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AutoCAD Returning to Mac?
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It would make sense if they did. All my co-workers use PCs at work and Macs at home. I know all would rather use macs at work.
It would make sense if they did. All my co-workers use PCs at work and Macs at home. I know all would rather use macs at work.
I notice that this article was written on April Fools Day. Do we know for sure that this wasn't an attempt of a fools day joke?
Autodesk did just just announce some new ports to mac earlier this year so I wouldn't be surprised if they give us some more mac love but still... April 1'st is an odd choice of days to post this article. If any hears any additional info that was posted to this story after that date then please let us know!
In regards to 3DS Max being ported. From what I have been told that is an impossible port because of the way Max was created. They would have to completely rewrite Max (different then porting) and thats not likely. Plus with Autodesk now owning Max, Maya, XSI and Mud.... I'm thinking we will see a super program in the near future anyways because as it stands, these programs are so old and bloated they are like a sinking ship full of holes. Everytime they plug one hole another pops out. I'm thinking that they are waiting for all their nucleus pieces to be in place for Maya etc then they will plug those into a different shell (super program) : )
Autodesk did just just announce some new ports to mac earlier this year so I wouldn't be surprised if they give us some more mac love but still... April 1'st is an odd choice of days to post this article. If any hears any additional info that was posted to this story after that date then please let us know!
In regards to 3DS Max being ported. From what I have been told that is an impossible port because of the way Max was created. They would have to completely rewrite Max (different then porting) and thats not likely. Plus with Autodesk now owning Max, Maya, XSI and Mud.... I'm thinking we will see a super program in the near future anyways because as it stands, these programs are so old and bloated they are like a sinking ship full of holes. Everytime they plug one hole another pops out. I'm thinking that they are waiting for all their nucleus pieces to be in place for Maya etc then they will plug those into a different shell (super program) : )
Not true at all for several reasons. A TINY example of this is the fact that they just ported Mudbox over to the mac ; )
Holy Hell, yes PLEASE
Im not fussed over BIM packages like Revit, since the last time i used it, it was an absolute pile of crap. But AutoCAD or Microstation, come hither, i dont want to be forced to run parallels to use them anymore.
3DS would also be welcome. So many industry standard packages are lacking on the mac, its infuriating to admit to co workers that yes i can use this software, but it has to be either in an emu, or rebooted into windows.
At least its better than a few years ago. To think i made-do with vectorworks for so long!
Im not fussed over BIM packages like Revit, since the last time i used it, it was an absolute pile of crap. But AutoCAD or Microstation, come hither, i dont want to be forced to run parallels to use them anymore.
3DS would also be welcome. So many industry standard packages are lacking on the mac, its infuriating to admit to co workers that yes i can use this software, but it has to be either in an emu, or rebooted into windows.
At least its better than a few years ago. To think i made-do with vectorworks for so long!
I am not sure that AutoCad would thrive on the Mac platform. I actually used AutoCad on a Mac back in the early 90's. Most of the architecture design firms that are Mac based have done without for so long, I don't see a reason to go back.
AutoCad's price per seat is outrageous, and the advantages are not as critical anymore. ArchiCad and VectorWorks have a pretty good hold on firms that use Macs. It would be advantage for engineering firms in some ways but they have so much other legacy PC software that is utilized.
I have been using VectorWorks, well since MiniCad, and translate my drawings back and forth to AutoCad for my engineers without any problems. I welcome having AutoCad, but I would think they would just bring a light version to the Mac, and that is useless.
AutoCad's price per seat is outrageous, and the advantages are not as critical anymore. ArchiCad and VectorWorks have a pretty good hold on firms that use Macs. It would be advantage for engineering firms in some ways but they have so much other legacy PC software that is utilized.
I have been using VectorWorks, well since MiniCad, and translate my drawings back and forth to AutoCad for my engineers without any problems. I welcome having AutoCad, but I would think they would just bring a light version to the Mac, and that is useless.
