I'm buying Mac yeah I've gonne mad

I never thought I would go out and buy Mac, they are really expensive but I've decided to buy MacBook Pro. Then I am going to buy unity3d. Actually unity3d is the main reason I am buying Mac.

Haven't programed in blitz3d for sometime now, bought BlitzMax but never really touched it since no official 3d module for it developed by Mark was released. I guess even it it came out now it would not matter, unless Mark makes something revolutionary perhaps Unity-inspired but for PC.

I can't wait to get my hands on Mac and Unity.

This decision is going to cost me about 3000 €uros. Yeah I am crazy but I need a tool that is not going to have any doors closed, a promising tool backed by professional developer, a tool with a bright future and I happed to like what they are doing with Unity3d and where they are heding with it.

I've been around in this arena for 8 years, I've seen and tested many engines but nothing that's impressive and ready for primetime as Unity and ofc affordable by independent developers, which is the reason that after months of thinking about it and nothing significant happening on BlitzResearch Front I've decided not lose any more time nor sleep over it and take a chance.

I am ready to embrace it even if its going to be costly. I'll have to switch operating system and then learn another tool, but I am sure its going to be worth it and most importantly fun experience opening new doors and windows of opportunities for me.

What are your thoughts on it, am I creazy?

In my opinion completely understandable and you aren't alone, thus this doesn't make it any cheaper. I hope you enjoy it, it's interesting when you're coming to OSX for the first time and i pretty much think that you'll enjoy Unity.

..not crazy at all...I have it both MacBook Pro and Unity pro, and after v 2.0 came i didnt regret one single euros given for it..by the way im sniffing around this thingy so you may take a look...I may buy this too (yes i am crazy :))

http://www.profenix.com/eng/tech.html

That's all relative -- Getting a mac closes the door to the other 90% of personal computers out there, unless you can generate cross-platform code.

That said: Good luck!

Switching platforms altogether is a bit of a bumpy ride in my experience, since it takes a while to settle in and get used to all the little tools and programs that you used to have that you'll need to find adequate replacements for. :-?

Macs are overpriced garbage, you should buy a normal pc and install Ubuntu. Btw, Apple has been caught using the same dirty tricks that Microsoft does, but people like the company because they believe all the marketing propaganda that Apple throws at them.

@xlsior
But as Unity can generate Windows apps (XP, Vista), it doesn't close anything.

And if you want to, you can still install Windows on the Mac as a second OS.

maximo, I have made the same decision like you, :)

When I wanted to buy a laptop, I compared macs and PCs and found that the macs were actually similar price or even cheaper, taking into account the included components...

Buying it just for Unity seems a little off the wall however there's nothing fundamentally wrong with Macs they are just over-priced and over-sold by their fanboys and salespeople.

Darkheart

Um, no they're not. I can buy an equivalent Dell/Other (or build a PC) that's much, much cheaper than a Mac. Plus, upgrades are costly, and a lot of the Apple software is too.

I'm going with BlitzMax and Truevision. Full DX9, great control, and cheap. Why wait for a Blitz 3D module when there are so many options that are already available? If you can't be bothered coding, then Unity might be a good choice... but you're explanation doesn't seem right. Plus, it doesn't look like you've got even close to getting the most out of DX7 anyway. If you can't produce much with DX7, why go for anything higher?

Obviously I'm just giving you the flipside of the coin ;)

Hiya people...

I haven't really seen much of Unity 3D yet but from what I have seen and the fact that it can be accessed through C# means its a serious option for me in my new job, so I'm gonna be looking hard to find out a lot more about it. The company I work for now is Mac and PC split down the middle so it won't be an issue if it takes a while to come to PC as a development platform.

Maximo you are NOT mad to buy a Mac - they are a fine piece of kit - and as options open to develop on i-Touch and i-Pod I'm going to be swinging sideways from time to time.

Reactor are you saying that Unity is not full DX9? (and for goodness sake don't buy a Dell - go look at www.meshcomputers.com and get something worth having in terms of build, power, price and after sales service)

IPete2.

and you know that how?

if you like dx7 so much stick with it. I'm sick of this argument, I mean its obvious you are not making any use of 1.0 D why go any higher? Oh I am sure you could make excellent and fun 1.0 D games, why on earth would you need to make 2D games, you are not even using half of what 0.5D has to offer not to talk about 1.0D and you want to make 2.0D games, for sure you must be insane??? <--- that kind of argument is stupid. Why buy 24 inch monitor when you can do as well with 12 inch monitor? See the point? ;)

If tool is available that I can wrap my mind around and that will save me time and this tool beats anything that any competition making tools in the same business has to offer, too me the only question is "can I afford this tool". Well I thought about it hard for few months and now I have come to realize what I want.

So it's not about higher or lower, its about tool that has everything out of the box, you are not limited by it as you are limited by other tools, (ZBrush is perfect exampel of this, why in hell would any 3D Studio Max artist switch to Zbrush, well because zBrush offers much greater and more inspiring way to do the same job with double the fun and double the speed. I need a tool that works with you and tool with bright future suported by strong team. All these factors play in. I am not interested in running BlitzMax with third party, maybe 5 years ago when I was interested in creating as much code as possible my self.

