Hello,
Interested in knowing if there is anyone on orchid using RhinoGold
on a Mac? I understand it is possible with some additional
applications such as Bootcamp. I’d like to talk to someone who is
using Rhinogold with Bootcamp on a Mac to see how it works if there
are any issues…
JBF
Interested in knowing if there is anyone on orchid using RhinoGold on a Mac?
If you use Bootcamp, you actually convert your Mac into a PC. You
don’t boot OSX, but instead Window$. From that moment on, there is
no difference to any PC. So the question if somewhat as if you have
asked “Does Rhinogold run on Micro$oft?”. And the answer is Yes.
I have seen Rhinogold running on Mac using Parallels. Using
Parallels, or VMware, or VirtualBox, you emulate a PC while being in
OSX. Programs do run, but a bit slower and sharing resources with
OSX. You won’t be happy once your models get bigger and the boolean
operations more complex. To start, that may be a possibility,
though.
And then there is Rhino v5 WIP available for OSX natively. I am
using it daily to my greatest satisfaction, but it is a “naked”
Rhino, so there are no fancy builders to help you with the routine
stuff.
I have been using Rhino, RhinoGold and RhinoJewel(TechGems) for
several years on a 08MacPro. I have used it both with BootCamp and
Parallels to provide the Windows environment. Both BootCamp and
Parallels work. Bootcamp basically turns the Mac into a Windows
machine with all the benefits and foibles of Windows. Parallels runs
Windows in a window in the MacOS so you can have programs from both
OS’s running at the same time. There a few drawbacks to Parallels
when running programs that need USB hardware keys (a dongle) but for
the most part it works fine. If you have a reasonably fast Mac there
is not any reason not to use these programs to run Rhino and
RhinoGold.
James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts
I’m using Rhino, RhinoGold, and T-Splines via Bootcamp with no
issues at all, on both my MacBook Pro and iMac desktop. I don’t have
the specs on iMac with me, but it is the newest 27" one that just
came out. On my MacBook Pro, I have the following specs:
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.2 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Graphics card: AMD Radeon HD 6750M
I can tell you that I tried to run them on my old systems via
Fusion, and it was a disaster. Kept crashing all the time.
Love the Mac’s! 
Beckie
I suggest you investigate 3DESIGN CAD7.
It’s the only one that runs on OS10 in native code. Any of the other
CAD’s for windows can run on parallels or bootcamp, etc. but expect
it to be SLOW.
I suggest you investigate 3DESIGN CAD7. http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/h9 It's the only one that runs on OS10 in native code. Any of the other CAD's for windows can run on parallels or bootcamp, etc. but expect it to be SLOW.
This is just not the case. When you are booting a Mac with BootCamp
as a Windows platform it is just as fast as any windows PC with the
same clock speed and graphics processor. So any Windows programs will
run as fast as it is possible to run given that clock rate. 3Design
is a nice program but quite expensive, you can get Rhino/Rhino Gold
for about 1/3 the cost of a basic seat in 3Design.
James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts
It's the only one that runs on OS10 in native code. Any of the other CAD's for windows can run on parallels or bootcamp, etc. but expect it to be SLOW.
I don’t find this to be true at all. I think it has to do with your
system specs, not just bootcamp.
OK, so bootcamp seems like a reasonable solution. I have a mac mini
and its telling me that I do not have enough space on my start up
disc to partition, need 10 gig… I have over 23 gig available ??
Anyone want to flex their inner computer geek and help me out on
this? Send me a direct email if so.
thanks
JBF
www.jbfriedman.com
Last I checked there was a free trial version of Rhino for Mac
(requires OSX10.5 or later) which might be of assistance. Free is
nice although it won’t have all the jewelry specific plug ins that
make Matrix and other Jewelry cad programs so nice and faster to use.
More info here: Rhino - Rhinoceros 3D
Best wishes,
John Dyer
I wouldn’t choose any program until you do a research study on which
best suits your needs. If you are into jewelry modeling look closely
at the options for jewelry specific applications.
After you do your research and conclude which one fits your needs buy
it. The cost factor will be paid back to you in a short time…time
is money and the sheer fact that you will spend more time in
non-jewelry specific programs to get the modeling done, as in
Solidworks or Rhino, is a definite consideration. The processes in
any of the programs takes X amount of time even if you know what you
are doing. The jewelry specific programs will save you time…lots
of it.
Russ Hyder
The Jewelry CAD Institute
This is just not the case. When you are booting a Mac with BootCamp as a Windows platform it is just as fast as any windows PC with the same clock speed and graphics processor. So any Windows programs will run as fast as it is possible to run given that clock rate. 3Design is a nice program but quite expensive, you can get Rhino/Rhino Gold for about 1/3 the cost of a basic seat in 3Design.
Fair enough James. It may be cheaper but if you are a MAC user and
you want to get serious about CAD for jewelry, you’ll want a
solution built for jewelry and to run it in native OS10 as it should
be. The Designer version of 3DESIGN is comparable in price to Rhino.
Rhino Gold seems like the best option as far as cost and efficiency.
But I want to try out the demo. I have talked to, the tech folks at
Cadblu and one of the certified instructors for RhinoGold. The
problem is before I can even try out the demo version of RhinoGlod I
have to partition my Mac hard drive, because I have limited disk
space left on the current drive so I’ll have to install a drive with
more memory 160 gig for $145.00 and the cost of installing a windows
operating system $?? just to find out if I like it…
very frustrating…
JBF
www.jbfriedman.com
Fair enough James. It may be cheaper but if you are a MAC user and you want to get serious about CAD for jewelry, you'll want a solution built for jewelry and to run it in native OS10 as it should be. The Designer version of 3DESIGN is comparable in price to Rhino.
