May 29, 2009 - The early 90s attempt at AutoCAD for Mac lasted for two three releases: 10 to 12. Autodesk messes up Raster Design 2010 licensing20 April 2009In 'AutoCAD 2010'. Work better and the AutoCAD for mac work fantastically well in 2016. Steve Johnson on BricsCAD V19 – pricing changes explained.
There has been a fair bit of from Autodesk lately on the subject of a possible future OS X AutoCAD version. The more I think about this, the more I am inclined to believe that this would be a bad idea. A very bad idea. It pains me to write this, because I’m very much a user advocate and I’m arguing here against something that some users have been requesting for a long time. If you’re one of those users, I’m sorry, but I think this is one of those cases when giving you what you want would be bad for everybody, and bad for you in particular.
Now, this sort of platform discussion often degenerates into a quasi-religious debate, so let’s see if I can head it off at the pass. If you’re a Mac fan who wants to tell me the benefits of your chosen computer family and how inferior Windows is, save it. I’ll concede right here and now that you are probably right.
My experience of Apple products has generally been very positive. They look good, they’re well made, they work well, the Mac OS has been shamelessly copied by Microsoft for decades, and so on, ad nauseam. Not disputed. Also, not relevant to the point I’m about to make. Ever since the last multi-platform AutoCAD (Release 13), Autodesk has dedicated its primary product solely to Windows.
Since then, the code base has been spreading its mass of roots deeper and deeper into the Windows soil. Any Windows-specific advantage the developers can take has been taken.
Reversing or working around that process is a very substantial undertaking. If it were done, I think it would have the following outcomes: AutoCAD for Mac would suck The performance is likely to be poor, because all the Windows-specific stuff will have to be redirected, recreated or emulated. The stability is likely to be awful, because this will be new ground for almost all of the developers involved. Developers with AutoCAD experience are going to have little or no Mac experience and vice-versa. They would be trying to make significant changes to the code base at the same time that that code base is being modified for the next release.
The bug level is likely to be abysmal, both for the above reasons and also because the number of pre-release testers available to Autodesk on this platform is likely to be relatively tiny. The user interface is likely to be an uncomfortable square-peg-in-round-hole effort, which will work badly and be derided by OS X users.
AutoCAD for Mac would be half-baked Not just half-baked in the usual let’s-put-this-out-as-is-and-maybe-we-can-fix-it-later way, but half-baked by design. The Autodesk survey implies that serious consideration is being put into a version of AutoCAD that is missing some of the things that make AutoCAD what it is. Things like paper/model space functionality, the command line, 3D, LISP, the ability to use third-party apps AutoCAD for Mac LT Lite, anyone? If the APIs are not all there, that means no OS X version of any of the AutoCAD-based vertical products, either. AutoCAD for Mac would be bad for Mac users Last time this was attempted, it was a failure.
The early 90s attempt at AutoCAD for Mac lasted for two three releases: 10 to 12. Autodesk had little option but to pull the pin on a non-viable product, but the orphaned users weren’t happy.
Fortunately, there weren’t that many of them. Would this happen again?
Yes, I think it probably would. Any Mac user with any sense wouldn’t touch the first new Mac release with a bargepole. That, of course, makes it much less likely that there would be a second or third release. Autodesk’s corporate culture (espoused very strongly by Carol Bartz, but dating back to John Walker) encourages brave attempts that may lead to failure.
This policy has unfortunately left large numbers of orphans in its wake over the years. In the event of poor sales, Mac for AutoCAD users would just be another set of unfortunates to add to a long list. AutoCAD for Mac would be bad for Windows users The very substantial effort required to produce any kind of AutoCAD for Mac at all would be a major drain on very limited (and shrinking) development resources. That means Windows users of AutoCAD would look forward to a release (or more likely several releases) with fewer new features, less completion of existing undercooked features, and longer waits until bugs and other problems get fixed. This, in exchange for no benefit whatsoever to those users. In fact, the decoupling of Windows-specific calls and the likely introduction of extra bugs would probably make AutoCAD for Windows work less well than it otherwise would. AutoCAD for Mac would be bad for Autodesk Autodesk is currently trying to save money by closing down offices, dropping products, cutting down on expenses and sacking employees (some of whom were long-termers; irreplaceable sources of information about use of the product and why certain things were done the way they were).
