Just got a brand new MacBook Pro, Intel Core i5.
My video card is an NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M.
Is it possible to run Pool Studio on VMWare Fusion now that it is available for integrating completely with Windows 7? I'd like to avoid the hassle of rebooting every time I need to use PS.

VMWare Fusion is not supported, and does not support the majority of DirectX based 3D software. The only supported method of using Pool Studio on a Mac is through Boot Camp, Apple's official Windows application solution. Hopefully Apple will offer a way to move easily between OSX and Windows instead of rebooting.

...or how 'bout PS abandoning Windows for a REAL graphics platform like Apple/Mac?

Isn't thre any way to do it? I just got VMWare and runs everything else smoothly.

Quote:

That's what it says on the website for their new release.

Please advise.

VMWare Fusion is a virtual emulation software. It is a piece of software that is pretending it is an entire physical computer. A piece of software simply does not have the power to compare to the power a physical computer can offer. Programs like this and Parallels do a descent job of running simple graphical programs like spreedsheets and accounting software, but high end software like ours, or AutoCAD or products from Adobe need more than just software emulation, we need full hardware access to run properly. Because of this, using our software in a program like VMWare Fusion will cause issues. First and foremost, you will not get the 3D graphics as intended, they will look old and out date.

We have many Members successfully using Boot Camp, and it is Apple's official solution and suggestion to running DirectX based products on an Apple computer. They purchased the company that makes Boot Camp because they have such strong support for what they are doing. Less than 0.1% of our Members own a Mac, and the development cost is in the millions to switch over, so until Microsoft and Apple can agree to share their resources and allow DirectX access in the OSX, a Mac version is unlikely in the immediate future.

I just installed the demo program using Parallels with Windows XP on my iMac 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and it is running fine. You may want to invest in Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac.

Parallels is not supported and will not run Pool Studio properly. You may have successfully installed it, but the 3D aspect will run at the lowest qualities, and the software will not run as intended. Boot Camp is the official solution from Apple supported by Structure Studios.

Ross, I realize that you can't necessarily say that one platform will work over the other. However, Boot Camp is really difficult to use on one machine for a Mac if you really want to use the applications for your presentation outside of Pool Studio.

Has anyone else here had any luck with VMWare Fusion at all?

We have tested and had others test with VMWare and Parallels. While the 2d aspects often work ok, the 3D quality and final Presentation will not run as intended. We receive frequent reports from computers running VMWare and Parallels of crashes and error messages. This is true for most DirectX based 3D applications.

Fusion 3 has a free demo I believe, so you can test it out yourself, but be warned it may not be stable when using Pool Studio.