over to ARM architecture, will there be a ground up rebuilt version of AM for ARM ? Seriously those Apple Silicone machines pack some punch for the level power efficiency, now Microsoft is following suit too with Windows 11. Sure each platform has translation layers to emulate non arm coded apps but eventually native applications will need to be written. I’m actually dying to see AM run on a M1 Max / Ultra through emulated Windows 11 which has support for x86 coded apps with non native arm support - apparently those machines can certainly cut the mustard with multiple layers of emulation happening … just thinking about the future …. And if anyone has a new Mac Studio - please try running AM in windows 11 , running inside parallels or VM ware and report back

Yes indeed ! I haven't quite did what Id like to do so far because time and work gets in the way, and obviously the using macs etc. so now Ive get a dedicated system just for AM so I can really get back into, really its such a great program, simple is the best !

Hi Fuchur, I just bought and installed the RX 580, updated all the drivers, launched AM and am getting 85 fps in wire frame mode, however when I switch to shaded wireframe it bogs down to 5.7 - 5.8 fps . . . . . AHA !!!! PROBLEM SOLVED !!!!! ok ! so real time subdivisions was checked in the options, however for some reason in the modelling view its set to max subdivisions . . . hence the bogging down, now that I have lowered realtime subdivision down one step its back to normal speed 49-50fps in modelling and and actions is back up to 80+ fps !!!! Somehow I have forgotten this setting from momentum animations days !!! Now I have fix up the rigging in the old models ( 2012 - 2013 ) as actions are all gone wonky - anyway I have to go through the models and fix the rigging and redo smart skining etc. THANKS A MIL FOR POINTING THIS OUT TO ME GUYS !!! Its been a while using AM and I have forgotten advanced production routines. Now I feel like I just wasted money on the RX580 . . . but since I got the PC for free I suppose it was ok to spend a little bit of money on it. I have ordered a ATEN Dual dislay / dual link switch so I can connect the PC and MAC simultaneously to 2 x 30" Apple Cinema Displays for more screen space for better modelling and animation. Cant wait to get back into AM again and finish off some projects that have been sitting on backup for ages !

Hi Rob and Fuchur, forgot to mention, Im running Win 7 64bit, AM 18 x, the current card is the older GT 640 1gb Yes, loading old fellow Thom and viewing in shaded + wireframe makes it super slow, I remember a B&W Mac G3 tower being more responsive with more patch count models running on the old ati cards Yes I will have to check this out, will have to do it tomorrow as its fathers day here and I quickly snuck into check the post I have been reading and watching about these two cards for the last to days, theres only a minor speed bump from RX570 to RX580, the AMD Card draws a bit more power than the Nvidia 1070, but here's the thing we can get a RX580 / 70 for $250 aud over here and all Nvidia 1070 xx is like $500 - $600 aud, I suppose now that Fuchur has pointed out that the Nvidia card has CUDA for the other apps I suppose that justifies the price over the RX series, I was using Fusion 360 - but it is really really slow on mac, so I'll see how this goes on the pc, also going to learn Design spark mechanical - from trials this appears to work much faster than Fusion 360, I don't know the specs for these programs if they use CUDA or not, I will check and probably this will decide if I go AMD or Nvidia The print server was driving " Memjet " large format printers by Xerox, I think this hardware was requirements for Caldera Rip software, the machine originally had Linux on it - well the main HD still has this and the RIP on it with a Dongle, I think the HD is a propriety Xerox unit as it cannot be erased with the usual methods, so I put in a SSD with Win 7 and it works fine . . . one thing I have not done is boot into bios and check settings - could AM slowing down have something to do with any Bios setting ? Ill try out the subdivision settings and let you know how it goes

Hi all, since there is not going to be any more Mac versions for the next Catalina Os, I’m building a new PC rig for AM and some other CAD apps, I got a super cheap ( free ) 2012 Dell Optiplex 9010 min tower, the offer was too good to refuse, its was used as print server for a Xerox printer, it has a 3.7 i7 processor, 20gb of ram and currently a Nvidia GT 640 1gb card, I can max out the ram to 32gb, but was wondering about the video card, the case is a Mini tower and it can have half length graphics cards in the PCI slots - I can Frankenstein it and cut out the HD enclosures to fit a full length card if necessary. I’m thinking about upgrading to a AMD RX 580 8gb or GTX 1070 8gb, I’d also be required to get a higher power PSU for these cards. I am testing AM on its current configuration now with the GT 640 card and creating basic models from scratch its nice and responsive, but if I load a model say, thom model or any other models which are a bit complex, AM really bogs down in speed and frame rate in shaded wireframe view when modelling , I have set the Nvidia driver to performance over quality but it really slows down once models get complex. What are people experiences with video cards and performance in AM, what would be a card that gives fast modelling and frame rates in shaded wireframe mode with textures ? Which is the best card for this, Nvidia or AMD from people doing complex models and scenes ? I really want a card that can deliver faster performance for high path count when modelling. Is AM just relying on cards for modelling or do I need more RAM as well ?

Yeah a very very smart parrot ! That’s the theme I use in AM - grey space places more emphasis on the model and modelling in space and is great on the eyes, I usually also set object lines to black and unselected points to red and selected points to black, find the interface to be easier on the eyes

I decided not to get the crazy priced Titan and got a Gtx 680 4gig, which I’ll flash . . . Let’s see how it goes

Is Mac version 64bit now ? It also says V18.0 instead of 19 on the installers link above

Hi All, in the process of upgrading my computer with a new video card and processors, ram etc. Mac Pro 2009 - Flashed with 5,1 firmware so this will let me make it a pretty beasty machine - as always AM is on my mind when it comes to 3D work, and the question I have is should I get one of those Nvidia Titan 12gb cards ? or something like a GTX 680 - my current card is an ancient Quadro 1.8gb FX 4500 - the last time I tried to use AM on the Mac side it had so many issues that I had to load up boot camp and install win 7 and use it on that, it was OK - but I defiantly felt the video card was not being used fully, there was a lot of slowdown even on the windows side with this card. I have found that AM likes consumer grade video cards instead of the pro cards while working at Momentum - so this time round I am thinking of getting a beasty 'gaming' card - what are peoples thoughts on this ? It would be awesome if AM leveraged the processing power of cards - and yes we have discussed this man many time before - yes it will require a rewrite up of the code and so on - but in real life scenario - actual usage of the interface and screen drawing - refresh rate - responsiveness etc. Is it worth the money to get one of these titan x / xp things ?

I like the idea of reintroducing the dongle, downloading the software on any computer, mac pc etc. and being able to run on any machine simply by plugging in the license dongle would be awesome.

I think a lot of issues are memory based with AM on Mac and that its running as a virtual app in a shell for the mac version and runs out of memory quickly, this is what I deduced from a quick study of crash error reports . . .