Are Rhino & Grasshopper compatible with Apple Macbook Air/Pro with the latest M1 chip?

[serzhj]

Has anybody used Rhino and Grasshopper on the latest Apple Macbook Air/Pro with the M1 chip?

I’d like to know if there is any compatibility issue.

Thanks.

[christopher.ho]

Apple Silicon and Rhino for Mac

Current Status: April 26th, 2021: Rhino 7 for Mac is supported on macOS Big Sur 11.3 on Apple Silicon Macs with M1 processors*. Please update to macOS Big Sur 11.3 (or later). *running in Rosetta2. This is not yet a fully native version (see below for the distinction). Rosetta Translation: Apple’s Rosetta Translation Environment attempts to automatically translate Intel applications to run on Apple Silicon. If this works, it is the easier path toward support for Apple Silicon for Rhino.…

[gankeyu (Keyu Gan)]

There are a lot of compatibility issues.

[serzhj]

Noted with thanks, @christopher.ho.

Let’s wait for Rhino 8, then, for two more years…

[dan]

FYI, I just posted an update to this topic:

Apple Silicon and Rhino for Mac

Current Status: April 26th, 2021: Rhino 7 for Mac is supported on macOS Big Sur 11.3 on Apple Silicon Macs with M1 processors*. Please update to macOS Big Sur 11.3 (or later). *running in Rosetta2. This is not yet a fully native version (see below for the distinction). Rosetta Translation: Apple’s Rosetta Translation Environment attempts to automatically translate Intel applications to run on Apple Silicon. If this works, it is the easier path toward support for Apple Silicon for Rhino.…

with some good news on the horizon.

[hobbs]

Very interested in upgrading my old MacBook Pro, but wondering where Rhino is with running on Mac’s new chip.

[diff-arch]

Yes, but not native yet! It is currently still virtualized in a x86 Rosetta container (run as an “Intel” application). You can find demonstration videos on YouTube. Rhino 8 is rumoured to be running natively though.

I’d wait a little with upgrading. The current M1 products are not meant to be pro-sumer computers for more demanding work like 3D CAD or CG. New MacBook Pros with more CPU- and GPU-Cores, more memory, and a mini LED display are rumoured to be presented in September or October, but will probably be pricier than the current models.

[hobbs]

Thanks for the reply and update on info re compatibility with Apple’s new chip. I will keep my old MacBook Pro and wait a bit longer!

[dan]

@diff-arch

still virtualized in a x86 Rosetta container (run as an “Intel” application)

This is not entirely accurate. Technically, it’s not virtualization; it’s translation. macOS’s Rosetta2 does a just-in-time translation of the Intel instruction set the first time you launch the application (that’s why the first launch of a non-Apple Silicon native app will take longer).

@diff-arch

Rhino 8 is rumoured to be running natively though.

This is indeed a rumor. It’s still Intel. If you own Rhino 7, you can download the current Rhino Work-In-Progress (RhinoWIP) and see. That said, Rhino 7 is pretty darn snappy on an Apple Silicon Mac.

We are actively working on a Metal display pipeline in the RhinoWIP. It’s still early-days, but you can enable it with the hidden TestMetal command (Metal is a separate issue from Apple Silicon native support).

I’m really looking forward to the widely rumored upcoming Apple Silicon MacBook Pro updates…but until they are more than just a rumor, I’m pretty happy with the initial M1s as far as speed goes.