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Well one which will most probably break is GenX2, since D3D died years ago.
If/when they change the SDK they will likely do it for both platforms, as maintaining 2 versions of DS with different SDK would make things much more difficult for them and for plugin developers, which would not be a good long term option IMO.
So yes, they have to balance what good a new SDK would bring with what would be lost.
On the other hand, even if all existing Mac users of DS were to refrain from updating new users would still be affected, and of course existing users might have to update because of hardware failure or because other software required it. We don't know how things will play out, but it's clear that it's not just a painless and transparent switch to a newer version of XCode that is involved.
So bottom line is, the problem is complex and we shouldn't expect a Big Sur update in the imediate future.
As disappointing it might be, it's still better knowing that than nothing at all.
NVidea now owns ARM. This graphics portability problem will soon have to be resolved on the PC too, for I doubt they paid billions for a company to not use it. Many companies are working on graphic intermediaries between IRay and Metal, such as Vulcan, in an attempt to keep software development sane. Might work, might not.
Richard, thank you for the update. I for one appreciate it.
I sure got a surprise. All my other software seems to be working since big sur update, apart from DS. I wouldn'thave minded a warning too. I probably would still ahve updated. But at least i wouldn't have been so disappointed.
Lucky i still mainly use poser hey.
I don't post on forums, but I'm going to add in my voice to this. I upgraded to big sur with no warnings that it would kill DAZ and no idea what so ever there would be near zero chance of a fix (at least that is what I am understanding on what I have read and if I am wrong please forgive me for my mistake). I hope and pray that DAZ will decide to make the change and not give up on those of us who would like to continue using DAZ. I have been using DAZ for a long time and really don't want to have to move on from DAZ.
Edit: Does anyone know if an earlier version of DAZ would work? and if so how would I get one?
I think they will do it, since they also want to update to Qt5 which will also break the API. It's just a matter of when. And be prepared for any plugins not working in DS5, as we don't know when or if they will be updated.
Just here to add my voice to this Big Sur compatibility issue. I knew it wasn't working on beta, but now it seems like the beta status of Big Sur can't be blamed anymore.
Is it just me or did the release notes of the new Daz update not mention a lack of Big Sur compatibility when Big Sur came out?
I would very much doubt that older versions would work any better, though I don't know for sure.
Thank you Richard Haseltine. I guess I'll just wait till Daz gets back to me on my ticket.
OK, not compatible. As usual with these Daz announcements, there's an extremely infuriating lack of more detailed information. Will it ever be? If so, when? Next week? Month? Century? I can find nothing in that announcement which says that a Studio Big Sur version is being developed.
Add me to the list of people disappointed with Daz's steady abandonment of the macOS platform. You won't see trouble tickets from me about macOS issues, because I know the answers to questions like "why won't Iray work with my new MacBook Pro" and "why won't Daz Studio run on macOS 11." Instead, there's just money left on the table, and growing frustration with Daz as a company.
It seems dishonest to say that Daz Studio runs on macOS, and for two years not even test with beta versions of the new operating system. And now, Daz is unlikely to run on any new Apple hardware, since macOS 11 will be pre-installed on those machines.
I did not post for years, but I would like to chime in on this topic. I've invested many thousands of dollars in DAZ content and intended to continue to do so in the future.
However, without any kind of re-assurance on future compatibility I would literally be throwing money out of the window.
For this reason, from my point of view, two things are absolutely necessary immediately:
Additionally it would certainly be helpful to learn which plugins are expected to become unusable.
I am a professional developer myself and I know very well that it sucks having to adjust to changing environments over and over again. Not so long ago I finished a painful transition of our whole tech-stack from Java 8 to Java 11, then I had to implement HiDPI support. In-between I continously have to make adoptions to newer security standards and if I am lucky I can do some actual development work every now and then...
And yes, I know it sucks having to put out a public roadmap and then being forced to stuck to it.
But that's just the way it is, our customers expect as to adopt and meet deadlines and that's what we do. Also, being forced to follow a roadmap and meet deadlines is certainly also a great motiviator! The technological environment in which we operate is changing at an ever growing pace. DAZ very much looks like a company which is highly change-averse and this in turn makes further investments here extremely risky for customers.
