You think the hardware could support 64-bit atomics it just isn't exposed in the API?
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3D Rendering on Apple Silicon, CPU&GPU
- Thread starter vel0city
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I believe the reason they need 64 bit atomics is because it's incredibly inefficient to render tiny pixel-sized triangles so they "splat" them using atomics as a GPGPU renderer using a compute shader, which Epic found was 3x faster than just rendering them with the normal hardware path.
I wonder if Apple Silicon's TBDR architecture means that either this isn't such a big problem or there is an alternative algorithm that can be used.
Although the Mac's unpopularity in gaming probably just means that if we do eventually get nanite support it won't be a custom AS algorithm and they'll just render the triangles directly and it will end up being 3x slower than PC.
I wonder if Apple Silicon's TBDR architecture means that either this isn't such a big problem or there is an alternative algorithm that can be used.
Although the Mac's unpopularity in gaming probably just means that if we do eventually get nanite support it won't be a custom AS algorithm and they'll just render the triangles directly and it will end up being 3x slower than PC.
I always tend to think that some YouTubers seem to hate Apple anything they will make videos just to get clicks by using only INTEL only software! I feel most M1 users should only use at least Universal software or better (pure Silicon)! try to limit Intel only software and pressure big manufactures to go to at least Universal by now sense the M1 is almost 2 years old now, the only Intel Mac left is Mac Pro and I feel that will be release this Fall or WWDC!
I think you’ve got that the wrong way around; Blender problem causes Mac Studio to shutdown.
Looks like Blender still has a ways to go on Apple Silicon.
I’ve never really used unreal engine, but I get the impression that it’s always been a bit jank and doubly so on the Mac. I could see this being the option Epic go for with Nanite.
That’s certainly going to generate a lot of fun you tube comparison videos.
It’s definitely getting there with native support; still probably a year out from non beta stable releases for a lot of thing still. At the end of the day 3D software is hard and complex; I’m more impressed that most of the main dcc vendors are making good headway on getting native versions.
Excited to see what they end up presenting at WWDC; last time they had a couple of sessions on optimising games, Metro Exodus and sth else (although much of the emphasis was on photogrammy, for which I haven’t seen any real results). Curious as to whether we get more of an focus on games this year. Either way will tell us how motivated apple is to address that market.
The latest rumours are of a Mac Pro announcement with hardware ray tracing. Totally unverifiable rumours , but this is Mac Rumors.
Mac Pro needs a "low" CPU core count / high GPU core count option...
Not all the assorted subsystems on the Mn Max SoC need be present on all grouped SoCs in a Mac Pro configuration...
I could see an octo-SoC configuration; two "regular" full-die SoCs & six SoCs with memory controllers and GPU cores...?
Not all the assorted subsystems on the Mn Max SoC need be present on all grouped SoCs in a Mac Pro configuration...
I could see an octo-SoC configuration; two "regular" full-die SoCs & six SoCs with memory controllers and GPU cores...?
- 20-core CPU (16P/4E)
- 256-core GPU (w/hardware ray tracing)
- 64-core Neural Engine (two 16-core clusters per "regular" SoC)
- 2TB LPDDR5X SDRAM
- 4TB/s UMA
A high gpu count option would be good, but as with the Ultra with 64 cores, the issue is more the software than the amount. Would be a bit pricy; at this stage Apple really need to deliver on the GPU performance.
Mac Pro looks to be the most interesting variation on the Apple Silicon. So many questions: Will it be upgradable or modular, how much ram will there be, will there be separate boards for gpu/cpu? If it’s not an M1 chip what will the architectural difference be (M2? Custom?) So many unknowns…
I’d go with the 20/40 cpu core, 128core GPU and possibly raytracing hardware if I had to bet. Also reckon we’ll probably see it release in September.
Mac Pro looks to be the most interesting variation on the Apple Silicon. So many questions: Will it be upgradable or modular, how much ram will there be, will there be separate boards for gpu/cpu? If it’s not an M1 chip what will the architectural difference be (M2? Custom?) So many unknowns…
I’d go with the 20/40 cpu core, 128core GPU and possibly raytracing hardware if I had to bet. Also reckon we’ll probably see it release in September.
