FYI: this from Pixologic support:"The Intel-based Macs require the Rosetta emulator to run OS X programs. That’s fine for most applications, but ZBrush is extremely integrated with your system’s memory in order to be able to render large canvases in real time and work with multi-million polygon models. Rosetta conflicts with these memory optimization features, preventing ZBrush from running on some computers.
Well, not exactly. I thought I could do another post to maybe reset the Upload Image or File button, but it still won’t respond. I swear I’m cursed with hostile electromagnetic vibes:mad: But here’s the text in the error message:
/bin/sh: line 1: kill: 558
741
743: no such pid
No idea what that’s all about. Like I said before, I copied your script file to my root desktop, saved it as a new Application Bundle there, tried putting that file in the ZBrush2 folder and on the desktop, each time with a Dock icon, and ran it from the Dock. Same error. But only in the root account.
If I can’t get this to work I do have an old PPC G4 Powerbook to run ZBrush on…but it’s only a 12-inch screen:td:
OK, I think you are just running into security. Which is actually a good thing. 
Everything depends on how you set your system up and how you installed Zbrush.
I’ll think on this and try to provide a set of instructions for you to try.
The reason I gave the script the way it is - to assure users that nothing they were not wanting to do was going to happen.
Hi DZTURB, I noticed the length of time you were taking for attempting Zbrush relaunch, Like you I have tried the script, and also tried Zbrush on several differently equipped MacPro’s. I have managed to get it to work on all ofthem, and one of those machines isrealy loaded with software.
Jason’t script helped on an fresh MacPro, giving it either an imediate launch or at least only 2 attempts.
IF I were you and had read all the messages in this thread I would try andsee if you can launch Zbrush and force quit it if it hangs, more quickly and definitely do NOT wait 15 minutes between launches.
I doubt that going root, is going to help you any besides you can knock out any unwanted processes from any user account with admin capabilities.
On my main system, it can take up to 7 times to get Zbrush up, but it does come up.
When I launch Zbrush, it appears to me that it is attempting to set itself up, but not quite making it. Now OS X makes it , so that if you use and application, quit it then immediaely relaunch it, that the application in most cases comes up quicker because the Meme space for it is still reserved andsome oftheset up is still in memory. What I see wit hZbrush, is it keeps on almost getting there, andas long as you do a quick relaunch, it gradually completes its setup, until you can go ahead and use it.
As Jason points out, that only one person has not got Zbrush to work on his MacPro, and he may have got it going by now.
I have a feeling that if anyone fails to get Zbrush to launch, that they need to take a close look at their system, to ensure that there is no hardware issue or of course software isuues.
It does not make sense that everyone who visits this site usualy with a bit of help, manages to get Zbrush running in one way or another, yet one person fails, without the system that that one person is using having some kind of problem. Hidden deep maybe, but a problem none the less.
Waiting 15 minutes between launches probably puts you right back to the state of the system, that it was in prior to you initial launch. I know making multiple launch attempts is ahassle, but if you want Zbrush t owork, on an Intel Mac, then multiple relaunches are definitely the order of the day. Don’t forget that Pixologics statement is that Zbrush will not run on an Intel Mac period, yet they host Jason’s script, so they must have tried it and seen that it does help.
Keep at it, you will either find a computer problem hidden deep or you will get Zbrush running.
Also I really do not recommend trying applications wit hknown issues at the root level, as it is possible you could modify your system unintentionally.
You error message may be all that is saving you from a systemwide disaster. Jason is definitely correct when he states there is a security issue here, as the Root Level Login bypasses all security, which is what it is for. There are some Apps that have to be installed at root level but they are few and far between. So stick with regular user accounts with admin capabilities as you are installing software. Also don’t forget that Apple in their wisdom do not recommend that anyone runs their system for regular working, from and admin enabled account. Installing software yesy, you need admin capabilities. General working most of the time admin is not required.
Having said that I always run with an admin enabled account, although I do have a few non admin accounts for testing and others to use.
Trying t ouse a new clean account for your Zbrush may also be a good way to go.
Also don’t forget the basic stuff like fixing Permissions. Make sure that your Mac runs the maintenance scripts it needs to keep OSX running properly. These usually run between 3 and 5 AM, so if you do not leave your Mac on, they will not run, and there are 3 scripts one is Daily, one is weekly and the other Monthly.
I have posted a set of Terminal instructions to enable you to do this when you want to, especially if you dont leave your Mac on all night.
Using an Admin account, you can run thel three maintenance scripts at once:
1. Launch Terminal
2. At the prompt, type the following,
1. sudo periodic daily weekly monthly
3. Press Return.
4. Type your Admin password when asked for it, then press return.
There is no feedback whilst these are running, you only know they have finished when you retrun to the normal terminal prompt. These scripts can take some tim to run so just wait for them to complete.