In such an environment, does it make sense to start up a new project with high resource requirements and limited potential benefits? Especially when it is just a repetition of a previous project that was a complete failure?
So, in addition to costing Autodesk a lot of money and harming the quality of its core product, a failed AutoCAD for Mac would leave behind more Autodesk haters and be rather embarrassing. I must admit that a lot of this is based on guesswork, but it’s educated guesswork. I’ve been educated by history, if nothing else. Autodesk’s corporate consciousness has an occasional habit of ignoring the lessons of history and repeating old mistakes. I hope AutoCAD for Mac – The Sequel isn’t one of those occasions. I understand why MAC users who use AutoCAD would want it on a MAC.
That’s obvious. If I owned a MAC I would probably want it to. I’m not a MAC user so maybe I’m biased. I don’t buy MAC’s because everything I do is in Windows. I would agree with Steve in saying that AutoCAD for MAC would be a bad idea. Autodesk made more cuts last week, so that means less people to work on AutoCAD.
Autocad 2010 For Dummies Autocad 2015 For Mac
People working on AutoCAD for MAC would mean less people working on AutoCAD. No need to repeat Steve’s post on his own blog, but he’s right. I think we may be looking at this all wrong: If AutoCAD for MAC was made and it did fail (which it probably would) perhaps that would help hasten ACAD’s overall demise!!! (Sorry CAD Users) Then we could rejoice: the AutoCAD is dead long live the BIM. П™‚ Yes, I know there will be CAD drafting in AEC for a while longer, just like there are still hand-drafters but those niches and people are (mostly?) going to retire soon and in a generation or two most AEC people will only know of ACAD as a historical figure. As I mentioned on Shaan’s initial post in April, I think it’s a bad idea as well. Scratch that – AutoCAD on a Mac would be a complete disaster.
In the final analysis, it simply would never generate the additional licenses required to pay for its development. While I would love to have an OS choice in what I would like to run AutoCAD on, Windows simply doesn’t suck as bad as some would believe. Windows 7 is absolutely going to be a huge success compared to Vista, and will nail the coffin shut on XP. And, if I was a person who felt that the OS always comes first, the fact is that I could get by on a Mac by using Parallels or other VM solution to “dumb down” the machine to run AutoCAD.
Then, factor in the hardware side of things. Mac runs only on Apple hardware, which are hardly considered bargains. You can install upgrades, but Apple’s high-end machine lineup is sorely lacking in the high-end stuff required to run AutoCAD and 3D apps well – particularly on laptops (the most popular form factor out there). And even though much of the core hardware is the same, if you do configure a high-end Mac workstation specifically for AutoCAD, you will be paying many more dollars compared to what you can get in a similar Windows box. However, it will look a lot sexier. And in these tough economic times, I think it’s lunacy for Autodesk to think about dumping huge development dollars into the rabbit hole.
Those dollars have to come from somewhere, and it would have to come from the budgets of other development teams and/or higher product prices. AutoCAD for Mac would suck Not exactly, you would have a point if you believed that Microsoft API ‘s are the most efficient way to do things. However, Microsoft’s API’s appear to be bloated and not very efficient. I agree with one point, Autodesk is entrenched in Microsoft and it will take a lot of work to get out from under it and return to platform independent code.
They should have remained independent. It would be interesting to see what lead to the decision to change.
I’m not so sure it was a market-share driven decision rather than an alliance with Microsoft decision. In the end we, the customer, were left with no choice of OS to run their products on. Returning to platform independence will require Autodesk to develop their own libraries rather than using Microsoft libraries that are not specific to their needs. This could translate into better code and innovation across all of their products. Have you considered that they could use code from platform independent products they already have like Maya, that runs on Windows, OS X and Linux? What appears to be happing, judging by the questions and news I have seen, Autodesk appears to be creating AutoCAD for OS X as a different product all together.
