Posts by zoomer

In 2010, settled on Mac after switching from PC, Microstation, 3dsMax, ... background.

I seriously tried all Nemetschek Allplan (ok not Mac), Archicad and Vectorworks.

(And FormZ, Sketchup and such things)

Archicad was strange and new too, but with a few of their tutorials I was able to rebuild

my parent's house in 3D pretty easily. I really liked Archicad. Similar with Allplan, which

I worked with before in an office.

Just with Vectorworks, I was not even able to move things in a controlled way

Somehow I finally bought VW in 2014 anyway.

Mainly because i misunderstood or misinterpreted VW's Feature Set.

But I decided to go through it, got comfortable with it after 3 or so years and now it is

a love and hate. Some more love percentage now since VW's latest versions.

As I do mainly Visualization and BIM, I still think it is the right App for me.

But if I would do real architectural planning, I would have switched to Archicad in a

second.

Quote from Phil Read

Of course. In this meantime this offers greater compatibility and time to market.

Hmmh !?

I think the goal is a universal binary that will run on Intel Macs as well as installing

a native (and optimized !) ARM Version on M1/2 Macs.

And as Intel Macs are in fact really outdated already (prices for used models)

I wouldn't mind (or honestly expected) that Enscape just focuses on

an Apple ARM only App.

Honestly, I am a bit shocked to read that Enscape Beta only runs via Rosetta2.

Quote from joshuatree

Hi,

I've downloaded the long awaited Enscape Beta for Mac and installed it. It refuses to start, crashes with no more info.

My system is

14" MBP 16GB/10 core CPU/16 core GPU

MacOS Monterrey

Display More

Sounds promising

The first thing I did was looking for the recommended Specs,

but was happy that M1 Macs / Apple ARM were listed.

So that should not be the reason for crashing.

I also got an Enscape Mail Announcement of the Mac Beta today.

(Maybe it is in your SPAM folder ?)

But unfortunately I do not use Sketchup.

Have to wait until a Vectorworks compatible Beta arrives - if at all ....

I would say VW has the most superior 2D Features and usability.

But VW is a true 3D App since decades.

Of course it is oriented to a kind of 2.5D approach, which is very handy

for typical architectural work and thinking, but this is which is even more

true or restrictive in Archicad.

Beside that VW offers sufficient and comfortable free form modeling,

like SubDs, NURBS, NURBS Surfaces, non destructive Boolean Operations,

true Parasolid Modelling Core Solids Modelling, Surface Arrays and what not.

And all that geometry can be easily bimified by adding IFC Tags and/or put

into a Hybrid object for proper plan generation.

It is just that the VW Architectural Object Tools are not as detailed and sophisticated

as in Archicad. On the other side you are far more less restricted in design freedom

in VW, when it exceeds the limitation of the given parametric Tools.

But yes, in VW you can create absolutely beautiful 2D Drawings, Layouts and Plans

very easy and comfortable.

As I like parametric modeling with components very much for architectural projects,

I am a big fan of Archicad and had much fun with it.

I own VW and have fun with it too.

I think on the App graph from Design down to Bureaucracy looks like this :

Vectorworks -> Archicad -> Revit

(where each has its pros and cons)

Isn't Parallels on M1 Macs offering only Windows for ARM VMs ?

Where x86 Apps will be emulated in Windows for ARM.

(A bit more complex and slower than Apples Rosetta 2 ?)

So if Parallels may be able to bring fast Vulkan support, it may

also need to run through the emulation without larger losses.

So does this currently work well for 3D demanding Apps like Revit

(or Games) and OpenGL ?

I remember that I needed tu run my Microstation via Parallels 10-15

years ago on the fast Mac Pro 2.1.

It was always too slow to be usable on VMWare. Worked reasonably

well via Parallels.

But by accidentally using any more exotic OpenGL features, like e.g.

activating full view crosshair cursor could slow Microstation down

completely and make it unusable.

What about Bricscad "Shape" ?

Free, including Bricscad's wonderful 3D direct Modeling and producing true Solid's DWG files ...

Quote from Peerman

I don't know if it's possible to export to a Mac format in Windows and vice versa. It could be like a pdf which can be read/opened on both operating systems.

