Im in CAD1 this year for school, were learning the basics of autocad the first sememster, mostly 2D drawings. But the 2nd Semester, were going to be working with all 3D. My teacher gave everyone a copy of the Educational Edition to bring home with us just incase we are absent for a long time and fall behind. But i only have a Mac computers at my house, I was thinking of VPC but i read the reviews on that with AutoCad and it was ungodly slow, so i said forget that.. are there any other Mac CAD programs that can import/export Autocad files (.dwt/.dwg) and be able to work with them also?
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Any "AutoCad" Substitutes for OSX?
- Thread starter Josh2022
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Josh2022 said:
you could give vectorworks a go..
Taken from the site "Easily integrate VectorWorks into your firm, even if you already have a CAD system. A stable of import/export options, including DWG, IGS, STL, EPS, TIF, and JPG, makes it easy to share files between popular desktop publishing, presentation, analysis, and other CAD programs. Plus, because both the Macintosh and Windows version of VectorWorks is created from the same core code, you can easily run projects concurrently on Windows or Macintosh machines. We recognize the importance of compatibility, which is why VectorWorks is a founding member of the OpenDWG® Alliance and has a dedicated team of engineers to ensure DXF/DWG compatibility."
I have to deal with Vectorworks at work occasionally, although only from a reprographics side so not sure how it handles as a CAD application.. Results-wise it's practically the same as AutoCAD.
They have a free viewer on the site, download it and open some .dwgs to see how it handles, not sure if it'll make a complete alternative but it might be your best bet on the Mac.
another place to search is at apple.com>made4mac>2D/3D Graphics & Animation......then do a search for CAD and you'll find a number of products to consider
I have a work associate, an architect, who uses vectorworks and he regularly exchanges files with his engineering consultants who all use autocad.....he says it works just fine for his 2D work
vectorworks is not expensive as CAD programs go but it isn't cheap either.... they do offer an academic version if I remember correctly
there are other less expensive Mac CAD products that allow you to import/export in dxf/dwg format......I was at an Apple retail store this last week and noticed that they had TurboCAD for $99
one thing to consider is that if you're learning autocad at school and want to use a Mac program at home, then you'll have to learn a second program......which might be more than you want to deal with since you're in school.....or maybe not.....it would actually be good for you to have experience with a second CAD program but that's another discussion
and back to the VPC option.....sure there are always people who say it's too slow but there are definitely people who use it with some light autocad.....since autocad is what you're learning at school, you might want to reconsider VPC
I have a work associate, an architect, who uses vectorworks and he regularly exchanges files with his engineering consultants who all use autocad.....he says it works just fine for his 2D work
vectorworks is not expensive as CAD programs go but it isn't cheap either.... they do offer an academic version if I remember correctly
there are other less expensive Mac CAD products that allow you to import/export in dxf/dwg format......I was at an Apple retail store this last week and noticed that they had TurboCAD for $99
one thing to consider is that if you're learning autocad at school and want to use a Mac program at home, then you'll have to learn a second program......which might be more than you want to deal with since you're in school.....or maybe not.....it would actually be good for you to have experience with a second CAD program but that's another discussion
and back to the VPC option.....sure there are always people who say it's too slow but there are definitely people who use it with some light autocad.....since autocad is what you're learning at school, you might want to reconsider VPC
I think this is one of those situations where it makes sense to buy a really cheap PC, just to run AutoCAD. You can use Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection for Mac to connect to the PC (assuming you get XP Pro). I do this occasionally to run some PC software, and it works well.
Josh2022 said:
people seem to say to avoid XP and use something older like 2000
if you're going to do a lot of autocad at home then a cheap windows box is not a bad idea...........or if you're one of those people that need SPEED SPEED SPEED and cant imagine anything else, then maybe a windows box is for you
but seriously, people do use VPC despite the usual "oh it's too slow" crowd.....if you do a search for VPC here you'll find lots of people who say it works for them
VectorWorks really isn't that bad--the lab I administer has used it for years and it's gotten the job done for engineering purposes, along with being cross platform. It's not SolidWorks, but it certainly covers all the 2D and 3D necessities.
If you do end up deciding to go Win, you might consider getting a bargain basement hardware PC and setting it up using either VNC or MS's RDC so you can control it from your Mac. That gets you full PC speed without having to leave your desk. VPC is nice on a laptop or an environment where you're working with the same set of files in both environments (for example, when I preview a website in IE Windows that I'm editing on a Mac), but for something like CAD it's going to be dog-slow.
If you do end up deciding to go Win, you might consider getting a bargain basement hardware PC and setting it up using either VNC or MS's RDC so you can control it from your Mac. That gets you full PC speed without having to leave your desk. VPC is nice on a laptop or an environment where you're working with the same set of files in both environments (for example, when I preview a website in IE Windows that I'm editing on a Mac), but for something like CAD it's going to be dog-slow.