


Once DWG had been ported, other components were looked at.

That idea was never acted upon until two years ago, when a small development team took 18 months to port the DWG library to the Mac to prove that the technology could be native and still be compatible with its Windows brother. In talking with Rob Maguire, product manager for AutoCAD for the Mac, it seems the idea about doing a Mac port has been around for almost seven years.

Since CEO, Carl Bass has taken the reigns, there has been a concerted effort to free its software products from being so Microsoft-centric and prepare the company for expected changes in the way software is purchased and consumed - namely the cloud/Internet. Autodesk then started incorporating lots of Microsoft technology in AutoCAD tying it in very closely to the Windows environment. There was a version of AutoCAD for the Macintosh almost two decades ago but this was dropped due to poor sales, along with other UNIX versions of AutoCAD. Whatever your opinion of the Mac as a platform, for Autodesk this is a significant move and a further step away from being just a Microsoft developer. At the same time, Autodesk has announced a portable version called AutoCAD WS for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch - DWGs will be everywhere. With much hype and hoopla, Autodesk has just unveiled the software, although it is not due for release for a month or two. This requires Internet access on iPad, iPhone or iTouch and streams DWGs from the cloud to your Apple mobile device. The installation requires an active Internet connection.While the Mac version was the big news, the surprise icing on the cake was the announcement of AutoCAD WorkSpace.The trial version can be used for 30 days.Due to the huge increase of Apple users, this has now changed. For a long time, AutoCAD has been a very important software application, but it hadn't been available for Mac. Furthermore, it's compatible with 3D printers.Ī complete tool, ideal for architects and engineers.ĪutoCAD is a synonym of industrial design software and 3D modeling, and of powerful, expensive tools that any professional from most technical fields must learn to use. With its advanced system that includes 3D modeling, shadowing and a vast amount of plug-ins, add-ons and programs that appear to increase its functions, AutoCAD is the perfect application for any designer that has to create blueprints on a Mac. 3D modeling, maps and designs in a single program The great advantage of using the original AutoCAD on Mac is that you'll now have total compatibility with the DWG files generated with any AutoCAD, regardless of the platform on which they were created. It has exactly that same functions and is totally adapted to Apple's system. Once you download AutoCAD for Mac you'll soon see that it has nothing to envy of the Windows version.
