willbrown1, can you give us more details in point form so we can follow every step. I’ve never had to reboot yet on either test system. I have one other testor who has mentioned rebooting before we started posting here, but we were doing some radical things. Please fill us in more, step by step as much as you can. Also have you posted your system info here? That is necessary for comparisson issues. Thank you for the feedback. 
I’ve experienced the Rosetta issues and had the beach ball problem. What seems to work the most is simply rebooting if ZBrush doesn’t take.
I’ll try waiting longer as an experiment and give you some feedback. I’ve found restarting seems to make it easier to get Zbrush going. I sometimes get the beachball, but usually after that, Zbrush WILL run and run well. I did have some trouble with crashing but I attribute that to the fact I only had 512K of RAM. Now I have 2 GB and ZBrush is behaving very nicely.
I’ve had ZBrush for about a month.
Processor speed: 1.67 ghz
Memory (MB) as supplied by Apple: 512 k
Memory (MB) installed afterwards: 2 GB
Memory installed afterwards - Paired (Y/N): Yes!
Memory vendor: Omni Technologies/ via ebay $239.00 US
OS X version: 10.4.8
Dev Tools installed?: no
Anything else you can think might be relevant:See above
Success (Y/N): Yes
Issues:See above
Opinion: Works for me!
No. of tries before launch?: 2 or 3
After quitting, No. of tries before launch? 2 or 3
HI Will at least you are getting ZB to run. I have to admit I have tried the reboot and the application launch but overall ZB seems to come up in the end no matter what I do and the reboot thing seems to be a sidetrack.
I usually really rush through App launches etc as fast as I can go, but I think Jason is right, ZB needs time for Rosetta to settle down. I have noticed even after a standard Os boot that my Eternal drives are still doing something even if I do nothing after an initial OS boot up. They are probably getting the Spotlight database updated or checked.
From what I have seen with other Apps I have that use Rosetta, some of them simply flash their icons and you have to try again to get them to boot. Form Z Radiosity is a good example of this one.
I think this may also confirm Jason’s thinking that Rosetta has to stabilize before an aplication launches using it. If I get the time I will hook up another system with a debugging system set to watch what is going on, but sitting for hours trying to determine exactly what the OS is doing and the Application can be pretty time consuming, but if I get time. The other issue with that is I think I would have to get permission to do this from Pixologic as it is their software and with those type of tools you can break into the code and I don’t want tot lose my rights to use their software. Even with the difficult launch, it is too good to give my license to use it, especially as the Propellerheads at Pixologic are probably already doing this.
Stuart
Has anyone had the message Insuffcient space for Virtual memory, try rebooting again .
I have 40Gb of HD space available and a total of 2Gb RAM in this Macbook Pro 17" also running an Apple 30" Cinema Display. (I love my recliner) ( NO I am not big and Fat, just big)
Then the application goes ahead and tries to reboot.
This occured when I tried to use Zbrush under a different user account. I also tried using the root account and initially Zbrush booted up immediately (First time ever), after that it was back to trying to reboot the usual way.
IF it happens again I will see if I can get a screen snapshot of the actual message as what I wrote at the beginning is note the exact message but close enough for a general idea. Maybe there is VM conflict going on.
The attached PDF file is a screen shot of the message I mentioned in my previous post http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/images/attach/pdf.gif
When you installed Zbrush, did you install it to run under more than 1 user? I don’t think that’s the reason, but it sure could be. This ‘feature’ is built in to allow for more than one person to use a system, but not to have access to the other person’s apps and files. Some apps let you install to be used by all, most are installed for a single user.
Strange message though, but I don’t think it’s Zbrush related.
So you have 40GB of space free on your drive - lucky fella. Have you checked your swap files, checked your RAM, is it still functioning in good order? Sounds like the system is compensating.
I’ll wait for some feedback for giving you a laundry list of things to check/try.
willbrown1, sounds ok. Just remember to go slow as Rosetta takes her sweet time to get going with Zbrush. She feels the need to put a little extra effort into things. Also, if you quit and intend to re-open Zbrush, make sure to open or at least click on an open Preview or Safari first, then activate Zbrush and again be patient. I do get the odd time I have to do this sequence instead of Zbrush opening asap. However it is rare, and once running, Zbrush seems to be very stable and quite fast considering the emulation nonsense (I’ve not hadd a crash yet). I know Apple will be improving Rosetta quit a bit as she is the fundamental structure for some upcoming technologies. Of course, by then the Universal of Zbrush 2.5 should be in working order. 
