MAC USERS AND FAST RENDERING INSIDE CLO - IMPORTANT GPU ADVICE.
Hi All,
I came across a few posts regarding 'Best System configurations' for optimum CLO rendering speeds, but the majority of answers related to Windows users.
There will no doubt be a lot of individuals and studios on Macs wanting to start using CLO, so I just wanted to offer up some advice about how CLO renders images on a Mac. Also, I'm pretty sure there will be a lot of Mac users out there playing with the GPU settings on CLO, who are not seeing any improvements in rendering times over CPU settings, so I thought I would explain why.
I'll try and keep this as simple as possible, but for the sake of time I will assume that folk are familiar with terminology like GPU and CPU. If you are unfamiliar, suffice to say both play a huge part in how your computer handles graphics, and more specifically in this case - rendering.
Firstly a bit of history:
The two major players in the GPU market are Nvidia (CUDA) and AMD.
Mac and Nvidia do not get along nowadays - long story short, they had a big bust up regarding licenses and copyright. Anyway, Apple now only use AMD graphics chips in their systems and the most recent Mac OS no longer supports Nvidia chipsets.
Why is this important?
Two Reasons:
1. CLO, like many other 3d modelling tools, uses V-Ray as the inbuilt rendering engine. V-Ray was developed using the Nvidia chipset and does not support AMD chips. Because (modern) Macs are running on AMD chips, as soon as you begin to render any image or scene using the V-ray engine, your system will always revert to use the CPU.
Put simply, if you're running CLO on a Mac, there are no graphic gains using the GPU render settings on CLO - it won't work so just stick with the CPU render setting.
Although CPU rendering will not be as fast, it will be ok so long as you have a decent processor on your Mac and you don't intend to do a lot of background tasks whilst rendering your images.
* A tip for you: A processor with less cores & higher speeds will render images and scenes faster than a processor with more cores & slower speeds.
*** NOTE TO CLO - It would be ace if there was an alternative render engine option that helped Mac user speed up our renders - AMD ProRender would be a superb option/partner to your software, as it would mean us Mac users could then greatly benefit from dedicated GPU faster rendering times! Pleeeeeeeeease have a chat with AMD!!!!!
2. The second reason I'm making this post, is that a lot of customers who already have a Mac, might simply think that adding an external GPU to their (slowish) Mac, might enable apps like CLO to render faster using the GPU settings.
NOPE! STOP!
For the very same reason outlined above, this won't work. The only compatible eGPU's for Mac are AMD chipsets - and as stated, V-Ray rendering that is used by CLO relies on Nvidia CUDA, and cannot utilise AMD GPU's - your computer will (once again!) fall back on the CPU to do the V-Ray render. So, that expensive new eGPU you just purchased - specifically to speed up CLO on your Mac will be a total waste of money.
I think it's really important that software makers (Hello CLO!) explain fully to all new customers why a Mac is not the best option when it comes to using CLO, certainly in a professional environment. To simply say 'We recommend using Windows machines not Mac' is really not enough information, as customers will simply assume that this is a RAM or Processor issue, and not realise that GPU performance is actually related directly to V-ray not supporting the Mac's AMD graphics cards.
Transparency is key!
Anyways, I hope this helps anyone left scratching their heads as to why GPU settings on their Mac are having zero effect on rendering inside CLO.
*I should also say, that the same applies to any other modelling app that solely uses V-Ray as it's render engine - if you're using a newer Mac with an AMD graphics card, your system is unfortunately stuck using it's CPU to render. Therefore, if SPEED is hugely important to you regarding rendering, it is important to know that Mac computers and V-Ray render engine do not get along.
Good Luck y'all :-)
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Hello odellin
Your post is great, thanks for explaining it so well and exposing the Clo3d team to the situation of Render and Macs.
I also have a Mac and I already knew something was going on... when I render in Clo3d it is tremendously slow.
But I have a doubt:
The final render on Macs has the same quality as on Windows? You mean it's slower but the final image is identical?
Thank you.
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Hi @knitstudium
Glad I could help a wee bit :)
And yes, the speed of rendering doesn't effect the final quality of the image - you'll get exactly the same quality, it will just take longer to render on a Mac unfortunately.