You can also run the scripts individually. For example, to run just the daily script, you would type the command:
• sudo periodic daily
In place of Step 2 above.
The daily is the quickes to run with times increasing with the Weekly and monthly scripts.
Also it does not hurt to occasionally reset the PRAM of your Mac, by holding the CMD, Option P and R keys down, keeping them pressed until you have heard the Startup chime at least 3 times. This should clean out any garbage that may be in the Parameter RAM. But it does set a lot of the Mac’s settings back to factory default.
Stuart
I run MacJanitor to do the OS maintenence routines at least weekly, but ran it especially for ZBrush per Stuartpa’s suggestion. Didn’t seem to make a difference.
Also, the idea of setting up a separate admin account just to run ZBrush2 seemed like a good one. I disabled Dashboard in the new account. Activity Monitor reported only one startup app, which I force-quit before launching ZBrush. Instead of the usual dead-end, in the new account I get an error on launching ZBrush2 that says there’s insufficient virtual memory and it recommends restarting ZBrush. There’s almost 100GB of free drive space! I click Okay and the ZBrush background is displayed, followed by a cute little beachball… Force-quit/restarts get the same results no matter the number of attempts or interval between.
Back to my normal admin account. I’ve tested both the script and manual launches/force-quits now: The script never works, the first spinning ball of doom just sits there mocking me and I’ve tried to stare it down. Gave up at 30 minutes.
My stats for the manual method:
1 minute interval: no joy, gave up after 6 sets of 15 tries
2 minute interval: no joy, gave up after 3 sets of 12
5 minute interval: no joy, gave up after 3 sets of 10
15 minute interval: no joy, gave up after 1 set of 10
10-30 second interval: got it to run once! WooHoo! But ONLY once. After only 3 tries forcequitting/relaunching as quickly as my thumb could roll the trackball. Giving up now, after 24 sets of 15 tries (successful set was #2).
I’ll keep monitoring this forum, but unless I get a new exciting suggestion I think I better wait for the Universal Binary. Me got actual work to catch up with now!
When it comes to IT glitches, I’m always the wierd one…
Many Thanks!
Hi stuckfly, trust me you are not always the weird one. Made my bones being that guy!
OK, stuartpa is correct and he has been testing on several systems. So, I’m curious what you have on your system besides the base install of OSX and all updates. Are you running Tiger? Let’s start with the basics and se if the foundation is solid.
Not sure what you need besides the “experiment” data earlier, so I did a System Profile report. Attached. Spared you the Fonts list and deleted ID related data I wouldn’t want posted on a public forum. Let me know if I deleted anything you need for diagnosis, or if you need info not in the profile.
Attachments
dzturbd MacPro.txt (294 KB)
dzturbd, you do seem to have a lot of PPC apps installed. Use the Activity Monitor app to see which ones are running after initial boot. If any are PPC apps, try quitting them from Activity Monitor then try Zbrush. Each one of these is going to play heck with Zbrush. It’s just the way Zbrush is optimized for the system to give you all the power it is known for. Rosetta and all apps she’s handling are fighting for the same memory.
Let me kmnow how you get on.
Anyone fancy giving an idiots guide to getting ZB running on a Macpro. I’m not a programmer at all, html scares me. I have no idea where to go with this as half of this thread makes no sense to me & i would guess I’m not the only one…
My apologies for sounding dumb but I’m an artist, hence I use ZB (well I used to)…
I’m still getting started but on about the 5th attempt after waiting for around 3-5 mins each time. Where does this script need to go???
Haven’t posted here in ages, but thought I’d chime in with my experiences with ZBrush on an IntelMac. Had some issues with the license, but that got straightened out real quickly, thanx Aurick and Matt!
Now I did have issues with ZBrush going into the spinning beachball of doom (sbbod), and the advice of force quitting ZB, starting up Preview, quitting preview and then starting up ZB takes about 1-4 tries until ZBrush becomes usable. I’ve noticed that when I first start up ZB, the welcome screen’s buttons are a good test to see if the start is good or not. If I mouse over the close button and it hilights, then it’s good. If not, the force quit-start preview routine needs to be done.
I haven’t used the Applescript provided earlier in this thread.
Buckie, Mike Rhodes, give the script a try. All the necessary tools are part of the OS, you don’t have to know anything special, other than what is mentioned. Please read it all first, to make sure you catch any issues.
It should eliminate the startup issues AS LONG as your not running other emulated PPC apps. You can see what is runing by using Activity Monitor.
You need to run the script each time you want Zbrush, not the application itself. The script does the killing off of Rosetta, waiting the appropriate time then running Zbrush.
