The Mac FAQ

Sven Dullah

robertswww said:

Sven Dullah said:

I just ordered a MacPro 16core/48GbRAM (4 weeks delivery). I intend to run DS 4.9 on it but testing on my Macbook reveals that Monterey and 4.9 don't play well together, greyed out file options, can't browse for textures, splash screen loads upside down etc. (Yup I can drop scenes from Finder and render.) Apple refuses to sell anything but the latest OS, so my question is:

Can I just clone the entire IMac I'm currently working on, OS (El Capitan), software and content? Or can someone recommend a network solution that would let me utilize both 4.9 and the Mac Pro CPU?

Thanks!

@Sven Dullah You may want to consider keeping Mac OSX Monterey on one drive or partition to run the latest apps and the forthcoming Daz Studio 5.  Then install Max OSX El Capitan on another dirve or partion to run DS 4.9. Basically, make a dual-boot Mac.  If you do decide to wipe Mac OSX Monterey, make sure you make a Recovery disk first, in case you ever need to go back to the factory install.

As for cloning, Apple has the Migration Assistant (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204350). However, cloning your iMac might not work, as the build of OSX that ships with each Mac is somewhat tailored to that specific hardware model. It's probably better to download Mac OSX El Capitan as a sepearate installer that can configure itself to your new Mac hardware.

You should be able to download Mac OSX El Capitan via the link on this page...  Scroll down to this section, "How to download Sierra, El Capitan or Yosemite". 
https://www.macworld.com/article/671911/how-to-get-old-macos-download-big-sur-catalina-mojave-and-more.html

 

Many tks, will look into this! 

supernoob

Anybody have any idea why my spot render has suddenly started to go extremely slowly?

I'm using an M1 Max 10 core, 24 core GPU, 32gb RAM, 800+gb of free space on my SSD.

Just a single character in the scene, no environment, no clothes, just hair because I'm trying to make the face.

Last week this would take 30 seconds to 1 minute. But for a few days it's been stupidly slow. I'm currently at 10 mins and it's still on 0%.

I haven't been messing around with settings or files.

robertswww

supernoob said:

Anybody have any idea why my spot render has suddenly started to go extremely slowly?

I'm using an M1 Max 10 core, 24 core GPU, 32gb RAM, 800+gb of free space on my SSD.

Just a single character in the scene, no environment, no clothes, just hair because I'm trying to make the face.

Last week this would take 30 seconds to 1 minute. But for a few days it's been stupidly slow. I'm currently at 10 mins and it's still on 0%.

I haven't been messing around with settings or files.

@supernoob The hair may be what is slowing it down, depending on what type of hair it is, and how many polygons are in the mesh.  Hair can take a lot of VRAM (PC) or RAM (on a M1 Mac).

Try closing other open apps, and purge Daz memory before loading your scene to (spot) render (Scripts -> Utilities -> Purge Memory script).

Also, iRay renders faster with more light, so render a brighter scene.

supernoob

robertswww said:

supernoob said:

Anybody have any idea why my spot render has suddenly started to go extremely slowly?

I'm using an M1 Max 10 core, 24 core GPU, 32gb RAM, 800+gb of free space on my SSD.

Just a single character in the scene, no environment, no clothes, just hair because I'm trying to make the face.

Last week this would take 30 seconds to 1 minute. But for a few days it's been stupidly slow. I'm currently at 10 mins and it's still on 0%.

I haven't been messing around with settings or files.

@supernoob The hair may be what is slowing it down, depending on what type of hair it is, and how many polygons are in the mesh.  Hair can take a lot of VRAM (PC) or RAM (on a M1 Mac).

Try closing other open apps, and purge Daz memory before loading your scene to (spot) render (Scripts -> Utilities -> Purge Memory script).

Also, iRay renders faster with more light, so render a brighter scene.

I've found what the problem was now but thank you for the suggestions.

I was using an HDRI for light and it had loaded/activated some bizarre render settings that affected spot render too.
They were setting I would never normally change (or even look at). Once I reset those it was back to normal.

wsterdan

Sven Dullah said:

robertswww said:

Sven Dullah said:

I just ordered a MacPro 16core/48GbRAM (4 weeks delivery). I intend to run DS 4.9 on it but testing on my Macbook reveals that Monterey and 4.9 don't play well together, greyed out file options, can't browse for textures, splash screen loads upside down etc. (Yup I can drop scenes from Finder and render.) Apple refuses to sell anything but the latest OS, so my question is:

Can I just clone the entire IMac I'm currently working on, OS (El Capitan), software and content? Or can someone recommend a network solution that would let me utilize both 4.9 and the Mac Pro CPU?

Thanks!

