The Mac FAQ

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  • robertswwwrobertswww Posts: 790

    @inquire I think Daz Studio will do quite well on the new Mac Studio with M1 Ultra chip (if you can afford it). Because, it can use up to 128GB towards graphics processing and it is extremely fast and energy efficient. Faster than many high-end discrete GPU cards.  And, don't forget they hinted that there will be a more powerful Mac Pro desktop computer coming out sometime in the near-future.

    Some key data highlights from Apple's March 8th, 2022 event...

    Recap: https://www.apple.com/apple-events/march-2022/ (video timestamps below)

    Mac Studio with M1 Ultra highlights:

    Memory Bandwidth = 800 GB/sec (@28:50)

    Up to 128GB of Unified Memory (@29:02 and @43:00)

    20-core CPU (@29:11)

    64-core GPU with 21 teraflops up to 196,608 concurrent threads (@29:20)

    Up to 22 trillion operations per second (@29:31)

    200 Watts less power than the highest-end discrete GPU (@30:44)

    90% faster CPU than Mac Pro 16-core Xeon (@41:58)
    60% faster CPU than Mac Pro 28-core Xeon (@42:08)

    80% faster GPU than Mac Pro with Radeon Pro W6900X (@42:29)

    Up to 4.5x faster GPU performance...

    Test Computers:
    Preproduction Mac Studio systems with Apple M1 Ultra, 20-core CPU, 64-core GPU, and 128GB of RAM.
      vs.
    Production 3.2GHz 16-core Intel Xeon W-based Mac Pro systems with 192GB of RAM, AMD Radeon Pro W5700X graphics with 16GB of GDDR6, configured with Afterburner and 4TB SSD.
      vs.
    Production 3.6GHz 10-core Intel Core i9-based 27-inch iMac systems with Radeon Pro 5700 XT graphics with 16GB of GDDR6, 128GB of RAM, and 8TB SSD. 

  • inquire said:

    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?

     

    I'm looking at the same Mac Studio and Studio Display configuration as you are, inquire. In my case, I'll be waiting for some hands-on reviews of these new systems before I decide to buy one.  i'm highly encouraged by what Apple announced.

    M1 Ultra still won't be anywhere near as fast with Iray rendering compared to Nvidia GPUs since Iray doesn't make use of the Apple Silicon GPUs.  However, I'm not particularly worried about CPU-only Iray rendering on my 2 M1 Macs, as I don't do complex scenes (my scenes render in the 2 to 20 minute range depending on final render/image size.)  If your Power Mac is able to use its Nvidia GPU with Iray, then you might be disappointed with any Apple Silicon system.  Since I've not had a Mac with Nvidia GPU in some years, I have only experienced Iray CPU rendering in DS.  Thus, my recent Apple Silicon Macs are great leaps forward compared to my 10+ year old iMac and i5 Mac mini.  My guess is that M1 Ultra would be nicely quicker at rendering than my Intel i9 16" MacBook Pro that's a bit faster than both of my M1 Macs with Iray rendering.

    If you have a chance to run the DS Iray benchmark scene on your Power Mac, that might be helpful to see how your system compares to other systems.  I submitted the results for one of my M1 Macs some weeks ago.  I don't recall the thread in the forums, but it has the scene to download.

    I know this isn't much help, but wanted to add my Mac enthusiasm and excitement for the new Macs.  As you mentioned earlier, it would be great to have an Iray materials/lighting converter to a Metal/Apple Silicon render engine (Cycles?, etc.)

    Lee

  • supernoobsupernoob Posts: 154

    robertswww said:

    @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.

    Thank you, many system-breaking things to try! Yes, I'm on 4.20 so I'll have a look at that too.
    Thanks for the info, that layouts bug is annoying as hell .

     

  • inquireinquire Posts: 2,201

    snarlygibbly, or whatever his name is, has the product EZskin3 out: https://www.cgbytes.com/store/sku/54044_EZSkin-3

    It's free, it's fast, and it does a wonderful job of converting Poser Firefly shaders into Superfly shaders. I've also used the previous product, EZskin2. So, a really good shader render script (It's a python script) is doable. I'm just hoping that someone with the know-how will make one to convert iRay shaders into Metal. And, of course, I'm hoping DAZ will add the option to render in Metal, at least for the Mac version of DS, to version 5. As leemoon suggests above, perhaps a script to convert iRay shaders to Cycles shaders also.

