Does anyone want Rhino on Mac / Linux?

[hansp77]

I have always been a Mac user.
That said, I really don't like windows.
I have never even been able to get virtual PC running, and in spite of trying a couple of times, actually don't want to.

I would however like to start playing around with some designing- on my Mac.
I have the very last generation of Mac Powerbooks they released before the Intel Chips came out, so some of the solutions offered don't apply to me.

Are there any programs that I can use?
Preferably some user/learner friendly ones?
Preferably (but not necessarily) free ones?

Thanks, Hans.

[CGN]

TouchCad

[ludesign]

Originally Posted by hansp77

I have always been a Mac user.
That said, I really don't like windows.
I have never even been able to get virtual PC running, and in spite of trying a couple of times, actually don't want to.

I would however like to start playing around with some designing- on my Mac.
I have the very last generation of Mac Powerbooks they released before the Intel Chips came out, so some of the solutions offered don't apply to me.

Are there any programs that I can use?
Preferably some user/learner friendly ones?
Preferably (but not necessarily) free ones?

Thanks, Hans.

Check out TouchCAD.

Not free but very easy to use. It comes with modern 3D push-pull modeling handles to allow shaping from any view, dynamic cross sectioning, unlimited number of surfaces, very powerful and highly parametric integrated unfolding features that are dynamically linked to the 3D objects, integrated nesting of unfolded parts, marine calculations with offsets and weight calculations, integrated OpenGL renderings and animation abilities, etc. Works on Classic and OSX, including Intel Macs.

You will find free demos of both the Mac and Windows versions at www.touchcad.com

Another suggestion would be to check out the "Training" section of this web site. Here you will find well over three hours of tutorial movies, including an example where a sailboat sketch is being done in sixteen minutes. This movie shows some basic hull fairing, how to add a deck, transom, cabin, keel, some interior elements, how to apply some waterline stripes, how to balance the sail plan, calculate weights and center of gravity, etc. Run it in segments, and you will learn a lot from it.

[tandu]

Rhino on Linux can be an opportunity if the stability and the performance can be improved, linux is more stable than windows (I'm a computer Engineer). Further
I think that a Linux version of Rhino can be used from students, private non professionals and university where, generally, there are less money (Linux is free and need a less expansive machine).

Giuseppe
www.dreamadvisor.eu

[nico]

This is part of a post i found here (http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl...8/15/0612227):

''I've been trying to get several software vendors to port various program I still have to use on the PC side. One of them was McNeel and Assoc. Their webpage FAQs suggest using Virtual PC for Rhino 3D, which I thought was ridiculous. Here was tech@mcneel.com reply to my intial request,

We don't think we are missing out on much at all. I'm sorry but it is not at all likely that there will ever be a MAC version of Rhino. We do our software development in Microsoft Developer Studio. There is no MAC based equivalent for this product and it's resources. This is the first problem. Secondly, it is nearly impossible to find MAC programmers with the PhD level math skills needed for this kind of programming at any price. Thirdly, there are not enough potential sales of a MAC based product to keep it affordable. At present projections, assuming we could find the programmers and they could co-develop a product similar enough to the Windows based product to make it viable, each copy would have to be priced over $20,000 per seat. At that price, a $1,000 Windows computer running Windows based Rhino makes a lot more sense. Don't you think? ''

[marshmat]

Seeing as the current Macs can run just about any Windows software under emulation, and can run a parallel copy of Windows natively, and might be able to run a considerable amount of Windows software natively by the next generation, the question seems academic.

[SeaSpark]

might be able to run a considerable amount of Windows software natively by the next generation

Worked with macs and pcs from the first moment, the evolution of both systems has been very disappointing so far.

Port Rhino to Linux Now!

[odysseus]

Those who say that since Macs now/soon can run Windows operating system and/or that a Mac version will be more expensive than a Windows computer are missing the point. The point is that even if a Mac can use Windows, and even if I as a Mac user can buy a Windows computer at a ridicolously low price, I DON'T WANT TO. Too unstable, too many security risks.

I last had a Mac virus back in 1991, but the other day I cleaned out hundreds of viruses from a friends Windows machine, to give you an idea (yeah, I buy a Mac to not have to deal with them, and then the *#% goes an buys a PC and asks me to fix it when it - predictably - stops working; you still wonder why I don't want Windows?). Another friend has no viruses but instead complains that the anti-virus software eats up all his CPU speed. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

A last point: Mac OS X is unix-based just like Linux. So if you port to one you might as well port to both.

