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DAZ Studio and Apple M4 computers?

JOdelJOdel Posts: 6,322
in The Commons

I will be replacing a computer later on this year. It will probably b a Mac Studio running on the M4 chip. Is there anyone here who has experience of running Studio on this chipset?

What is the earliest version of Studio that will run on it? How wel does it run? WHat are the issues, so far as you know?

I realize that Iray is almost certainly going to still be a problem, What are the workarounds? I know that the few times I've had to render in Iray on my intel iMac, the images were almost unusably noisy and there was no way to turn off progressive rendering (which i hate).

At this point this is a fishing expedition..

Comments

  • nemesis10nemesis10 Posts: 3,871
    edited December 2025

    I am not sure if I can answer too many of your questions (I resolutely keep up with the lastest versions that will run on my iMac and have no interest in earlier versions) but let's begin with Daz Studio 4.24 and Daz Studio 2025 ALPHA - version 6.25.2025.35308.  Daz Studio 4.24 runs okay but a only a little bit faster than earlier versions of Daz Studio. It renders about as fast as any version has on a mac. Scripts work but it is a bit crashy.  As for the future; I am almost completely using the alpha 6.25;  It still needs a lot of work but I am using it exclusively for my renders now.  It renders a little faster that 4.24, scripts are wonky since it is an alpha, and temporarily it can't run at HD resolution because of a quirky memory leak bug (I alter my Display resolution while I am working temporarily for the session) but it feels like the future.  Read this to find details: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/728111/daz-studio-2025-alpha-version-6-25-2025-35308-updated-december-19-2025#latest.  You can run the alpha without affecting your other Studio installs; I currently have Daz Studio's 4.24. 4.24 Beta, and the alpha 6.25 running on my machine. 

    Some renders with the alpha:

    GreenDruid.png
    1540 x 944 - 2M
    SceneBeach.png
    1461 x 1102 - 3M
    The_Orc_Strike.png
    1327 x 1056 - 2M
    victor.png
    1288 x 1101 - 2M
    Post edited by nemesis10 on
  • ElorElor Posts: 3,421
    edited December 2025

    There is the Mac FAQ if you want to read about users using Mac with Daz:

    https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/731016/the-new-mac-faq

    JOdel said:

    1. What is the earliest version of Studio that will run on it?
    2. How wel does it run?
    3. WHat are the issues, so far as you know?

    1. I started with Daz 4.21 on my Macbook Pro M1, so it should work on an M4 chip too but I can't comment on older versions.

    A warning: if you want to use Filament, you'll have to use Daz Studio 2025, Daz Studio 4 can't use it for some technical reasons I don't remember.

    2. Overall performances should be better than on your Intel iMac and the biggest downside is scripts crashing Daz Studio

    3. I think it's related to Rosetta (the software used by Apple to allow Intel only softwares to run on M1/2/3/4 chips but if you want to know more, @Totte is your best source of informations) so with some scripts, what you'll have to do is trying to launch one of them until it doesn't lead Daz Studio to crash immediatly. Then, once you have Daz Studio running in its non-crashy state, every script should run fine as long as you don't close Daz Studio. Once closed, rinse and repeat the next time you want to use it, until you are back to having Daz Studio not crashing immediatly on scripts launch.

    The other issue to know about is plugins: some are made for Windows only (including some of the Premier plugins) so if you need one of them, you're out of luck with a Mac.

    JOdel said:

    I realize that Iray is almost certainly going to still be a problem, What are the workarounds? I know that the few times I've had to render in Iray on my intel iMac, the images were almost unusably noisy and there was no way to turn off progressive rendering (which i hate).

    If that Mac Studio will be you're only computer, the workaround is time, lots of time: someone invented the night, which is perfect to do long renders.

    If after testing your M4 Mac you still find it too slow for your state, you can either build a computer around an NVIDA GPU and install Iray Server on it, or rent someone else computers to do renders for you.

    I never used any of the following services, but it's the ones I heard about:

    https://www.jacktomalin.com/iray/

    https://boostfordaz.infinite-compute.com/

    Post edited by Elor on
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