New Mac User's - Tips and Suggestions

[Electromen]

 

I thought it may be helpful to post some advice for our new Mac users. Please add your thoughts to this thread.

Here's a few:

1. After installing new software or if your Mac is acting goofy, it's a good idea to run "Repair Disk Permissions". To do this, go to your Desktop. In the menu bar at the top, click Go > Utilities > Disk Utility. Under the First Aid tab, select your hard drive and Repair Disk Permissions. Let it run.

2. Use "Time Machine". This is a backup utility to an external hard drive. It's one of the best backups I've seen.

To set this up, select the Apple icon in the upper left corner > System Preferences > Time Machine. Select the disk you want to back up to and turn ON Time Machine.

On my Mac Pro I use a 3TB GDrive external HD. I use a 2TB Airport Time Capsule for my MacBook Air. The Airport Time Capsule is a wireless router and wireless 2TB HD.

If this thread shows interest, we can get into things like setting up iCloud and Syncing computers, iPhones and iPads or we can discuss networking Windows with Macs.

The items to discuss are many, how many are interested?

[Doug_Park]

I like this idea.

 

This would also be a good place to discuss how certain hardware works. For example the new Mac Pros.

 

The Mac hardware I developed on consists of an older Mac Pro and a MacBook Air. Both systems handle Chief well although the MacBook Air is a bit weak to be used as a full time Chief machine.

 

We recently acquired a new low end Mac Pro. Our first use of it indicates that the performance doesn't really justify the cost. However, it seems to run Chief well. We have a higher end on on order that should be here soon. Perhaps it will provide better benchmarks.

 

From a compatibility standpoint these seem to get an A. From a return on investment standpoint I would give them and F.

[Electromen]

I like this idea.

 

This would also be a good place to discuss how certain hardware works. For example the new Mac Pros.

 

The Mac hardware I developed on consists of an older Mac Pro and a MacBook Air. Both systems handle Chief well although the MacBook Air is a bit weak to be used as a full time Chief machine.

 

We recently acquired a new low end Mac Pro. Our first use of it indicates that the performance doesn't really justify the cost. However, it seems to run Chief well. We have a higher end on on order that should be here soon. Perhaps it will provide better benchmarks.

 

From a compatibility standpoint these seem to get an A. From a return on investment standpoint I would give them and F.

 

 

 

I think the investment pays off in longevity of the hardware.  I have a 2009 Mac Pro dual quad core.  I added a solid state drive (SSD) and added some RAM.  This computer is still very fast and reliable.

[Electromen]

Here's another suggestion:

If you buy an Apple TV for $99, you can mirror your display to your TV wireless.  You can use the TV to show customers CA.  

The Apple TV is a small device that connects to your TV with HDMI.  It makes your TV "Smart" but it can also mirror your computer display wireless.

[dshall]

Thanks so much for starting this, please post anything that pops in your mind, already learned a few things from you.

[KirkClemons]

This is a great idea. I'll start off by adding a few quick tips of my own.

 

Accessing hidden folders:

I always prefer to access a hidden folder on the system by using the Go To Folder command.

This is done from any Finder window and pressing ⌘+⇧+G You can then type in the direct path to a folder. For example '/Library/Application Support/ '.

 

The other option is to simply toggle hidden files and folders through the Terminal. The Terminal is found in the '/Applications/Utilities' directory of your system.

 

Once the Terminal is open enter the following commands in sequence:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
killall Finder

[Electromen]

Apple Numbers is similar to Excel, Pages is similar to Word and Keynote is similar to PowerPoint.  In most cases the Apple software can open the Microsoft counterpart, so Numbers can open an Excel document.

 

I use Pages and Numbers for business.  I have them on my Mac and my iPhone.  Any document that I store on iCloud can be opened and edited on both a Mac and iPhone.  If you own a Mac, you get 5GB of free storage space on iCloud.  

To setup iCloud:

Go to the Apple icon in the upper left corner > System Preferences >  iCloud.  Setup is easy.

After that you can select the items that Sync on your Mac, iPhone and iPad.  I have everything checked except Keychain and Back to my Mac.

 

Now the cool part, if you add a Bookmark in Safari on your iPhone or iPad, it's now on your Mac and vice versa.  Make a Calendar change, it changes on all instantly.  The same is true with Mail accounts, Notes, Reminders, Photos and Documents.

Find my Mac will locate you wireless computer and IOS devices like iPad and iPhone.  It will show you there location on a map.

To see what's on iCloud, you can access it in https://www.icloud.com

You can add documents to iCloud simply by dragging them from Finder.