Is it about exporting a standalone ?

Should be a Container that includes an EXE and an App to execute Enscape

and a single Data File, shared by both.

Otherwise it is quite common to share and open 3D Data Files between both

System. Like we do with Modo, C4D, Vectorworks, Bricscad, .....

Just one potential problem, Paths for Render Output, Resources or Textures.

Although both may have access to the same drive, with Windows drive letters

and forward vs back slashes - this is no fun.

According to the newsletter,

Beta in March 2022, fine.

But for Sketchup only. Hmmh ....

No Sketchup here. My App hierarchy is

- Vectorworks

- Bricscad

- C4D

- Modo

- and maybe Blender in the future

I can imagine that so far most Enscape users use Sketchup or Revit.

But for the Mac Version, wouldn't it be more likely Vectorworks or Archicad ?

Yes, a few weeks ago I have noticed with satisfaction and already subscribed

for the Beta and Newsletter.

I am just curious for now what 2022 will finally mean.

4 weeks or 12 1/2 months

Unreal Engine is from Epic Games.

Epic has Twinmotion, which runs OK on Apple Silicon.

Although not yet native.

It is not available on Mac and as I said it crashes instantly on Windows with an AMD GPU.

So no, i haven't used it - I just try from time to time ....

GPU is an AMD RX 6800 with 16 GB of VRAM.

Quote from Tim

Just testing out the latest TM update that now includes Path Tracing and.....I'm seriously impressed.

I am not impressed

As I am a Mac User and TM Path Tracer does not work on Mac at all.

Also I am a part time PC user - but TM's PT will crash on AMD GPUs so far ....

Any news on supporting Mac in the near future or not ?

Quote from Adam.Fairclough

People need to remember that the M1 is a CPU and not a GPU

M1 is all,

a SoC.

CPU cores, shared memory, GPU cores, security enclave, SSD controller,

i/O controller, machine learning cores, video accelerator, ...

In any combination and specific distribution and amount, whatever Apple

thinks is useful for a specific Mac.

For now we have M1 and it is more capable than we expected.

And for the same power it is so far more energy efficient.

Not that important for a desktop fan like me with a M1 Mini,

but still nice to know and never hear a fan.

Quote from alexandrecollaco

I mean Parallax shading, it is a fake displacement using heightmaps.

Got it.

Yes that is nice for cheap bump maps to fake some more depth and shadows.

BTW

So far avoided Displacement wherever I could because of render times.

Same for Normal Maps.

I tried them a few times and also thought they are increasing render time

but I did not see any advantages.

But maybe I am wrong with that. Any other experiences and opinions

I totally agree with your description.

Quote from alexandrecollaco

Twinmotion doesn't support parallax.

What do you mean by parallax ?

Architectonical Camera ?

(2 point perspective to avoid distortion of vertical lines is there)

Quote from alexandrecollaco

Lumion has the best library and some amazing features like adding dirt, round edges, growing ivy.... (It would be nice to see some of those in Enscape).

Would be nice to have that in both, Enscape and Twinmotion.

Overall TM render quality is ok for my render purposes but I would prefer

Enscapes PBR approach vs TM/Unreal, mostly old school fake workflow with

fake lights, reflection probes and all such things I thought having left behind

with the beginning of this Millennium

For me Unreal is a Monster of Software and not the GUI/UX I like to use.

But there is everything in there for highest quality. Once features like

raytracing, PBR, .... find their way into TM, TM will also be a great alternative.

For now I would prefer Enscape on Mac for its physical approach and the

great Light and Sky System.

Quote from Toscano

I strongly hope to run it on a Mac.

Thank you

L.

If I watch Enscapes job opportunities, as picard hinted,

I am pretty confident.

I think we could close that thread now ....

Apple April Event happened.

Now it looks like we M1 Mac users may run our M1s a few moths longer than

expected until we get something beefier .... so the M1 Mini will pay off.

If I had had the chance early this year, I think I would have gone for the M1

iMac instead of my M1 Mini.

(My early Apple USB Aluminium keyboard is going tp die soon anyway and

I would have a free monitor)