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AutoCAD Returning to Mac?

Come on Autodesk

I have recently gone to the pc, well, to be more precise have put widnows 7 on my mac full time because of the apps i need.

I'd like to see 2D S Max running on the mac. As it supports Direct 3D and Open GL it shouldn't be too hard to build a native version.

If this ever happen i would instantly order an 8 core mac pro and sell my imac and throw windows out forever. I hate dual booting, ehnce why i amrunning windows full time and lets face it, the replacement for os x apps are normally better on the windows side than in os x.
 
thanks for the link to the survey!

hopefully they will be surprised to see how many people are interested in this.......
 
Didn't see any make the statment on why AutoCAD left Apple to begin with. They told Apple they would drop them if they kept Power PC processors. Since that is no longer the problem. I think AutoCAD would like a fresh survey to see if the drive is still there. And this is not just a maybe return of AutoCAD to apple but, if true it would be all of Autodesk Software to Apple.
 
Guys and gals just go over and do the survey wont take more than 10', so we can mobilize to get the great autocad back to our macs natively. Follow the link above.

Can someone please add the link to the article itself so people can visit:apple:
 
get rid of it!

Forget about Autocad! Add dimension to Illustrator and there you go!
Buy Vectorworks and get a really handy tool. And spare a lot of $.
With AC I always have the feeling that I achieved something great - beeing proud of myself - but in the end you just manage to use the app or you've found a handy work around! Not mac at all!
 
Ohh no! America is already looking like it was built in AutoCAD...I hope this doesn't completely kill the (my) profession...:eek::eek::confused::confused:
 
I hope this means Inventor too

Fuzzy14 said:
+1 on the vote for SolidWorks.... or ProEngineer.
Click to expand...

SolidWorks is good too, but I hope this means we'll see Inventor soon. Inventor has really caught up with and passed SolidWorks, plus it comes with AutoCAD to boot.
 
Too little too late

AutoDesk put out a survey like this 5 or 6 years ago, and that didn't amount to anything, so I wouldn't hold my breath. And even if they did come out with Mac version, I wouldn't shell out the kind of cash they want for personal licenses knowing they might just drop support again next time Mac's market share drops a point.

It seems a bit arrogant that AutoDesk thinks so many designers will come crawling back. They've been bullying users for decades into using their software not because it's superior but because it became a de facto industry standard. I wouldn't expect that strategy to go over so well with Mac users. If it did, we'd be using Windows.
 
Autodesk Alias

Autodesk seems to be getting serious with the OS X platform. After seeing Sketchbook Pro last year and all the recent announcements like Mudbox, today I received my maintenance upgrade for Autodesk Alias. To my surprise it now includes a Mac version, too.

Steffen
 
Today I joined a launch meeting for AutoCAD Inventor suite 2010. One of the speakers was the Northern European Technical Manager, who was open to questions. He told me that Autodesk is taking surveys to bring ACAD back to the Mac since a while. There might be a good chance this will happen on not to long notice.

Inventor (and corresponding apps like Vault), however, is too much depending on parts and resources of Windows and for the moment the chance to have a Mac version of this suite isn't really big .

Last part of his story was better: Autodesk is busy to certify Mac hardware to work with the entire Inventor suite (using BootCamp) officially. The certified hardware will appear in their "cert. hardware list", so finally BootCamp users will finally get full support :).
 
adrianblaine said:
As an architect I'm very excited about this, but this has been a rumor for a very, very long time now. Though now that Macs have made more inroads into architecture offices, I can see how they'd want to sell a native version.

I've tried using other programs like ArchiCAD for Mac, but nothing seems quite as good as AutoCAD.
Click to expand...

Are you serious? Why do you think that?

ArchiCAD is a much better program than AutoBAD for architects...designed from the ground up by architects (along with software developers...) for architects....
 
Any software returning to the Mac is good news. It shows the boom the platform is experiencing.

Platform management is very difficult, and Apple have done it really well. By having the iPhone run OSX, Apple have ensured that when companies put together teams to work on iPhone applications, they're also hiring people with the skill set required to build OSX applications. This opens up the Mac as a platform for software companies to achieve growth through, and makes Cocoa development an important skill for developers.

The recession has helped in some respects. iPhone revenue comes from micro-transactions, which work well in a recession. This makes more companies look to the iPhone as a platform to derive revenues from, which requires more Cocoa developers. It's becoming very difficult for software developers to find jobs (as it is for everyone right now), and those with Cocoa experience are at an advantage for the aforementioned reasons. That's great news for the platform.

