I am using a Macbook Pro with both Windows 7 and Mac OS installed. I have Windows only for Rhino. I’d like to use Rhino for Mac instead of the Windows version, as I frequently need access to applications on the Mac OS side. I really like the new user interface for the Mac version but am having lots of trouble with “pinwheeling” while my computer tries to keep up with the modeling. This is not the case with the Windows version, which runs fine on Bootcamp. Here is the configuration of my Macbook. Any suggestions or insight into why I am having so much trouble?
Software information
Software versions
Rhinoceros version: 5.0 Wenatchee 2014-05-20 (514)
OS X version: Version 10.7.5 (Build 11G63)
Computer hardware
Hardware model: MacBookPro5,2
Processor: Intel Core2 Duo CPU T9600 @ 2.80GHz
Memory: 4 GB
Architecture: Intel 64 bit
Video hardware
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT 512 MB
Memory: 256 MB
Screen size: 1280 x 800, 1680 x 1050
Displays: Color LCD, HP w2207
Third party kernel extensions
org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv (3.2.4)
org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB (3.2.4)
org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt (3.2.4)
org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp (3.2.4)
foo.tap (1.0)
foo.tun (1.0)
USB devices
Apple Inc.: Built-in iSight
Apple, Inc.: Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Apple Computer, Inc.: IR Receiver
Apple Inc.: Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Bluetooth devices
None
OpenGL information
OpenGL software
OpenGL version: 2.1 NVIDIA-7.32.12
Render version: 2.1
Shading language: 1.20
Maximum texture size: 8192 x 8192
Z-buffer depth: 24 bits
Maximum viewport size: 8192 x 8192
Implementation settings
Use texture compression: No
Is this happening with all models and all commands? If you could be more specific when this is happening, that would greatly help.
I see you are running Virtual Box when running OS X. Running a virtual machine while running OS X is going to take extra memory and extra CPU cycles and leave Rhino with less. You have 4 GB of RAM, and that’s a little small these days, especially with larger models and competing with a virtual machine.
It may depend on what you’re modelling too? I’m using a Macbook Pro and it works well, I’ve created some fairly complex models and it’s only started to pinwheel when i’ve had multiple copies (versions) of the same model within the model space as I’m working… But with that comes the fans kicking in so i know it’s working harder.
Sounds to me like you need to close a few things down and work with Rhino open and not much else
It was pretty OK with 4GB of RAM but doubling it has helped
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro8,2
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.2 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 8 GB
AMD Radeon HD 6750M:
Chipset Model: AMD Radeon HD 6750M
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
PCIe Lane Width: x8
VRAM (Total): 512 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x6741
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-C0170L-573
gMux Version: 1.9.23
EFI Driver Version: 01.00.573
I do shut down other applications (first thing I tried) and pinwheeling still persists. Models vary in complexity but often are very simple 2d sketches with a few dimensions. Hard to say what triggers the pinwheel-maybe an autosave sometimes. Usually the first 30 minutes or so are fine then the trouble starts. One action that seems to be particularly touchy is color changes in the layer manager. I almost always use wireframe view and have the render mesh set to “jagged and faster” for times I’m using a view mode that shades.
I don’t know that I have any use for VIrtual Box. Actually didn’t even realize it was there, and if I don’t need it for Bootcamp I will uninstall and see if this helps.
Something sounds odd on your Mac side. That’s not normal behavior unless your model is very very large.
Keep Activity Monitor open and Rhino. That’s all. When you get pinwheeling, check what’s running in Activity Monitor. Might be a non-Rhino resource?
If it is Rhino, I had a lot of pinwheeling once (maddening!) and “Select Bad Objects” found a few surfaces that were causing this behavior. Also “Select Duplicates” can help. Fixing and/or deleting these did the trick.
Also, max your RAM to 16 at least, if you can – best money spent on your Mac when using 3D files!
