Mac OS

[robbrown]

Was bound to happen with terminated support. I'm really wondering where Apple is going to take the GPU stuff, the Nvidia for 10.14 bit seems to be at a stalemate. If anyone wanted to pay me to write Metal kernels I'd do it

Joking aside status of MacOS specifics, currently just focused on support questions and any issues people find and fitting other random things in when I can out of the list below:

• Finish baking Application Bundle of LuxCoreUI into cmake so that it can be included as the release package
• Add continuous releases to Azure Pipelines so that MacOS builds are included in that
• Review Docs and build process for other MacOS developers first time compile
• Linux Clang build from my Linux/MacOS comparison testing chasing that BiDIR bug

[epilectrolytics]

Just wanted to say that since the trouble with the first alpha for Mac the latest beta is very stable and I have no issues (and therefore didn't look further into the former because they are apparently solved).

I don't use the OpneCL version though because I don't trust nVidia's drivers and my GT750M isn't really accelerating things anyways.

Now with the release of the final 2.1 version an update would be much appreciated (hint,hint)

[robbrown]

I just uploaded the release. My apologies about the delay, I was traveling and then we had power outages. The lesson from that, building in the /tmp dir is nice to ensure clean builds but not great with intermittent power.

Thanks for the update on what you've been finding, I'm glad to hear it's more stable and I have been seeing the same.

[epilectrolytics]

I just uploaded the release.

Thanks so much!

First testing: OpenCL version stable on 10.12.6 and 10.13.6.
On simple scenes like Cornell, Wallpaper and Classroom PathOCL renders with Intel i7, Iris Pro & GT 750M on my MacBook!
Heavy scenes like LuxCcore Benchmark and Food still take forever to compile (did not wait for finish).

And then you made such a wonderful mistake

Instead of using the binaries from the stable release apparently you took the latest master 2.2alpha0 !
So we have now PhotonGI cache working on the Mac (tested, see image).

Absolutely wonderful!

Minor nitpick: In the LuxCoreUI window the bottom status bar showing sample and ray count is missing (on previous versions too).

[robbrown]

Well, that's part amusing, part embarrassing, you'd think I was a newb at this... Apparently, in my scramble of cloning after multiple power outages, I forgot to check out the release tag



Entertainment aside, cool and lucky it worked. I think I should clean up the release and post the 2.2alpha0 build elsewhere so people are getting a v2.1 release and not some alpha/beta release.

I've had super slow OpenCL compiles as well, I suspect it has to do with MacOS OpenCL implementation and not sure we can do much about that based on what I've read. If I or anyone else run into anything suggesting how to make it better I'm happy to try and improve it.

[Dade]

I think I should clean up the release and post the 2.2alpha0 build elsewhere so people are getting a v2.1 release and not some alpha/beta release.

Yup, it is a good idea.

BTW, it isn't the Azure pipeline already compiling the latest version for MacOS ? Or does it builds the only the OpenCL-less version ?

[epilectrolytics]

I've had super slow OpenCL compiles as well, I suspect it has to do with MacOS OpenCL implementation and not sure we can do much about that based on what I've read.

I was thrilled that the classroom scene from the master would compile and quickly at that!
So I found that the Intel Iris graphics is quite a beast and two times faster than the nVidia.
Then I modified the scene in Blender with sunsky for better lighting but from there it won't compile anymore but crashes.
So it's back to non-OCL again, but still, once we have the light cache at least simple scenes could be OCL accelerated.

Mac users with fast AMD graphics might have to switch to Linux or Windows on their machines to get OCL working though.

[robbrown]

I've updated the releases for v2.1 on the Github page. I saved and re-labeled my mistake releases but not sure where to put them so just ask if you want them.

I need to setup Azure to archive the builds still, right now it just builds and tests. That'd also get us "latest" builds for MacOS which would be good. Are we headed for Azure release pipeline at some point? I've been thinking about making bash scripts for local builds so that I'm not messing up simple mistakes and can just run a script and leave it. If we're going to make Azure have a release process it might not be worth the time though

I was thrilled that the classroom scene from the master would compile and quickly at that!
So I found that the Intel Iris graphics is quite a beast and two times faster than the nVidia.
Then I modified the scene in Blender with sunsky for better lighting but from there it won't compile anymore but crashes.
So it's back to non-OCL again, but still, once we have the light cache at least simple scenes could be OCL accelerated.

Mac users with fast AMD graphics might have to switch to Linux or Windows on their machines to get OCL working though.

This is the thing that makes me so frustrated with Apple's decision to ditch OpenCL and also makes me think about someday making Metal kernals.

[Dade]

If we're going to make Azure have a release process it might not be worth the time though

We are currently using Azure to build experimental releases of the stand alone version for Windows/Linux. It is working well but we are still hand building official releases like alpha/beta/final.
You could just copy the Linux scripts to pack the stand alone release (if you haven't already), it should be pretty much everything MacOS needs: https://github.com/LuxCoreRender/LinuxC ... ls/install

[epilectrolytics]

Latest builds for Mac would be great!

I'm somewhat concerned about the lack of Mac user activity on the forum.
Maybe a general poll about user OS preference could provide some perspective.