The best advice for Mac users who are looking to upgrade their systems, is to invest in a computer with the best performance processor option they can afford, and put in as much RAM as they can afford, as well as choose SSD as their internal disk choice so you get fast read/write speeds - avoid those outdated 'fusion drives' like the plague. It's worth also upgrading to the better internal graphics card if it's an option and you can afford it, as some apps will actually benefit from a faster internal GPU - just not many 3D modelling tools right now, but never say never.
CLO do not test AMD Cpu's so therefore they cannot guarantee performance on Mac's, BUT these are the CLO recommended specs for Mac and I would agree with these as a bare minimum:
- CPU: 6-core Intel Core i7 or 8-core Intel Core i9 or 6-Core Intel Xeon or higher
- RAM: 32 GB or higher
- Display: 5120x2880 @60Hz
- Storage: SSD preferred, 20+ GB disk space
Also important to remember - it's not just rendering that you need to consider when you're working, it's how your Mac (or any computer) handles the 'active' working environment. The more complex/detailed your CLO models become, the more you'll really require the extra and faster core processors in order to work properly and simulate garments without your system coming to a grinding halt.
Whilst writing this, something actually occurred to me - I know that CLO does not utilise AMD graphics cards for rendering, but does it utilise AMD graphics in the active window where we build/simulate the garments?????? If it does, then that is hugely important as it means a faster graphics card in a Mac would definitely bring some benefits. I've made a separate post about this so hopefully someone can confirm.
Feel free to ask any more questions if anyone has any.
Cheers!
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Thanks a lot for answering me.
I have a Macbook Pro from early 2015, so imagine how slow it works when rendering a simple image. I hope that the Clo team, realizes the situation and decides to invest some time to reprogram the render.
Well, that's it, or to change computers in the near future!
Thanks for everything!
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knitstudium I'm on a mid 2010 Macbook Pro so Imagine how I feel ;-)
I only just recently started using CLO and much as a really like it and definitely want to keep using it, it's important to know its limitations based on what system you have, so I'm definitely upgrading my computer.
A windows PC would be far more capable and usable for CLO, but I just hate working on windows so I want to find a half decent Mac solution.
I emailed CLO regarding my question about AMD graphics chips and if they have any influence on the general usability of CLO (apart from rendering) so I'll update this page if they get back to me - it will be huge news if indeed a faster graphics chip in a Mac can speed up the general work flow.
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odellin Uff I understand you, if mine is from 2015, yours being from 2010 there will be much more difference...
I looked at the graphics card in my Macbook Pro. It's neither Nvidia nor AMD. The mine is:
Intel Iris Graphics 6100 1536 MB
2,7 Ghz Intel Core i5 of 2 cores
8 GB RAM DDR3So, I ask, if Clo's team made an improvement for AMD's graphics, in my case, it wouldn't matter, since it's an Intel, right?
Of course, if they made the enhancements to AMD graphics, Is it possible that I could put an eGPU based on AMD?
Besides, I have read in some other thread, that Mac users with more powerful Mac computers also complain about the slowness.
I like Clo very much, I hope that with all the thousands of Mac users that we are, they will confirm something to us.
Thank you!
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knitstudium Sorry for the delay
Yes you're right, the graphics chip you have is an integrated intel one so CLO won't make any use of it.
I got a reply from the CLO team about my question regarding potential AMD gpu use in the active window/simulation view so I'll paste it below for anyone who stumbles on this thread.
Best advice for anyone using CLO on a Mac - you just have to use one with the very best CPU you can afford, and put in as much ram as you can afford. CLO will only use the CPU on a mac, unless you're using an old computer that you can put an Nvidia card in....but then you run the risk of the OS becoming outdated.
Anyway, CLO team reply pasted here:
As you pointed out, AMD graphics card is not available for CLO rendering. This is because CLO uses V-RAY renderer and Nvidia's CUDA acceleration technology. More technically, CLO uses the V-RAY renderer with CUDA acceleration for final rendering, and you can use the "FAST GPU simulate" in simulation mode.
In CLO, AMD GPUs are purely responsible for screen output, and cannot perform any computation or acceleration. Neither garment making nor simulation is possible.