This is not a good idea at all. They will be left with two sets of code to deal with. They should move to platform independence. AutoCAD for Mac would be bad for Windows users Do you believe that Autodesk’s business model is to generate a new release of Autocad every 12 months that includes features to entice you to upgrade?
Are you a subscription customer? Then you will upgrade no matter what they produce even if it is not on the AUGI Top Ten List. Or do you think that Autodesk’s business model is to include bells and whistles (ie: the Ribbon) to compete with others in the market and generate new customers and keep them on subscription? It is apparent with their new pricing structure that they intend to move people to subscription and generate new customers. If you plan to buy Autocad and stay off subscription so that you can skip releases then you will paying the same price as buying Autocad when you upgrade. AutoCAD for Mac would be bad for Autodesk No, AutoCAD on Mac would be bad for Microsoft. Our company would certainly leave Microsoft and NEVER return.
Basically, due to the amount of man-hours and money we have wasted dealing with Microsoft problems. You can’t quantify the total cost of ownership.
The jokes about a Microsoft car are funny because it’s true; take a minute to think, if any of you produced a project with the same track record as Windows would you still have a job or clients? Maybe it’s worth playing the lunatic-conspiracy theorist for a second. Let’s suppose Autodesk successfully ports AutoCAD over to the Mac. And it KILLS. I mean it absolutely blows away AutoCAD’s performance on the Wintel platform in every area – launching speed, 3D modeling and rendering, memory usage, and so on. Furthermore, user testing reveals certain ancillary OS-specific things that make OS X a more robust, easier to use platform for AutoCAD than Windows. All of this would directly point to Windows being the root cause of poor AutoCAD performance.
I don’t think that would go over too well with Microsoft. As a long time Mac user, and Autodesk customer, I was sad when development of appliations for the Mac ceased, and have always wished (especially since the advent of OS X) that Autodesk would come back to the Mac. But many of the comments in the post are likely correct and irrelevant! I already run all Autodesk’s products on my Mac using virtualization (VM-Ware, Parellels, etc).
With enough resources (Cores, RAM, Graphics Card), it’s viurtualy (no pun intended) the same as running the product on a PC. It’s the best of both worlds for a modest additional investment (a copy of Windows and some virtualization software). Perhaps Autodesk should be spending hard-won treasure on making their products run in these virtual environs more effectively. As a PC & Mac user (currently very happy with my Macbook Pro), I still teach AutoCAD.
I started to use it less and less. Frankly, I don’t see it happening. If they really wanted it, it would have been here (again) for quite some time. That said, I would volunteer for beta-testing, as AutoCAD could use a new-generation makeover (not purely cosmetic). They would not do bad following the approach of McNeel: release many pre-release versions for existing users (or even free) and only release it when it’s done.
If AutoCAD for Mac would not be on the same level as AutoCAD on Windows (which seems likely from the survey), I don’t think they have a chance. Maye they are better off buying TurboCAD for Mac or something similar.
Frankly, without 3D, scripting and programming and the potential of the verticals, they should better not do it. I could live without the command line (maybe) if they revise their workflow. ArchiCAD works nice without command line yet still has good control over accuracy. Do not release a half-baked product.
Steve, your point is a lot less loony than mine and probably valid. But I’m still banking that mine is true as well. Basically, I was thinking that Autodesk possibly already HAS a Mac compatible version of AutoCAD in development, and that it totally rocks. A hugely successful port could have a lot of people scared and upset quite a few apple carts (pun quite unintended but kinda funny nonetheless). A successful Mac port would not only tell Autodesk’s suffering customers that they don’t have to stick it out with Windows. Worse, it would tell other developers that their Windows-only products could be ported over to OS X and performance would improve.
Developers might see this as reason enough to make the costly investment. Such a game-changing situation could potentially endanger Autodesk’s long-standing close relationship with Microsoft.
