SilverCity

Yes, I'm wondering if the beta builds are being tested on Lion and whether we should upgrade for better stability. I'm still having some issues where a force quit will cause the entire system to go down. Is Lion better at handling these crashes and freezes?

UPDATE: Good news, this time. Here's what I did: 1. Uninstalled the Mac CUDA drivers (I actually thought I had tried this before, but can't remember if I did or not). 2. Updated to the latest NVIDIA driver: http://www.nvidia.com/object/quadro-macosx-256.01.00f03v7-driver.html Now, according to the release notes (Please note that if you are running the Quadro FX 4800 for Mac or the GeForce GTX 285, you do not need to upgrade to this driver), this upgrade has no changes for the GTX 285. I upgraded anyway, even though I had the previous latest driver installed. So, maybe the CUDA drivers were the problem. I assumed that since 3D-Coat for Mac didn't utilize the CUDA architecture, I was okay having the drivers installed on my Mac. I tested force quitting with 3DC 3.5.08A, since I can always freeze the app with the Clone with Symmetry command. 3 times I was able to force quit 3DC with no effect to the OS. Hopefully I solved my problem, but I think more testing with the latest builds will be needed until I'm totally satisfied.

Sergyi, I can get 3DC to freeze using the default green shader. My main concern is that force quitting 3DC will cause my system OS to freeze, requiring a hard shutdown. Now, instead of powering down from the power button, I ssh from another computer to restart the frozen machine. While this is safer, it still takes time away from doing actual work. I have a feeling that maybe my graphics card is not compatible with 3DC. I'm looking at either the ATI Radeon HD 5770 or 5870 as possible replacements. Anyone have experience with these cards and 3DC?

Yep, I heard that there can be issues with USB hubs, but so far it hasn't been a problem. Update 2: I restarted in Safe Mode (enables only essential kernel extensions), and tested 3DC. I was able to consistently hang 3DC and force quit with NO freezing problems to the OS. 3DC, however, ran really sluggishly and screen redraw was a problem. My voxel objects kept vanishing on me until I refresh the view. Cinema 4D, on the other hand, while slower than normal, was not noticeably affected by Safe Mode. Maybe someone with a better knowledge of Mac OS X and 3DC can figure out what's going on here.

Update: I installed a fresh copy of OS X 10.6 on a partition of one of my internal drives and tested 3DC (3.5.08A) once again. I'm still getting the same freezing behavior of both 3DC and the OS. I'm able to move my cursor, but the screen is frozen. Keyboard input is dead as well. Perhaps my hardware setup is causing me problems. However, I also use Cinema 4D, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc., and I've never had such a problem where an app would cause my OS to hang like this.

ADDITIONAL HARDWARE: Wacom Intuos3 (6.1.5-2 driver), Lynksys USB 2.0 Hub GTX 285 Driver Version: 1.6.24.17 (256.00.15f04) CUDA Driver Version: 3.2.17 I've tried the last few beta builds, the last one being 3.5.08A. This will occur when 3DC is the only app open. I do have some 3rd party system helpers (FinderPop, Butler, Growl), but I've quit them all and it doesn't help. My last resort would be to do a fresh install of OS X and 3DC on an external HD and test from there. I'm hoping I won't have to do this, however.

BUILD: 3.5.05 and the latest beta builds OS: Mac OS X 10.6.5 HARDWARE: 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon Mac Pro, 16 GB ram, NVIDIA GTX 285 BUG DESCRIPTION: Any time 3DC freezes, and I need to force quit, my entire system freezes and I need to do a hard shutdown. Console records no messages except that 3D-Coat has been terminated. For some reason, 3DC can't be force quit cleanly without it affecting the OS.

Psmith, thanks for these terrific tutorials. While I've seen a lot of videos detailing each aspect of 3DC, a quick start tutorial like yours, covering the complete workflow, was really needed. I also appreciate the great video/audio quality. I hope you'll continue to do more tutorials.

I've only recently started to use 3DC and this has happened to me twice today. All it takes is some voxel sculpting on a basic head with very little detail. I'll quickly smooth an area and then rotate the scene. I get a freeze of 3DC and then when I try to force quit, my machine freezes and I have to shutdown. My only Console message is: 12/29/10 4:29:43 AM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[132] ([0x0-0x18e18e].com.yourcompany.3D-Coat[6184]) Exited: Terminated This is with the latest Mac beta, Mac OS X 10.6.5, Mac Pro 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core, 16 GB ram.

If 3.0 is stable and works as described, then $200.00 is a very reasonable price. Consider all the free support on this forum and the constant bug fixes. Some major 3D apps put out very few updates, and rarely have any communication with the user base. Maybe you should sell 2 versions. Pro (full featured) and Limited (without volumetric sculpting or limited in other ways).

Don't worry about it, Andrew. I'll buy whether it is PPC or Intel. I was going to wait until the new Mac Pro's were released to upgrade my Mac, but that may not be until next year sometime, so I may just get one of the current models. A stable Intel version is more important right now. Any idea of when you will start selling Mac licenses, and will the price be the same as for the Windows version?

Thanks for the fast porting to the Mac platform. Do you have plans to make this a UB app? Currently, this is an Intel only app. This shouldn't be too difficult since most Mac apps are UB at this point. There are also a lot of users who still are using PPC Macs. I plan on upgrading to a new Mac Pro later this year, but I'd like to start using 3D-Coat now. Keep up the great work!

Most Mac programs (Photoshop, etc.) use the command key (the one with the apple icon) instead of the CTRL key. Also, a UB application should work on a PPC machine. I have a G5 Mac, and I run UB versions of Photoshop and Cinema 4D.

Looking forward to trying 3D Coat. Thanks for taking on the challenge of offering a Mac version. I wish all apps were available in OS X. This is changing all the time, though.

I'd also like to see a Mac version. If 3D-Coat is as good as it seems, you'll have very little competition in the Mac market. Both ZBrush 3 and Mudbox are PC only at this point. If you want a cheap Mac machine, consider getting a refurbished Mac mini. They go for less than $500.00.