I am a long time Mac user (The Mac SE was my first one and I
currently have 9 Mac platform machines between home and business) and
have been running CAD on the Mac since the mid 80’s with a wide
variety of tools (MacDraw, MacCAD, Vectorworks, Cinema 3D, FormZ,
ZBrush etc). So I’m definitely serious about it and there is no
reason not to use Rhino in Bootcamp or Parallels. The tools for Rhino
are mature and there is a huge amount of support from both McNeel and
the online users group community. Rhino by itself or with a plug in
like Matrix, Rhino Gold or Rhino Jewel is the most used suite of
tools in the US for jewelry design at this point. Rhino Mac is coming
along nicely ( I have been using the beta version for over a year)
and will likely be released after they get Rhino 5 released so for
the die hard Mac only types that is in the not to distant future.
There is nothing wrong with 3Design as I said before it is a good
program with some nifty features but to imply that other solutions on
the Mac are not “serious” is pure BS, do you work for Vision Numeric
or are you a reseller of 3Design?
James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts
james,
Rhino Gold seems like the best option as far as cost and efficiency.
But I want to try out the demo. I have talked to, the tech folks at
Cadblu and one of the certified instructors for RhinoGold. The
problem is before I can even try out the demo version of RhinoGlod I
have to partition my Mac hard drive, because I have limited disk
space left on the current drive so I’ll have to install a drive with
more memory 160 gig for $145.00 and the cost of installing a windows
operating system $?? just to find out if I like it…
not sure where you’re getting your …as memory and disk
space are 2 separate physical things.
sort out the problem with your mac…what os, ram amount and hard
drive capacity do you have right now?
what machine type is it?..and what processor/speed?
here’s this from rhino osx: System requirements
PowerPC or Intel Macintosh computer running OS X 10.5 or later.
Intel-based computers are generally faster than the older PowerPC
processors. At least one gigabyte of RAM is suggested. Mice with
multiple buttons and a scroll wheel are recommended; however, you
can also use a one-button Macintosh mouse. OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
support
Rhino/OSX will take advantage of new OS X 10.5 features such as
QuickLook, which displays the contents of a Rhino document in the
Finder, without opening the document with Rhino, either in Icon or
CoverFlow view. Data files compatible with the Windows version
The Rhino files are identical between Windows Rhino V4.0 and
Rhino/OSX. Spaceball/SpaceExplorer are not supported
Only the SpaceNavigator is supported for Macintosh
I found it very helpful that Rhino and Rhinogold sell educational
versions for a couple of hundred dollars. Taking a class at F.I.T.
qualified. I don’t know if other programs offer this.
Hi Richard,
I’m in roughly the same boat as James: I’m installing (PC) Rhino on
my laptop. I use it to drive a large CNC mill, rather than a jewelry
scale system, so my needs are a bit different, but the program’s the
same.
What he’s talking about are the memory requirements for bootcamp, to
let the laptop run windows. Bootcamp (mac program) requires a
separate partition on the hard drive that it uses as a sort of
quarantine zone, to keep windows from contaminating the rest of the
system. If you boot into windows, the laptop runs windows directly,
so it is a PC, at least until you reset it. Windows runs within the
partitioned hard drive, and pretty much doesn’t know the rest of the
drive is there. But you need to partition the HD first, which can be
a right pain. (and you have to use the internal drive. It doesn’t
work if you run from an external drive.) You need a big enough drive
to give windows enough space to make itself happy, as well as having
a fully functioning MacOS, with enough room for all it’s toys too.
Thus the need to increase the HD space.
So the “memory” issues don’t have anything directly to do with
Rhino, it’s the tweaking required to get windows to run on a Mac
that’s causing all the fuss.
I’ve used the Mac beta of Rhino for the past year or so, with
limited success. At least in terms of what I was trying to do, it
wasn’t stable enough for me to want to commit to it. (and the CAM
package I’m using doesn’t work with the mac version anyway…)
Regards,
Brian
I have the solution…until there is a straight forward version of the
applications “that run on a Mac”, go with the PC. If you have a Mac,
go get a $800 or $900 pc built by a small computer shop guru. Then,
you can put in what you want, instead of buying straight off the
shelf or made for you stuff from majors. It will be cheaper as well.
Let the small shop do the hardware and OS system for your needs and
take the responsibility for it!
Russ
Thanks so much for all the feed back. Its been graeat hearing all
the different experience and experiences.
Thanks to Ganoksin crew for creating such a great venue to share.
I have a acquired a PC laptop that I will run an external display,
mouse and keypad so that I can get the feel for the demo and all the
jewelry plug ins and evaluate weather I can wrangle this software.
When and if I get the full version I will most likely load it onto my
new Macbook pro OS X 10.6.6 its got plenty of juice to run the whole
shooting match. After the partition and loading windows.
Will keep you posted !
Thanks again
JBF
www.jbfriedman.com
Or if you have a new Mac (Intel chipped) you can run Windows right on
the Mac…
John Dach
One more little thing that I learned. I started out with RhinoGold,
but when I first got it even the tutorials were beyond me (they are
now much improved, with lots of videos as well). So, I went back and
learned Rhino first–went step by step through the manual, used
online tutorials and videos (I think Lynda dot com even has Rhino
lessons now), and I’m so glad I did! When I finally got around to
using RhinoGold it made so much more sense to me, as did other plug
ins, such as T-Splines (my new favorite).
If funds are limited, I would start with just rhino to begin with,
and then add other plug ins. For what it’s worth
Beckie