Time is precious to me, maybe you want to spend next 5 years working on that editor of yours so you can create some terrains and adjust some AI features for your great game, well be my guest, create technology your game is going to use, while I have fun creating what my imagination desires not being hold back by technology but rather by my imagination.

..thatz ma boy :)

By the way are there any good examples for stuff made with Truevision and BlitzMax?

Maybe something commercial too or at least in a commercial quality?

Oh and i also would welcome seeing some demos from all these many other available options, please. Don't be shy, share with us!

For some Unity examples take a look here in this thread.
-> http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=77412


@maximo
Actually 3dsmax and zBrush are tools which are aiming in different directions. Some functionality overlaps but they are capable of different things and just tools for different jobs, nothing to compare with.

If Unity3D is really the program you want to use you should get a Mac.

I think you should buy a computer with the correct OS depending on which software you want to use. My choice is Windows because every tool I like is in it. And I play a lot's of games and the ones I like are mostly only Windows.

There are just a few very good applications out there on MacOSX which could be a good reason to buy a Mac. Logic Pro is one example.

No, IPete2... I was just saying that maximo's arguement didn't make any sense that there wasn't a proper (meaning DX9) 3D module available for Blitz, when there has been for some time.



I didn't say I know. I said it looked like it, and that was based on your website images. You have a bunch of crazily low-poly guys standing in not wonderfully textured/lit environments. Maybe you have better stuff elsewhere, but it looks like it.



I agree, it is ;) I didn't say that though. Just for once I'd love to see someone say, "I'm ready for DX9" and show examples of artwork pushing the limits of DX7, or even DX8. But, I haven't seen that yet. I've seen some really shocking to average art using DX7, that lacks even the basic principles of texture application (not your examples, just some I've seen) while everyone's harping on about how they want DX9 shaders and the like. It's stupid with a capital S.

Fair enough on the time issue... but if you're so decided, why are you asking people about your decision? It sounds to me like you've made your mind up completely anyway. Have you considered that if you're going to DX9 you're going to need to produce more art assets for whatever it is you're creating (assuming of course you're using normal mapping, specular textures, etc). Sure, you save time with their editor, but you lose time elsewhere.

Zbrush doesn't allow you to do things at twice the speed of Max in reality, because there are certain parts of the process Zbrush can't do quickly, and it takes time to either do them in the app, or export them out to be done elsewhere. Blah blah, my point is- try Unity somehow before going Mac. Things might not save you as much time as you think. That's my two cents, but hey, if your mind is already made up (and I'm an expert at making my mind up about things, so I know what I'm talking about) just go and do the thing.

Time will tell if it wasn't a good decision.

@DigitalAnime:
By the way I am not going to leave PC world, I have my 4 GB 8800 PC with 2 AMD cores, I'm happy with it, that is why I am not buying Mac Pro but Mac Book Pro, I do not have a laptop so it will be nice having Mac laptop with benifit that I will be able to run Unity3D.

@taumel
I have used 3D Studio Max mostly for it's modeling tools and for me it was only a modeling tool, it does not matter what other tools it had. So when comparing it to ZBrush I meant that another tool was available that did a better job and one should use it if one can wrap his head around it. Just an example.

@Naughty Alien
I'm looking forward to it :) I'm buying Mac today hopefully :)

Not really. It's solid, fast, and the guys behind it seem great. But, since 6.5 is still in testing (which is the DX9 component) there are only a few examples floating around.

One good thing about Unity is they've actually got some decent examples. They run badly on my system for the most part (which isn't a great sign for Windows development, imo) but they run with all the candy, and that's what something like Truevision needs.

I might have missed something as I don't know your full circumstances but buying a Mac on the off-chance that Unity is your holy grail seems stupid.

LOL, that is stuff that me and my french connection partner sell. It was actually created by my partner Djagg for Torque, I hate Torque so do not accuse me of anything :) I have some stuff which can not be seen on the web, I've had 3 projects in blizt3D, I've came to realise if they are ever going to be finished it would take aoens, to create all the tools neccessary to build the rest of game, beyond the demo example that I made with Blitz3D which is really good for prototyping.

Btw here are some examples of my own art:
http://www.tridinaut.com/gallery/nermin/index.html

Some of the stuff there is produced 8 years ago, specially stuff on the bottom. I think I have what it takes to use next-gen graphic abilities but that is not the only reason I like what unity3d has to offer. Its much more then next-gen graphics, they are bonus so to say :)

We'll know in half a year if I dont manage to produce anything or dont use the tool at all, but I will take the risk. I need a laptop computer and owning a Mac instead of PC for once will be cool.


I started with 3D Studio Max when was in MS-Dos version, I am in for the long run, so I am taking a bet that this application will be "3D Studio Max" of real time interactive entertainment creation. It has the best chance to be one of the top applications used for game development because strong and dedicated team is behind it and that is one of the reasons I like it, I can see great future with it and I am ready to take a leap of chance and learn it. I can only imagine how its going to progress, I don't want to be sitting here 2 years after this post looking at Unity3D and saying damn I wish I started 2 years ago, Unity3d 3.0 has everything I wish for but I just dont know how to use it.