  • Hey Folks,

     I will ask over here in the Mac arena, probably should have poked around here first.

    I am working on a an old iMac (mid 2011) running 10.12 Sierra, this is the highest OSX version this iMac will run on.

    So, the question is...Will any version of Daz beyond 4.16 work on this system.

    Foolishly, I update to 4.20.xx.xx and have lost all iRay rendering ability. Unable to to revert back to 4.16, where everything worked fine. 

    Contacting the Help desk resulted in a no help situation.

    I hate the thought of completely abandoning Daz as I have been been using this since the days of Vickey1.0, spent several hundred dollars of products,

    The inability to obtain a downgrade version of software seems rather odd, IMO. I just cannot justify purchasing a NEW system.

    Just hoping to see if someone can shed some light on this, I cannot be the only one with this issue.

    Thank, Scott

     

     

  • robertswwwrobertswww Posts: 790

    @Synpainter Scott, one thinig to try is to clear the Daz Studio temp and DSON cache by emptying the Temp and Cache folders here:
       Username/Library/Application Support/DAZ 3D/Studio4/temp
       Username/Library/Application Support/DAZ 3D/dson/cache
    Then restart Daz Studio and try iRay rendering via the Mac CPU again.

    I do wish Daz would keep an older archive of Daz Studio files available for its user base. 

    According to Daz, the Mac System Requirements for the latest version of Daz Studio are: Mac OS X 10.12 or above
    https://helpdaz.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003568443-What-are-the-System-Requirements-to-run-Daz-Studio-

    If clearing the Temp and Cache files did not fix your iRay rendering problem, you should be able to open a support ticket and request an older version of Daz Studio here: https://www.daz3d.com/help
    Submit a support ticket directly here: https://helpdaz.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new 

  • Thanks for the reply Robert!

    I have tried the clearing out the stated caches, no good luck there.

    I did make contact and had a support ticket and requested a downgrade, the response, while reasonably fast, was unproductive, as I was basically told there is no available back versions available for download.

    I appreciate you taking the time to respond :)

    Will just sit back and rack my brains, what little is left, on trying to understand what has happened here.

    Thanks!

    Scott

     

  • inquireinquire Posts: 2,201

    Did you happen to back up the files that installed version 4.16 of DS? If not, do you have a backup of your HD, on which those files might be found?

  • @  Robertswww,

    After 4 or so hours of gaggling through my directories and folders, I opted to to reinstall my OSX, and reinstall DS 4.20.06.

    Now I am not completely sure what or where the issues are hiding, but the up side is that everything is working well. 

    It was a bit more than I had anticipated, time wise, but it is a positive outcome.

     

    @ Inquire

    No, i had not backed up 4.16, unfortunatley, I have however completed a COMPLETE HD Backup, now that I have everything fresh and working again.

     

    Thank you both very much for replying to my questions

    Much appreciated

    Scott

  • robertswwwrobertswww Posts: 790

    @Synpainter That is great news Scott!  Maybe your old install of Daz Studio messed with the update you had previously done.  Regardless, that is good news that the fresh install worked and Daz Studio 4.20 is now working for you... enjoy rendering in iRay again!

  • Hey all! Just a quick one! I'm currently running daz 4.15 on the latest version of macos. Runs great! 
    Was wondering how things run with Daz 4.20? I tend to hold off updating for a bit just in case anything breaks. 

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,961

    bevdog896_d08d9c913a said:

    Hey all! Just a quick one! I'm currently running daz 4.15 on the latest version of macos. Runs great! 
    Was wondering how things run with Daz 4.20? I tend to hold off updating for a bit just in case anything breaks. 

    There have been a couple of significant chnages to Iray, affecting emissive surfaces with opacity below 1 (in whole or in part) and thin film. You might want to read the beta threads to understand what is happening.

  • 3Don3Don Posts: 690

    I am running DAZStudio_4.9.4.122_Mac64 on OSX High Sierra 10.13.6 (2013).
    I found I had a DL of DAZStudio_4.10.0.107_Mac64 (2017).

    Can I upgrade DS 4.10 to High Sierra?
    Will DS 4.10 run on Monterey OS on the new Macs?

    As it has been about 9 years since I upgraded DS I need a “refresher” reminder.
    Do I:
    Delete DS 4.9 from Applications, Double click the DAZStudio_4.10.0.107_Mac64.app icon, and it loads, referencing my content  library automatically (or by specification)?

