who 'ere uses a mac
polycounter lvl 17
not the dirty variety, but I've been recently a little pissed off with my laptop and was thinking of playing for the other team, basically im debating over going all out on a new 17" of mac book pro and converting pretty much fully or just get a "cheapy" for travelling music etc etc and keeping my PC for "serious" stuff.
some questions to any users out there.
- does the single button mouse setup fuck you up? if you get a 2 button is it easy to re-configure programs
- how does the mac equivelant of maya/max shape up to the PC
- ive been having trouble finding out what(if any) moddable games (unreal etc) there are for the apple, any clues?
p.s if this should have been posted in tech talk please move it on up
some questions to any users out there.
- does the single button mouse setup fuck you up? if you get a 2 button is it easy to re-configure programs
- how does the mac equivelant of maya/max shape up to the PC
- ive been having trouble finding out what(if any) moddable games (unreal etc) there are for the apple, any clues?
p.s if this should have been posted in tech talk please move it on up
Replies
I haven't used the Mac equivalent of Maya. I don't think Max has a Mac version, but I'm fairly confident that Maya does. I would imagine it performs comparably to its Windows brethren. I've never really been big on using a laptop for modeling myself.
ID usually makes most of their games available for Mac at some point. And even if they don't fans eventually port them. So any ID engine-based games will likely run on the Mac. Ever since Mac switched over to Intel processors, the likelihood of Mac porting has risen. I know that there is a moddable 1st-person shooter engine for the Mac called Dim3. Try taking a look at that.
the mac maya isnt that bad, i used it a bit.
Maya's retarded in osx compared to the vista version (I've installed it twice). I find it slower. Nicer and cuter looking ui though.
Shipped with NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS and it works alright for me. Maya, Mud 2K9, PS CS4, Zbrush.
It's single? I thought the left and right were just hidden. Feels that way for me anyway. I use it the same as a conventional 3 button. Not an issue in Maya anyway. I thought at first it looked weak for modelling and considered getting a space navigator. But it turned out okay once you get used to it. No sore wrists.
Also it seems like shift+uparrow/downarrow does weird stuff on selections.
Don't forget to put your DVDs in the trash too haha!
I'm not too fond of it though. The OS hotkeys feel convoluted, you can't get under the hood, and Windows running on the same hardware will always be faster.
I'd say go with the aluminum Macbook (not the pro), it's beefy enough, cheaper, and way more portable than the Pro.
-edit- Oh yeah the next iteration of the OS should be a little trimmer, sort of like what MS is doing with Windows 7. Right now, my base OS X install is a whopping 20 gigs. Maybe hold off on that purchase til Snow Leopard's out.
Oh yeah and your life will turn into this movie:
Remember that any mac made in the last few years will run windows, so you can avoid any of those "but you better keep a PC too!" quotes. I can either run Windows at the same time as OSX for quick things, or boot fully into XP for the full windows experience.
The mac has been a 3 mouse button system for years under the hood, but shipped with a one button mouse. Plugging a 3 button mouse in has worked for years. As mentioned, it ships with what *looks* like a 1 buttons mouse, but is actually a 4 buttons mouse with 2-way scroll ball.
I don't like the mac mouse though, and use my 3 button wacom mouse since the table is there.
Art software? I own Photoshop, Zbrush 3 and Silo. I've had to run blender a few times, but I've never tried Maya. You can't get Max to run on OSX, but you can use Parallels to run it emulated, but only in OpenGL mode. I'd assume that Maya, XSI etc would be the same. I tried to run Zbrush 3 emulated via parallels, but at that time the emulator didn't support pressure sensitivity so I'd just boot into XP.
Never played anything but Peggle on my mac, but: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/software/games?mco=MjQyMTYwNQ
For what it's worth, pretty much half the character team use macs at home.
You can only run one Maya unlike windows
Zbrush 3.12 seems rather crash happy vs windows
The way finder works, I hate it. Having to refresh a network folder by creating a new file or folders not appearing at the top of a list is irritating as hell.