This could also have longer-reaching consequences for hardware companies like Dell and HP, who make a lot of their profit in upselling workstation class hardware to design firms. I think creating a mac version is a good thing.
I doubt that there will that much performance boost. It is all intel hardware. Mental Ray (rendering engine) is already cross platform. I am not aware that there is that much difference between the maya versions. Addressing the resources to port autocad, if I remember right John Walker (autodesk’s founder) claims he ported autocad’s core in two days to Mac (Motorola). Seriously, the Mac people on here haven’t started a Mac verses PC war, but it does appear that the opposition to porting autocad are being less than honest and are really MIcrosoft fanboys.
There are plenty of products that exist on both platforms and do not suffer from it. Namely Adobe products, Vectorworks, Maya, Archicad, etc.
2019.1.2 / September 10, 2018; 3 months ago ( 2018-09-10), Available in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Czech, Polish and Hungarian Website AutoCAD is a and software application. Developed and marketed by, AutoCAD was first released in December 1982 as a desktop app running on with internal.
Before AutoCAD was introduced, most commercial CAD programs ran on or, with each CAD operator (user) working at a separate. Since 2010, AutoCAD was released as a and as well, marketed as AutoCAD 360. AutoCAD is used across a wide range of industries, by architects, project managers, engineers, graphic designers, town planners and many other professionals. It was supported by 750 training centers worldwide in 1994.
Contents. History AutoCAD was derived from a program that began in 1977, and then released in 1979 called, also referred to in early Autodesk documents as MicroCAD, which was written prior to Autodesk's (then Marinchip Software Partners) formation by Autodesk cofounder. The first version by Autodesk was demonstrated at the 1982 and released that December. As Autodesk's flagship product, by March 1986 AutoCAD had become the most ubiquitous CAD program worldwide. The 2019 release marked the 33rd major release of AutoCAD for. The 2014 release marked the fourth consecutive year of AutoCAD for. Version history The native file format of AutoCAD is.
This and, to a lesser extent, its interchange file format, have become, if proprietary, standards for CAD data, particularly for 2D drawing exchange. AutoCAD has included support for, a format developed and promoted by Autodesk, for publishing Autodesk's logo and, respectively, AutoCAD icons have changed for several versions through the years. Official name Version DWG tag Release OS support Date of release Comments AutoCAD Version 1.0 1.0 1 1982, December DWG R1.0 file format AutoCAD Version 1.2 1.2 2 1983, April DWG R1.2 file format AutoCAD Version 1.3 1.3 3 1983, August DWG R1.3 file format AutoCAD Version 1.4 1.4 4 1983, October DWG R1.4 file format AutoCAD Version 2.0 2.0 5 1984, October DWG R2.05 file format AutoCAD Version 2.1 2.1 6 1985, May DWG R2.1 file format AutoCAD Version 2.5 2.5 7 1986, June DWG R2.5 file format AutoCAD Version 2.6 2.6 8 1987, April DWG R2.6 file format. Last version to run without a math co-processor. AutoCAD Release 9 9.0 9 1987, September DWG R9 file format AutoCAD Release 10 10.0 10 1988, October DWG R10 file format AutoCAD Release 11 11.0 11 1990, October DWG R11 file format AutoCAD Release 12 12.0 12 1992, June DWG R11/R12 file format. Last release for till 2010.
AutoCAD Release 13 13.0 13 1994, November DWG R13 file format. Last release for,. AutoCAD Release 14 14.0 14 1997, February DWG R14 file format AutoCAD 2000 15.0 AC10, March DWG 2000 file format. Multi-Document Interface. AutoCAD 2000i 15.1 16 2000, July AutoCAD 2002 15.2 17 2001, June AutoCAD 2004 16.0 AC10, March DWG 2004 file format AutoCAD 2005 16.1 19 2004, March AutoCAD 2006 16.2 20 2005, March Dynamic Block AutoCAD 2007 17.0 AC10, March DWG 2007 file format AutoCAD 2008 17.1 22 2007, March Annotative objects introduced. AutoCAD 2008 and higher (including AutoCAD LT) can directly import and underlay V8 files. AutoCAD 2009 17.2 23 2008, March Revisions to the user interface including the option of a AutoCAD 2010 18.0 AC1024 24 Windows XP Windows Vista Windows 7 2009, March 24 DWG 2010 file format introduced.