  • robertswwwrobertswww Posts: 790
    edited March 2022

    3Don said:

    I am running DAZStudio_4.9.4.122_Mac64 on OSX High Sierra 10.13.6 (2013).
    I found I had a DL of DAZStudio_4.10.0.107_Mac64 (2017).

    Can I upgrade DS 4.10 to High Sierra?
    Will DS 4.10 run on Monterey OS on the new Macs?

    As it has been about 9 years since I upgraded DS I need a “refresher” reminder.
    Do I:
    Delete DS 4.9 from Applications, Double click the DAZStudio_4.10.0.107_Mac64.app icon, and it loads, referencing my content  library automatically (or by specification)?

     @3Don I found these 2 comments from @Totte here in The Mac FAQ (pg. 33):
    https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/16599/the-mac-faq/p33

         You can run DS 4.10 and 4.11 on OS X 10.12. Usually issues has to do with your (or Apples) security settings.
         I would recommend running 4.11 as ir has a newer Iray version.

         I run macOS 10.13.6 + DS 4.11 and GTX 1070 on my nVidia based machine so it would most likely work.

    So it sounds like Daz Studio 4.10 will most likely run on High Sierra. However, I doubt DS 4.10 will run on Monterey on the new Macs, as too much of the OS has changed, so you would need a newer/later version of DS.

    Before you change anything, make sure you back-up all of your Daz Studio 4.9 files including the DS installer (.zip), Content DB-->Export User Data (i.e. custom categories and tags), CMS database (Daz 3D folder, AppData, etc.), and so on.

    Daz Studio does not automatically reference your content library you will have to set it in:  Daz Preferences -> Content Tab -> Content Directory Manager  (Note: Grab a screenshot of your current CDM settings).

    If you are using Daz Install Manager (DIM) then use it to uninstall Daz Studio. Otherwise to uninstall Daz Studio / Delete Daz Studio... follow these Windows PC steps, but adjust for Mac directories:
    https://helpdaz.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360055963392-How-do-I-uninstall-delete-Daz-Studio-


    BTW, I found this online for the System Requirements For DAZ Studio Pro 4.10 Mac...

    32 bit:
    Intel Macintosh
    1٫6 GHz min (1.8 GHz or faster recommended)
    Mac OS X 10.6 or above
    1 GB RAM min (2GB recommended)
    1GB free hard drive space for installation
    OpenGL 1.6 compatible graphics card with at least 128 MB RAM (Hardware accelerated OpenGL 2.2, or higher, compatible recommended with 256MB+ RAM)

    64 bit:
    Intel Macintosh
    2٫00 GHz Core 2 Duo (2.4 GHz or faster recommended)
    Mac OS X 10.6 or above
    2 GB RAM min (3GB+ recommended)
    1 GB free hard drive space for installation
    OpenGL 1.6 compatible graphics card with at least 128 MB RAM

    Post edited by robertswww on
  • 3Don3Don Posts: 690

    Wow! Thanx for all the input. I will give it a go as soon as I can.

  • Richard Haseltine said:

    bevdog896_d08d9c913a said:

    Hey all! Just a quick one! I'm currently running daz 4.15 on the latest version of macos. Runs great! 
    Was wondering how things run with Daz 4.20? I tend to hold off updating for a bit just in case anything breaks. 

    There have been a couple of significant chnages to Iray, affecting emissive surfaces with opacity below 1 (in whole or in part) and thin film. You might want to read the beta threads to understand what is happening.

    Ok thanks, I'll look into it :) 

  • 3Don3Don Posts: 690
    edited March 2022

    3Don said:

    I am running DAZStudio_4.9.4.122_Mac64 on OSX High Sierra 10.13.6 (2013).
    I found I had a DL of DAZStudio_4.10.0.107_Mac64 (2017).

    Can I upgrade DS 4.10 to High Sierra?
    Will DS 4.10 run on Monterey OS on the new Macs?

    As it has been about 9 years since I upgraded DS I need a “refresher” reminder.
    Do I:
    Delete DS 4.9 from Applications, Double click the DAZStudio_4.10.0.107_Mac64.app icon, and it loads, referencing my content  library automatically (or by specification)?

