What the competition is doing....

[Kevin McAllister]

Full Autocad announced for the Mac platform as well as a companion application for iOS devices.

http://www.macworld.com/article/153761/2010/08/autodesk.html?lsrc=rss_main

KM

[Benson Shaw]

Well, it is a bit pricey:

http://store.autodesk.com/store?SiteID=adsk&Locale=en_US&Action=DisplayProductDetailsPage&productID=183363700&pgm=12938000&resid=Hz3P2goBAlcAAGtANeMAAAAB&rests=1283233675094

But the proof is in the pudding. Let's see what veteran users have to say.

-B

[VincentCuclair]

Anything on a free Autodesk viewer for Mac?

[Chris D]

We currently use AutoDesk TrueView on 'The Old Beige PC' we keep for non-Mac software, for checking DWG exports. It would be nice to have TrueView installed across the Macs in the office but we're hoping we can get a network licence for AutoCAD itself now it's coming back to Mac, as it would allow us to re-save our DWG exports natively.

Not sure the iPad app will be of much use. I find that A1 size PDFs are rather slow to load on the iPad and a DWG would likely be just as slow. Nice to see them exploring this area though, for when the future hardware can live up to the concept...

[Greg_at_ils]

This is going to be an interesting decision I am going to have to make. I moved to VW from AC when I moved to the Mac platform. Almost all of the issues I have with VW revolve around having to work with AC users which is just about every project. It's going to be a tough decision to make. I feel like I just got my workflow in VW to happy place too. I'll wait to see what people think of the Mac version first but the draw to switch is great.

[Assemblage]

Presumably it's healthy if people are choosing programs because they think they're good, rather than whatever can work their machines.

[Jershaun]

Firstly, IMHO anyone wanting to switch from vw to AutoCAD has to have their heads checked.

Secondly, I do find the AutoCAD WS very interesting and I find it amazing that a traditionally PC based company has beaten all Apple based companies to this type of technology. I expected either NemV or Graphisoft to come out with something like this, least of all AutoDesk.

The world is moving fast, we have to keep up.

[Bob Holtzmann]

I've got Dassault's Draftsight running on a Windows partition. It's free, and behaves just like Autocad. I can't imagine paying $4000 for a DWG editor, when I can get a free one in Draftsight - and there will be a Mac version soon.

And I've seen some other reasonably priced DWG editors out there - Bricsys, ARES to name a couple. Nanocad would be nice to get, if they have an English version. Any one of these would be sufficient for changing line and fill colors, and layers, and some linework on DWG exports from Vw. For the consultants who are still using Autocad (and there are lots of them), and their drawings are almost always in 2D.

Edited September 8, 2010 by Bob-H

[Chris D]

..Any one of these would be sufficient for changing line and fill colors, and layers, and some linework on DWG exports from Vw. For the consultants who are still using Autocad...

One flaw with this plan...when interchange of drawings goes wrong, everybody blames the firm who isn't using AutoCAD ("they use this bloody VectorThingy..."). At least if you can prove that it opens in a genuine version of AutoCAD, or is actually re-saved out of AutoCAD...then the ball is firmly in their court..

[VincentCuclair]

That is usually the case but it is also usually a case of AC users not being able to use AC, it is always a lovely feeling to push their noses into this fact and especially so when doing this with a free version of a competing dwg app )!

And if you can open it in Trueview you have proved them wrong right there....

Edited September 8, 2010 by Vincent C

[Bob Holtzmann]

I think Autodesk's TrueDWG is the equivalent of Microsoft Windows' Genuine Advantage. Both of them are packaged to give consumer assurance, but can become a nagging presence after a while.

Some of the DWG editors use Open Design Alliance's library for DWG files, including Vectorworks. ODA has had a good track record -- I never got any complaints from consultants over Vw exports to DWG, except for blocks (groups) having colors by entity instead of layers. Particularly the Digital Terrain, which exports as one big block. Hence the need for a DWG editor.

Edited September 8, 2010 by Bob-H

[starling75]

Ares on Macs

http://new.graebert.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=103&Itemid=107〈=en

Draftsight will follow daddy soon ...

[starling75]

Draftsight for Macs:

http://www.deelip.com/?p=3293

Download:

http://dl-ak.solidworks.com/nonsecure/draftsight/beta2/DraftSight.dmg

[VincentCuclair]

This is excellent!

...change my mind it seems very unstable for now ?........

Edited September 22, 2010 by Vincent C

[starling75]

This is excellent!

...change my mind it seems very unstable for now ?........

It's beta .. still in testing phase.

Win version has some issues too.

I look forward to the Linux version