Parametrics introduced. Mesh 3D solid modeling introduced.
PDF underlays. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of AutoCAD 2010 and AutoCAD LT 2010 are compatible with and supported under Microsoft Windows 7. AutoCAD 2011 18.1 25 2010, March 25 Surface modeling, surface analysis and object transparency introduced.
October 15, 2010 AutoCAD 2011 for Mac was released. Are compatible with and supported under Microsoft Windows 7 AutoCAD 2012 18.2 26 2011, March 22 Associative array, model documentation, DGN editing. Support for complex line types in DGN files is improved in AutoCAD 2012. AutoCAD 2013 19.0 AC1027 27 Windows XP Vista Windows 7 Windows 8 2012, March 27 DWG 2013 file format (AC1027) AutoCAD 2014 19.1 28 2013, March 26 File tabs, design feed, reality capture, Autodesk live maps AutoCAD 2015 20.0 29 Windows 7 Windows 8 Windows 8.1 2014, March 27 Line smoothing (anti-aliasing), Windows 8.1 support added, dropped Windows XP support (incl. Main article: AutoCAD Architecture (abbreviated as ACA) is a version of AutoCAD with tools and functions specially suited to work. AutoCAD LT AutoCAD LT is the lower cost version of AutoCAD, with reduced capabilities, first released in November 1993.
Autodesk developed AutoCAD LT to have an entry-level CAD package to compete in the lower price level. Priced at $495, it became the first AutoCAD product priced below $1000. It was sold directly by Autodesk and in computer stores unlike the full version of AutoCAD, which must be purchased from official Autodesk dealers. AutoCAD LT 2015 introduced Desktop Subscription from $360 per year; as of 2018, three subscription plans were available, from $50 a month to a 3-year, $1170 license. While there are hundreds of small differences between the full AutoCAD package and AutoCAD LT, there are a few recognized major differences in the software's features:.
3D Capabilities: AutoCAD LT lacks the ability to create, visualize and render 3D models as well as 3D printing. Network Licensing: AutoCAD LT cannot be used on multiple machines over a network.
Customization: AutoCAD LT does not support customization with LISP, ARX,.NET and VBA. Management and automation capabilities with Sheet Set Manager and Action Recorder. CAD standards management tools. AutoCAD 360 Formerly marketed as AutoCAD WS, AutoCAD 360 is an account-based mobile and web application enabling registered users to view, edit, and share AutoCAD files via mobile device and web using a limited AutoCAD feature set — and using cloud-stored drawing files. The program, which is an evolution and combination of previous products, uses a business model with a free plan and two paid levels — marketed as Pro ($4.99 monthly or $49.99 yearly) and Pro Plus ($99.99 yearly) — including various amounts of storage, tools, and online access to drawings. 360 includes new features such as a 'Smart Pen' mode and linking to third-party cloud-based storage such as. Having evolved from Flash-based software, AutoCAD 360 uses browser technology available in newer browsers including Firefox and Google Chrome.
AutoCAD WS began with a version for the and subsequently expanded to include versions for the, Android phones, and Android tablets. Autodesk released the version in September 2010, following with the version on April 20, 2011. The program is available via download at no cost from the and (Android).
In its initial iOS version, AutoCAD WS supported drawing of lines, circles, and other shapes; creation of text and comment boxes; and management of color, layer, and measurements — in both landscape and portrait modes. Version 1.3, released August 17, 2011, added support for unit typing, layer visibility, area measurement and file management. The Android variant includes the iOS feature set along with such unique features as the ability to insert text or captions by voice command as well as manually. Both Android and iOS versions allow the user to save files on-line — or off-line in the absence of an Internet connection. In 2011, Autodesk announced plans to migrate the majority of its software to ', starting with the AutoCAD WS mobile application. According to a 2013 interview with Ilai Rotbaein, an AutoCAD WS Manager for Autodesk, the name AutoCAD WS had no definitive meaning, and was interpreted variously as Autodesk Web Service, White Sheet or Work Space.