    Reading theUninstall DS for PC I see quite a few steps & file names/types that do not relate to Mac.
    I do not use the DAZ DIM or any auto-installers. I always load manually (including all content, as I like to see what is what & where it goes). I have done this with both Poser & DS since Poser3 & DS1.
    To repeat myself: “Do I: Delete DS 4.9 from Applications, Double click the DAZStudio_4.10.0.107_Mac64.app icon, and it loads, referencing my content  library automatically (or by specification)?”
    That is how I recall the process. Simple & fast in a few steps.Reading theUninstall DS for PC I see quite a few steps & file names/types that do not relate to Mac.
    I do not use the DAZ DIM or any auto-installers. I always load manually (including all content, as I like to see what is what & where it goes). I have done this with both Poser & DS since Poser3 & DS1.
    To repeat myself: “Do I: Delete DS 4.9 from Applications, Double click the DAZStudio_4.10.0.107_Mac64.app icon, and it loads, referencing my content  library automatically (or by specification)?”
    That is how I recall the process. Simple & fast in a few steps.

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

    The last paragraph above block is new info. The attached image shows my DS App folder. Should I just drag DS to Trash or use the DS uninstaller? Then install my later version?

    Remove DAZ Studio.png
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  • RuthvenRuthven Posts: 653

    3Don said:

    The last paragraph above block is new info. The attached image shows my DS App folder. Should I just drag DS to Trash or use the DS uninstaller? Then install my later version?

    I'd warmly suggest NOT to delete your current installation, at least until you've tested a new version and are certain it's working on your system. And, anyway, keep a backup copy of the installer.

    Instead, duplicate the current installation directory and rename it a way making it easy for you to identify the Daz version it contains. Then, use DIM to update Daz in the original installation directory. This way, you'll have the new version and keep also the old one, being able to switch back if you need to for some reason.

  • inquireinquire Posts: 2,201

    Got this in my Apple ID a couple of days ago. Could it be a scam? It also showed up on the Desktop. (I'm running Catalina 10.15.7.) It wants personal information such as my phone number. Did anyone else get this?

  • inquireinquire Posts: 2,201
    edited March 2022

    I'm running DS 4.16.0.3. The screen shot shows backup files I made for 4.15. Now, if I want to do this for 4.16, are these the files l look for? If not, what other files do I need? Do I search for them in the DIM?

    DS 4.15.0.3.png
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    Post edited by inquire on
  • RuthvenRuthven Posts: 653

    inquire said:

    I'm running DS 4.16.0.3. The screen shot shows backup files I made for 4.15. Now, if I want to do this for 4.16, are these the files l look for? If not, what other files do I need? Do I search for them in the DIM?

    yes, these are the files you need to backup to be able to reinstall Daz if you need to go back; search for the 4.16 ones in the directory you set for DIM downloads. Also backup the installers for other plugins  you downloaded for the version you're interested to save.

  • RuthvenRuthven Posts: 653

    inquire said:

    Got this in my Apple ID a couple of days ago. Could it be a scam? It also showed up on the Desktop. (I'm running Catalina 10.15.7.) It wants personal information such as my phone number. Did anyone else get this?

    Did you attach a screenshot or link something, in this post? Because I'm not seeing anything that can give a clue of what you're talking about ?__?

  • robertswwwrobertswww Posts: 790
    edited March 2022

    3Don said:

    The last paragraph above block is new info. The attached image shows my DS App folder. Should I just drag DS to Trash or use the DS uninstaller? Then install my later version?

     @3Don Since you have an Uninstaller in your Daz Studio folder, then you must have originally installed the stand-alone Daz Studio installer file. Therefore, use that uninstaller to remove Daz from your Mac - just double-click it (NOTE: If you no longer have the original Mac install file for DS 4.9, then make a back-up copy of the Daz Studio files before running the uninstaller). 

    Also, backup your Daz Database folder and app:
    MacHD/Applications/DAZ 3D/PostgreSQL CMS/ (pgAdmin3.app)

    Next, backup your DAZ 3D folder and your My Daz 3D Library folder as they will get wiped-out with your DS re-install. After these are backed-up, you can then delete them…

    MacHD/Users/Username/Library/Application Support/DAZ 3D/
    MacHD/Library/Application Support/DAZ 3D/
    MacHD/Users/Username/Documents/DAZ 3D/Studio/My Library (Render Library is also located here)
    MacHD/Users/Shared/My Daz 3D Library/
    MacHD/Users/Shared/DAZ 3D/InstallManager/ (if you have DIM installed)

    Edit: Almost forgot about the Pref files... username/LibraryPreferences/com.daz (about 5 files)

    Once all your old Daz files are backed-up and deleted, then restart your Mac and perform the new install.

