Libor Kubín The first AutoCAD for Macintosh was released in 1982. The last version, AutoCAD Release 12, was released on June 12, 1992, and support ended in 1994. Since then, Autodesk, Inc. she ignored the Macintosh for sixteen years. Even the Apple design team was forced to use the only supported system – Windows – for their designs.
Autodesk, Inc. announced on August 31 AutoCAD 2011 for Mac. "Autodesk Could No Longer Ignore the Mac's Return", said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president, Autodesk Platform Solutions and Emerging Business.
The first information about the upcoming news comes from the end of May this year. Appeared screenshots and videos from the beta version. Over five thousand people tested here. The new version of the 2D and 3D design and construction software now runs natively on Mac OS X. It uses system technologies, files can be browsed with Cover Flow, implements Multi-Touch gestures for Mac notebooks, and supports pan and zoom for Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad.
AutoCAD for Mac also offers users easy cross-platform collaboration with suppliers and customers with support for the DWG format. Files created in previous versions will open without issue in AutoCAD for Mac, the company says. An extensive API (application programming interface) and flexible customization options facilitate workflows, simple development of applications, custom libraries and individual program or desktop settings.
Autodesk has promised to release the AutoCAD WS mobile application through the App Store in the near future. It is designed for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Versions for tablets with a different operating system are even being considered. (Which tablets? Editor's note). It will allow users to edit and share their AutoCAD designs remotely. The mobile version will be able to read any AutoCAD file, whether it was created on a PC or Macintosh.
AutoCAD for Mac requires an Intel processor with Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6 to run. It will be available in October. If you are interested, you can pre-order the software from September 1 on the manufacturer's website for $3. Students and teachers can get the free version.
Sources: www.macworld.com a www.nytimes.com
I would be quite interested in how HW rendering will be solved on Mac, because OpenGL is basically dead and I don't know of DX being available under MacOS.
late but still…..they could have released it while I was still in school and I really needed it but at least
OpenGL is definitely not dead
Honza: Since when is OpenGL dead? :-) ... but you're more of a regular troll, so pack away
I am not a person who has been developing in the field of CG for 12 years, for example, this is my job http://pro.bistudio.com/index.php/services/linda-tree-generator/theoretic-background.html. But you're probably an oven. Open GL has been dead ever since they basically ended silicon graphics and the joint project Fanheit with mS fell under DX10. All advanced options of shader, 3D material, auxiliary calculations on GPU (need CUDA) have not been implemented in OpenGL for a long time.
It's nice that you do it for a living, but you don't know much about OpenGL. OpenGL is alive and well, developing, and there is even OpenCL (something like your CUDA), which is implemented in Mac OS X 10.6.
Well, show me an extension in max or maya that can use HW shaders on openGL, I'm not talking about previews, but about output.
Neither ATI nor Nvidia are able to provide advisory support for GL (these CL extensions are not standardized on any of those cards either)
I looked at it now, Open GLSL, i.e. hw shaders under Open GL, currently only supports Softimage, and that's if there are drivers for them, which, for example, with ATI are not standard with Nvidia, only with the Quatro board. So I'm sorry (before you accuse me of trolling again).
nvidia of the quatro series, is it like some kind of quad card?.. maybe quadro, if anything, I would expect that the one who knows about it will know what those cards are called
Well, of course, it's a typo, in any case, it actually has four buffers so that it can provide a smooth image for each eye, especially during stereo projection (2x front/back buffer). It doesn't change the fact that OpenGL is really slowly disappearing from the scene, and DX is starting to replace it in professional solutions, which is a shame, but unfortunately that's the way it is.
Do you know if they are planning to make 3D Studio Max for Mac as well? I would be very pleased. And probably not just me...
I don't want to beat the bull, but all win AutoCad and even Inventor (3d design of parts) do not work natively in Open GL and DX is only there as an option deep in the settings????
I think it's just for advertising reasons for schools. When I started working in CAD in 96, most of the different CAD systems supported at least 4 or more different OSes, mainly UNIX. Later it was useful because it is expensive to develop software on so many platforms. I think that Mac will be an impregnable fortress in this field for a long time.
Me, the ad didn't advertise, apple is growing a lot, especially among young people. In the last 5 years that I have been studying architecture, the number of Apple users at the school has tripled (I don't count the iPhone). I know from the support of competitive CAD that recently quite a lot of people are running CAD under virtualization (although obviously virtualizations are still not built for this ). So Autodesk is taking the first step in the form of AutoCAD, let's see if it continues and if the competition is also inspired by it..
Well, it's such a vicious circle. Both MAX and Maya have at least 50% of customers in the gaming industry, but not much is played on Macs. In the US, where kids do best, most people play on consoles. All DEV-Kits for consoles are on PC, however. games are mostly for PC, so the development is also done on PC. Because you don't play much on Macs, there isn't such a fast progress in 3D hw, and thus there aren't even consulting tools that could use it, and so on. I don't see much of a way out of this, maybe due to the multi-platform engine for the iPhone something better will appear in the end, but the iPhone itself is completely different from the current DX11 cards on the PC.
I work on a Mac with Archicad and Cinema 4D, I find it most satisfactory. Who can you compare (I have never worked with them) - is Autocad and 3D studio better? And in what?
I was really looking forward to the release... Unfortunately, Amar Hanspal pissed me off by (literally) prohibiting the installation of aCAD on old apples... I have a three-year-old macbook, ArchiCAD works fine for me, so I don't know what the problem is... It says that my graphics ( intel 950 GML) is not supported (weak)..
If anyone has an idea for a hack, how to convince the software and Mr. Hanspal that I have better graphics and thus allow the installation of autocad, PLEASE let me know...
keep the advice like "buy a new macbook" to yourself... I really don't need anything more powerful than that, and I can't even talk about malfunctions with mine :)