OUCH. Like totally and completely OUCH. I have spent a ton of time, resources and funds to base and entire website around Daz3D. Like the past 12 months at 10-12 hour days worth. Just bought a new Mac Pro decked out. Upgraded yesterday to Big Sur, after the Release of 4.14. Every application I have works just fine with the except of Daz3D - one of the main platforms my business uses. Total kick in the gut.
As of right now, there is zero reason for me to continue spending money in the Daz store. As of right now, there is zero reason for me to continue my prime membership. Maybe Daz doesn't need my money. How about the vendors, though? I guess maybe, like me, a Mac user, they don't count either to Daz and it's bottom line. I've discontinued my Prime membership and turned off email notifications.
For my Mac bros out there that use Daz mainly for posing and light rendering, I've been using Chris Jones's Human project + Blender while Daz sorts this out.
It's not ideal, and while his human model is great, the rigging is very wonky and not as intuitive. but it's been better than nothing.
But like many, I have hundreds of $s invested in Daz models, so I'm taking the day to give Daz running in VirtualBox a try. VMs are notoriously bad when it comes to 3D... but we'll see.
I would be interested in how well that works.
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/451486/daz-studio-macos-big-sur-compatibility#latest
So, I got VirtualBox up and running, tweaked some settings with some trial and error, and installed Daz.
It, uh... runs.
All I've done so far is run it, put in a basic gen 8 model in it, and move it around. it is certainly usable with a high dose of patience. The UI works fine, it's just the viewport that's not very responsive. I'm not even going to try rendering. The big limitation here, besides some bugs that VirtualBox brings, is it limits VRAM to 256mb, which is criminally low.
I haven't made any attempt to optimize after getting it running, but if I'm able to figure out how to run it with a somewhat decent performance, I'll post up what settings I'm using. I'm a bit of an idiot when it comes to this stuff, so my guess is others might have better luck.
Available memory will be a factor as the host system and the VM are both using the physical ram in the machine that VirtualBox is installed in. I tried running Windows in a Virtual Box VM some time back. The Mac I was running it on was only 8GB so I quickly ran out of physical ram. At that point it started moving stuff out to swap. The lag between mouse movement and on screen results was driving me nuts.
You are not alone, although it seems to me the aim is a little lower than the gut. I just threw down nearly $4K on an 2020 iMac partially with the idea that it would speed up my 3D workflow. Now nearly 10 years of accumulating a library, more than 1,800 items and around 1,100 purchases. and that library is now completly useless. Wasted space on a hard drive.
Well, available memory (RAM) is fine actually. I allocated 4GB which feels more than enough for just running Daz on a clean Win10 install. VRAM is the crucial limiting factor if you're running any sort of 3D. Windows itself runs fine, no real mouse or input lag after changing some settings around. Daz itself also runs just fine, the only thing that's not 100% is viewport performance. Also, if you're rendering, or have anything more than a small scene, 256mb of VRAM will probably crash it.
After trying VirtualBox, seems to me like Bootcamp is the most viable option here for Mac users. For me, booting in and out of Bootcamp just for Daz is a bit of a pain, but if Daz really is crucial to your business - or if any non-Apple app is - having Bootcamp can be a lifesaver. Try the hassle of running a VM only if having Daz open alongside macOS programs is important to you...
RIP if you're using one of the new Apple Silicon Macs, though.
You are not alone. I feel that myself.
Thank you for the update. Having an idea of when to expect anything from DAZ regarding a working system is great to know.
But in the meantime is there a way to access my DAZ content in any other programs? I have literally hundreds (probably closer to thousands) of dollars invested in content alone and I would dearly love to be able to use it somewhere else. Especially since a lot of it was recently purchased. I just thought I'd ask in the event I could do a work around for now. For me there is no going back to a later OS model for a number of reasons.
Also interested
mid 2021... that's heart breaking. And just in time for the announcement of the next macOS!
How do I uninstall PostgreSQL CMS manually since the uninstaller doesn't work?
Thanks for the update. Will be interesting to see if DAZ will actually follow through.
I'll not be spending any money in the store in the meantime, that would be foolish. But I'll keep my Platinum Club Membership in good faith.
Good luck!
Thanks for the update... I'm glad I didn't renew my Platinum membership as I'm getting a new M1 Powerbook (it should arrive tomorrow) and my old machine gets traded in. I guess I'll check back here in June and see if there's any progress. I hope so.