I know Pixologic never intended the hassles, but at least once running, Zbrush seems very stable. Hopefully when Leopard comes out and the new Zbrush 2.5, everything will be back to normal.
Please post any issues, stuartpa, myself and perhaps one or two others wil do our best to get you running.
I get it now… :o
Processor speed:Quad Xeon 3.0Ghz
Memory (MB) as supplied by Apple:8Gb
Memory (MB) installed afterwards:
Memory installed afterwards - Paired (Y/N):
Memory vendor:
OS X version:Latest as of now 10.4.8
Dev Tools installed?:N
Anything else you can think might be relevant:I’m an idiot
Success (Y/N):Y Issues:Changed delay to 10 with instant success
Opinion:Hassle but at least I have ZB working
No. of tries before launch?:3
After quitting, No. of tries before launch?:5
I downloaded the script and in the script editor made it into an application.
As per instructions, I run it instead of double-clicking ZB. Every time, ZB runs and doesn’t hang.
Thanks!!
Mike
Good to hear Mike Rhodes, glad we could help!
So buckie, we have you rolling as well? Great news.
I believe that leaves dzturbd… any progress?
Glad to hear others are rockin along;-)
My Internet service lost a server, but unless I’m hallucinating I’m on the Internet now
The System Profile I sent earlier was done from my normal admin account, but I’ve been trying to run ZBrush from that new admin account I told y’all about, and it’s stripped of all startup PPC stuff, very similar to the screen shot I sent 3 days ago from Activity Mon.
I’ll give it another whirl this weekend when I (hope to) have some time…
HI DZTURBD, I have been following your attmpts to get Zbrush up and running and i notice tht you seem to spend quite some time waiting for it to boot after the spinning ball comes up.
I don’t know about everyone else, but as soon as i get tht ball I abort the laucn, and s quickly as I can relaunch and keep on doing that until I get a successful hit.
In my experience with this issue, I have things set up so I can quickly force quit the app and launch again usually within about 15 seconds of the Force quit.
this takes me on average 6 launch attempts to get Zbrush up and running. The exact same thing applied when I was initially installing the application and going from V1.55 which of course works fine to V2. I had to follow that procedure.
I don’t know if this will hel you but it is worth a shot
Stuart
I combined the latest replies from Jason and Stuartpa to me and I’m rockin’ now:)
Jason said something about PPC apps running, and Stuartpa said force-quit and relaunch fast…
The dedicated ZBrush user account wasn’t working at all, so I went back to my normal admin account and used Activity Monitor to kill all PPC apps, no exceptions. Couldn’t get ZBrush to work with the script. But then I force-quit and relaunched ZBrush as quick as possible (dock icon for ZBrush to launch, right-click that icon to force-quit…about 4 seconds per). Usually starts up fine on the 2nd or 3rd try and stays running.
Glad you didn’t give up on me, and glad I didn’t quit monitoring this forum!
Thanks, kudos, and cheers to ya both (and let that be a lesson to the rest of you)
Sounds much better. Try the script again and let me know what happens. Also while you are doing that, please open the Console app an watch for errors. I’m pretty sure, it’s just because you had so many PPC apps running and Rosetta hogging all your resources.
With no PPC processes, the script has about a one-in-six chance. It either works right away or I get the beachball and it doesn’t matter how long I wait, I have to force-quit. In either case Console does not show any errors.
It says [user] authexec: executing /System/blah,blah,blah/uid
That’s all.
Is the script supposed to kill the process and relaunch even if the process hangs and the ball shows up? …cuz…it doesn’t seem to be doing that on my system. Anything else you want me to test, Jason?
I see Pixologic released a 64-bit Win ZBrush version today :eek: Guess I’ll put my new Mac Pro in a yard sale and go Windows… 
eh, heh-heh-heh, I kill me. “Hi, I’m a Mac.” "And I’m
As stuartpa mentioned, don’t wait if you get the ball. It means Rosetta has not released other processes.
You did save that script as Universal right, not PPC - the default??? The script is just a launch script, that does the kill process with a delay to let Rosetta relax. Increase the delay time to 10, then 15, saving it each time and running it from the script. I always save it as someting I can run from the desktop for testing.
You may have a Mac, but I can tell you that’s not why you’re having trouble, at least in this case. If Zbrush runs at all, it’s working fine. And so is your Mac. We know a conflict for memory is happening because of Rosetta, it’s been proven here (and other places), repeatedly. I think 6 launches is excessive, but not out of range considering Zbrush shouldn’t run at all.
As for the 64bit Windows version, they have been having a heck of a time as well with 2.0., under certain conditions as well.
I’ve managed to hone my script to open Zbrush on the first try, every try. If I had enough people reporting here and testing, we could probably build a table for what is needed for each system. It just takes input from all concerned.