As student looking in getting into the architecture field, this looks promising. Hopefully the go through with their promise and actually create a Mac version.
in all honesty, I couldn't give a monkey's about BIM. However good an idea it seems on the face of it, it really just isn't flexible enough to design top-notch bespoke buildings. Frankly, I'm not interested in anything else. There is a good reason that most top practices in London use either Autocad or Microstation: it's because 95% of drawings that need to be produced have to be 2D and very clear. I honestly don't believe that REVIT or anything similar could ever get good enough to be a realistic proposition. Drawing details requires a fair amount of adjusting *where* you draw the line so that they remain clear... this is an art not a mechanical/mathematical process. These drawings are dimensioned 'diagrams' of how to build parts of the building and indeed even Microstation or Autocad can be too restrictive in this regard often leading to these details being drawn by hand.
I'm not even interested in the 3D aspects of Autocad or Microstation because generally there are Apps which are better for modelling and rendering. As a digital drawing board they are about as good as they get. I happen to prefer microstation but either on the mac would be good.
Autocad LT on the mac running really well would be excellent. Bring it on.
I'm not even interested in the 3D aspects of Autocad or Microstation because generally there are Apps which are better for modelling and rendering. As a digital drawing board they are about as good as they get. I happen to prefer microstation but either on the mac would be good.
Autocad LT on the mac running really well would be excellent. Bring it on.
YES! YES! YES!
Please, please, please bring CAD and Revit over to mac. I would actually pay the extraordinary license fees if they did!
XSI for the Mac,hell yes.
Autodesk maybe being genuine in their growing Mac investigation.
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=12263820&linkID=10706974
Autodesk maybe being genuine in their growing Mac investigation.
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=12263820&linkID=10706974
For these apps the price of a Mac Pro should not be too much of an issue considering how much the apps cost.
I mean it would make more sense for a shop to buy a bunch of boxes from Apple where you have a qualified hardware platform running a unix type OS designed and tested for the hardware.
No fingerpointing etc.. Technically you can call the Mac Pro a Unix workstation ala SGI etc..
I mean it would make more sense for a shop to buy a bunch of boxes from Apple where you have a qualified hardware platform running a unix type OS designed and tested for the hardware.
No fingerpointing etc.. Technically you can call the Mac Pro a Unix workstation ala SGI etc..
Yes!
I personally can't stand AutoCAD, however, as a student, many of my classes require AutoCAD and Solidworks. On my Mac I have been using SolidThinking for my 3D work, but it has limitations with regard to manufacturing.
I personally can't stand AutoCAD, however, as a student, many of my classes require AutoCAD and Solidworks. On my Mac I have been using SolidThinking for my 3D work, but it has limitations with regard to manufacturing.
Siemens PLM NX and Teamcenter is on OS-X
Here is an answer for you...
Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Siemens Industry Automation Division, supports their Team Center application on OS-X and I believe their NX CAD/CAM/CAE applications are at least in beta. I use currently use NX6.
This is great news! NX, formerly Unigraphics, is a world class CAD/CAM/CAE platform and is on a very short A-list. Perhaps only PTC's Pro-E and Dassault Systemes' Catia are the only other players on that list.
Snow Leopard's Grand Central and OpenCL technology should lend itself quite well to CAD/CAM/CAE. I can't wait to see what is going happen!
Here is an answer for you...
Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Siemens Industry Automation Division, supports their Team Center application on OS-X and I believe their NX CAD/CAM/CAE applications are at least in beta. I use currently use NX6.
This is great news! NX, formerly Unigraphics, is a world class CAD/CAM/CAE platform and is on a very short A-list. Perhaps only PTC's Pro-E and Dassault Systemes' Catia are the only other players on that list.
Snow Leopard's Grand Central and OpenCL technology should lend itself quite well to CAD/CAM/CAE. I can't wait to see what is going happen!
UG NX 6 is using a Motif interface on the Mac under OS X. Not exactly what I imagined when I heard that there was going to be a mac version.
I have WF 4 and SW 2009, and the best I can imagine is running them under Parallels on a Mac Pro with an as yet unavailable Quadro card when Snow Leopard arrives early this fall.
Which brings me to an excellent MCAD Light and Conceptual Design package called Shark (Shark LT, Shark, SharkFX) from Punch! Software. Give it a demo and see what it can do for you. Nice thing is that I can create in SharkFX if I want, import it into SW and let Featureworks recreate the feature tree for a native SW model. Pro/e has a less sophisticated package that requires manual feature selection to accomplish the same functionality.
