Intel Macs and 3d modellers

[krazygluon]

Not that my code's anywhere near being ready for me to start putting models in, but I like to think of the future when the present takes its toll.

What modelling apps have people found that are available in universal binary?
I figure I'll report my small amount of knowledge of this and see if anyone else can contribute to a list.

Available as UB / Works in Rosetta:
Cheetah3d
[Blender Isn't available AS a UB, but does seem to work ok under Rosetta, just get the phython 2.3 version unless you know you put 2.4+ on the machine yourself)]
[Cinema 4d]

Not available/Doesn't work
Wings3d [Official and beta versions dont, a careful compile from source apparently will]
Povray (not a modeller, but still useful for debugging small handmade meshes if you, like me, blew all your money on hardware)

anyone know about the big ones (3ds Max, Maya, Bryce, etc)?

The Krazy Gluon

[edit: 5/18/06 - 11:33PM EST - added /updated a few items]

[Thanks for mentioning source compiles akb, the wings forum links to a source compiled version that works on intel macs]

[akb825]

Have you tried downloading the source for any of them and compiling them yourself?

[AnotherJake]

anyone know about the big ones (3ds Max, Maya, Bryce, etc)?
I don't know if Maya works under Rosetta yet. Worse, to my knowledge there has not yet been any official announcement by Autodesk as to whether they will be making Maya universal or not. The latest rumor is that they're working on it.

The whole Maya on OS X thing is in serious limbo right now since Autodesk bought Alias a few months ago. Autodesk has done a spectacular job over the years displaying their steadfast allegiance to Microsoft, in my view. 3DS Max has never been available on the Mac, nor did it ever have any hopes of being so. In my estimation, there is only a *very* slight chance that Maya and Max might now be combined somehow, and maybe in someone's fantasy that hypothetical product might be made available for OS X some day. However, if that actually happened, there would be great rejoicing across the land.

Cinema 4D is universal!

Lightwave looks like a no-show, and the latest rumors I've heard don't sound good.

[KittyMac]

Not available/Doesn't work
Wings3d

There is a non-official UB version of Wings3D floating around. I got it and it works great on my MBP.

http://p212.ezboard.com/fnendowingsmiraifrm1.showMessage?topicID=2678.topi c

Third post from the bottom.

[BeyondCloister]

Lightwave looks like a no-show, and the latest rumors I've heard don't sound good.

That is not so good. Is it version 9 you are talking about? On the plus side the Lightwave license is cross platform so there is always the option of booting into Windows for a bit of rendering.

I just read this on Newtek's site:

Is there news with regard to the port to XCode and compatibility with Intel Macs?

NewTek is in progress on a port to XCode so that we can provide Universal Binaries to support both PPC and Intel-based Macintosh computers. We will discuss this in more detail as the process unfolds.

[BeyondCloister]

To follow up on my previous post, I found this on the Newtek forum dated 5.5.06:


We will be delivering a Mac Universal Binary version of LightWave later this year, during the LightWave 9.x development cycle. As it will be part of the 9.x development cycle, this version, when it ships, will be a free upgrade for those customers who own LightWave 9.0. One of the many reasons that LightWave is a great value, in addition to being a powerful program.

Jay Roth
President, 3D Group, NewTek


So it looks like we will get a UB version of Lightwave before we get Photoshop.

[AnotherJake]

Awesome!

What I had been reading there at the forums up until a few weeks ago (which was the last time I looked) was that they were acting like they were focusing heavily on Vista and didn't really give a rip about Universal Binaries. That is a super positive post you found!