@Sven Dullah You may want to consider keeping Mac OSX Monterey on one drive or partition to run the latest apps and the forthcoming Daz Studio 5.  Then install Max OSX El Capitan on another dirve or partion to run DS 4.9. Basically, make a dual-boot Mac.  If you do decide to wipe Mac OSX Monterey, make sure you make a Recovery disk first, in case you ever need to go back to the factory install.

As for cloning, Apple has the Migration Assistant (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204350). However, cloning your iMac might not work, as the build of OSX that ships with each Mac is somewhat tailored to that specific hardware model. It's probably better to download Mac OSX El Capitan as a sepearate installer that can configure itself to your new Mac hardware.

You should be able to download Mac OSX El Capitan via the link on this page...  Scroll down to this section, "How to download Sierra, El Capitan or Yosemite". 
https://www.macworld.com/article/671911/how-to-get-old-macos-download-big-sur-catalina-mojave-and-more.html

 

Many tks, will look into this! 

One other option would be to just clone your iMac onto an external drive and use that as an alternate boot drive. If you've never done it before, all you need to do is plug the external drive in, and restart your system holding down the "option" key while it starts up. The machine will show all current bootable drives and let you choose which one to boot from. Unless you clone it onto an external SSD drive, it won't be quite as fast as your internal drive, but it might be fast enough.

-- Walt 

inquire

I did update to Monterey OS 12.4, after I took my late 2013 Mac Pro in for fixing. I was, previous to that, running on Catalina, OS 10.15.7.

Apple repair did a great job, and the fee was also great! Obvisously, AppleCare had expired, but in addition to a great fee, I also got a new warranty. They even had to ship my Mac from California to Memphis, Tennessee, for parts and repair, AND . . . I was not charaged for shipping. How great is that? Total time from my taking it in to my being able to retrieve it: 5 days. Thanks, Apple.

But, today, about 1 week after updating to 12.4, there's an update for 12.5. So, has anyone updated yet? If so, how does DAZ Studio run on 12.5? 

Also, I'm using Cocktail for Monterey. Should I wait until an explicit update for 12.5 is released for Monterey?

And, I'm using ClamXav as a virus scanner. Any idea how that will work on 12.5?

Platnumk

So far Daz has been running fine on the latest MacOS.

And just FYI, I have been a Mac user since 2011 & I have never had the need to use any type of virus scanner & I have never used any type of system cleaner as MacOS does this it's self.

inquire

Thanks for the info. Don't you have to run something to clean out excess logs? And by the latest, do you mean 12.5?

Platnumk

inquire said:

Thanks for the info. Don't you have to run something to clean out excess logs? And by the latest, do you mean 12.5?

Providing you don't turn your Mac Off it will run its own cleaning & maintanance routines while in sleep mode,  And yes i'm running MacOS 12.5

inquire

Oh, well I do turn my Mac off at night. Right. I knew about the running while in sleep mode.

And you have no worries about viruses? There are Mac viruses.

Platnumk

inquire said:

Oh, well I do turn my Mac off at night. Right. I knew about the running while in sleep mode.

And you have no worries about viruses? There are Mac viruses.

Do to how well the latest versions of MacOS is locked down it very difficult for any type of virus to gain access without user interaction.

In all the years I've been using a Mac I have never had a single virus,  If I belive a file maybe infected then I use an online/on demand scanner (which I have only ever done once).

The latest versions of MacOS not only has Gatekeeper but also has SIP (System Integrity Protection) which stops almost anything from damaging the main system files. 

inquire

@Platnumk: OK, I'm on 12.5 now. Thanks for all the info again. I wasn't trying to argue, btw, just questioning as I am aware that you do know a good deal more about the Macintosh and its functioning than do I.

Platnumk

inquire said:

@Platnumk: OK, I'm on 12.5 now. Thanks for all the info again. I wasn't trying to argue, btw, just questioning as I am aware that you do know a good deal more about the Macintosh and its functioning than do I.

 Not a problem my friend.  We all learn from out mistakes or asking questions when needed,  If we didn't there would be no progress.

Most of my knowledge comes from either asking questions like you've been doing or playing around with the system and see what happens.

Vizer

Has anyone else on Mac OS (specifically M1 Macs) experienced mouse click lag in Daz Studio? It seems isolated to Daz Studio.

• When clicking on items in the Scene pane, Daz Studio seems to recognize the initial mouse click, but not mouse click release. This causes multiple scene items to become selected (Daz thinks I'm dragging to multi-select), and many times causes items to be moved around or inadvertently nested. 
• When using AniMate2, dragging the AniBlocks to the timeline requires numerous attempts, because the mouse click to drag-n-drop does not register. Is there any other method of adding an AniBlock to the AniMate2 timeline without drag-and-drop? I'm having to click and hold about 4-5 times before Daz3d recognizes that I'm trying to drag-n-drop the AniBlock into the timeline. Double-clicking the AniBlock is supposed to insert it into the timeline, but that seldom works because Daz is not recognizing the double-click most of the time. 