) )~
I have pretty much totally got a new System now after everything I have done to test Zbrush.
I do have some memory Code Samples from Zbrush taken as samples at 2 different times it would not start up, and one time when it was up an runnng fine.
I was not aware there was an option to install for Multiple users and besides this system is only used y myself. I have a couple of other user accounts for troubleshooting and the one that generated the error I sent in was an account that did not have admin priveleges. When I got back to my normal account it was same old Same Old.
At the end of one of th tutorials I got an error message when I tired to save a tool and that crashed me out of Zbrush. I went back in and did the exercise again and this time even though I got the error message Zbrush stayed up and was able to save the file to the desktop. I have sent you the error message attached to this reply.
I get into this type of stuff as I used to be a software developer, but nowadays I prefer to use the software rather that develop it as so many people seem to be doing it and having done it for almost 20 years it got to be a job rather than a pleasure. But I like a challlenge especially with an app like this which is definitely worth the effort.
If you have any tips or procedures I would be interested in hearing them and rying them out.
Let me know if you want the Code samples from Activity monitor, I know that overall they can be a bit tough to read and to break out what is the application and what is the OS, but I have should you want it.
I am pretty sure the system is good, it is humming along realy fast and running a whole bunch of high end software without a flaw, even non universla Binary stuff. About the only thing I can’t get to run is Amorphium from Electric image but they gave me a heads up on that so I have not rally tried it. EIAS sems to be going a bit out of fashion these days but I guess they had some bad promoters buy them out so now they are back to a few people with a vision.
I like tons of HD space especially on the Startp drive as it helps eliminate Virtual Memory issues, I see to many peole who have fill their srives to capacity and wondered why their system went down, Oh Well.
I sent the error message to Pixologic as the error message asked for this to be done so maybe they wil make something of it.
By the way thanks for your interest, it is really nice to have someone around who really believes in something.
Stuart
Hello. I have just installed the ZBrush 2 demo. Upon starting it for the first time, badness occurred (that rainbow spinning ball thingy), so I forced the app to quit and went to the Pixologic web site. I saw what I hadn’t noticed before, that there is no mention of ZBrush 2 being a universal binary. Oops. I came to the forums to see if I could learn more, and found this thread.
Processor speed: 3 GHz
Memory (MB) as supplied by Apple: 2 GB
Memory (MB) installed afterwards: n/a
Memory installed afterwards - Paired (Y/N): n/a
Memory vendor: n/a
OS X version: 10.4.8
Dev Tools installed?: No
Anything else you can think might be relevant: n/a
Success (Y/N): Y
Issues: Crash upon initial start of demo. Quit, checked this thread, waited, restarted ZBrush 2 demo, had no problems with starting.
Opinion: Performance is mediocre given system specs. Initial default brush size of 64 caused “hook” tool to flash rapidly. I don’t have a top-of-the-line graphics card, but mine should be okay for at least this much. I think I’ll try the demo on my pathetic (spec-wise) XP box until 2.5 UB is released.
No. of tries before launch?: Successfully launched on second try.
After quitting, No. of tries before launch?: 1
.g
justG, what system do you have that is 3GHz, the new Quad? If so, you are woefully deficient in RAM. Testing has shown you will need 8GB to truly make use of the system. However that is another issue but defeinitely the performance issue for you. However as you did not provide much detail it’s hard to be absolute.
If you have 3 GB, your RAM most likely isn’t paired, and that causes issues with the Intel structure Apple is using. Possibly part of an issue or two.
It’s strange you feel that you don’t want to use your nice new system, seems that we have one user above that has a fairly decent functioning MacPro system.
Thanks for the info though, wish you could hang around and help.
Stuartpa, thank you. Just trying to help others solve an interim issue. Ihave never seen your ‘error’ but I haven’t run through those files in awhile, I will do so later tonight after I’m sure several projects can sustain themselves.
