CAD user thinking of switching

sivart

hey i'm at university at the moment studying Computer Aided Product Design and i need a laptop for the second year. I really want to switch to mac because i hate windows crashing and losing my work. so anyway i use autoCAD and will be using PROengineer (3d CAD) at uni and at home. I'm wondering if anyone else who uses CAD out there has had any experience in switching to mac and what programs i could use instead of the two mentioned.

I know about Virtual PC but i am concerned about the performance issues. Especially when using 3d cad.



thanks people

a_greer

If stability is what you want - FORGET VPC!!! vpc is stable but emmulation is always less stable at some level then the real thing.

timo

check out www.architosh.com.



I wouldn't want to 3D model much in virtual PC, myself.

k squared

Could you please describe what exactly you would be designing? VectorWork's is an extremely capable alternative to AutoCad and it has various plug-ins for additional specialties; for instance, Architectural, Mechanical and Landscape packages. It's a cross-platform application and exports .dwg information as well.



You can search other threads about this; it's been discussed before.

sivart

hey

i will be using the CAD for product design. so mechanical stuff i suppose. I have looked at vectorworks and the price is a "little" out of a students reach. sounds like a good program though. what im worried about is .dwg compatibility. i know it can read them but what about reading from different versions of autocad for example??

k squared

Quote:

Originally posted by sivart

hey

i will be using the CAD for product design. so mechanical stuff i suppose. I have looked at vectorworks and the price is a "little" out of a students reach. sounds like a good program though. what im worried about is .dwg compatibility. i know it can read them but what about reading from different versions of autocad for example??

From what I understand, VW is $200 for the educational package. AutoCad, in contrast, charges a yearly subscription. Am I right? I used to be in the situation as yourself, worrying about the price. But, in the end, it's a professional application for a professional job and saves you time.



If you are worried about importing/exporting problems, Nemetschek offers a free demo CD.

sivart

thing is i haven't got a mac yet. been thinkin about the 15" powerbook. but im starting to have second thoughts. as a student i have access to "free" copies of software for windows. I know this is illegal but its not for professional uses. just educational. im worried that when i have the mac, on one hand i'll have stability and on the other i wont have access to these copies

k squared

But VW is cross-platform: get the demo CD for Windows.

sivart

oh i thought it was two seperate versions. so if i get the windows cd then i can install that on a mac?

escher

Quote:

Originally posted by k squared

From what I understand, VW is $200 for the educational package.

Darn. When I bought VW 9.0, the student version was US$85. But $200 is still reasonable.



Escher

randycat99

If you plan to stick with simple 3D stuff and general practice problems from class, I'd imagine a VPC solution should be manageable. Get a lot of RAM, and stick with a "slim" OS (not WinXP). Probably Win2k or even NT, if you can get a hold of it, will give you the most performance for your Mhz. Plan your RAM such that you have what you need for your Mac OS environment PLUS 384-500 MB for VPC (so I guess that is hinting at a 1 GB-ish machine?). You could go higher, but at that point, you probably are getting into too complex a 3D part project than you should be doing in VPC. You'll be going into this fully knowing that you will be in full software graphics mode- no video acceleration. So don't expect snappy pans, scales, and rotates. Get used to working at a smaller desktop resolution for your VPC setting, as well (1024x768?). That will help out your video refresh speeds, somewhat.



On a side note, wasn't there some talk of a ProEngineer build for Unix platform a while ago? I don't know how that would match up with running it in OSX, but that could be a better avenue to run down if it is true. Hell, you could probably run that inside VPC under a Linux partition, if you wanted! I'm sure an x86 Linux OS could be more slim and execution efficient than Win2k. ...or you could just dual boot into PPC Linux to run it, perhaps? I really have no experience with this kind of approach, but a Unix ProE does present some interesting possibilities, I'd think.

sivart

thanks for your thoughts randy.

you bring some interesting points up. i still have until september to decide whether or not to get a powerbook. so i think alot more reading up is required!! thanks. if anyone else has any thoughts please add em!

karl kuehn

As loath as I am to not recommend a mac... If you are working with AutoCad, then your best bet is not a Mac. When I went through the first years of engineering the classes were very focused on AutoCad, and we had a class specifically on the ins-and-outs of AutoCad, and all of the pros expected things in AutoCad format. Going 'off the reservation' was not encouraged (permitted, but your submissions were all judged on AutoCad).



I spent a lot of time in the computer labs (at the time I did not have my own computer). That was a workable solution for me, especially since I had a job supervising one of the computer labs, but I don't know if it would work for you, and it sounds like the main reason for this purchase is to get your school work done.



I would go and talk to someone at the school about what you need to have for the classes. A proff would probably be a good choice. They are probably going to recommend whatever platform they prefer to use, but they will be able to give you better details.

mortigi tempo

The only 3d CAD package I can think of that replicates PRO/E to any degree is Cobalt from Vellum Software - it's a good package



Other than that, Vectorworks is an excellent program that will do virtually anything that AutoCAD will.



You could also try looking on the software section under Mac OS X - there's a hierachical list of software, and I'm sure there's a CAD section.



In all honesty though, if you're looking at pursuing this as a career then a Mac at the moment is not the ideal solution. There's been some movement to releasing more packages of this type, but at the moment the demand is limited, and the support on the hardware side (for 3d, with the lack of high end graohics card drivers) is lacking. Which is a shame, because Mac OS X would makke an excellent platform for this kind of thing.

kcmac

I would agree with Karl.



Sometimes you just have to go with the flow. VectorWorks is a great program but it is not perfectly compatible with AutoCad which unfortunately is the defacto standard.



It's kind of like Word. Mac word processors are more than adequate but MS shifts the bar around too often for total compatibility. (ie. tables.) Even Word for the Mac has issues with Word for the PC.



There are indications that AutoCad will be developed for the Mac but this won't happen soon enough for your situation.



With all of the cheap PC's running around, maybe you can get one of those for AutoCad and a second hand or refurbished PB (or iBook) for everything else. Being a student that is probably just out of your reach but something to consider.

sivart

thanks everyone. yeah i have decided that a mac is just a dream for me at the moment. i'll be saving for a ibm t41 thinkpad. thanks people

imergingenious

yea i just RDC to a cheap PC box under my desk for AutoCAD and mathCAD. Otherwise i woulda gotten a t41 also.



Happy 17" owner

sivart

ah nice one. that makes me feel better. yeah i want to be able to work on my cad projects away from home and on the move so i need the laptop. seems a t41 is a good choice then