M1 / M2 support status - Conflicting information
Hi!
Can anyone help me make sense of the conflicting information I'm getting on this topic? Some say Mac M1 is useless for CLO, while others claim it runs fine.
I've just tested CLO 7.2 on an M2 Macbook Air (16GB RAM) and a Macbook M1 Max (64GB RAM).
According to the system requirements, at least the M1Max is a "recommended" system for running CLO, but simulation speed is excruciatingly slow on both platforms. It basically feels like there's no hardware acceleration at all? Is the touted CLO support for M1 all about native ARM binaries, but without GPU acceleration?
Have I done something wrong, missed some GPU acceleration setting, or is this really the current state of support for M1/M2 chips as of September 2023? If so, how can they be listed as "recommended" systems?
Thanks in advance!
Mikael
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Hello @mikaeljo
Thank you for posting. Your comments are accurate and contain sharp analysis.
Currently, the GPU acceleration features in CLO software are designed to be activated only on the Nvidia graphics cards. That's because we're using Nvidia CUDA technology, which is de facto standard for 3D & GPU acceleration sector.
As you know, Apple silicon chips such as M1 and M2 are also equipped with Apple native GPU cores. However, we do not yet provide the ability to accelerate graphics utilizing Apple GPU cores. This is because most of the code, libraries, and build systems required to develop CLO software must be replaced and rewritten. Of course, we are also quietly researching and developing ways to utilize Apple GPU cores, but we are sorry that we cannot tell you when this will be shipped.
Back to the main topic here, many users are trying to use CLO on Apple Macs, and we are receiving a lot of questions from users about which Mac is better. The CLO system requirements can be seen as "a kind of compromise" between these user questions and our current situation. Although it may not be a perfect guide.
Lastly, as you know, CLO simulation performance is highly dependent on the garment file itself and its properties and simulation options. If you want to get faster simulation results, you need to make the garment lighter and optimize various properties. You'll get optimization tips from several 3D designers.
Thanks for reading.
Jim (CLO Techsupport)
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