Best CAD for Macs?

[dabirdwell]

Anybody have a favorite CAD program for Mac? My girlfriend will be buying a pro machine soon for design and architecture projects and there's no AutoCAD for Mac.

Thanks

 

[Doctor Q]

Check out VectorWorks ARCHITECT from Nemetschek. It has a professional price to go with professional features. They have education prices too. An architecture student I know recommended it when I asked him about your question.

 

[dicenine]

listen to the doc he is right Doctor Q picked the best but a cheaper one no where nere a good is made by microspot called mac draft usefull for quick concept like a dock or table but nothing comercial

 

[User X]

Is this program for OSX or OS9?

 

[Doctor Q]

VectorWorks ARCHITECT 10 is for "Mac OS 8.6 or later and CarbonLib 1.5 or later, Mac OS X 10.1 or later, PowerPC 604e or newer."

I was unable to find information about Microsoft Mac Draft.

 

[szark]

Originally posted by Doctor Q
I was unable to find information about Microsoft Mac Draft.

It's Microspot MacDraft, and it appears to be compatible with System 8.1 through OS X 10.2.

 

[big]

ummm, you are all sooooooooooooooooo wrong

engsw.com AKA PowerCadd an actual proffessional Cad platform.

 

[Doctor Q]

Originally posted by szark
It's Microspot MacDraft, and it appears to be compatible with System 8.1 through OS X 10.2.

I'm laughing at my own mistake. I see so many typos in forum messages that I assumed Microspot was just a misspelling!

 

[Doctor Q]

Here are some other choices, in increasing order of price:

* CADintosh. $32 shareware from Lemke Software, the highly regarded makers of GraphicConverter. Mac OS 9 or X.

* RealCADD X. Written in REALbasic. $75 shareware. Mac OS 9 or X.

* SketchUp. About $500. Mac OS X only.

* ArchiCAD. I think it's about $4000, but only $100 for students. Mac OS 9 or X.

 

[dabirdwell]

What system will handle Vectorworks?

What will we need to make sure we have to run Vectorworks? Could it be run well on an 800Mhz iMac with full RAM or do we need at least a dual 867?

 

[shadowfax0]

I use(d) Vectorworks in OS X on a dual 450, and it's perfectly spiffy. A dual 867 would be more than adequate, and I'm sure an iMac would probably do fine as well, but I feel that the program will benfit from avhing two processors. However what will make the most difference with a CAD program is RAM. Max out the RAM. I know when I use Cadkey 99, RAM was the deciding factor, I used it on a Pentium II running at 600 MHz, and it was dog slow...until I upped the memory. Also, being the program remembers a TON moves/unmoves, the program itself practically runs within the RAM. So in case I wasn't clear, GET MORE RAM!