“Back in April we reported that AutoCAD was probably coming soon to the Mac, considering all the OS X references that were spotted in the SDK,” Federico Viticci reports for MacStories.
MacDailyNews Note: AutoCAD is a CAD (Computer Aided Design or Computer Aided Drafting) software application for 2D and 3D design and drafting. It was developed and sold by Autodesk, Inc. First released in December 1982, AutoCAD was one of the first CAD programs to run on personal computers. Versions for Unix and Mac OS were released in the 1980s and 1990s, but these were later dropped. The last release for Apple Macintosh was AutoCAD Release 12 which debuted in June, 1992.
Viticci reports, “Today we’ve managed to get the first screenshots of an actual beta, running at 64-bit on Mac OS X.”
“The app is named ‘Sledgehammer Beta 1,’ doesn’t seem very polished yet (it’s coming from Windows) but at least there’s already support for Magic Mouse gestures,” Viticci reports.
Full article with more and larger screenshots here.
MacDailyNews Take: Oh, boy, this is major! If we had a dollar for every architect that told us they wished AutoCAD was available natively for Mac, so they could dump their hated PCs, we’d be posting this from a gleaming white yacht anchored just off our own personal island.
Yes! This will be great.
Kind of like running windows on a mac. Sure you can do it but you can also hit yourself on the head with a rock.
this is awesome news!! I been using a beta of Rhinoceros 4 for mac.. which was windows only.. its been in beta for a while but atleast I can do all my design stuff on the mac then send it to the PC for rendering… this rocks!
The mythical “tipping point” seems slowly to marching towards reality.
Goody. Now let’s hope for SolidWorks.
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OMG, AutoCAD sucked so bad back in the Ver. 10 days. The virtue of the program is so many companies with ghetto brains and resources still use it. Real companies go now with SolidWorks. My personal favorite is Cobalt—very Mac-like.
What other hold offs are we still waiting for? Hopefully Apple will see some high end spending when this comes out.
A lot of business software is PC only. My company is looking into a new ERP system. The SAP solution was impressive and I believe the rep said the client software was Mac compatible. They even have an iPhone app that they are coming out with that he thought sales people will ditch their laptops for. Come to think of it, that would be perfect for the iPad.
This is good, but not unexpected. Autodesk is looking for a niche player, to hedge their bets.
The headlines of tomorrow:
Autodesk stops Windows development on the heels of Adobe dropping Apple.
BOOM!
-sjobs
This is amazing news. I’m an architect who had been waiting for years for a mac version. Now all they need to do is port revit!
@ G4Dualie
And what will Adobe tell their shareholders when they drop Apple out of spite, and lose millions of dollars in sales.
Yeah, AutoCAD on a Mac is big news. It’s not as essential to the platform as Photoshop or Illustrator are, but it’s big nonetheless.
Will the drawings continue to be as ugly as ever? That’s a feature!
I tried their first Mac version of AutoCAD (v12, I think and I still have an archived copy). It was an absolute DOG (apologies to dogs). No one bought it and was discontinued.
Black interface? Gimme a break!
I hope history repeats.
They can keep it. I’ll stick with Vectorworks.
@MDN:
I’ll take a quarter for every architect I know who HATES AutoCAD and still come out ahead. Most only use it because it’s a “standard”, what’s you’re “supposed to use”… like Flash and Windows are “standards”? Or support any real standards.
Excellent news. Not only for the architects. As a civil engineer and GIS user, I’m delighted.
This is great news! However, too bad AutoCAD will still suck compared to the best CAD software available for Mac: VectorWorks.
About 80% of the architects in my school already have macs. They’re using a bunch of other software, but this would be welcome addition. Engineers and drafters would look forward to this as well.
Serious cad software is available on the mac: it is called ArchiCAD.
AutoCAD is not that important for architect anymore. It is only used by Co tractors and engineers are even switching to REVIT. All our projects are currently on Autodesk REVIT which Works like archiCAD. Now If Autodesk is serious about the MAC, they should bring REVIT to it first.
I remember maya comin over to the mac and was like sweet!! but the video support.. still to this day… since I think 03 or 04 SUCKS. I’d fall over if they ported 3D studio max over to mac… I almost doubt it would ever happen but AutoCAD is a good start for now.
Wait… MDN? You mean you guys DON’T post from a gleaming white yacht anchored just off your own personal island?
Another bubble, burst.
Sounds like money is getting tight and someone over at AutoCAD needs a new revenue stream.
MDN is right, this is big news!
The real benefit will come sometime later when they have time to make the program more and more mac like, assuming they are making a REAL commitment.
Amazing, now we just need an iPad app!
This is confusing. Viticci says that the Sledgehammer Beta 1 is not polished because “it’s coming from Windows.” The MDN take is that people have been waiting for AutoCAD to run natively for a long time.
So which is it? Does the new AutoCAD use Cocoa, or a Carbonized framework?
Given the controversy about Flash, it seems like a strange time to celebrate another ported Windows program, if that is what AutoCAD is doing.
Hopefully, CATIA will follow soon
What MacBill, Mr. Reeee, Greg L, and Fred LA said!
While having AutoCad on the mac only helps the platform, it still hurts to see a mac used in such a manner. Kind of like using a fine yacht for oil skimming.