Unfortunate News from Orbbec: No Mac Support [UPDATE: may still be possible to use Orbbec]

Woland

I think I need some empathy. I have had a bad day with US providers starting this morning with GoPro support telling me that an order for over $1k of their gear has been disrupted and hasn’t shipped for over five days on what was a 2 day delivery. Not only that their website offered free shipping, but they charged me for it anyway. I still have no idea when the GoPro order will arrive. And now this news about the Orbbec gear. If I didn’t have so many projects about to fire I would sign out for a while.

barneybroomer

I asked osx for my project

Hello Barney,

Thank you for your email. My name is Christopher Baker, I am an Account Manager at Orbbec 3D. I can assist you with your inquiry.

Our SDK/software unfortunately is not compatible with Mac OSX. We support Windows, Linux, and Android.

Woland

@barneybroomer said:

Our SDK/software unfortunately is not compatible with Mac OSX. We support Windows, Linux, and Android.

via GIPHY

bonemap

Dear Orbbecc,

I have invested in two Orbbecc cameras specifically to work with projects on Mac OS. Now I get a message from my developer indicating that Mac OS will no longer be supported by Orbbecc. I have not even had a chance to get the sensors out of their box.

Can I return them for a full refund?

According to our policy, any return or exchange received after 30 days will not be approved as the product is no longer eligible for return or exchange.

-eom

Shameless!

Michel

@mark

The answer from Orbbec to my email:

I would like to first off, apologize for any inconvenience and trouble this may have caused you.

The reason we stopped supporting OS X is because we are a hardware manufacturer, and not a software company. So we can only devote what resources we have to support the most popular development platforms. Unfortunately as much as we would like to, we cannot support all of them. In a perfect world where we have all of the necessary resources and employees, we would do so.

For markets we are targeting, Windows and Linux are the dominant platforms. And as thus, we chose to end support for OS X in our recent SDK releases.

Regarding the time stamps, this only applies to the trial license for the body tracking library inside the SDK. The rest of the SDK does not have a timed license. The trial license will be extended when we update the SDK every 3 months. And we offer a commercial license for a one time fee if this is needed by the user.

We greatly appreciate your business as a customer and hope you understand the situation.

bonemap

@michel said:

In a perfect world where we have all of the necessary resources and employees

We are the victims of a niche and fickle market!

mark

@michel said:

Regarding the time stamps, this only applies to the trial license for the body tracking library inside the SDK. The rest of the SDK does not have a timed license. The trial license will be extended when we update the SDK every 3 months. And we offer a commercial license for a one time fee if this is needed by the user.

That's crucial (and good) news. I went to the SDK I have today and recompiled everything, and it does in fact still work in terms of feeding me the depth map image. So it may still be possible to work with Astra. I am still investigating what this means.

Best Wishes,
Mark

bonemap

@mark said:

it may still be possible to work with Astra

Thanks for the advice - I look forward to your update!

bonemap

@bonemap

bonemap

@mark

I would advocate that you keep the Orbec cameras in the mix even if they become PC only option.

Best wishes

Russell

DusX

@bonemap

I think you should keep your orbbecs at the ready