I have a mid-2010 6-core MacPro, running OSX 10.6.8, which has a "stock" ATI Radeon HD 5770
Is it possible that there could be a beta "port" of Octane to run on Mac, and run using ATI cards (ie: with Open-CL support!)
I just want this to work--even if there is a substantial "performance hit".... Slow is acceptable, non-functionality is not...
I have a near-ZERO budget for hardware upgrades, and throwing down $350.xx or more for a "PC" Nvidia graphics card that "might" work on my Mac, if booted on a Windows VM disk image..... Well, that just doesn't work for me.... Nor does the "officially supported" (?) option of throwing down ~~$1200.xx for the Nvidia Quadro-4000 for Mac. (or possibly the PNY version for ~$800.xx USD)
I used to have a (long time ago!) software-only, simple modeler/render package called "Infini-Dee" that ran (rather slowly...) on basic OS9 Mac, circa 1995... It did basic ray-tracing, "density" of transparent objects, import of DXF files. and had a basic modeller that was adequate for basic geometric models and scenes... If that was do-able then (it was!!!). Why is a software-emulation version of Octane not possible now?
So... I'd like to have "something similar" There **MUST** be a way to have a Software EMULATION of an NVIDIA/GPU/CUDA setup that would allow people who DO NOT HAVE NVIDIA, to at least "trial" the OctaneRender sample package----even if it's locked into using ONLY the basic "golfball with Octane's logo" object.
I just want to be able to "fiddle with" (teach myself...) the node-construction/texture exploration window, and see (slowly...?) the results ON SCREEN...That much of a demo version (for Mac!!) should be possible fairly easily? No?
The current root of this problem situation is the COMPLETE lack of affordable options for NVIDIA cards (WITH a Mac driver that WORKS...) It's frustrating and unconscionable!!! :-//
Will there be any improvement in this "lack of support" situation from NVIDIA, or from Octane, when OSX 10.7 "Lion" ships later this summer?
Please advise! :-/