The dock, having programs show whether they are running or not - confusing, you cant see at a glance what firefox/safari pages are at if they arent minimized to it,
Also the way the menu for a program will appear at the top rather than attached to the program like windows is fairly annoying if you want to multitask with say photoshop next to maya, menus keep disappearing when you switch etc.
Finally the mouse acceleration annoys me the most, there was more but I forgot it and just woke up.
Most of these problems are minor but when you add them up, they do(at least for me) make me keep thinking about windows. You might not even have an issue with any of this, as I am the only one in my office who seems to
Oh snaps.
I'm on Windows, and I'd never leave it. Windows FTW!
im sold!
yeah see you soon rick
I don't know if it's still the case but Diskwarrior was an invaluable tool. That was my favorite thing about macs, the disc utilities ran a heckuvalot faster.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/feb/05/comment.media
I often see mac users complaining about getting shafted by developers for having to wait on ports, updates, or generally shitty versions compared to windows originals. Personally I think that if you choose your platform over your tools as a priority, you deserve what you get.
A port is not enough. The market for mac versions of popular windows gfx software is not as big. Therefore developers naturally put less resources towards porting or maintaining software on that platform. All the bitching and complaining in the world won't change that. It just makes you look dumb for choosing a platform over your tools. No offense to those who are happy with their mac/3d experience - this comment is not aimed at them.
Also, mac anti-fanboys are just as bad as any devoted apple zealot. Worse even. Hating on anything as irrelevant as software/hardware and those who use it is the height of douche-baggery. Get a hobby or something.
This is exactly what I do. I'm an interactive developer for a marketing agency, and most of my work is done on the Mac (lots of Photoshop, Flash, etc.) But I'm also the company's only dedicated 3D resource, so I have Win XP installed as well. I have Max 2009 on my Windows drive and Adobe Master Suite installed for both Mac and PC, so I can develop on whichever one I need (the only real issue is occasional font incompatibilities.) With one reboot, I can render a bunch of frames in Max and assemble them into a video in Final Cut.
The only downside to this is that the Windows installation can't read files from the Mac partition, so any work you do in OS X needs to be saved or copied into the WinXP partition before you switch over. Still, it's a pretty minor inconvenience compared to giving up 3DS Max and PC gaming altogether.
If you like Apple hardware and you want to give yourself as versatile a system as possible, I 100% recommend a dual boot Macbook Pro.
If I could only have one system I'd probably go this route myself. Like I said, love the platform, and I do wish that it was a more favorable one for 3d software development (maybe someday). Dual boot ftw.
Two imacs in our house now.... love them long time. Do it!!
On the other hand I will never understand why Apple does not release MacOSX for PC... I'll buy for 100$ because Vista Ultimate Release is way more expensive! But.. why to pay for the OS... I'm currently using a PC made by part and Ubuntu linux(which is free).
Just my 2 cents!
Also, why Apple doesnt release osX for PC? Well, Apple isnt in the business of selling osX, they are in the business of selling Macintosh computers and they are using their awesome os to coerce people into buying their expensive brand computers instead of generic pcs. If people could just buy the os and hope for the best, then less people would be inclined to buy their hardware. Simple as that.
However, you could just turn your pc into a Hackintosh if you wanted to, there are several guides online on how to install mac os on a PC.
Does this make me an Apple Zealot? Maaybe... but atleast I have a slick white computer with an apple on it.
I've got too many macs, currently planning my next purchase!!
(my whole office is mac based, even down to the servers)
Too much to say here, but yeah well done. I run max over parallels, works a treat. Cinema 4d for modelling which is osx native and well supported.
but i feel like will ferrel in step brothers, just wanting to put my sack on it.
yes it is .. apologies for that..
You want to drape your balls on a Mac?
you seam to have something against endangered species....bad man
...as though you haven't.