I'm having identical issues on two M1 Macs --- one M1 Mac Mini and another Mac Studio.

 

3Don

I have not been able  to work on my new Mac for a month or 2. (Personal distractions) I tried to boot up tonite and it would not go. I tried 2 different outlets & 3 different power strips (which all  work) and I still could not get the Mac to turn on.

I checked all in and out connections & they seemed OK.

Any ideas/suggestions? I need to get it going again. High Sierra 10.13.6

Thanx.

robertswww

@3Don Are you using a Desktop Mac via AC-power outlet, or a Laptop Mac with a built-in battery?

From Apple - If your Mac doesn't seem to turn on after you press the power button, follow these steps:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204267

If it's a laptop, you can also try this...

"Jump-Starting" a Dead MacBook Battery by Resetting the SMC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znjVUexKrHo

inquire

Question about running First Aid (Disk Utility) on Monterey 12.5: There is a Container Disk 1 shown (see screen shot) and several volumes under it. So, if I run First Aid on Container Disk 1, I'm guessing it will also check all of the sub-volumes. Am I correct? Or, if I want a thorough check, do I have to check each of the sub-volumes?

Edit: Oops! I forgot the Schren Shot.

robertswww

inquire said:

Question about running First Aid (Disk Utility) on Monterey 12.5: There is a Container Disk 1 shown (see screen shot) and several volumes under it. So, if I run First Aid on Container Disk 1, I'm guessing it will also check all of the sub-volumes. Am I correct? Or, if I want a thorough check, do I have to check each of the sub-volumes?

To check and repair a disk, you need to run First Aid on each volume and container on the storage device in turn, then run it on the storage device itself.
Source: https://support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/repair-a-storage-device-dskutl1040/mac

Repair volumes, then containers, then disks
Source: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210898

 

inquire

OK. Thank you. Well, luckily I don't have any problems at the moment. And I have been checking all of these things (volumes,  containers, disks). I was just wondering if I could shorten the time by just checking one or two of these, such as disks and containers. I guess not.

robertswww

@inquire Yes, you are performing the First Aid operations correctly. Basically start from the deepest nested level and work your way outward... Sub-Volumes --> Volumes --> Containers --> Disks.  There's not really a way to speed up the process, unless you skip scanning some of the disk contents, but that is not advisable.  Just have a good maintenance routine and stick to it, and you can keep your Mac's drive in good health.

3Don

Thanx for the input. Mine is a desktop. I have 2 other older iMacs that were off for about the same length of time & both started right up. I will check  out the link posted by robertswww & see what happens.

Add on...

I followed the link to "If your Mac doesn't turn on." link & tried holding the on buttn  down for 10 seconds or more. Tried twice. Nothing. No turn on. I was plugged in to a power strip that I know works.

Any other ideas? If not, I will contact Apple support.

robertswww

@3Don First unplug any peripherals if any are plugged-in, such as external drives, printers, hubs, etc.

If your desktop Mac, has a seperate monitor, plug only the monitor into the AC-outlet and see if the power standby light comes on. Then, you'll know if the monitor is working.  If it's an all-in-one Mac, like an iMac, continue with...

Check the main power cord where it is connected to the back of the Mac to make sure it is not loose. Also, if you have another power cord (from one of your working computers), switch out the cords, to see if the cord is the issue.

If it's an older desktop Mac, and the clock battery went dead, this can cause this power-off issue too. Google your Mac model and how to replace the clock battery (with some older Macs it's a PRAM Battery).  If you do replace the battery, you will probably need to do a PRAM/NVRAM reset and/or SMC reset afterwards.

If you can get to a blue screen, then your Mac is actually getting power and able to start. Restart your Mac and hold down the Shift-key to boot into Safe Mode. If all else fails, contact Apple Support.

inquire

robertswww said:

@inquire Yes, you are performing the First Aid operations correctly. Basically start from the deepest nested level and work your way outward... Sub-Volumes --> Volumes --> Containers --> Disks.  There's not really a way to speed up the process, unless you skip scanning some of the disk contents, but that is not advisable.  Just have a good maintenance routine and stick to it, and you can keep your Mac's drive in good health.

OK. So, I've been doing this weekly. Is that necessary? Or, what is a good maintenance routine? It's not necessary to use First Aid  each time I back up, is it? I want to do the right (that is, advisible) thing, but I don't want to go overboard.

robertswww

@inquire If you have a good back-up strategy, then you don't have to run First Aid as often, since you have the backup. 

I run disk First Aid before I do any major OS updates, or large App installs. I also run disk First Aid after I perform a lot of heavy disk use, or when my computer acts up (slows down, gets laggy, or other glitches). 

Normally, if everything is working well, I just run disk First Aid once-a-month.  But, some people like to run it weekly or bi-weekly and that is fine too.  It really depends on how hard you push your Mac and how careful you want to be. It's really a personal decision and up to you.