AMD's graphics libraries and APIs are making great progress, but they are still at the level of OpenGL support. Also, all AMD graphics cards on Mac are optimized for Apple's native graphics technology "Metal". In other words, to take advantage of GPU-powered acceleration on Apple Mac devices, CLO software must be completely rewritten with Apple macOS native code.
The external GPU box can be a solution. But please note that, all external boxes for mac are installed AMD graphics card. You will be able to find a Nvidia-installed-box, but they're not available since the macOS Mojave. And the "Intel HD Graphics" which built-in GPU in Intel CPU also makes no sense in CLO. They too are only work for the screen output.
In summary, on all macs, CLO uses only the CPU.
Regards,
JimCLO Tech Support
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Don't worry, thanks for answering. I've already given my opinion for the other post as you'll see, but anyway I'm copying and pasting it back here too. Regards!.
Thank you very much. At least now we have a clearer situation.
On the one hand, I understand that for Clo it is complicated to rewrite the program to make it work more properly on the Mac platform, it's a hard and expensive job, but on the other hand, for those of us who have a Mac (which includes many individual users as well as companies) it's bad news.
Buying a Mac with a powerful processor, as well as a lot of RAM, is not within everyone's reach, as it starts at 2000 and 2500 euros and goes on from there.
Anyway, the important thing is that they have answered us and at least clarified the situation.
Thank you very much both to you and to the Clo team.0 -
+1
As a Mac user, I would also like for Clo to support GPU rendering.
I love using Clo3D for my career in fashion design. However, compared to Windows, Mac is not a first-class citizen when it comes to rendering speeds due to lack of GPU support.
As mentioned above, Mac currently does not support NVIDIA GPUs the GPU rendering with CUDA does not work and falls back to CPU rendering which is very slow. I don't know if the change has to happen with Clo software, itself, or in working in collaboration with the folks that built the V-Ray rendering engine, or integrating another rendering engine. It would really make a huge impact being able to harness the power of GPUs in Macs (via Metal) and improving my workflow efficiency. Love Clo3D, just need it to render faster!
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Hi there, I'm crossposting from here in the hopes of getting an answer from someone who knows what they are talking about. :)
Hi, sorry if this is an ignorant question: Is Nvidia CUDA acceleration hardware or software?
From reading here, I understand that a Windows computer is more ideal because CLO only supports Nvidia CUDA acceleration, which is not compatible with Mac. To ask my question another way: is the incompatibility between Mac and Nvidia due to the OS, the hardware, or both?
I'm asking because I want to get the most out of CLO, but currently work only on Macs. I am open to getting a new computer, but I am more comfortable with iOS over Windows. Therefore, I'm wondering if utilizing Nvidia CUDA acceleration would be possible if I purchased a PC but ran iOS instead of Windows. Alternatively, could someone run windows on a Mac computer in order to utilize Nvidia CUDA acceleration? Please let me know what you think.
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Hi I have a late 2019 Imac with this tech below, and it runs really Sloooooow even in simulation, so im switching to a pc unfortunately.
I think Clo should inform better, that Clo is not the best for Mac users. If anyone is planning to start working for real with Clo they should consider buying a PC.
3,6 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9
32 GB 2667 MHz DDR4
Radeon Pro Vega 48 8 GB
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I've been running clo on a 4gb ram mid 2012 MacBook Pro.... I am enjoying this post as I feel like the biggest clown in the world... somehow I've managed to work for the last 2 months. I am planning to actually create the work I've been drafting. it looks possible on render. if you need it you'll find a way to make it work....
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Hi sorry for such a long delay. I've stopped using CLO for a while.
To answer your question, I am presuming it is all hardware dependent so using a Mac and running windows on it won't change anything. I am not sure what would happen in reverse though (if you ran Mac OS on a windows machine).
Maybe you tried it and can let us know!
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You're right Daniel - whatever works works!
I was actually running Clo on a mid 2010 macbook pro 17" for a while, and it did run....but compared to my PC that I built, I have no idea how I used to work on the Mac...it's pretty painful by comparison!
I REALLY wish Apple would resolve its silly dispute with Nvidia (or rather I wish Nvidia would stop being idiots!). I much prefer Mac OS but I'm kinda stuck using windows now.
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