Running Grasshopper on parallels with macbook pro windows side

Hello,

I'm wondering if I can run Grasshopper on a macbook pro with parallels on the window side? I've googled this and can't get a firm recent answer. I am about to get a macbook pro and would like to install parallels and Windows 7 (I've read to get Windows 7 for now not 8) and use my Rhino 4 (got this a while ago and haven't used it yet due to I'm on a mac). The macbook has 16gb RAM so I could allocate 8 to Windows side and load Rhino 4 or upgrade to Rhino 5 but want to be sure Grasshopper will run or I'll do the Bootcamp thing and sacrifice the restart every time I use Rhino/Grasshopper. I'm just starting this Grasshopper road so zero experience. First thing is get the system right (for me who uses mac.s). I've heard Rhino 4 and 5 will run okay on parallels with Windows 7.

Thanks

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on October 6, 2014 at 10:56am

It works for some people, it doesn't work for others. We officially do not support virtual machines such as VMWare or Parallels. By all means try, but if it doesn't work, don't ask us for help.

Permalink Reply by DaveBiselli on February 15, 2017 at 5:08am

Hello David !

I would like to know if there is any update concern the GH on parallel ?

many Thanks

Permalink Reply by Romeo Mandelbrot on October 10, 2014 at 9:49am

Thanks David. I know not officially supported so I'm looking for anyone who uses Parallels with Grasshopper successfully and if so, which exact versions of Rhino, Grasshopper, Parallels, allocation of RAM and OSX version, etc. before I go out and attempt this.

Permalink Reply by Max Hans on February 24, 2016 at 8:36am

although this thread is already quite old i think it might still be interesting for a lot of people.

ive been running rhino 5+grasshopper in parallels 9 and 10 running windows 7 64 bit professional for about a year or so without any problems. the only problems i have was the rhino viewport not refreshing anymore after waking up the macbook. but this is more of a rhino problem.

it might get tricky when you are using plugins that work with external devices such as firefly (arduino, OSC and leap motion didnt work), but i dont know if you might get it to work - i just switched to my windows computer for stuff like that, without putting any effort in solving these issues.

Permalink Reply by Mathias s n on April 10, 2017 at 3:42am

Just to revive the thread,

I've been running grasshopper in bootcamp, parallels and VM ware on my macbook pro from 2014. I havent experienced ANY problems what so ever in scripts not being able to run etc etc. Ive run plugins such as DIVA4Rhino, Kangaroo, Human, HumanUI, Metahopper, HoneyBee, Ladybug, TreeFrog, TreeSloth, Anemone, TT Toolbox, Karamba, RhinoNest, V-ray, you name it...

There are a however a few issues with the interface. For instance, right click dragging doesnt work on the mousepad, so you are reliant on a external mouse in order to pan around the canvas. Cant stress how annoying this is, specially when working on the go!!

As Grasshopper is out for RhinoWIP for mac, as far as I know, maybe it will have low priority. However, i'd love if the panning on mousepad could be fixed somehow, as i know a lot of people in the business run it on macbooks through virtual machine or clean windows boot.

Grasshopper on MacOS is not a solution for me, as I still rely on a dozen of plugins, some which may never be implemented on Mac.

Best, Mathias.

Permalink Reply by Romeo Mandelbrot on April 10, 2017 at 7:26am

What works best?: bootcamp, parallels or VM? I finally got the new MacBook Pro. I had parallels a couple of years ago running on a mini and had to allocate memory and I never ended up using it with the Windows 7 I bought but I heard the new parallels doesn't use up half your memory so similar to bootcamp but you can toggle back and forth to OS with parallels. I also know a firm that uses VM Fusion I think on iMacs to run Revit. So my questions are:

1. Bootcamp, Parallels, or VM Fusion?

2. Windows 7? or 8? or 10?

3. Rhino 5? with Grasshopper download?

Thanks.

Permalink Reply by Andrew Heumann on April 10, 2017 at 7:31am

I have always used bootcamp on a macbook pro and had solidly good results - it's as good as my windows native laptop. Can't speak to the virtualization too directly but I know for a fact that some of my plugins (Human UI in particular) do *not* seem to work in certain virtualized environments.

Permalink Reply by Mathias s n on April 10, 2017 at 8:03am

Hi Romeo,

I dare not to tell you which windows runs it smoother, however we got a huge performance jump on my office when we upgraded from win7 to win10. Both in 2d and 3D software. This was on pcs and not macs though. My MacBook Pro runs with win8, as I couldn't get the free win10 upgrade to work. You will have to google if all Mac drivers are out for win10.

I installed it first on my boot camp and then imported it into wm ware. Performance was fine but I ended up with parallels as I think some hot keys, user behavior etc was a bit easier.
When I do heavy simulations or renderings, I boot in boot camp. But for most use the parallels version is just fine even with muilticore usage. I have 16gb ram and 4(8 with HT) cores and have assigned 12gb ram and 6 cores to parallels..

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