However, the recession should also decrease Mac sales, which is bad for the platform. Apple could counter this by drawing attention to the Mac Mini as an affordable Mac and introducing a low-cost portable.
 
ArchiMark said:
Are you serious? Why do you think that?

ArchiCAD is a much better program than AutoBAD for architects...designed from the ground up by architects (along with software developers...) for architects....
Click to expand...

Please, leave out the commerical slogans...

I used to be like you, all for ArchiCAD etc. That was until I started using ArchiCAD fulltime which resulted in me being late handing in 2D drawings and documentation for my assignments. Why, you might ask? The drawings ArchiCAD made, always required so many touch-ups before they would look good anyway so I might just as well draw them correctly from the start. Most of these were about fields autohealing together when they shouldn't making beams disappear and other things. Then there is also the thing about not being able to rotate in all three axes in 3D... no go there. And patching weird bugs with hotfixes, only being able to save to the previous version and not any older etc. etc.

While I'm no big fan of AutoCAD I have grown tired of spending all that extra time converting DWGs and cleaning them up. Most of the market in my part of the world uses the DWG format and most of the time AutoCAD as well.

ArchiCAD is getting there but it's not there yet. Perhaps they should hire some 'tech's so they could get it stable enough and with features one could expect from any 3D-capable software today. It's also amazing that while architects are the ones designing it, ArchiCAD's interface is so messy and old-looking.

In meantime, I rather use more time focusing on my architecture than patching bugs and making workarounds for bad software! AutoCAD might not be good but it's at least a de-facto standard, so please.
 
Reading through this thread again I noticed a lot of people like AutoDesk's seemingly renewed interest in OSX, but at the same time would love to see additional products being ported over to the Mac.
I myself would absolutely love to see SoftImage/XSI appear on OSX. Over the years I've asked several SoftImage/AutoDesk employees about this possibility and they always said the same thing. Along the lines of: "you aren't the only one who would love to see that. Keep asking is all I can recommend.".
I intend to do just that. First and foremost by speaking to AD representatives that are responsible for dealings with my employer. But if necessary by emailing/writing customer service, sales, corporate services, heck even the CEO when I find out his/her email address. :D Starting here...
I would suggest all of you to do the same. Let them know what you want rather than just posting about it on a forum.

If enough people keep asking eventually their $en$itive ears will get the idea. :)
 
klueck said:
Forget about Autocad! Add dimension to Illustrator and there you go!
Click to expand...
Agreed. Adobe Illustrator is a powerful tool, more so with improvements in snapping and dimensioning/scaling. The only downside to a non AutoDesk work environment is the lack of compatability with Digital Fabrication Equipment (laser cutters and multi axis milling). Most use .DWG I believe, though it's not impossible to do it with AI's file formats. Also, Rhino would be great along AI. The export to AI is excellent for layering presentation art. Though you still need AutoCad/RhinoCam to do multi axis milling for complex physical models.

klueck said:
Buy Vectorworks and get a really handy tool. And spare a lot of $.
Click to expand...
I use AI to draw plans for SketchUp models. It is slower than AutoCad, but at least I'm closer to my creative suite. Talk about >$ Google SU is free and you can trick it to do alot of things that are very difficult to do in AutoCad's 3d. The only down side is presentation quality of line work (no weight control), renderings a fine using Podium @ high res. With help from AI/PS of course.

Rhinoceros is the wave of the future though, once it gets to the Mac OS, the Other CADs will be calling for bail outs. :eek:
 
Illustrator can never replace AutoCad, especially not in speed and precision. Having the same precision in Illustrator as in AutoCad takes at least twice the time if not more than that.

Then again, you can always move your pile of gravel with a wheelbarrow as well. It will just take a lot longer than using a truck with the added 'feature' of being green! :p
 
I think the survey is just Autodesk trying to see if it is worth spending time/$ on. They have a few products out there now on mac. The movie/entertainment industry relies a lot on macs and with the mac surge in the consumer market going on it has but peaked their interest to raise the question.

I would suspect if they invest time into it the start will be in the rendering/animation realm with offshoots leading to support CAD/BIM over time. It is a good sign though, however long it may take to complete is another thing....
:)
 
This is the ONLY thing keeping me from switching 100% to Apple. As soon as AutoCAD is on Mac, I'll ditch Windows for good!
 
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