“This week Autodesk released its 2017 versions of AutoCAD for the Mac,” Anthony Frausto-Robledo reports for Architosh. “Without missing a beat, the company again delivered ever more Apple-centric personality traits in its flagship product line designed to run on Apple’s very latest Mac operating system.”
“Moreover, the company says it continues to make deep investments in AutoCAD — and its version for Mac,” Frausto-Robledo reports. “This is all good news for AutoCAD fans.”
“While Autodesk has both big and small competitors nipping at their heels, the company’s isn’t sitting idle,” Frausto-Robledo reports. “‘Our competitors are always going to say they are doing things we’re not doing,’ says O’Brian. ‘But we are continually investing in this space…and when you get your hands on AutoCAD 2017 for Mac this Monday, you will see that investment.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Something many longtime Mac users never thought they’d even see is now “totally committed to the Mac.” Success breeds success.
SEE ALSO:
Autodesk talks AutoCAD, Mac and Apple’s powerful new iPad Pro – September 25, 2015
Steve Jobs’ influence is evident in the new iPad Pro and Apple Pencil – September 14, 2015
Why artists will flock to iPad Pro and the amazing Apple Pencil – September 11, 2015
Hands-on Apple’s new iPad Pro with Apple Pencil – September 11, 2015
Hands-on with the Apple Pencil for iPad Pro – September 10, 2015
Professional artists cheer the new iPad Pro and Apple Pencil – September 10, 2015
Apple iPads had physical keyboards three and a half years before Microsoft’s Surface tablet debut – September 10, 2015
Wired: Hands-on with Apple’s great, big iPad Pro and Apple Pencil – September 9, 2015
Apple introduces 12.9-inch iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard – September 9, 2015
Cool new iPad case with integrated Bluetooth keyboard further threatens netbooks – August 25, 2010
ClamCase announces all-in-one keyboard, case and stand for Apple iPad (with video) – May 6, 2010
I’ll wait and see.
I still remember the 1992 release where the Windows version actually utilized the Windows environment, but the loudly heralded (by Autodesk at leas) version for the Mac absolutely was nothing more than the prior DOS version inside a single Window with virtually no GUI support at all. That version was “Autodesk making a commitment to the Mac.” And, this was *before* anyone anticipated the Dark Days.
Hopefully, Autodesk’s commitment to the Mac will turn out to be much more equal than Intuit’s commitment to the Mac. (It’s bugged me for more than 15 years about how Intuit is “100% committed to the Mac.”)
Finally, IF Autodesk is really committed to bringing a full and complete implementation of AutoCAD to the Mac, will we get leading edge Mac Pro systems on which to run it? Or, will Apple expect us to run leading CAD software on iMacs?
Autodesks core apps are all mostly on the mac now, but here is the thing… they windows version runs circles around the mac versions.. NVIDIA is the main ingredient. And Apple went for low cost low powered consumer (pro-sumer at best) offerings from AMD, and will probably never use a real GPU ever again.. So yes, while you can run Maya and Premiere and AutoCad and Mudbox etc on the Mac.. they are just pale ghosts of what they could really be on an actual workstation with a proper GPU.
Don’t even get me started on rendering… rendering on a mac is a pointless exercise, and a painful realization of the overpriced underpower crap apple has been releasing for the last 4 years (at least). Linux on a proper blade or GTFO.
But hey, at least you can play pac man on the touchbar.. totally makes it worth it am I right?
Navis and Revit don’t the rest aside, from Acad who cares.
The current ACAD for the Mac is not good, and Apple isn’t building workstation level Macs either. The long term outlook isn’t good.
I like AutoCAD. It’s not the answer to everything, there are certainly other packages that I wish were available to the Mac. But this is good news.
Nevertheless, AutoDesk can’t make up for lack of CPU and GPU power. And like Intuit, they can’t justify pouring tons of development resources into a Mac platform that Apple itself doesn’t keep current.
The word committed simply means nothing to Apple anymore. It’s too busy trying to sell wireless headphones and emoji bars.
The result is that pros continue to disappear from the Mac. Value and productivity simply aren’t compelling anymore. Do an honest comparison test, and you will see that a Mac Pro and an equivalently priced Wintel workstation are miles apart now in real world performance.
News flash to Apple: you still need a strong desktop to remain relevant. Pros love huge glare-free displays. Even if AutoDesk continues to sell software for the Mac, you have to pick up the slack. No matter how you dice it, the Mac Pro is too much money for too little performance. Stop with the emoji bullshit and deliver kickass pro desktops and laptops in user-demanded configurations again. That is what committed means.
FUD?
Interesting but there are guys that seem to be using it:
Click to access autocad%20mac%20workstations%20-%20Google%20Search.pdf
And if you are looking for a job:
http://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=AutoCAD+mac+Designer&start=10&pp=
Oh. And for those that never took the time, even a Mac Mini can run this program.
