Who uses AliasStudio or Inventor on your Intel MAC?

[purcho]

I'm looking to buy a piece of CAD software for the company I work for. We are a MAC based Sydney/Australia design consultancy. Our London offices use PCs with Alias and Inventor. One of the designers also uses Alias on a Boot-camp'd MAC.

3 options on Software I am thinking:
AliasStudio
or, Inventor
or, Solidworks

then do I run with Boot-camp or Parallels.

Decisions decisions. Can anybody help me out with their experiences?

 

[covisio]

AliasStudio

As you have probably guessed by now, you aren't going to find many people using a high-end surface modelling app. like AliasStudio on a Mac, even with the latest kit.
I have been Mac pro user and enthusiast for 20 years now, but when we decided to get AliasStudio we bought a new certificated Dell PC, based on cost, availability of high-end graphics cards and certain plug-ins that were only available for Windows. For us it was the rational choice.
But, perhaps if you are a designer already in possession of a fully-loaded Mac Pro with the latest and most powerful graphics cards (such as nVidia Quadro or similar), then it may well be worth trying that route.
But I think also you need to understand the differences of the products you mentioned, which have different purposes - AliasStudio is primarily a surface modelling/shape definition app., Inventor and Solidworks are 3D mechanical design/3D CAD apps.

 

[purcho]

As you have probably guessed by now, you aren't going to find many people using a high-end surface modelling app. like AliasStudio on a Mac, even with the latest kit.
I have been Mac pro user and enthusiast for 20 years now, but when we decided to get AliasStudio we bought a new certificated Dell PC, based on cost, availability of high-end graphics cards and certain plug-ins that were only available for Windows. For us it was the rational choice.
But, perhaps if you are a designer already in possession of a fully-loaded Mac Pro with the latest and most powerful graphics cards (such as nVidia Quadro or similar), then it may well be worth trying that route.
But I think also you need to understand the differences of the products you mentioned, which have different purposes - AliasStudio is primarily a surface modelling/shape definition app., Inventor and Solidworks are 3D mechanical design/3D CAD apps.

Yeah, I'm in the position that I am a structural branding designer (designing FMCG packaging / bottles etc) for a consultancy that is MAC based. We do have the latest macs tho I am not sure on the graphics cards. I think mine is an ATI and the RAM on the MAC is 4GB 800Mhz/2x2.8 Ghz Quad Core Intel.

I've been using Form Z but it is not parametric or history driven so when it comes to mods and amends I have to rebuild rebuild rebuild.

In regards to the choices of software I'm looking at, I'm aware of the differences, and to be honest I'd go for Alias as I do a lot of surfacing work. Our London studio use Inventor and Alias - probably due to the preferences of the individual designers employed there. Their environment is not excusively MAC based tho.

The other reason for looking at Solidworks here is that a good deal of our suppliers (prototypers/manufacturers) run on Solidworks so when it comes to file hand-over the process would be easier. That said, I'm a complete newbie to solidworks (have used Unigraphics in the past).

Thanks for your input.

 

[covisio]

AliasStudio

Very much sounds as if AliasStudio is what you want in your line of work. I don't use it myself any more, I'm back on 2D design, but for defining bottles I would say it would be ideal.
I guess you've got nothing to lose by trying to run it on your Mac/BootCamp system. Licencing might be a hassle. Ultimately if it doesn't work out well then its a case of spending 2000GBP (or AU$ equivalent) or so on a Windows workstation, which is small beer really in comparison to the cost of the software.
Good luck.

 

[angrysasha]

runs well.

I use alias studio professionally for work and i run it at home on my mac pro. i am very happy it got finally rewritten and now runs under os x.

the translation is not flawless but very much usable. it runs fine with any nvidia gpu. ati cards have some issues drawing the interface but nvidia seems to be fine. it even runs flawlessly on my laptops, including the brand new macbook air (also nvidia based).

main issues are performance related: the program is obviously slightly slower than boot camp version on the same machine! it is however still very much usable even when you load a 100 mb wire file of a car exterior and interior combined.

I have my complaints regarding how the software has been developing thru the years but for one thing, supporting os x is the right move from autodesk.

i recommend