Have you guy seen this?
If this turns out to be accurate then it's huge! It is right there at number 1 on my Apple wishlist*.
*(actually, right below a shiny 30" Apple Wacom Cintiq killer ?)
If this is true then I would be going all out over M2 than M3.
Unless it still lacks Wifi 6e and HDMI 2.1
I can’t understand German. Do you know which version of Blender he was running when it shut down?
It shows 3.2.0 in the lower right corner.
Software may hang or crash the system but not shut it down so it's exposing a potential system design issue.
It is a Dutch studio, so that's Dutch they're speaking, not German.
There is no mention of which version they used. It is mentioned after the crash that they tried to load the scene again, this time without problems.
Anyway. Have you guys seen this?
https://github.com/Autodesk/maya-usd/pull/2280
Could be a sign of an Apple Silicon native version of Maya in the works.
I was going to say I've had games reboot windows, but realised that wasn't much of a rebuttal.
Nice find! Would be good to see a native version of Maya in the works. Don't use it so much myself these days, but any app adds to the ecosystem and helps get the other developers on board.
The Blender dev that was on camera believes that:
Blender causes Mac Studio to crash in Dutch review video
The issue isn’t reproducible, it just happened once during 3 days of stress testing. We were just glad that the cameras where turned on. It is most likely a power demand that couldn’t be delivered by the hardware, would assume that that can be fixed with firmware updates by Apple. If more...
That or software bug as 3.2 is Alpha.The Blender dev that was on camera believes that:
Blender causes Mac Studio to crash in Dutch review video
The issue isn’t reproducible, it just happened once during 3 days of stress testing. We were just glad that the cameras where turned on. It is most likely a power demand that couldn’t be delivered by the hardware, would assume that that can be fixed with firmware updates by Apple. If more...devtalk.blender.org
However same scene and a daily build of 3.2 did not make my 14” crash however the scene did not load correctly.
Pixologic's Matthew Yetter (long time Pixologic Customer Support Manager), indicates that they intend to provide a native Apple Silicon version of ZBrush. He does refrain from providing an ETA though.
Link
As for Substance, Allegorithmic founder Sebastien Deguy, mentioned here that they are working on it. With Substance community manager Vincent Gault chiming in they're looking into 'it' but no ETA.
So, take it for what it's worth.
Also, much to my personal enjoyment, (and on a bit of a tangent to the thread's topic), there is now a 'possible way forward' to a native Mac version of pixel art powerhouse app, 'Pro Motion' by Cosmigo. Love it. ?
The first week of June would be the perfect time for a new round of announcements!
I thought they'd made some noises about a native version of Substance, but still not committed to a date?
If they're going to be talking about the new Mac Pro, then they're going to want some software to demo on it! Since they seem to have done Redshift and C4D, my money's on Octane and Houdini on the 3D side of things, unless Autodesk sneaks something in there (this would also tie in nicely with USD and AR if that's a thing this year).
You can also download the AS version of Rhino 8 if you have a 7 license - or at least that's what google told me when I googled Rhino 8
Yes, it's called Rhino 8 WIP and you can activate Metal with the TestMetal command.You can also download the AS version of Rhino 8 if you have a 7 license - or at least that's what google told me when I googled Rhino 8
Do people think eGPUs will ever be supported with apple silicon machines?
As much as I like my M1 Ultra Mac Studio, the option to have more GPU rendering speed if needed would be a massive improvement to the system. Massively hoping but feels too good an idea to be true maybe ?
Imagining in another world apple would sell extra eGPUs in the shape of a Mac mini so they could be stacked on top of Mac Studio like this...
As much as I like my M1 Ultra Mac Studio, the option to have more GPU rendering speed if needed would be a massive improvement to the system. Massively hoping but feels too good an idea to be true maybe ?
Imagining in another world apple would sell extra eGPUs in the shape of a Mac mini so they could be stacked on top of Mac Studio like this...
So you think the apple silicon Mac Pro won’t support PCIe graphics cards? I think that is a massive point of the Mac Pro. We’ll see I guess