The Mac FAQ

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  • robertswwwrobertswww Posts: 790
    edited February 2022

    barrieM said:

    Thankyou @robertswww. I believe the steps described in that link assume you have Mojave installed on disk. My problem is that I can't find a way of getting Mojave onto the disk, Macuser explains that the full version of Mojave is hidden in the archives of the app store and a special link, provided by Macuser, will open a bootable version of Mojave. 

    @robertswww I have been talking to apple care and it looks like your link is the way to go. Its a scary procedure but I will try it out later.I was amazed at the Apple service.

    Thanks for your help.

    @barrieM I am not sure why the MacUser Mojave download link did not work out for you.  But, the MacKeeper way is not too scary, as you are just giving your Mac permission to boot from an external drive. When I go to the following link (below), I am taken to the Mac App Store and I have the "GET" button available to download Mojave (see attachment). After you download the file, just follow the MacKeeper STEP 2. Create a macOS Mojave bootable installer, and you should be good to go after you uninstall Catalina and then boot Mojave off your external drive to install it via Set Up Assistant. You can do it!  I agree, that Mac tech phone support is usually quite good.

    Download macOS Mojave:
    https://apps.apple.com/app/macos-mojave/id1398502828

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    Post edited by robertswww on
  • 3Don3Don Posts: 690
    edited February 2022

    robertswww said:

    @3Don Try this for your 3Delight error...

    Open the DAZ Studio Prefs, then Click the ellipsis (...) button next to the Temporary Files path to open the link. 
    NOTE: You can also navigate there manually, but the folder is normally Hidden in the Mac Finder. Hold down ATL key while you click the Go menu to show the Library folder.

    A new window should open (ex. /Users/you/Library/Application Support/DAZ 3D/Studio4/temp), Inside the Temp folder open the Shaders folder and remove the Brickyard folder (Note: deleting everything in the Brickyard folder will force DS to recompile/rebuild the shaders in use). Render again.

    For M1 Mac News, check this thread:
    https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/519166/mac-is-back/p1

    Should I remove the whole Brickyard folder or just the contents?

    Once either is removed will it need to be archived for later use?

    * I deleted just the contents of the Brickyard file, 1 file. Re-rendering in 3DL I saw i saw the shaders rebuilding. But, no effect on the render. I get a small render of a strip of white background at the top & then it freezes up. This happens with skin textures & simple color-only skins.

    Post edited by 3Don on
  • barrieMbarrieM Posts: 292

    In my setup with Catalina and DS 4.15: Nvidia Rendering from the draw style menu worked OK but rendering from the render settings tab produced an immediate crash. --- I thought it was caused by a memory problem.

    Current setup with High Sierra and DS 4.12 produces the exact results outlined above. I tried it with one character with plenty of spare memory and it crashed again.

    I suspect my computer is the problem. Is there a way I can check the hardware of my iMac 2013?

  • @3Don Removing just the contents of the Brickyard folder is fine... no need to archive the file as DS will generate a new replacement file. 

    Since that fix did not work for your error... 3Delight message #140 (Severity 1): R0531: unsupported hit mode 'transparent'

    The problem is most likely with "transparency" of an item in your scene. You will need to find the item that has transparency applied and switch the Opacity off (i.e. 0).  Then try and re-render and see if that fixes it.

    NOTE: The HumanSurfaceShader (HSS) can also generate the transparency error... let us know if you are using HSS.

  • 3Don3Don Posts: 690
    edited February 2022

    robertswww said:

    @3Don Removing just the contents of the Brickyard folder is fine... no need to archive the file as DS will generate a new replacement file. 

    Since that fix did not work for your error... 3Delight message #140 (Severity 1): R0531: unsupported hit mode 'transparent'

    The problem is most likely with "transparency" of an item in your scene. You will need to find the item that has transparency applied and switch the Opacity off (i.e. 0).  Then try and re-render and see if that fixes it.

    NOTE: The HumanSurfaceShader (HSS) can also generate the transparency error... let us know if you are using HSS.

    Thanx for the new tip, Roberts. I will give it a try.

    Post edited by Richard Haseltine on
  • barrieMbarrieM Posts: 292

    I am looking for a GPU for my mac mini. What are the GPU requirements for DS iray rendering?

    I am considering a Blackmagic eGPU it has a Radeon Pro 580 graphics processor with 8GB of GDDR5 memory.  Is this OK for iray rendering?                 

  • wsterdanwsterdan Posts: 2,348

    barrieM said:

    I am looking for a GPU for my mac mini. What are the GPU requirements for DS iray rendering?

    I am considering a Blackmagic eGPU it has a Radeon Pro 580 graphics processor with 8GB of GDDR5 memory.  Is this OK for iray rendering?                 

    No , it absolutely has to be an NVIDIA card to access the GPU for rendering.