[Victory_5]

I think the investment pays off in longevity of the hardware.  I have a 2009 Mac Pro dual quad core.  I added a solid state drive (SSD) and added some RAM.  This computer is still very fast and reliable.

 

Same here, I must say, the investment in a Mac was well worth it! Im glad Chief finally supports the mac os 

[NewPTV]

I find it very beneficial to keep all original packaging and accessories in a tidy condition.

Most Apple hardware has a really good resale value and this makes the sale and shipping of the product that much easier when you are ready to upgrade.

[NewPTV]

... We recently acquired a new low end Mac Pro. Our first use of it indicates that the performance doesn't really justify the cost. However, it seems to run Chief well. We have a higher end on on order that should be here soon. Perhaps it will provide better benchmarks.

 

From a compatibility standpoint these seem to get an A. From a return on investment standpoint I would give them and F.

Yes, the new Mac Pro does not fit everyone's needs and some software packages don't take advantage of it's strengths.

 

Architosh just released a good article as a buyer's guide for those trying to decide between the new Mac Pro and an iMac.

 

Another extensive Mac Pro review was recently done by Ars Technica.

[KirkClemons]

New Tip:

 

If you are having trouble finding a particular view you can right-click the Chief Architect dock icon and choose Show All Windows.

 

 

[mgabriel]

On the MBP, swipe 3 fingers up on the track pad and get all windows exposed for the current application, swipe 4 fingers down and see all the active windows for each app running....or is it 3 down, 4 up....errr, you get the idea.  I find this very helpful in onscreen navigation.  Also command+tab is helpful for quick switching between apps.

[iggybro]

Here's a tip for the Chief Architect software designers.  Develop a version of CA that actually performs well for a Mac.  I have been waiting for a Mac version of CA for years.  I couldn't contain my excitement when X6 came out with the Beta version for Mac.  I immediately downloaded it--what a disappointment.  Slow, slow, slow.  A simple move like…zooming in plan view--increases my blood pressure to a dangerous level.   Please fix the Mac version!

[Steve-C]

Here's a tip for the Chief Architect software designers.  Develop a version of CA that actually performs well for a Mac.  I have been waiting for a Mac version of CA for years.  I couldn't contain my excitement when X6 came out with the Beta version for Mac.  I immediately downloaded it--what a disappointment.  Slow, slow, slow.  A simple move like…zooming in plan view--increases my blood pressure to a dangerous level.   Please fix the Mac version!

While I'll admit the Mac version of X6 isn't as stable as my Windows machine ran X5, it's not as bad as your experience. Panning and zooming have not been a problem for me. I've had issue with roof connections, crashes when printing pdf, pdf file sizes and some minor lagging with command inputs in 3D. Is your software updated? They released a fix one or two weeks ago.

[Doug_Park]

Out of curiosity what hardware are you running on?

 

I have a MacBook Air from about two years ago that performs amazingly well for that hardware. It even drives a second large monitor without breaking a sweat. Zooming is smooth for small to medium sized models.

 

There are certainly some things that we can improve with performance and we will work on those as they are identified.

 

If you have a plan that is performing very poorly then we would really appreciate it if you would contact our support team with it so that we can look into why things are slow.

[LevisL]

While I'll admit the Mac version of X6 isn't as stable as my Windows machine ran X5, it's not as bad as your experience. Panning and zooming have not been a problem for me. I've had issue with roof connections, crashes when printing pdf, pdf file sizes and some minor lagging with command inputs in 3D. Is your software updated? They released a fix one or two weeks ago.

 

Same here. Performance has been quite good on my machine. I had some of these same issues, minus the crashing when printing pdf, but overall, I'm quite happy with it so far. Much better than running CA via bootcamp like I used to do!

[Doug_Park]

While on the topic of performance, and getting this thread back on track. One thing we did notice on Macs is that if you are driving a second monitor and it is using a different color profile than your primary monitor the drawing performance on the second monitor is slower for some video cards. Changing the second monitor to use the same color profile seems to speed things up.

[SNestor]

Is there a hotkey in the Mac version to split views...such as the Shift+F6 command used with windows software?  Or...is this something that has to be customized in the Hotkey section of the software.

 

Thanks!

[dshall]

Is there a hotkey in the Mac version to split views...such as the Shift+F6 command used with windows software?  Or...is this something that has to be customized in the Hotkey section of the software.

 

Thanks!

Don't know specific answer but I use hotkeys for vertical split view (F6)  and (F7) for horizontal split view.  So yes,  I would program the hotkeys if I were you.

