AsOne Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 Anyone running FormZ 8 on a new Mac Mini (the new dual core with Iris graphics)? Curious to see how it runs...I'm interested in modeling performance - not Renderzone render times. Even more specific would be how it runs in Shaded Full mode with some of the new options turned on. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ingoerik Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 I have the 2.8 GHz and it works well for modelling, never use shaded modes but i tested it without textures and its okay to work with. Coming from the Intel3000 its a big step forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisA Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 as long as you have quad i7 over the i5. There are 2 in my studio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonmoore Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 The thing that will hold you back is pushing the integrated GPU. But as long as you mainly use FormZ in Shaded Work mode you'll get away with an i5 with 8meg memory. Shaded Full will work too but you're frame rates will suffer as you push the quality settings too far. IMHO one of FormZ's crowning glories is it's ability to function well on low spec hardware. The only program I've seen that's even more friendly on low end hardware is Rhino. And as an aside, the Mac version of Rhino is only $295 till September. Fantastic partner to FormZ - especially at the intro price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsOne Posted July 1, 2015 Author Share Posted July 1, 2015 I would get the i7 with16mb RAM and pcie storage. thanks for the feedback. though I might wait to the end of the year and see if there is an update. jonmore: what do you get from Rhino that FormZ doesn't give you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonmoore Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 jonmore: what do you get from Rhino that FormZ doesn't give you? At the current price of $295 it's worth it just for the file IO stuff (it has a really great tessellation engine for exports and imports just about anything you throw at at). And not having a dig at FormZ but it's Nurb's capabilities are a shadow of Rhino's. There's nothing wrong with that though, as the beauty with FormZ is the mix of Nurbs/Solids & Meshes. Grab the Rhino demo, it's a generous 90 day number. See if it clicks with you. If not nothing lost. http://www.rhino3d.com/mac jm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo Atkinson Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 …. And not having a dig at FormZ but it's Nurb's capabilities are a shadow of Rhino's. …... jm Please, please show me NURBS objects produced by Rhino, which formZ cannot make. I have looked at Rhino galleries for 20 years and never once saw any ground breaking NURBS beyond formZ capability. Granted there are user work flow issues and also there are the number of required steps, as well as hardware limitations (of using older machines). As a low end machine user, i have to say i have not seen limitations in production of NURBS (in Z). The fact is that powerful solids and curve, along with facetted and smooth, side by side, has been most essential for me to get NURBS beyond the ordinary types of NURBS objects. BTW… I'm still using my i5 MacMini 2011, for minimal formZ things but it cannot even run Shaded Work in V7… (I use a 2012 Macpro tower for more serious work when time permits me to turn it on. It has odd hardware issues, which i ignore). I see barely used newer MacMinis, sold second hand at $400. I just don't get much time to focus on design these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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