3DS Max & VRay on Mac?

[flavrsaver]

I'm seriously considering upgrading my next home machine to a new Mac Pro when it comes time to upgrade, probably in a year, so this is not an immediate issue. I'm more interested in the possibility of running Max and VRay on a Mac using Boot Camp and if any of you have had experience with this or heard about if it's possible and if so, if it runs well. From what I've read, there's hardly a chance that there will ever be a Mac-based version of Max, so emulation or virtualization will probably be my best bet.

My experience in 3D is solely limited to 3DS Max and while that's all I know, I'm not married to the program. In fact, I've become more interested in Maya, Modo, and a few other 3D apps out there. But I just love VRay and that's basically the main reason I'm hesitant to leave 3DS Max. I've looked at the threads regarding VRay and Maya and those look promising. Plus I'm interested in the stand-alone version, but I'm not too familiar in what it will be able to do or how that could be a solution.

My loyalty to VRay is much stronger than my loyalty to 3DS Max, but my love of the Mac platform is also strong and if I make the switch, I would love to be able to still use VRay. Will VRay for Maya be as up-to-date as the Max version or will the Max version always be the most advanced?

I appreciate any thoughts you all would have. One more note, this is not meant to be a Mac vs Windows discussion, so let's all play nice.

[percydaman]

start learning maya now, so when vray for maya is out, you'll be all ready for it, running your maya on macOS

[flavrsaver]

So does that mean that VRay for Maya will be identical to VRay for 3DS Max?

[percydaman]

I'm pretty sure itll be pretty close. Obviously there's some UI differences.

[mdi]

ill let you know in a few days...I have a macpro on order, should take about a week


but yes...maya and vray might be a good option. But will vray run on macos within maya?

[Adam H. Stewart]

A cautionary note

Just a cautionary note in terms of Autodesk and Apple. Apparently they hate each other. I do remember hearing somewhere that Maya 8 64 Bit is not supported on the Mac yet and there will probably be a significant lag when it comes to patches/upgrades for the mac OS.
I know those machines look nice and they will be getting the screaming fast Quad Cores when they come out, but in my experience there aren't alot of hardcore 3D guys using Mac. Alot of designers or motion graphics artist who also do some 3D - but for hardcore "I am a 3D animator and thats my thang" people - I don't come across them that often

[RErender]

Really a non-issue, if there are any issues with bootcamp simply run a dual boot system or heck why not a tri boot with Windows, OS-X and your favorite Linux distro. Doesn't take that long to reboot these days.

[flavrsaver]

@mdi - Awesome, I'd love to hear how it goes.

@Adam H. Stewart - Great. I hate stuff like that. Such political crap getting in the way.

@RErender - Very true. As much as restarting to switch operating systems still isn't the best solution, it's still a viable one and doesn't really take that long.

[CCS]

IMO, running MAX or any 3D PC app on a Mac should be a novelty only. I've heard some interesting things about Bootcamp, but I wouldn't even consider bulding a system around it. It sounds like a nifty hack, but I encounter enough issues that need workarounds without adding in a variable that no one will support. *Every* phone call or email will go like this: "Well, we don't support that configuration, so I'm not sure what to tell you".

If you're playing with 3D at home and happen to have a Mac, knock yourself out. But if you are using 3D in a business environment it sounds like a recipe for disaster.

[Syclone1]

oddly enough in one of the last MaximumPC mags they tested a new mac with xp running on bootcamp and they didnt have much bad to say about it other than that XP kicked the Mac's but for application performance

-dave

[Adam H. Stewart]

Maya tiff issues

I did a maya training course where people where taking files from PC's at class to Mac's at home - maybe running off a laptop - they had a whole series of major texturing errors - it was related to tiff's. Last night I was putting on a Maya rendering running on a Mac and the tiff's where coming out blank - I am not sure if it is the same problem, I don't know if this problem exists with Bootcamp but in 3D anything that can go wrong will go wrong - personally I have problems running on a PC with XP and all the recommended drivers - I would hate to add possible platform issues into the mix - sounds like a nightmare in the making IMO

[Dynedain]

We're on XP 64bit on our BoXX workstations for 3D, but the rest of the office (Architecture, Landscape, Interiors, and Graphic Design) are all on Mac. For us, our next workstation purpose will probably be a Mac Pro, and then install Windows on it through bootcamp... that way, it can be easily repurposed back into an OSX station down the road when us 3D guys outgrow it.

[mdi]

IMO, running MAX or any 3D PC app on a Mac should be a novelty only. I've heard some interesting things about Bootcamp, but I wouldn't even consider bulding a system around it. It sounds like a nifty hack, but I encounter enough issues that need workarounds without adding in a variable that no one will support. *Every* phone call or email will go like this: "Well, we don't support that configuration, so I'm not sure what to tell you".

If you're playing with 3D at home and happen to have a Mac, knock yourself out. But if you are using 3D in a business environment it sounds like a recipe for disaster.

well, I would admit that for a large company to kit your office out on macs for xp and 3ds max might be a bad move.

On the other hand, the new macs are more PCs then thay are macs. They are running xp (and to a degree xp64) nearly perfectly (only a few minor driver problems here and there)..and there doing it natively. As for bootcamp, its not a hack at all... Im sure alot of prople think that you always need to run bootcamp before you can run XP..when infact bootcamp is just a way to install XP and the drivers for your mac which dont come on the XP disk.

Infact there are people who have installed Vista, older versions of xp (sp1) and xp64 without bootcamp. And theres one user who removed the drive that OSX was installed on and made his mac XP only.

but anyway, when mine turnes up Ill post my thoughts and some benchmarks.

4 x 2.66GHz xeons
3 X gb ram
512 ati

[CCS]

Interesting. I didn't know that. I thought Windows would be running on top of MacOS - similar to how Wine works (as least that's how I think it works)

But even so - I have to ask: If you're going to run XP exclusively, why would you go with a Mac? I'm trying to understand the benefit.

They are more expensive than a comparable PC...

Once you're using XP, you've thrown out all of the so-called benefits of Mac (claims of immunity to viruses, spyware, crashing, etc.)...

No matter how many people do this, you'll still be running a non-standard configuration, so if you have issues with drivers, compatibility, stability, etc., you will be the lowest priority to a developer...

So... what's the up-side?

(I suppose I could put a hemi in a Jaguar. I'm just trying to figure out why I'd want to go thru the hassle. Just the fact that something is possible doesn't necessarily mean it is optimal.)

[mdi]

once you have installed XP the mac is a simple dual boot computer. One OS does not effect or talk to the other.

why buy a mac?..that would depend on the user.

I used to use macs alot before I moved over to 3dsmax..and 90% of my clients use macs..so for me atleast it makes good sence. I will be using both macox and xp. Also, Macos has alot of good software for editing footage, wheres the pc has 3dsMax, so for some its the best of both worlds in one box.

that and the fact that the quad xeon macs are cheeper than the same spec dells and boxxs.

"No matter how many people do this, you'll still be running a non-standard configuration, so if you have issues with drivers, compatibility, stability, etc., you will be the lowest priority to a developer... "

I know what your saying..but once XP is installed and running you mac is a pc you should be able to install any GFX card or for that matter any peace of hardware that the mac has the right conections for and runs under windows. The only problem would be that the hardware would run in windows and not macos (unless the device was supported by both systems like the gfx card thats in it at the moment)
Infact the one thing that Im most worryed about is that Apple stop supporting its hardware on Windows, not the other way round.