[Victor_Rasilla]

Great Thread!  I've been really salivating over macbooks lately.  I bought a 17.3" MSI GT70 and it's a great laptop but as it turns out the point of me buying a laptop which is engaging facility to be mobile when needed is totally missing the mark because I find every reason on earth not to drag that godzilla of a laptop with me anywhere.  Another odd thing that has bummed me out is that rich text elements change between the two machines.  For example, my list of abbreviations are tabbed at each line to create the look of the two columns. If I open it on my laptop several lines will not be lined up and I'll need to delete or add tabs to line them up and then I go to the desktop and of course they don't line up again.  Other rich text elements particularly leader lines will be weird and I'll need to open them and click ok in the dbx without doing anything and then it'll jump back to the size and lines it's supposed to be.

 

I bought an 11" macbook air for my wife a few weeks ago and it's just so portable and feels so nice I started thinking about getting myself a macbook pro 13" or 15" version since I was nervous about the air not having enough juice but it's great to hear Doug's been able to use an older air without a problem.  I would just use it mildly as a way of being a little productive while traveling around in and out of town, client meetings, having a handy facility while away from my office to make quick edits and shoot out some quick low quality renders to stakeholders and AHJ.

 

One downside is that my sketchup pro license will not transfer to the mac as I understand it and I use sketchup pro and LayOut a fair amount.

 

Well after that rant the bottom line is that if I need to hunt down rich text elements throughout my plans every time I switch then that's gonna bum me out and lower productivity too and will obviate the cost of the switch so has anyone else had any issues like this when moving between machines particularly with rich text elements and moving between Windows and OS X platforms?  I could parallel Windows which I don't necessarily mind.  If I actually use it and get more done the cost of buying a different laptop will be an insignificant matter.

[Doug_Park]

Text issues may be due to not having the same font installed on both machines.

 

When I looked at text I looked at the numbers for font spacing sizes etc. My baseline research was comparing Arial on Windows 7 to Arial on a Mac running Snow Leopard. What I found was that while there were numerical differences in spacing they were very small. Small enough that one would have to have a very high resolution printout from both Windows and Mac laid on top of a light table and a magnifying glass to see the differences.

 

But, other fonts may not match up as well. Certainly the fonts we Ship with Chief will be the same. Font substitution will find fonts that are theoretically close but without something that is pretty much identical you will have issues.

[dshall]

Okay,  so Arial looks different on  mac than pc,  so I am assuming all fonts look a little different on mac and pc....BUT, BUT......  since  ChiefBlueprint is CA's own font,  does that mean that CB looks the same on both a pc and mac?

 

If that is the case,  are there are fonts that would be exactly the same on both machines?  Just curious.

 

EDIT:  Just reread your post and you say the fonts you ship are the same.....  little confused,  does that mean the CA Arial font is the same for both platforms? Oh Boy,  I think I am getting in too deep,  ignorance is......

[KirkClemons]

Arial is a font family that comes with your system and is commonly found on both PC and Mac.

It has many variations so this can come into play when using different systems.

 

Chief Blueprint is a custom font owned by Chief Architect Software and is installed to your system when you install a Chief Architect or Home Designer program.

We have worked to make sure that the font renders the same on both PC and Mac.

[Victor_Rasilla]

My issues with the rich text boxes desktop(win 7 pro) to laptop(win 7 home) are the same file and uses chief blueprint.

Also I'm curious about the mac has using a mouse. Doesn't mac mouse only have 1 button? Do you have to do a bunch more clicking through menus then with a pc mouse that has five buttons and scroll wheel.

[Victor_Rasilla]

so I loaded up chief X6 on my 11" macbook(1.3Ghz i5, 4GB ram) air I recently bought for my wife and downloaded the riverstone plan.  I am very surprised to see how well it ran chief!  it takes about 2.5 minutes to render a full overview line drawing.  Now compare that to my desktop that runs a 4Ghz i7, 16GB ram and it took 1min. 15 sec. to render. macbooks got a haswell chip and desktop has a sandy bridge, also the macbook is dual core compared to quad on the desktop.

 

I would've thought the desktop would not only be twice as fast but like 3 or 4 times faster but no!  I also connected this goofy "ergonomic" mouse by Anker I bought that didn't work out and got my mouse questions answered.  works as it should.

 

If chief does this well on the lil' macbook air then it should be a really pleasant time sipping latté down at the coffee house with the new 15" macbook pro with the discrete graphics that I've just gotta have now despite that I'm a little too old to be a hipster fanboy...