Call me stupid and creazy I will call you lazy! ;)

Nice, that's the artwork I'm after ;) Have fun with Unity!

Sounds like common sense to me. Id buy one myself if i had the money.

It is after all the only "PC." that can run all 3 platforms.

Dont worry maximo, Unity is pretty good!

3000 euros, isnt that about 5000 dollars?

No about $4500, people in Europe are used to getting screwed though.

Darkheart

I've been thinking about buying a Mac Book as well, for studio work and BlitzMAX as well. I've done alot of research on them, and I think they're a good investment, and they're alot better made than most laptops, as apposed to options that you can find in wal-mart, for instance.

Macs are cheaper when bought in the US, but PC parts are a lot more cheaper. Payed only 670€ for my PC hardware parts 1 month ago which is only a bit more than 1000$, specs can be seen below.

But in most cases it's best to buy a computer in the same country for warranty reasons. Apple gives worldwide warranty on their portable devices, but not on their iMacs/Mac Pro's

Computers are a liability... not an investment ;)



So are people in Australia ;) Personally, when I think of gaming, or developing games, I never think "Laptop!". The top Macbook Pro only has an 8600M GT. I guess it depends on what you want, but after running the Unity demos on my PC I'm thinking you'd want the very best performance you can get!

not true..I do have worldwide warranty on my MacBook Pro I brought here, in Japan..

What's not true, exactly?

I have OsX Leopard, Windows Vista and Linux Ubuntu on my iMac and I can say that's a very handy scenario, especially using something like Parallels desktop which makes using multiple os's at the same time a breeze. I recommend your Mac purchase, although personally I am still sticking with BlitzMax for development. Unity does look nice though.

Apple the company sucks as much as Microsoft the company or any other corporation on this planet (which will sooner or later also include that little Mark Shuttleworth enterprise as well).

But at least Apple's products don't suck. The Mac Pro/PowerMac and the PowerBooks/MacBook Pros are the best computers that I've ever used in my life, and I've used a lot in the last 25 years.

Mac OS X quickly became my most favorite operating system, and the culture that lives in the applications for that system is second to none.

If you have a sense for beauty, you will never look back. End of discussion.

So welcome to the club! :)

I like OSX but i can't understand this never looking back talk as actually i look back everytime alone if i only want to play a game.

So would now be a bad time to ask what happened with Crysis Sandbox being the future of game development?

http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=74122

I'v got my self a macbook pro now :)

pssst Gabriel that is your future now, I've found a better one ;)

No they just have teething problems. But a little bit of Apple gripe-water soon fixes them.

When I finally get the finances sorted I will look into unity3D

You have me confused with someone who changes their engine every five months.

Gabriel stick with the first car you buy your whole life and also try to drive same bike your parents bought you when you where kid and learning to bike ;) Get my point, I realised my misstake and moved on, if I am wrong this time I will get back to you ;)

Unnecessary fighting!

taumel, two possible solutions to your still-looking-back problem are called Xbox 360 and PS3. Since I have an Xbox 360, I can only shake my head when hear that people are AGAIN upgrading their PCs just to play a new game.

And besides that: Macs run Windows and Linux, too, and they run them amazingly well. It's just that I personally no longer have a real use for either.

But one cannot force people to their happiness, as the German saying goes.

-------

The warranty thing: Apple Care Protection Plans are available for ALL Apple products, not just the mobile computers. I had three years world wide warranty on my iMac, and now I will buy the three years Protection Plan for my new Mac Pro - which, by the way, is an absolute killer machine with extremely sharp teeth. ;-)

Thanks, even if i wasn't aware that i'm having a problem here at all but your ideal solution depends on a) your existing hardware and b) which games you would like to play. As for a) my Mini wouldn't be strong enough for interesting PC games, so runnning multiple OSs on it would be nonsense. My PC is customized to what i need and it's cheaper and more powerful compared to Apple hardware. For b) the games i'm interested in either still come out for PC only like for instance Sam&Max and the other adventures or they aren't available for the PS3 yet (LBP, Heay Rain, ...) which is the reason why i haven't bought one.

So your "can not force people to their happiness" advice comes around kind of inproperly which on the other side isn't surprising as that's the way a lot of Mac users tend to argue anyway. :O)

@maximo
Wow, so you have shortened up you plan significantly then.

-> http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=10915

@taumel, yeah I went ahead and bought it now I have macbook pro, I will be buying unity3d this week. I had the money but since it is expensive I thought it would be good to wait till summer, but then I am loosing valuable time in which I could learn the software :)

Its a good idea to have a mac..

Cause World Of Warcraft will not be in the way of your devlopment :D

The trick to selling a machine running Mac OS? Make it more like Windows.

WoW sux.

>> Btw here are some examples of my own art:
http://www.tridinaut.com/gallery/nermin/index.html

Very nice

WoW runs on Macs.