Don Seidel

of course if you need nothing better than Open GL with maybe line sketch overlay, there's no reason to go outside VW. It's 10% of the time that we need something better, and Final RW is dinosaur tech at snail speed.

Working in TW is a love-hate exercise for me. I love the datasmith VW to TM method, with intelligent updates. I love the instant environments, backgrounds etc that TM offers, and I love the near-instant final output of still images. For Mac users, TM is at the moment the best possible workflow if you want a pretty good rendering without huge effort after you’re done w a VW model. i hate the navigation. I mean, really? It’s so basic to using the software. It should be the fastest part of using TW, but it’s the slowest. I haven’t used a mouse in almost 30 years. You can program the Mac trackpad for right-click, but not center-button (I don’t think). Good night! What effort would it be for TM programmers to add orbit, or pan with simple space bar?? I look forward to Red Shift and Octane

Well ! Finally the VW Mac rendering world takes a leap forward! Many thanks to the VW Team for this great mid-cycle bonus ! The Datasmith export/import to TM is very clean. Our models come in just as we see them in VW. The re-import update in TM for changed VW models so far is flawless and extremely fast. Even better, texture changes made to your model in TM remain so. just short of the live link method, this is still a massive leap in realistic render workflow. Now If we could get VW lights to come into TM...

Well ! Finally the VW Mac rendering world takes a leap forward! Many thanks to the VW Team for this great mid-cycle bonus ! The Datasmith export/import to TM is very clean. Our models come in just as we see them in VW. The re-import update in TM for changed VW models so far is flawless and extremely fast. Even better, texture changes made to your model in TM remain so. just short of the live link method, this is still a massive leap in realistic render workflow. Now If we could get VW lights to come into TM....

...But TM is the only solution for Mac at the moment, and the Mac version is pretty sorry.

Rendering is a big part (if not the primary goal) of so many workflows. It's 2021 and we're long past due to have a built-in or add-on fast render tool that's at least on par with the general market. One that is 100% in sync with VW

OK seriously? I remember why I bailed on TM Mac when testing before. Version 2020.2 so buggy as to be "alpha" software. Slow navigation (hilariously so, even on different Macs), and yes I hit the eye button for faster mode. If you're using a trackpad (hello...it's 2021), there's no alternate navigation for many keys. Really should be "normal" right out of the box, not 100 workarounds for everything. Sorry but this is neither modern software or modern UI.

OK, so if I understand, you're saying a VW model with geometry changes (but no texture changes) is re-imported into TM, everything in TM is still good....no further editing of the VW model needed? What file format out of VW has given you the best success with TM?

Hans-Olav, are you responding specifically to my point? As recent as 1 yr ago, the VW Boards had users saying WHEN you have to re-import your VW model for changes, the building itself has to be re-textured. This was my experience. That's the deal-breaker for me. In 2021, I shouldn't have to re-do any textures in render world because of a model change.

Zoomer, nice as TM is on Mac, it's a "one-way" render. Meaning there's no live link to a VW Model, or even an update-on-import option. If you have to make changes to your VW model, you're starting over with a raw untextured, non-lighted model in TM Mac when you re-import......unless I've missed something. Not an efficient workflow at all, given the competition. It's 2021, after all. I Didn't get the flying cars everywhere promised when I was a kid in the 60's, but at least I should have a live plugin/live-link 3rd party renderer 🙂

TwinMotion, Lumion, Enscape, RedShift...will the Mac Users of VW ever get a live or live-link Renderer? The promise of the M1 (and future M chips) is very exciting, bit they no longer allow eGPU. New render tech coming will leapfrog the need for eGPU, but it seems never to arrive on the Mac.

First session on M1 Mini with16gb ram ran fine. Could not tell it was emulation. Nothing exotic or too taxing just yet. SO far so good. Screen rendering at FQRW 87GB model was FAST, FAST. ...previously too slow on other Macs for quick preview. A bit minor lag for Open GL pan and zoom.

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I need to replace an aging iMac as office server, so I'll be getting a 16gb Mac Mini....as soon as they are available (2-3 weeks). Certainly will be testing some of our largest VW files.

5 macs : Old Mini, 2 iMacs, MB Air and 2019 MB Pro (Radeon eGPU) all running VW 2021 with no apparent issues on Mac OS 11.0.1