Hi Jason, Pixologic told me that the problem was trying to save to a directory that had a + sign in it and that is apparently not allowed. I had a similar issue with Super Duper when trying to save a Schedule file o a drive with a / in its name Drive/B/U basically. I think I had better quit using symbols in directory titles. I guess I have become a typical Macuser that thinks any name and almost any symbol is OK.
I found out how to launch Zbrush in debugging mode and was quite interesting seeing how far the application gets before it hangs. In fact it gets all the way to displaying the interface window, which at that point is invisible, at least most of it is. On a hunch, I borrowed a dock Icon and used it as an eraser and behind the grey screen was the actual interface, but at that point it was locked up.
It still works just fine once you have launched it a few times. I hope it works even like this on the Macpros when we get them here.
Stuart
Hi Jason. Yes, I’ve got a new Mac Pro. So ZBrush2 runs better on a 1.5GHz XP box with 512MB RAM than it does on the new dual-Xeon @ 3GHz Mac with 2GB RAM. It doesn’t matter how you slice it, that doesn’t really sound right to me. The amount of RAM you specified (8GB) is overkill for my needs. I’m a dabbler, not a professional 3D artist/animator. After I posted my results here, I ran into more problems with ZBrush/Mac. Basically it wouldn’t stay running for longer than a few minutes, it would just hang (spinning beach ball). I’m surprised that you would be surprised by my preference for a faster, more stable environment over a volatile one in which I could lose what I’m doing at any moment. That seems a bit odd to me.
The fact is, I’m not used to anything hanging/crashing on my Mac. I don’t like it. =)
At any rate, the demo is still installed, and I’m not going anywhere. If there’s any more info you’d like me to provide, or any tests you would like done, I’m happy to help if I can.
.g
Well to be fair Zbrush is running in emulation as stated above. Universal is coming, but still aways off. The goal here is to get it running for those without extra PC’s or the disk space for dual boot.
I’m interested in why your system is hanging using Zbrush, that is a first in the test cases.
As for the RAM, in order to make use of those processors you will find it is necessary, assuming you want to get all the performance. However if you are dabbling it doesn’t matter I guess.
Either way any continued feedback will be helpful. Assuming you are following the instructions above, specifically to go slow. I’d like a detailed description and resulting actions every now and again to be more scientific. If your upto it.
Those running these laptops (hard) like me, might be interested to try ‘smcFanControl’, I find the fans on full to be very quiet compared to several other systems around here. However the real amazing thing is my notebook went from 75C to 55C under heavy load! Let’s face, not for everyone, my machine runs at full throttle pretty much 20hrs per day, 7 days a week doing various tasks. Without this app, I hardly knew I had fans, they never speed up, but I get alot of heat soak in the notebook surface. Now it is cool to the touch even the usual molten metal bar above the keyboard.
http://www.conscius.de/~eidac/index.html
Just an interesting discovery.
Success! I’m up and running with ZB2. I had fun and games to begin with, especially as I had to go through the whole .zul re licensing thing. But eventually after several false starts and force quits I’ve got it running. It still takes two attempts on average to start up but when it does it seems pretty stable. I’ve even managed to get ZappLink working and editing in CS2 which I understand is quite a feat at the best of times!
2 x 3 GHz MacPro, 10.4.8
Congatulations Daytona. Can you actually post all the specs asked for at the top of the thread please, as done by others. And keep us informed if any issues arise.
Oops Sorry!
Processor speed: 2 x 3 ghz
Memory (MB) as supplied by Apple: 2 x 512
Memory (MB) installed afterwards: 8 GB
Memory installed afterwards - Paired (Y/N): Yes
Memory vendor: Crucial Technologies
OS X version: 10.4.8
Dev Tools installed?: no
Anything else you can think might be relevant: If at first you don’t succeed…
Success (Y/N): Yes
Opinion: Would be nice to have ZMapper for OSX
No. of tries before launch?: 2 or 3
After quitting, No. of tries before launch? 2 or 3
Thanks for the feedback Daytona, my MacPro’s arrive next week and the more I hear that people are getting Zbrush to work on that computer the better things sound for me.
Stuart
I’ve been using ZBrush on my Mac Pro and have found that if it doesn’t startup after a couple of trys, rebooting the mac has little to no effect. I’ve found that waiting longer than 1 minute (like 2 minutes) before retrying will start it every time I try it. Curious if other people are finding this as well.