    Post edited by robertswww on
  • 3Don3Don Posts: 690

    robertswww said:

    3Don said:

    The last paragraph above block is new info. The attached image shows my DS App folder. Should I just drag DS to Trash or use the DS uninstaller? Then install my later version?

     @3Don Since you have an Uninstaller in your Daz Studio folder, then you must have originally installed the stand-alone Daz Studio installer file. Therefore, use that uninstaller to remove Daz from your Mac - just double-click it (NOTE: If you no longer have the original Mac install file for DS 4.9, then make a back-up copy of the Daz Studio files before running the uninstaller). 

    Also, backup your Daz Database folder and app:
    MacHD/Applications/DAZ 3D/PostgreSQL CMS/ (pgAdmin3.app)

    Next, backup your DAZ 3D folder and your My Daz 3D Library folder as they will get wiped-out with your DS re-install. After these are backed-up, you can then delete them…

    MacHD/Users/Username/Library/Application Support/DAZ 3D/
    MacHD/Library/Application Support/DAZ 3D/
    MacHD/Users/Username/Documents/DAZ 3D/Studio/My Library (Render Library is also located here)
    MacHD/Users/Shared/My Daz 3D Library/
    MacHD/Users/Shared/DAZ 3D/InstallManager/ (if you have DIM installed)

    Edit: Almost forgot about the Pref files... username/LibraryPreferences/com.daz (about 5 files)

    Once all your old Daz files are backed-up and deleted, then restart your Mac and perform the new install.

    Thanx!

  • inquireinquire Posts: 2,201

    Ruthven said:

    inquire said:

    Got this in my Apple ID a couple of days ago. Could it be a scam? It also showed up on the Desktop. (I'm running Catalina 10.15.7.) It wants personal information such as my phone number. Did anyone else get this?

    Did you attach a screenshot or link something, in this post? Because I'm not seeing anything that can give a clue of what you're talking about ?__?

    Yeah, I did. Sorry it got deleted! A Note about checking the phone number and other personal info also appeared on my Desktop a couple of days ago. Since then, I have been to the Apple site, signed in, made sure I had an https browser, and checked personal info. There was no email from Apple, so I was wondering if this was valid.

    Screen Shot 2022-03-24 at 11.53.40 AM.png
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  • robertswwwrobertswww Posts: 790

    inquire said: Yeah, I did. Sorry it got deleted! A Note about checking the phone number and other personal info also appeared on my Desktop a couple of days ago. Since then, I have been to the Apple site, signed in, made sure I had an https browser, and checked personal info. There was no email from Apple, so I was wondering if this was valid.

    @inquire I think this is only for people who signed-up for Apple One (and/or recently purchased a new Apple product) so if you previously did that, then it should be legit.

    Here is what Apple says regarding Apple One and your Apple ID:

    If you subscribe to Apple One and use a different Apple ID for iCloud
    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211862

    Also, check out this online article for more info about  having One Apple account...

    Apple gives its Apple ID website an overhaul
    https://applemagazine.com/apple-gives-its-apple-id-website-an-overhaul/49890

     

  • supernoobsupernoob Posts: 154

    Does anyone else have the issue of Daz Studio refusing to close?

    Hit CMD+Q and it sort of closes but it stays in the dock 'not responding', seemingly forever. I hardly ever have to force quit any applications but Daz makes me do it every time.

    Daz is up to date, Mac is M1 Max (running Monterey). But it used to be the same on my old 2014 Mac regardless of which OS I was running.

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,961

    How long ar you giving it? Is theer any CPU activity? DS has a lot of clean up to do (depending on what was in the scene) which happens in the background.

  • robertswwwrobertswww Posts: 790
    edited March 2022

    supernoob said:

    Does anyone else have the issue of Daz Studio refusing to close?

    Hit CMD+Q and it sort of closes but it stays in the dock 'not responding', seemingly forever. I hardly ever have to force quit any applications but Daz makes me do it every time.

    Daz is up to date, Mac is M1 Max (running Monterey). But it used to be the same on my old 2014 Mac regardless of which OS I was running.

    @supernoob Open Utilities-->Activity Monitor before you close Daz Studio, and then check the different activity tabs in Activity Montior to see what effect DS is having on your system resources, before, during, and after closing DS.

    A trick that I find helps, is to always go to File-->New in Daz Studio before quitting, as opening a new, blank scene clears out a lot of DS's memory, and it will fully close quicker.

    Post edited by robertswww on
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