Houdini 14 viewport problem on Intel gpu on Mac makes it unusable.its that possible to plug the viewport drawing to metal api?

I would not bet on that, it will take much much more time to convert it to Metal, of course if they decide to go that way at fist place. Houdini interface is entirely OpenGL dependent, as far as I know, so it is a lot of work. But I guess twod will have first hand info about this.

Another factor to consider (in addition to the large amount of work involved) is that there is no guarantee that Metal will actually work any better than OGL. We are still at Metal 1.0, and with all software, new tends to mean buggy.

but but it's Apple so surely it ‘just works’ :twisted:

Unfortunately it's not a simple API switch, as Metal is a command-buffer based API (similar to DX12 and Vulkan). This would require a lot of changes to how Houdini goes about presenting geometry to the GPU in order to see any benefit. As a bug fix, that's really overkill.

But probably the biggest roadblock to adoption of Metal is that it has its own shading language (ie, not HLSL or GLSL, but C++11 based). Houdini uses a lot of shaders, and converting them - unless there's a standalone tool to do so - would be a big undertaking (and then forever maintaining 2 sets of shaders).

So Apple won't support OpenGL anymore? Since SESI doesn't even use DirectX, IMO it's not a good move to support Apple specific tech either for very little benefit as I assume it's the least popular platform for Houdini.

I don't expect that Apple will take OpenGL away, but I also don't expect to see much improvement in that area either (extensions, core features), simply based on recent history.

pusat
I assume it's the least popular platform for Houdini.

Certainly in production, but Apple laptops would currently be king for people using laptops.

Another bigger issue is if/when Houdini moves to Vulcan, that is only purported to have only Windows and Linux support, that will leave Apple users stuck with an older Houdini version.

So sad.since Macbook pro 13inch 2015 with intel iris graphic just don't work well with houdini's viewport. I love doing research and development on macbook using houdini. I always like to test my idea to see if they work well. Then move it to a high performance pc to do the rest.

MartybNz

pusat
I assume it's the least popular platform for Houdini.

Certainly in production, but Apple laptops would currently be king for people using laptops.

Another bigger issue is if/when Houdini moves to Vulcan, that is only purported to have only Windows and Linux support, that will leave Apple users stuck with an older Houdini version.

I believe that. What do you guys think about dell xps 15? Recently got one of my friends to get it to replace her macbook (MD101LL/A, I know not in the same league) and it's almost as fast as my desktop, light as a feather with i7, 2.2 up to 3.2 GHz, 4K display, 256 SSD, GTX 780M, 16GB RAM.

Got it for $1500 all in locally from ebay (open box, but new). Definitely something to consider for laptop enthusiasts, if I may say as a desktop enthusiast

pusat

MartybNz

pusat
I assume it's the least popular platform for Houdini.

Certainly in production, but Apple laptops would currently be king for people using laptops.

Another bigger issue is if/when Houdini moves to Vulcan, that is only purported to have only Windows and Linux support, that will leave Apple users stuck with an older Houdini version.

I believe that. What do you guys think about dell xps 15? Recently got one of my friends to get it to replace her macbook (MD101LL/A, I know not in the same league) and it's almost as fast as my desktop, light as a feather with i7, 2.2 up to 3.2 GHz, 4K display, 256 SSD, GTX 780M, 16GB RAM.

Got it for $1500 all in locally from ebay (open box, but new). Definitely something to consider for laptop enthusiasts, if I may say as a desktop enthusiast

Mostly R&D process doesn't require that much performance. The reseason I choose macbook over regular laptop was the endurance of battery and the display. Then it's light weigh makes it easy to carry.

I'm not a computer hardware professional guy.When I was introduced to metal technology.The first thing occuers to me was sony playstation3.The hardware components that sony used on playstation3. Their's nothing speacial than a regular PC. But when the platform gets highly optimised(software and hardware design for each other). It give us stunt result that same configured PC can't give. That's The reason I ask about metal technology.

You can currently run H14 on Intel and it works, barely, if you turn off the viewport features and use no lighting, at least that's my experience on a Mac mini with HD3000.

The macbook can always run Windows, and Linux. That should work better straight away and you can keep the light weight, battery and display.

Metal doesn't appear to have anything that DX12 or Vulcan will have afaik. It's more Apple marketing speak than making it something that PCs can't get.