Platnumk

inquire said:

robertswww said:

@inquire Yes, you are performing the First Aid operations correctly. Basically start from the deepest nested level and work your way outward... Sub-Volumes --> Volumes --> Containers --> Disks.  There's not really a way to speed up the process, unless you skip scanning some of the disk contents, but that is not advisable.  Just have a good maintenance routine and stick to it, and you can keep your Mac's drive in good health.

OK. So, I've been doing this weekly. Is that necessary? Or, what is a good maintenance routine? It's not necessary to use First Aid  each time I back up, is it? I want to do the right (that is, advisible) thing, but I don't want to go overboard.

You should only need to run First Aid if there is a problem, otherwise the Mac takes care if its self.  If your Mac starts to slowdown then normally a re-boot will do the trick,  If not then doing a SMC Reset should fix a slowdown.  If you find that some software keeps glitching the normally doing a PRAM reset helps.

I've had my latest iMac for 3yrs now & I haven't ran First Aid once yet.

Apple recommends that you put your system to sleep & not to keep turning it off.  While a Mac is in sleep mode it will automattically run its mantianance scripts.

robertswww

Platnumk said:

You should only need to run First Aid if there is a problem, otherwise the Mac takes care if its self.  If your Mac starts to slowdown then normally a re-boot will do the trick,  If not then doing a SMC Reset should fix a slowdown.  If you find that some software keeps glitching the normally doing a PRAM reset helps.

I've had my latest iMac for 3yrs now & I haven't ran First Aid once yet.

Apple recommends that you put your system to sleep & not to keep turning it off.  While a Mac is in sleep mode it will automattically run its mantianance scripts.

 

@Platnumk You do make some good points about resets, but here are a few items that Mac users need to be aware of...

1.  When a Mac is put into Sleep mode, it will shut-down all processes to save energy (i.e. no maintenance).
2.  If you want the Mac to take care of things in the background while it sleeps (i.e. maintenance), then you must make sure that Power Nap is enabled via Energy Saver.
3.  Note that disk First Aid is not one of the processes that the Mac automatically takes care of during a Power Nap.
4.  You need to manually run First Aid from Disk Utily to check the health of your hard drive, fix corrup files, and to repair permissions, etc. If you don't do this, then small problems can turn into big problems.

NOTE Regarding Permissions: After OS X 10.11 El Capitan permission repair was integrated via: System Integrity Protection (SIP) and will protect and repair root file permissions during software updates. But if you install and delete software frequently, then you should run disk First Aid to check and repair permissions instead of waiting for the next Mac OS update to auto-run SIP.

For a good article about what a Mac does during a Power Nap, check out this article...

SHOULD YOU SHUT DOWN YOUR MAC OR LET IT SLEEP EVERY NIGHT?
https://eshop.macsales.com/blog/47473-tech-tip-should-you-shut-down-your-mac-or-let-it-sleep/

Here is the official Apple support guidance on all of these issues...

What is Power Nap on Mac?
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/what-is-power-nap-mh40773/12.0/mac/12.0

What is safe sleep on Mac?
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/what-is-safe-sleep-mh10328/mac

Set sleep and wake settings for your Mac
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/set-sleep-and-wake-settings-mchle41a6ccd/12.0/mac/12.0

Solve problems with a disk using Disk Utility on Mac
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/solve-problems-a-disk-utility-mac-mchlp1718/12.0/mac/12.0

Check if a Mac disk is about to fail
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/check-if-a-mac-disk-is-about-to-fail-mchlp2548/12.0/mac/12.0

Repair a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac (First Aid)
https://support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/repair-a-storage-device-dskutl1040/mac

Platnumk

The repairing of Permissions was removed from the Disk Utility from MacOS High Sierra as the system now does it in the background,  Tho there used to be a work-a-round where you could do it from the terminal but apple removed that from MacOS Mojave onwards.

There is still a way to repair permissions but that does involve in turning of SIP.

AgitatedRiot

Alert Mac user; Apple Announces Security Flaw.  Macs.  macOS Monterey 12.5.1 OS the kernel and the WebKit can be affected by this exploit. They have a fix just update your OS. This flaw was found in the last 24 hours.

Platnumk

AgitatedRiot said:

Alert Mac user; Apple Announces Security Flaw.  Macs.  macOS Monterey 12.5.1 OS the kernel and the WebKit can be affected by this exploit. They have a fix just update your OS. This flaw was found in the last 24 hours.

MacOS 12.5.1 is the latest release,  There has been no update since then. 

robertswww

Mac users that are interested in the list of Apple Security Updates, can find the official list here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201222

The last security release was for Safari 15.6.1 to fix the WebKit vulnerability on August 18th, 2022 and the day before on August 17th the macOS Monterey 12.5.1 security update was released.