Hello guys,

I have a question. Asked the Houdini support, but I didn't get an answer.

I use an iMAC in the office for Houdini. I use a Radeon Pro 580 8 GB but since Houdini 18.0.499 suddenly I get frequently crashes for the most simplest viewport stuff like the new Bevel widgets.
The support now told me, that Houdini doesn't support my Graphicscard anymore. The new list is - I haven't see that list before … like said, works in 18.0.499, but not after that.

> Supported OSX Graphics Cards
>     • NVIDIA Quadro K5000
>     • AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64
>     • AMD FirePro D700
>     • AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8GB


As I want to stay on Mac and the time for buying a new Mac seems doesn't seem right, I hope that maybe one of you have a working solution for that - I hope, I am not the last Mac user ;-)

I am thinking about an external Graphicscard ( Radeon Pro 5700XT ) on Mac OS 10.15 in a Sonnet GFX Breakaway Box.
To make it clear, it's not about GPU rendering, it's about a working Houdini Viewport ….

Any experience with that?

Thanks a lot,

Helge

I use a 5700xt in Houdini with no issues. On 18 I use the final Production Build, and on 18.5 I'm on one of the more recent daily builds because the original production build was very buggy.

However, I have to tell you that I suspect something else is going on with your machine. The 580 should be fine with Houdini functionality, so should just about any GPU. When Houdini specs talk about GPU functionality, they're mostly referring to OpenCL compatibility for sims like Pyro. For viewport performance I never had any issues even running Houdini on a crappy Mac Book Air if you can believe it…and yes that includes Pyro sims.

In OS X, most crashes are a result of incorrect file/folder permissions where an app tries to write a temp file somewhere and it's denied – causing a crash. You really need to look at your crash reports and try to see exactly what is happening. There might also be a 3rd party add-on conflict.

Also, hate to say it but OS X tech support from SideFX is becoming really substandard and I wouldn't rely on the information you're getting from them as an absolute reason for why you're getting crashes.

Hi Kays,
Thanks for your answer. Nice to hear another Mac User ;-)

The crashes I have at the moment are crashes which are directly connected to widgets in the viewport.
For example:

1. Create a curve node
2. Draw a polyline with 3 or more Points in ZickZack
3. Take one or more of the shape corner points
4. PolyBevel - drag in the viewport or even only the distance slider crashes Houdini instantly.

Another one:

Box
Edge Loop in the middle
Grab Edge and pull it up (Edit Node)
Select the two faces for the roof
Radial Menu for PolyExtrude
Click on the red PolyExtrude Handle => Crash


I have a whole bunch of them, which trigger crashes with my Radeon Pro 580 . Like said, mostly if I touch or use onscreen widgets.
I deleted the Prefs before submitting the bug and also the crashlog show UI stuff.

Maybe, if you have time, can test these two scenarios. I still hope, that it is a bug ;-)

But good news, that your 5700xt works fine. Now is the question if it also works if it's external.

Thanks a lot,

Helge

Confirming this also occurs on a 2013 Mac Pro D700