Having trouble adapting to the Mac version from PC

hello,

i’ve been using Rhino for Windows for many years and have been very interested in using the Mac version as well. The thing is that i’m really having trouble finding my way around Rhino for Mac since so many things behave completely different and things are not where i expect them to be. I spend a lot of time hunting around to find the features which are only a click or shortcut away in the Windows version. I’ve also come quite used to my 3dconnexion Space Pilot with Rhino and that just don’t want to behave in the Mac version to the point of being nearly unusable.

i don’t quite understand why McNeel doesn’t do a 1:1 conversion and is moving so many things around. This wouldn’t be so bad if the command line at least would function the same way, with the options of most commands being in the left pane with the UI my speedy workflow from the PC version is gone on the mac.

am i alone in this ?

No, but long ago it was decided there would be little or no “crossover” between PC and Mac, that PC and Mac Rhino users would never work together in the same environment and that anyone who was on the borderline would be considered an edge case and could safely be ignored…

My advice to you… if you’re used to the PC version, stick with it…

–Mitch

Isn’t Mac for hipsters mostly? To do their hipster stuff… :smirk:

I only ever bring mine to the coffee shop.

But… there were two possible routes - make Rhino for Mac Rhino-like or make it Mac-like, and the decision was that making it Mac-like was probably the better bet overall.

-Pascal

haha … yeah my friends tell me sometimes that i’m weird, i guess this confirms it :stuck_out_tongue:

it’s not so much a question for me of ‘sticking with’ or ‘switching to’ … i’d like to use both … while i mainly work on the PC version i’m on dual boot win/mac on bth my laptop and my desktop and instead of restarting to PC whenever i wanna use rhino it would be very practical to just do some stuff on the Mac.

not sure i get the logic behind two different versions, Rhino PC has such a great and efficient workflow, why fix what ain’t broken … the Mac version feels a bit convoluted to me … but as i said … i’m weird :smile:

@Asterisk: i didn’t really wanna bring on the age-old mac vs pc battle here … i use PC’s, Linux and Macs, each one is great for different things … and i think that at my age i don’t really qualify for the hipster category anymore

You’re gonna find out in the end that you guessed wrong.

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You right. 98% of the people complaining always tell us that we are wrong.

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I think this is a misguided approach as well.

there is a legion of computer users who would love nothing more than to never use a PC again and it is only Rhino that pushes us to install boot-camp and remain in the cluttered malaise of windows.

Rhino is great, lets have it on mac.

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Did you try the “Rhino for Windows” theme inside MacRhino?

At first I was “confused” by MacRhino when “things” were not in the “same” place, etc., as WinRhino

In reasonable time I adapted and became more comfortable using MacRhino over WinRhino, preferring MacRhino.

Later, when infrequently using WinRhino, I was slowed by WinRhino atrophy.

Then it hit me - customize WinRhino to look as much like “my” MacRhino as possible and that did the trick for me.

Similar customization can be done in the inverse. I predict you’ll adapt quickly…

Personally, I would not like to see a WinClone product.

won’t all/most windows users say that though?
but you already have windows for rhino so use that one.

put yourself on the other side of the coin… say some maccentric app (like pixelmator or smthng) was going to make a windows version that’s a clone of the original… so when you open the thing on windows, it looks and acts like a mac app.
?
you’d probably hate it.

to me, it’s way better if all the software i use is moreorless the same when applicable… either in the looks dept or conventions dept…

idk, if mcneel is wrong then i personally am glad they’re wrong… i imagine lots of other people will be glad they’re wrong too.

i’ve been using rhino for mac for like 7 years or so… never used the windows version… pretty sure if i did, it would feel a bit convoluted to me.

if i had to use both though… like really had to… it probably wouldn’t be too hard to work with both versions in the same day once i got up to speed on the windows version.


maybe a mountain out of a molehill conversation.


[edit] i think @Helvetosaur brought up the worst case (user) scenario for having 2 non-identical versions… that being teaching… if you teach rhino, it’s going to make your life a little more difficult… probably.