    -- Walt 

  • 3Don3Don Posts: 690
    edited February 2022

    robertswww said:

    @3Don Removing just the contents of the Brickyard folder is fine... no need to archive the file as DS will generate a new replacement file. 

    Since that fix did not work for your error... 3Delight message #140 (Severity 1): R0531: unsupported hit mode 'transparent'

    The problem is most likely with "transparency" of an item in your scene. You will need to find the item that has transparency applied and switch the Opacity off (i.e. 0).  Then try and re-render and see if that fixes it.

    NOTE: The HumanSurfaceShader (HSS) can also generate the transparency error... let us know if you are using HSS.

    Transparency issues did indeed seem to be the problem. Mostly from hair & clothing textures, along with current G8 models/add-ons, I often use much older assets, G1-3 + some V4 & M4 assets. Those can trip me up. thanx for all advise!

    Post edited by Richard Haseltine on
  • 3Don3Don Posts: 690
    edited February 2022

    I am wondering if I have a Mac/DS conflict. I’ve had a lot of freeze-ups & force-quits with renders after some system changes.
    I had been running DS 4.9.4.122 on Mac 10.10.3 Yosemite. I upgraded my OS to High Sierra 10.13.6. still running DS 4.9.4.122.
    DS does not seem to run well on High Sierra. Previously I could render files in the 10’s of MB pretty well. Now the crashes are files at 5-10 MB. Also, I am having Transparancy issue “warnings” in renders. Mostly these have been in 3DL. I have not run any Iray renders yet.
    Previous renders were full of old & new figure & prop content. The renders  that are crashing are groups of 13 figures or so that are all identical. Figure, hair, skin, and pose are all the same. So, it seems like a render should be a breeze!
    This all also relates to some posts just above this one.
    Any Ideas?

    Post edited by 3Don on
  • inquireinquire Posts: 2,201
    edited February 2022

    What about DAZ Studio 4.20? Just saw it today. Should I download it? (See screen shot.) I'm running OS 10.15.7 (Catalina) on a Power Mac, late 2013 edition. Still running DS 4.16.0.3. Will version 4.20 be safe to download; i.e., will it have new problems? Will it be better in some way?

    I'm guessing that most of you have seen this, but here is a link to the blog touting the benefits of DS 4.20: https://blog.daz3d.com/daz-studio-4-20-volumetric-clouds-smoke-and-fire-effects/

     

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    Post edited by inquire on
  • PlatnumkPlatnumk Posts: 669

    inquire said:

    What about DAZ Studio 4.20? Just saw it today. Should I download it? (See screen shot.) I'm running OS 10.15.7 (Catalina) on a Power Mac, late 2013 edition. Still running DS 4.16.0.3. Will version 4.20 be safe to download; i.e., will it have new problems? Will it be better in some way?

    I'm guessing that most of you have seen this, but here is a link to the blog touting the benefits of DS 4.20: https://blog.daz3d.com/daz-studio-4-20-volumetric-clouds-smoke-and-fire-effects/

     

    So far so good,  Haven't had any major problems yet.  The main change for mac users is GPU Rendering has been disbaled do to the lack of CUDA,  THe other change is the addition of iRay Volumetrics  using OpenVDB Objs

  • Platnumk said:

    inquire said:

    What about DAZ Studio 4.20? Just saw it today. Should I download it? (See screen shot.) I'm running OS 10.15.7 (Catalina) on a Power Mac, late 2013 edition. Still running DS 4.16.0.3. Will version 4.20 be safe to download; i.e., will it have new problems? Will it be better in some way?

    I'm guessing that most of you have seen this, but here is a link to the blog touting the benefits of DS 4.20: https://blog.daz3d.com/daz-studio-4-20-volumetric-clouds-smoke-and-fire-effects/

     

    So far so good,  Haven't had any major problems yet.  The main change for mac users is GPU Rendering has been disbaled do to the lack of CUDA,  THe other change is the addition of iRay Volumetrics  using OpenVDB Objs

    You might want to check the highlights thread https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/528771 and the change log http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/change_log_4_20_0_2

  • inquireinquire Posts: 2,201
    edited February 2022

    Thanks, Richard. Have been reading in those.

    There do appear to be problems, esp. with ghost lights, which I use. What about the Public Beta of 4.20. I could keep 4.16 and also have the Public Beta of 4.20, right? Is the Public Beta any less reliable than the fully released version?