[Raggi_Thor]

I think the McNeel Tech staff has the right answer.
Simple economics estimates was probably the reason for Autodesk to stop making AutoCAD for Mac and Unix 10(15?) years ago.

[ludesign]

Originally Posted by Raggi_Thor

I think the McNeel Tech staff has the right answer.
Simple economics estimates was probably the reason for Autodesk to stop making AutoCAD for Mac and Unix 10(15?) years ago.

More likely because the Mac users did not like the DOS style user interface it had then. Remember that this was before Windows. The situation was that the Mac had a state of art user interface and AutoCAD did not. In other words, one step forward, and ten steps backwards. The generic Mac based options where simply better. I also recall a visit to a Mac show where they released it. I asked the AutoDesk guy to demonstrate it. After a loooooooong eeeeehm...., it turned out he did not know how to start the program. Would you buyy something from such a person?

[Jeff]

Was that with a state-of-the-art one-button mac mouse though?

Personally, I love the autocad command line. I see the keyboard as a 104 key menu of shotcuts I can use without taking my eyes or attention off what I'm drawing now--I know where they are intuitively, so I don't have to hunt for icons or move my mouse away from what I'm drawing - you have two hands, why not use both. Context menus are great too, but I wouldn't trade the command line for them. I guess if we all liked the same thing, life would be pretty boring.

[Raggi_Thor]

Claes, I worked a lot on AutoCAD for Unix, DEC workstations.
I think it was after Windows NT became popular that the unix version of acad was discontinued. Acad for Mac did I never try, I have never liked the Mac OS :-) I think it's too much clicking and too much mouse movement :-) :-)

[Tim B]

So who do they think they're kidding?

1. We do our software development in Microsoft Developer Studio. There is no MAC based equivalent for this product and it's resources

response. Yes there is. MDS just helps you write C/C++/Fortran. There is at least two other (free) development studios, GTK and QT. These are not direct replacements but there is the wine libraries which should allow cross-compilation with no major change of sourcecode. (which is what pre-processor macros are for).


2. nearly impossible to find MAC programmers with the PhD level math skills needed for this kind of programming at any price.

Perhaps not MAC programmers, but there are a lot of people with degree level/PHD level maths here in the UK who are struggling to find work, I imagine it is not disimilar in the US. And let's face it, programming is no-longer meant to be platform-specific. And anyone with a PHD should be able to master C++ pretty quickly.


So in reality we're not talking about re-writing the whole of Rhino, merely re-writing the licencse manager and then re-compiling it under Linux against the winelibs, or against the equivalent libaries on MAC-OS.

If Rhino is well-written this should be no problem at all.

Tim B.

[Raggi_Thor]

I see no point in being angry at McNeel :-)
Rhino is very good value for money.
Just to organize more than one version would cost something.
They have to consider how many more licenses they would sell.
I think many programs will be available for Linux when there is a market for it.

[odysseus]

Originally Posted by Raggi_Thor

I think it was after Windows NT became popular that the unix version of acad was discontinued. Acad for Mac did I never try, I have never liked the Mac OS :-) I think it's too much clicking and too much mouse movement :-) :-)

In fact studies show that to do the same tasks on Windows and on Mac, you need significantly less steps on the Mac. That is why the productivity is higher, because what takes most time is not the CPU "thinking," but the user telling it what to do (in most programs). As regards AutoCAD I haven't used it, but a friend who is manufacturing tools and machines said that it is not a challenger for what they need (guess it lacks CAM?).

It is a fact that Apple has focused on the publishing segment and not on the technical side. Take LabVIEW, originally a Mac program for data collection and system control with a wonderful graphical programming language (called G), it is now mainly a Windows program although it runs on most OS:s. Why? Because when Steve Jobs were out of Apple the fools produced too many different computer models that each required a separate driver and sometimes hardware. Or take Map II/MapFactory/MFworks, originally a Mac GIS program, went Windows some 10 years ago and is now mainly Windows. They follow the market, and the sad fact is that Apple has neglected engineering users. For someone like me who is doing a bit of everything it is almost impossible not to use both systems - but if any software is available on the Mac I rather buy that, even at a higher price (and I have the receipts to prove it).