cad programs similar to autocad

[ThomasM]

anything out there that is equally good or better than autocad ?
i will be using autocad next year at school, so i cant purchase the macbook if i cant use a similar program on it

 

[robbieduncan]

Dual-boot (once it's proven to work) into Windows and use Autocad?

Edit:sue->use

 

[ThomasM]

im not american, wich means i cant sue companies based on own stupidity.
i would love a macbook, but im scared of ordering it when i dont know if i can use it on school.

 

[robbieduncan]

im not american, wich means i cant sue companies based on own stupidity.
i would love a macbook, but im scared of ordering it when i dont know if i can use it on school.

I'm not American either and I can't sue myself for my own spelling mistakes

I meant use.

What I meant you to do is:
1) Wait to see if dual-booting OSX and Windows works on these machines
2) If it does buy one and use Autocad on Windows.

 

[ThomasM]

bah, i hate waiting

 

[Annon]

SketchUp works pretty good, they've got a demo on their site I'm pretty sure. It may not fit your needs, but it doesn't hurt to try the demo.

 

[Baldanzi]

SketchUp works pretty good, they've got a demo on their site I'm pretty sure. It may not fit your needs, but it doesn't hurt to try the demo.

+1

Sketchup is excellent and written natively on a Mac (I use the PC version at work ). What are you going to school for? Sketchup is an excellent 3d DESIGN/Visualization tool...but it it not for fully rendered models (no ray tracing or no light sources other than the "sun") or for detailed working drawings for architects or engineers. However, for quickly building a model there is nothing better out there right now from a speed, simplicity, and preice point of view.

Plus it workg great on a Mac!! BTW you can export/import with Autocad pretty well.

 

[robbieduncan]

Sketchup now has Google Earth integration as well!

 

[Baldanzi]

Sketchup now has Google Earth integration as well!

OMG that is great!

For CAD discussions realated ot the Mac check out http://www.architosh.com/index.phtml

 

[giffut]

You ...

... surely want to try "VectorWorks" for OSX: http://www.nemetschek.net/

Like I understand it´s as close as you can get to AutoCad.

 

[theBB]

anything out there that is equally good or better than autocad ?
i will be using autocad next year at school, so i cant purchase the macbook if i cant use a similar program on it

I remember seeing a very similar question in a thread from a few weeks ago. There were a few more suggestions there as well.

 

[jbob]

www.csi-concepts.com

Concepts 2D, 3D & Unlimited, Version 3 - very impressive! Not only work with Acad, but also with Solidworks, Catia and ProE. Makes Acad seem like 80's technology. Oh that's right, it is 80's technology!