    Post edited by inquire on
  • 3Don3Don Posts: 690

    3Don said:

    I am wondering if I have a Mac/DS conflict. I’ve had a lot of freeze-ups & force-quits with renders after some system changes.
    I had been running DS 4.9.4.122 on Mac 10.10.3 Yosemite. I upgraded my OS to High Sierra 10.13.6. still running DS 4.9.4.122.
    DS does not seem to run well on High Sierra. Previously I could render files in the 10’s of MB pretty well. Now the crashes are files at 5-10 MB. Also, I am having Transparancy issue “warnings” in renders. Mostly these have been in 3DL. I have not run any Iray renders yet.
    Previous renders were full of old & new figure & prop content. The renders  that are crashing are groups of 13 figures or so that are all identical. Figure, hair, skin, and pose are all the same. So, it seems like a render should be a breeze!
    This all also relates to some posts just above this one.
    Any Ideas?

    I did run an Iray render, which came out fair. No  crashes or freeze-ups.

  • @3Don My guess is that your render crashing problems are related to RAM issues.  How much RAM does your Mac system have?
    13-figures is a lot since you are rendering only via CPU. If you need a lot of the same figure, instances will help save memory, such as this Daz product...

    Instances Plus+ for Daz Studio
    https://www.daz3d.com/instances-plus-for-daz-studio

  • 3Don3Don Posts: 690
    edited February 2022

    robertswww said:

    @3Don My guess is that your render crashing problems are related to RAM issues.  How much RAM does your Mac system have?
    13-figures is a lot since you are rendering only via CPU. If you need a lot of the same figure, instances will help save memory, such as this Daz product...

    Instances Plus+ for Daz Studio
    https://www.daz3d.com/instances-plus-for-daz-studioz

    8 GB in Hi Sierra. The 12-17 figures are all the same figure, hair, & a bodysuit. Simple lighting. Iray worx better than 2DL, but will quit after a Save. I will look into instances. I have a new Mac with M1 chip but not yet fully set up. thanx.

    Post edited by Richard Haseltine on
  • leemoon_c43b45a114leemoon_c43b45a114 Posts: 866
    edited February 2022

    Pardon this suggestion if you're already aware of it...

    You can check on RAM usage on your Mac by running Activity Monitor from the Applications->Utilities folder.  

    In Activity Monitor, select the Memory tab (it may be displaying CPU, Energy, or one of the other metrics.). Below that, you can sort by Memory (it's the second column on my Activity Monitor) to see which processes are using the most RAM.  Look for DAZ Studio and see how much it's using.  Also, at the bottom of the Activity Monitor display, you can see how much total RAM is being used and how much you're swapping using the SSD (storage).

    That's a very rudimentary overview of using Activity Monitor to see what's using RAM and virtual memory (SSD).

    I hope that helps provide clues to what you're experiencing, 3Don.

    Lee

     

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    Post edited by leemoon_c43b45a114 on
  • RuthvenRuthven Posts: 653

    3Don said:

    I am wondering if I have a Mac/DS conflict. I’ve had a lot of freeze-ups & force-quits with renders after some system changes.
    I had been running DS 4.9.4.122 on Mac 10.10.3 Yosemite. I upgraded my OS to High Sierra 10.13.6. still running DS 4.9.4.122.
    DS does not seem to run well on High Sierra. Previously I could render files in the 10’s of MB pretty well. Now the crashes are files at 5-10 MB. Also, I am having Transparancy issue “warnings” in renders. Mostly these have been in 3DL. I have not run any Iray renders yet.
    Previous renders were full of old & new figure & prop content. The renders  that are crashing are groups of 13 figures or so that are all identical. Figure, hair, skin, and pose are all the same. So, it seems like a render should be a breeze!
    This all also relates to some posts just above this one.
    Any Ideas?

    Daz 4.12.0.86 on my mid 2010 mac Pro with High Sierra works fine. 4.15 also more or less does, but I'm still keeping 4.12 too just to be sure I can go back if needed. 32Gb of Ram, Grafic card is a ATI, so Iray goes by CPU.

    A user I know who uses DAZ professionaly for animation (but he works on a PC and uses 3Dealigth) is remaining on 4.12 because he says later versions are very buggy and have issues that are not getting fixed.

    So, I guess, you could update Daz some version more (just keep a backup of previous installers!) and see how it's going.

    If you didn't download and keep backups of installers erliear than 4.20 you could try opening a support ticket and ask if they can send you one, because you need to check what versions your build can support.

    I dare suggest increasing the RAM, if you can, may be quite helpful.

  • 3Don3Don Posts: 690

    Thanx for the input! I will check into  these suggestions.

  • 3Don3Don Posts: 690

    3Don said:

    Thanx for the input! I will check into  these suggestions.

    OK. I checked the Activity Monitor. I see DS uses around 240 MB of memory. App Memory is 2.19 GB & Wired Memory is 1.11 GB. Can I incerase RAM for DS use? How? I am not sure what these stats mean. (I  had to give up my Mac Geek-ness a long time ago...). Attached are Activity Monitor screen caps for Memory & CPU.

    I sure do appreciate the input.

