[msantana]

I used the command line (terminal) version when 1.6 came out and I was very happy with a 64-bit version of Maxwell on Mac OS X. It had some firefly bugs but still...

Now those bugs are gone and it sports a GUI interface, nice! I like where this is going! Still about 10-30 % slower than XP version in voxelization and loading bitmaps, but still...

And the weirdest thing, the tech preview has no licensing issues as the 32-bit version, so I can use the 64-bit when the 32-bit refuses to run on my mac even though I have the license for it, a little weird.

As a hard core mac user I definitely like where this is going!

With the new SSS algorithm and this I would definitely stick around Maxwell Render for some time!

Next Limit keep up the good work!

M.

[nachob]

As you can see in the Readme file inside the folder there are still some performance and UI problems in this version, and the 32 bit version is also faster than this one, but i think it can be useful for our osx users that need a higher memory limit for their renders.


Anout the license, it works exactly the same way than the other version so probably you have installed more than one version of maxwell in your system.

nachob

[Daniel Hruby]

How does one get the 64 bit version to run? I trashed the 32 bit version and Libs folder and moved the 64 bit version and Libs folder to the Maxwell folder. When I try to render from ArchiCAD, after a few minutes, i get a mac crash message saying ArchiCAD unexpectedly quit, although it is still running - it was MXCL64 that probably never launched. Anyway, the Read me doesn't explain how to run this app. With terminal maybe?? If so, how?

Any info would be appreciated.

[nachob]

Hi Daniel,

You should leave the 64 bit application in its place, you don't need to move it or the 64 bits libs forlder from inside the 64 bit technology preview folder. You should continue using the 32 bits version for your daily work and connection with plug-ins.

The way to use the 64 bit version is just launching the application with double click and load the mxs file from inside the application. If you want to use it from a plug-in ten export the mxs file and load it later as mentioned.

nachob

[msantana]

I have been playing with this 64-bit tech preview a little more and just wanted to let anyone who is using it to know that when I leave it rendering it for more than 6 hours the mac becomes unresponsive.

I just noticed that when rendering starts there is a certain memory footprint, (let's say 7 gigs of memory used) and this keeps growing every time the Sample level is updated until all memory is used (I have 16 GBs installed).

As time goes on the mac becomes more and more unresponsive. It seems to me that this is due to virtual memory utilization as the cpu usage goes down intermittently while hard disk activity goes up. And this happens more frequently as time goes by.

Finally, the mac becomes unresponsive eventually (like after 6 hours).

I don't rely on this for doing any work obviously, but I am really hoping it will soon be usable. It is just great to have 64 bit maxwell on a Mac OS environment and I hope I am not alone on this.

M

[Carl007]

Please help me to get my MXCL 64-bit tech preview to work without "demo mode" limitations..... I have tried to, as one did in the past, copy the license.dat file into the MXCL 64-bit tech preview content folder, but in vain...

My 32 bit works great, no license problems there as it is activated trough studio...

[msantana]

Carl, I didn't have to move the license for the mxcl 64-bit preview to work. I didn't move the applications folder structure. Just installed the license normally and the 64-nit preview recognizes it automatically.

Just install everything normally, don't move the applications and install the license normally. At least, that has been my experience.

[Carl007]

Thanks man, you know, so strange, suddenly it started to work properly...

[Carl007]

Soo, the license issue is solved... but I to get this memory footprint, that eventually crashes MXCL... Perhaps some progress have happend on the MXCL 64-bit tech preview, soit will work again?

[nachob]

We are planning to update the 64 bit mxcl preview in the near future, but I cannot give you an exact timeframe for it.

nachob

[flower]

Hi guys,

I've just had to go to the 64 bit Mac OS preview as I run out of memory using the 32 bit. Rendering a file at 4000 x 3000 pixels, multilight with 4 light sets plus enivroment (physical sky sun), and like the others have mentioned have run into the memory footprint thing too. I have 10 Gb Ram, using approx 5 Gb used when first running mxcl, then after approx 3hrs have the Force Quit window come up asking to quit other applications ( I have none other running, apart from Finder) as it is running out of hard disk space for application memory. I have 220 Gb free on the disk, and the Vitrtual Memory in Activity Monitor says mxcl is using approx 67Gb.

Any way, the Mac becomes totally unrespoinsive and a force shut down and restart is required. However I have manged to resume the render (only tried it once).

Is there any way to keep the Mac 64 bit mxcl running, other than restarting after every 2 hours? or am I going to have to invest in setting up windows on may Mac, and using that 64 bit version.

I know the Mac 64 bit version is still only a tech preview, so I'm not wanting to rock the boat or anything, just wondering if there are any techies out there that have come up with any workarounds/solutions.

Good to hear that an update is planned in the near future, and really looking forward to when we have a fully working version.

Regards
Bim

www.fluid-future.com
Mac 2.8 Octo, 10GB Ram, 320GB Disk

[msantana]

Bim,

I think the best workaround is just using windows x64 (dual booting it, no emulation) or wait for the preview to be cleaned out.

The main reason I think is because the memory leak (memory requirement increasing without bounds) is hard to predict with either time or Sample Level. So what I am saying is you really have to be monitoring the rendering to see when it first starts using virtual memory (hard disk), because once this happens it is no longer rendering all the time, but also swapping information between memory and hard disk. Monitoring a rendering I think is a little impractical.

And a second reason is that the 64-bit mac tech preview is not as optimized as the windows version. This only means that if you render the same file under windows x64 and mac OS X with the same hardware the windows version is going to give you a higher sample level first.

So these I think make it impractical to render anything if it is not done before virtual memory is used on the mac.

Anyhow, once the memory leak is patched I would be willing to use the mac version all the time as any performance difference I think is ok in exchange for not having to restart the mac and be able to use the mac OS.

I am glad I am not the only one interested in the 64-version of Maxwell for the Mac!

Just my 2 cents.

[flower]

Mauricio,

Thanks for your comprehensive reply.

I've resorted to setting the time limit to 2hr stints of rendering, them resuming. Not ideal but it will get me through this job.

Then I'll have to look into windows xp64 and all that entails with trying to get it installed and working. Not looking forward to that! But on the upside having the dreaded windows on my machine might not be such a bad thing, as there are other programs out there that I can be using that are PC only.

I like your spaceships, reminds me of all the sci-fi I read as a teenager!

Regards,
Bim