Student versions AutoCAD is licensed, for free, to students, educators, and educational institutions, with a 36-month renewable license available. The student version of AutoCAD is functionally identical to the full commercial version, with one exception: DWG files created or edited by a student version have an internal bit-flag set (the 'educational flag'). When such a DWG file is printed by any version of AutoCAD (commercial or student) older than AutoCAD 2014 SP1, the output includes a plot stamp/banner on all four sides. Objects created in the Student Version cannot be used for commercial use. Student Version objects 'infect' a commercial version DWG file if they are imported in versions older than AutoCAD 2015. Ports Windows. An architectural detail drafted in AutoCAD (Windows) AutoCAD is a software package created for Windows and usually, any new AutoCAD version supports the current Windows version and some older ones.
AutoCAD 2016 to 2019 support Windows 7 up to Windows 10. Mac Autodesk stopped supporting Apple's computers in 1994. Over the next several years, no compatible versions for the Mac were released. In 2010 Autodesk announced that it would once again support Apple's Mac OS X software in the future.
Most of the features found in the 2012 Windows version can be found in the 2012 Mac version. The main difference is the user interface and layout of the program. The interface is designed so that users who are already familiar with Apple's software will find it similar to other Mac applications. Autodesk has also built in various features in order to take full advantage of Apple's Trackpad capabilities as well as the full-screen mode in Apple's. AutoCAD 2012 for Mac supports both the editing and saving of files in DWG formatting that will allow the file to be compatible with other platforms besides the OS X.
AutoCAD 2019 for Mac requires Apple OS X v10.11 (El Capitan) or later. AutoCAD LT 2013 was available through the for $899.99. The full-featured version of AutoCAD 2013 for Mac, however, wasn't available through the Mac App Store due to the price limit of $999 set by Apple. AutoCAD 2014 for Mac was available for purchase from Autodesk's Web site for $4,195 and AutoCAD LT 2014 for Mac for $1,200, or from an Autodesk Authorized Reseller.
The latest version available for Mac is AutoCAD 2019 as of December 2019. As of 2019, no Autocad release is listed for purchase on the MacOS App Store.
See also. References. Retrieved 29 March 2012. Retrieved 2016-03-30. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
Riddle, Michael. Retrieved 24 January 2014. I’ve been building CAD products for over 29 years now, starting with Interact for the Marinchip 9900 released back in 1979, one of the first PC-based CAD programs available. Interact went on to become the architectural basis for the early versions of AutoCAD. I was one of the original 18 founders of that company.
Walker, John (1 May 1982). Retrieved 24 January 2014. Yare, Evan (17 Feb 2012). 3D CAD World. Retrieved 24 January 2014., InfoWorld, 3 December 1984, retrieved 19 July 2014. 'Part 2 CAD/CAM/CAE', Computer Graphics World, 2011, retrieved 29 March 2012.
Retrieved 2017-02-24. Retrieved 2017-02-24.
Retrieved 2017-02-24. August 16, 2011, at the. Retrieved 2017-02-24. Retrieved 2017-02-24. Retrieved 2017-02-24.
Retrieved 2017-02-24. Retrieved 2017-02-24. AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011 User's Guide. Retrieved January 29, 2013. Retrieved 2016-11-03. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
Retrieved 2016-03-30. ^ Autodesk.
ITunes Preview. Retrieved 30 September 2011. ^ Ozler, Levent. Retrieved 30 September 2011. ^ Ozler, Levent.
Retrieved 30 September 2011. ^ Ozler, Levent. Retrieved 30 September 2011. Thomson, Iain.
The A Register. The A Register. Retrieved 30 September 2011. Augi Autodesk Users Group International, January 29th, 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
Retrieved 2016-03-19. ^ Clark, Don (16 August 2011). The Wall Street Journal.
Retrieved 30 September 2011. Further reading.