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  • 3Don3Don Posts: 690

    I dunno  how that type came out so big... OOOOPs

  • RuthvenRuthven Posts: 653

    I think Mac OS automatically assigns RAM to the apps when needed; if there's a way to tell the system to give them some more, I guess it would be by command line, but how to make is beyond my knowledge. Your screenshot shows the memory usage at a certain moment in time, but depending on the operations the app is performing, it may grow bigger, so expecially if you have other apps running it's possible that sometimes it gets slower. 

  • supernoobsupernoob Posts: 154

    I'm just about to copy DS across to my new Mac but wanted to check something with you guys first.

    I have two similar folders that live in different places which I'm unsure about...

    1)
    Macintosh HD > Users > My Name > Library > Application Support > DAZ3D.
    This folder is 2.7GB and contains around 5000 items.
    It was created when I first installed Daz (2016) and it says it was last modified 2017.
    Folders include: cms (1.7GB), dson (950MB), install manager, studio4.
    Within cms is a folder called 'Content Cluster', which has several items with a 'modified' date matching the last time I used Daz.

    2)
    Macintosh HD > Library > Application Support > DAZ3D.
    This folder is 610MB and contains around 2000 items.
    It was created on the same date as the one above but 20 minutes later. And says it was last modified 2018.
    Folders are the same as above but much smaller. cms (500MB), dson (100MB).
    Everything contained in 'Content Cluster' show a 'modified' date in 2017.

    Why are these exist as separate folders? Is it a bad install?
    More importantly, do I need to copy both of these folders across to my new Mac?
    And is there anything else I need to copy across or does that cover it?

    My entire library is on an external SSD so that doesn't need copying.

  • robertswwwrobertswww Posts: 790

    @supernoob On my older Mac, all of the important Daz files were stored under: /Users/username/Library/Application Support/DAZ 3D/ (i.e. Your Option 1 above).

    So I would try only using your Option 1 with your new Mac, since that Daz 3D folder contains the CMS database, etc. If your new Mac has any issues, you can still keep your option 2 files as a backup.

  • inquireinquire Posts: 2,201

    Well, the Application Support folder is in a totally different place. My guess (I'm no guru) is that it is needed.

  • supernoobsupernoob Posts: 154

    Thanks, I did a fresh install and it appears that installing both of these is normal. Seems to be working as well as Daz usually does.

  • robertswwwrobertswww Posts: 790

    @supernoob Glad to hear your new Mac install went well! Let us know if you run into any issues down-the-road.

  • supernoobsupernoob Posts: 154
    edited March 2022

    robertswww said:

    @supernoob Glad to hear your new Mac install went well! Let us know if you run into any issues down-the-road.

    I genuinely didn't expect to have Daz working within the first month (if at all) so I'm pleasantly surprised :)

    The difference between my old (2014) Macbook Pro and this M1 Max is ridiculous, even without a supported GPU (I assume) it must be hundreds of times faster.

    What I really need are some suggestions of things to try out, things that weren't possible before (even dforce hair wasn't possible). Are there any cool new features that I might not know about? I've been away from Daz since before that filament thing arrived.

    And for anyone wondering, Daz seems to work pretty well on the latest Monterey update. Most annoying issue I've found is that my custom layout and toolbars reset every time I close it - if anyone has a solution for this I'd be very grateful.

    Post edited by supernoob on
  • robertswwwrobertswww Posts: 790

    @supernoob That is really good to hear that there have been big speed increases on the Mac platform! By the way, Apple has an event scheduled for tomorrow (Tue 10am PST/1pm EST) where they will probably announce the M2 chip and possibly the new Power Mac Desktop computers.

    As far as things in Daz that are demaning... dForce is one item that you already mentioned. iRay rendering a dark scene is also very demanding. HD Characters that have sub-D level set above Base Resolution can be very demanding. Crowd scenes with multiple characters can be demanding to render.  What version of Daz Studio are you running? If it's the latest version 4.20, then you also have Volumetric rendering (VDB) which can be demanding.

    As far as the workspace custom layouts not being saved... that is a known bug and it's fixed in the latest Beta version, so it should be out in the next general release update.

  • inquireinquire Posts: 2,201

    I'm getting excited about the new Mac Studio: https://www.apple.com/mac-studio/specs/  The M1 Ultra with 64 Core GPU, 128 GB Unified Memory and 4TB SSD Storage is $6799. The Studio Display would be $1599. So, $8398 would do it for me.

    But how much of an improvement would this be over the Power Mac, late 2013 edition, which I now have, with a Thunderbird display? Would the iRay rendering be faster, and by how much? What about Volumetrics? dForce? Characters rendered at 4 or 5 high resolution?

    And will DAZ Studio version ??? run well on this? That's what makes me stop. It's not the pricing. But, I really do want to know. Does anyone have informaiton about these just released items?

     

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