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the first nonmanhattan apple store in nyc (#6) is being built right now in williamsburg… so, maybe :smile:

Like most modern software you can customize it to meet your needs. I do believe that all of the commands behave the same on both platforms. It also depends on how you work, with icons, the command line or aliases, this affects how the interface is interpreted to you. Most of the icons and menu items are in the same place.

This is my recent setup, from the default. With any panels I need on my second monitor.

I started using WinRhino in feb 2008 and MacRhino in July 2008, by 2009 I was working full-time on the Mac side and using WinRhino just for T-Splines & Grasshopper. I still work on both and have them both set up different, because i like it that way.

So I guess I can be ignored :smile:

I’m glad they’re wrong too.

I work with a team of 4 Rhino users, 2 Windows and 2 mac and we never have any problems understanding what someone is showing us if we are looking at a Windows screen or a Mac screen. FWIW, the other Mac rhino user has her rhino set to default, so no Windows ribbon bar, but she has never worked on Windows.

At the end of the day, use the platform you prefer, don’t expect them to be identical.

I would say a huge element of adobe’s success is the absolute identical interface on MAC and PC. That would seem to be the better precedent here.

not necessarily applicable… to use as a precedent, mcneel would need to say ‘ok, let’s redesign rhino’… then just build it for both.

as in… photoshop uses many non-standard ui elements… like grasshopper.
it’s custom made and goes to both… it doesn’t use all windows elements then make those windows elements for mac.

one example we’ll probably see of custom elements is when grasshopper gets to mac… grasshopper will probably look real similar on both platforms… not windows or mac… just grasshopper.
[/speculation]

Jeff has the crux of it…

To pull an Adobe (read massive resources) and to not clone the product on Mac OS, the developers would need a significant redesign and development effort to “Adobe” the thing on both platforms.

Imagine how PO’ed that might make long time WinRhino users.

MacRhino is looking very good IMO. Customize it to your needs and you’ll adapt quickly. Buy it and root for the SDK…

I’m going to insert some Mac vs. PC mischief into the conversation. There was no doubt that once upon a time, Mac OS was far superior to Windows. Ease of use, stability, etc., and I was a major Mac advocate. Rhino pushed me to “the dark side”, I started using Rhino in BootCamp on a Mac, and now I have fully embraced the evil known as Windows and “PC”. I have left the Mac behind and I now think the current versions of Windows (8 and 8.1) running on a true PC is better, more stable for applications and less convoluted than the Mac OS running on top of Unix. Just my 2 cents.

I think it was a good move to have Rhino on the Mac more “Mac-like”. Although I’ve never used it, I do know some Mac users who have tried it and they seem to appreciate that it’s more similar to Mac apps. Another 2 cents, for a total of 4 cents.

Ah, yes. Management attitude meanders from one side to the other of the thin line that divides “valued customer feedback” from “complaints”. :smile:

:laughing:

thanks for the tip with the Windows theme, hadn’t seen this and now it already feels a bit more like home. i guess what i miss most is the Rhino-PC command line (i prefer a textual list of options rather than buttons and checkboxes) … and having centralised preferences. And of course my SpacePilot but i’d guess that this is not a McNeel but 3Dconnexion issue.

I must admit I do prefer 8 / 8.1 (& 10) to 7 for Windows, but as for the OS, I much prefer being able to rename and move files while I have them open. And Versions has saved me a bunch of undos and worse, starting over, cannot do that on Dot NET. And Finders column view & tabs works way better than having to have 2-3 Explorer windows open when trying to decide if the data is in Programs, or Program data or User / app data, was that local or Roaming ? - both OS’s have pros & cons.

I guess I like my command line close to where I am working …

Here again, like Windows, all you have to do is type the Hotkey to select your options. You don’t need to use as many buttons any more than you have to go way up to the top of your work area to select your options. If I have to select any options or radio buttons, my command options are close at hand.

But each OS has its good, bad & ugly sides. It is all how you set it up and what you prefer …

Why remove right click to repeat command? It’s so fundamental to using rhino… also, cross-hairs, just cross-hairs alone would allow me to use the software. I feel like I’m holding a pencil with just the led without them.

They way it looks is sort of whatever, I don’t love it I don’t get the change in command line but removing core-interface virtues is so weird to me.