Thanks for the updates Quantum & TMay. You are right that NX (Unigraphics), CATIA, & Pro/E are the A list of CAD systems and I agree with you that my personal choice would be for NX if there were only one. I had not heard they ported Team Center. Very good news! I sort of expected it though ever since Oracle recommitted to the Mac since Team Center is based on Oracle. They also ported the Parasolid graphics kernel of NX (UG) to the mac a few years ago, but never seemed to follow-up with a port of the full system. I've always wondered if it was possible to run it on a Mac under X11, so thanks for the tip TMay, but you are right a native port would be better.
Most of these systems are only certified to run on FireGL or Quadro graphics cards, so I think that is Apple's last missing piece. Too bad they dropped the Quadro, but the problem was they only ever had the top of the line card. They really need to get drivers ported for the low & mid range Quadro's and FireGL's to attract the high end CAD market I think.
Anybody know what kind of systems Apple does their own design work on these days?
Grand Central and OpenCL look promising, but I think would require significant rewrites. I'd be happy just to see OSX versions for now. OpenCL might do some really interesting things for FEA though. Maybe that will drive NX to look more seriously at the Mac given their fold-in of the IDEAS market...
Thank the Lawd. I would love this. I took many classes centered around it, and have an interest in a business here that uses it in day to day use. I have Inventor 5.1 on my PC and I haven't used it in so long only because I simply get angry looking at my PC. I don't know why. It boils my blood.
I want a Mac version just as much as anyone else, I hope they do this.
I want a Mac version just as much as anyone else, I hope they do this.
Im not fussed over BIM packages like Revit, since the last time i used it, it was an absolute pile of crap. But AutoCAD or Microstation, come hither, i dont want to be forced to run parallels to use them anymore.
Amen to that. MicroStation may be the easier of the two:
(i) it originated on Unix (unlike AutoCAD) and has until recently reflected its cross-platform heritage - it's never been quite Windows-like
(ii) it was possible to run MicroStation SE in Classic, which isn't that long ago
(iii) they've only dropped OpenGL one version back (XM), and the move to DirectX has been a pain for CAD users with more than a single monitor on their workstation.
(iv) The latest version (V8i) uses Luxology's cross-platform Modo technology to do its rendering. So there's the sliver of a hope that we could go back to OpenGL and ease porting back to the Mac.
p.s. 3DStudio Max is, indeed, unsupported by Autodesk on Bootcamp.
LOL...well I guess it would compared to the last time it was available...gotta love those blazingly-fast Motorola 68040's.
This would be great news if they do the full Inventor suite not just AutoCAD. I suppose the only stumbling block then is the need to buy new hardware, so it may need to wait until my current machine is due for a change.
I wonder if they would let you change your subscription from PC to Mac or whether you would have to buy a new seat?
I wonder if they would let you change your subscription from PC to Mac or whether you would have to buy a new seat?
This could be good news for Apple if they do release AutoCAD for OS X. Simply because it'll check more potential switcher's boxes. It'll be one less hurdle for a potential engineering student to overcome if they're considering switching. Same goes for professionals. My girlfriend's father uses AutoCAD all the time, he could possibly be swayed to go to Mac if this came true.
Mac in a PC world
I agree, although I don't believe that it's entirely Apple's fault. I think developers are unwilling to sink the money into software that they know is targeted for such a small demographic. I love my little Clamshell (still) and use it every day at work, but there's a lot that I have to rely on the PCs for. Nobody is going to develop coordinate measuring machine software for Mac just because I think it would be cool. Although, it would be nice.
I agree, although I don't believe that it's entirely Apple's fault. I think developers are unwilling to sink the money into software that they know is targeted for such a small demographic. I love my little Clamshell (still) and use it every day at work, but there's a lot that I have to rely on the PCs for. Nobody is going to develop coordinate measuring machine software for Mac just because I think it would be cool. Although, it would be nice.
I'll second that.
My CAD lecturer said exactly the same thing. He reckoned that was why there wasn't a free student version of AutoCAD - AutoDesk wanted people to use newer suites.