Rhinoceros / OS X (codename Wenatchee)

The development process
The development process is expected to take more than a year. During this time, Rhino/OS X will be free to anyone who is willing to provide feedback, in these phases:
Wenatchee builds will be available by invitation to a few brave individuals that can stand the pain of helping to keep the first builds running.
Cashmere builds are work in progress. Once the hard work is done and Rhino is ready for polishing. We will invite a larger group of Rhino/OS X users to get involved.
Yakima builds will be available to everyone while we finish up the final bug fixes, documentation, and localization.

Requirements / Features
Q. What are the system requirements for running iRhino on a Macintosh?
A. iRhino will run on any PowerPC or Intel Macintosh computer running OS X 10.4 or later. It will not run on OS X 10.3 or earlier versions. It will not run on OS 9.
We prefer the Intel-based computers, as they are generally much faster than the older PowerPC processors, but iRhino does work well on late model PowerPC Macintosh computers.
We suggest that you have at least one gigabyte of RAM in your machine, and more than that if you can afford it.
Q. Will iRhino work with Leopard?
iRhino will run on OS X 10.5 (Leopard) the next version of OS X when it is released. We have pre-release versions of Leopard and test iRhino against Leopard to make sure iRhino will work with Leopard as soon as it is released.
We also are taking advantage of new features in Leopard such as QuickLook. QuickLook lets you can see the contents of a Rhino document in the Finder, either in icon view or in the CoverFlow view, without opening the document with Rhino. You'll be able to use these features when Leopard ships in October 2007.
Q. Are the data files compatible with the Windows version?
A. Yes, the Rhino files are identical between Windows and the Macintosh. The Macintosh version can read Rhino files created on Windows, and writes files that are compatible with Version 4 on Windows. You must have at least version 4 of Windows Rhino to read files written by iRhino.
Q. Can I use my two button / three button mouse on the Macintosh version?
A. Yes, all Macintoshes support multiple button mice out of the box, and Macintosh Rhino can use mice with multiple buttons and a scroll wheel. You can also use a Macintosh mouse that has a single button. Holding the Control key while clicking the single mouse button is equivalent to clicking the right mouse button.
Q. Can I use a Spaceball/SpaceNavigator/SpaceExplorer on the Macintosh version?
A. No, not at this time. 3DConnexion provides a Macintosh driver only for the SpaceNavigator. None of the other 3DConnexion devices are supported on the Macintosh. We have not tested the SpaceNavigator with Rhino on the Macintosh.
Q. What are the differences between the Windows and Macintosh version?
Most of the differences are user interface differences, which you can read about here.
Q. Why is <feature x> missing?
A. You might review the software development process for Windows Rhino to see how McNeel and Associates introduces new products. We are following the same plan while developing the Macintosh version. Currently we are in phase 1: work-in-progress. We plan to eventually support as much of the Windows Rhino program as is practical on the Macintosh platform, but all features are not yet implemented in this WIP Macintosh version.
Q. What works? What doesn't work?
A. We have a web page that describes what is working, and what still needs to be implemented. We will keep this page updated as we continue work on iRhino.
Q. Does the Macintosh version work in languages other than English?
A. Yes. We currently support all the languages supported on Windows. This is still a Work In Progress, so there are some gaps in the language localization, but most of the language translation is complete. Right now, we only ship Spanish and Japanese with the WIP version, but it is not difficult to add another supported language. Let us know if you would like another language added to the WIP version.
Q. How do I select the language to use?
A. Macintosh Rhino uses the default language selection built into the Macintosh. If you want to specify a particular language when running Macintosh Rhino, open the Get Info dialog for the Rhino application and select a language in that dialog.
Q. Can I run a command script on the Macintosh version?
A. Yes.
Select Tools / Commands / Read From File... in the Rhino menu to load and run your command script.
Q. Can I run a RhinoScript program on the Macintosh version?
A. No, not at this time. We plan to add scripting to the Macintosh version, but the implementation is still under discussion. Because a lot of good and interesting work has been done in RhinoScript, we will seriously consider supporting some form of RhinoScript.
OS X also provides AppleScript, which is the native scripting language on the Macintosh. This is also under serious consideration for scripting support.
Q. Will the Macintosh version support my C++ plug-in?
A. Yes, eventually. The C++ plug-in mechanism has been brought over from the Windows platform. We are using C++ plug-ins internally in the Macintosh version to support feautures such as file importing.
We are not yet ready to provide user support for C++ plug-ins, but we plan to do so in the future. As you can imagine, this is a big area to cover, and we want to do a good job supporting the developers using the C++ plug-in mechanism. We need to get more of Macintosh Rhino working before we release a Macintosh SDK.
You will of course have to recompile your plug-in using the Macintosh development system. We can tell you that almost all of the Rhino SDK is identical between Windows and the Macintosh. Depending on the complexity of your plug-in, it may take only a small amount of work to create a plug-in that compiles and works both on Windows and the Macintosh. Plug-ins that have dialogs and other user interface elements will take more work, but the effort is nowhere near the work required to create a brand new plug-in just for the Macintosh.
Q. Will the Macintosh version support my .NET plug-in?
A. No. There is no equivalent to .NET on the Macintosh, so we will not be able to support .NET plug-ins on Rhino. We are aware of the Mono project, but have not investigated the Mono project enough to know whether we can use it in iRhino.
Problems
Q. Help! iRhino crashed!
A. Please refer to our web page that describes how to handle a program crash.
Q. I got a mysterious dialog that said "Program Failure" and now iRhino does not work any more.
A. When iRhino encounters an unexpected situation, it displays a dialog with a generic "Program Failure" message. After this error, iRhino shuts down internally and you cannot run any commands or menu choices after this point. You can save your file and you can quit iRhino, but you won't be able to do much more than this. We'd like to know when this happens to you, so see this page for a more detailed description of what you can do when this occurs.
Q. I want to report a problem.
A. Click on the Forums button in the toolbar at the top of this web page to go to the Forums. Check the Support forum. See if your problem is mentioned, and, if so, add your own comment to the topic. If you don't see your problem in the topics, start a new topic by using the Write a New Post button at the top of the forums page.
If you want to include files with your post, screen shots or perhaps a .3dm file, select the Options tab at the top of the block where you enter your post. There is a File Attachment button labeled Add/Update. You can attach only one file to your post. If you want to include more than one file, create an archive (really, a zip file) by selecting all the files you wish to include, right click on one and select Create Archive from the menu. Attach the new archive with your post. Remember that anything you include with your post can be
Info
Q. I thought developing a Macintosh version was not possible.
A. We thought that was true. However, a developer came to us with a partially developed version running on the Macintosh. We decided to continue this development as an experiment and evaluated its progress over time. As more and more of Rhino became functional on the Macintosh, we decided to release a public Work In Progress version to evaluate our users' interest.
Q. How was the Macintosh version developed?
A. The answer involves a lot of geeky programming knowledge. If you are interested in a long answer, see iRhino Software Development for more information.