AutoCAD for Mac 2017 System Requirements
Apple® Mac® OS® X v10.12 or later (Sierra); OS X v10.11 or later (El Capitan); OS X v10.10 or later (Yosemite)
Apple Mac Pro® 4,1 or later; MacBook® Pro 5,1 or later; iMac® 8.1 or later; Mac Mini® 3.1 or later; MacBook Air® 2.1 or later; MacBook 5.1 or later
64-bit Intel CPU (Intel Core Duo CPU, 2 GHz or faster recommended)
3 GB of RAM (4 GB or above recommended)
3 GB free disk space for download and installation
1,280 x 800 display with true color (2880 x 1800 with Retina Display recommended)
Apple Safari 5.0 or later
All Mac OS X supported language operating systems
Apple® Mouse, Apple Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, MacBook® Pro trackpad, or Microsoft-compliant mouse.
Download and installation from DVD
Mac OS X-compliant printer
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad-for-mac/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/System-requirements-for-AutoCAD-for-Mac.html
Being able to open a program, and being able to do useful large scale CAD projects are two different things.
Your retort doesn’t address those that seem to be very successful at doing so.
Did you check out the above links.
My experience; those that don’t support their rhetoric can’t. Are you one of them?
Well, if you don’t use the 3D modeling and simulation tools, then fine, you don’t need a powerful machine. Some of us used mere pentium computers to design and analyze some impressive stuff back in the day.
I stand by my comments — Apple’s CPU and GPU hardware specs across the board are less capable than equivalently priced Windows machines. Tolerable and competitive are two completely different concepts. You can run your business working 10 hours per day to do what your competitor does in 6. Go for it. I will not.
Courtesy of Steve Johnson, the partial list of features missing for AutoCAD on the Mac:
LAYCUR, LAYDEL, LAYMRG, LAYWALK and LAYVPI
DesignCentre
Layer state manager
ShowMotion
Steering wheel
Smart centrelines/centre marks
Model documentation tools
Table style editing
Hatch creation preview
Multi-line style creation
Digitiser integration
Geographic location
Mtext superscript and subscript tools
Optimised PDF output
Hyperlink support in exported PDFs
Sheet set links in exported multi-sheet PDFs
Simplified, powerful rendering
Override xref layer properties
New feature highlighting
Material creation, editing and mapping
Advanced rendering settings
Camera creation
Point cloud
Walkthroughs, flybys and animations
Improved 3D graphics (stability, fidelity, performance)
DWF™ underlays
DGN underlays
Data extraction
Mark-up set manager
dbConnect manager
WMF import and export
FBX import and export
Design feed
Import SketchUp files (SKP)
Design share
3D print studio
Reference Navisworks models
Co-ordination model object snap
Import PDFs
VisualLISP
VBA
DCL dialogues
Action recorder and action macros
Reference manager (standalone application)
Custom dictionaries
Password-protected drawings
Digital signatures
Migration tool enhancements
CAD standards tools
CUI import and export
BIM 360 add-in
Sysvar monitor
Please provide reference.
Thank you
Cook does not know the meaning of the word ‘commitment’.
If I ignored my wife for three years she’d hardly consider me to be committed to her.
Then again, Cook wouldn’t know anything about that would he.
The software on the Mac just isn’t any good, has nothing to do with the hardware.
Why? Apple not committed to the Mac why should they.
Too bad Tim Cook is not committed to the Mac.
The fact that his company is sitting on a cash pile bigger than the GDP of any number of countries and he cannot see fit to greenlight a proper Mac Pro and a decent Mac mini speaks volumes.
Autodesk invests and develop its best software for workstations use, (those wondering iOS and iPads have to wait years if it ever is going to happen). Current mass trends don’t affect true workstations.
So good news, and it is a commitment Apple should consider seriously. I feel relieve Autodesk is still motivated. Also apparently Nvidia is hiring engineers to develop next gen Nvidia drivers for the Mac, but the missing link is the hardware from Apple.
PC is the de facto platform for 3d (Pro, desktop, VR or gaming), no news here. If a company or a studio need and can afford a top workstation with top dual socket multi CPUs, Dual GPUs from Nvidia (Quadros6000M, PCI cards, Tesla or other accelerators), 128 GB of memory, liquid coolers or air coolers, dual power supplies, etc a head engineer could design what he needs, and the machine could grow with the complexity of the project. All this is mostly none existent on the Mac today.
Sadly I bet the mayor competidor to the MP cylinder is the high resale still going on of Apple’s old Mac Pros.
AutoWHAT?? Who in the world uses that dinosaur anymore? Certainly not cutting edge pros. Anyways, it would be way more suited to the surface studio than Macs.
Downloaded my update of AutoCAD for Mac 2017 yesterday. Update from 2016 version went well without any hitches.
While there are still some basic features of te Windows version still missing, the 2017 Mac update is welcome.
CAD is DOA.
BIM on macOS is needed from Autodesk for REVIT! ArchiCAD BIM & Vectorworks BIM are on macOS.