I’m debating when to update.

Thanks in advance,
Tim

Funny you should ask, I just received my new M1 Mac Book Air and was going to test out how well Houdini runs under Rosetta....but I'm hoping that SideFX is looking into a Universal build soon!

I'll let you know how it goes.

running on M1 mini here
heightfields are funky, other stuff seems to be working more or less okay.

But definitely don't update, that's how macOS updates are, Easter is about right time to upgrade the system.
Sad but true.

I've been using 18.5 quite a bit on my iMac2020 (intel) in Big Sur and I would say it's been normal. I do get a lot of crashing but that's generally my normal experience of Houdini …

s88ng
running on M1 mini here
heightfields are funky, other stuff seems to be working more or less okay.

But definitely don't update, that's how macOS updates are, Easter is about right time to upgrade the system.
Sad but true.

Can you use Solaris with any of the render engines OK with the M1?

Steven Quinones-Colon2
Can you use Solaris with any of the render engines OK with the M1?

Solaris works fine; I rendered a beautiful pig head with Karma and everything worked as expected - even the intel de-noiser!

Was pretty impressed that Houdini ran well on the M1 (surprised it ran at all tbh). Funnily enough the viewport is significantly less glitchy than that on my main workstation (iMac Pro). That said the current M1 machines are more for playing around than doing any intensive work (under which category I'd definitely include rendering). Also, as mentioned above, it really hates height fields right now for so some reason

Would be amazing to get an Apple Silicon native version of Houdini; if it runs this well through Rosetta.

benek
I've been using 18.5 quite a bit on my iMac2020 (intel) in Big Sur and I would say it's been normal

This is my experience too. Big Sur has been pretty stable and the bugs I'm running into are the bugs I had on the last version of MacOS (although I think a fair few of these have been fixed in the newer daily builds).

Did some testing right now on a M1 MacBook Air. Seems to work ok. I still find it sad that nothing has been said from sidefx about Apple Silicon support. Mason and OTOY have been really eager to show that they want to be a part of this platform as an example. But oth, we still don't have even proper support for the trackpad after all these years so maybe it is just as it always has been: available for the apple fanboys but with the most minimal support you can think of.

I think what might change that is if Apple introduces a machine that is head and shoulders above the competition when it comes to computing power. If the speculation is correct, Apple has its sights set on recapturing the computer users that they have been hemorrhaging for the past 15 years (basically since they went Intel).

A Threadripper-ripping Apple Silicon Mac Pro would be tough to ignore, particularly if it was priced competitively and in a way to appeal to smaller boutique VFX studios. Let's not forget that Apple and SideFX have had a working partnership of sorts -- remember how prominently Houdini was featured in the iMac Pro ads? I think Apple understands the importance of having an industry-standard app like Houdini be compatible and working with their new machines.

Funny, I am literally having the same parallel conversation in the Blender forums, except I think for the most part Apple still regards Blender as an also-ran, although ironically a version of Blender 2.91 for Apple Silicon already exists.

Time will ultimately tell how things unfold, and what type of new machines Apple is getting ready to unleash on the computing world.

"A Threadripper-ripping Apple Silicon Mac Pro would be tough to ignore, particularly if it was priced competitively...."

We're talking Apple here.
The base model will probably competitive, but when you're done 'filling the gaps', you still end up with a expensive machine. Or just charge you through the nose for something like a monitor stand or wheels.... Sigh....

Midphase
I think what might change that is if Apple introduces a machine that is head and shoulders above the competition when it comes to computing power. If the speculation is correct, Apple has its sights set on recapturing the computer users that they have been hemorrhaging for the past 15 years (basically since they went Intel).

that was never the case. u always could spec out a pc way under what apple charged and could run circles around those aluminium boxes.
that pro user badge that everybody is nostalgic about had nothing to do with computing power and only with the fact that shake/final cut and logic had been exclusively on mac.
and build quality. which made sense for macbooks, but not so for desktops.
It always have and will be part time lifestyle product and that mark up you pay for that does not make sense.

I don't know if I fully agree. I don't want to turn this into a fanboy fight, but I am old enough to remember when the PowerPC Mac Pro was simply the fastest CPU available in terms of desktop performance. I also think that the CG community is a bit more used to speccing out various pieces parts, but I have plenty of industry colleagues who are terrified at the thought of assembling their own PC and always buy pre-built machines from the likes of Puget Systems and I gotta say that by the time they're done assembling a proper workstation the prices between that and Apple begin edging ever so close.

Nonetheless, I am now playing around with a small laptop which is arguably in the same performance range as one costing almost 3X as much (albeit with a larger 16" screen). So for me the saving grace of the new Mac Book Air is not necessarily that it's the cheapest notebook computer that I can find, but that it's the cheapest for the performance.

$6000 for an entry level Mac Pro with basically a 9900k equivalent CPU is an absurd proposition. $6000 for a Mac Pro with an equivalent performance as a 64-core Threadripper is a screaming deal.

The path that I believe Apple is taking is not to compete with the cheaper offering, but to offer the best bang for the buck to customers who are looking for performance.

Personally I think this is the best way for Apple to win back customers. A good comparison with another company which is using this strategy is Tesla -- Tesla cars are arguably more expensive than the competition. When you compare it to a Volt or a Prius they easily lose from a price standpoint. However when you compare it with other cars that can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in 2.4 seconds it suddenly becomes the bargain of the century!

Note that you do need to be on Big Sur to run the Metal version of Redshift (currently in open beta), which I have to say is working quite well!

Midphase
Funny, I am literally having the same parallel conversation in the Blender forums, except I think for the most part Apple still regards Blender as an also-ran, although ironically a version of Blender 2.91 for Apple Silicon already exists.

If I recall correctly Apple specifically mentioned Blender at WWDC as one of the open source projects they were working on providing patches for Apple Silicon. Been playing around with the native version and it's been working pretty well.

Speaking of WWDC, worth mentioning that Apple's presentation on AR stuff were using Houdini/LOPs for USD authoring (and Blender for asset creation), so given their push for AR hopefully they should be pretty invested on getting Houdini working on the new machines.

Still not sold on AR; not sure if it is useful, but it is kinda cool. Just wish there was better documentation for getting things into and ARKit compatible usdz. Currently trying to get usdskel converted over and it's just not giving me any joy...