Using AutoCAD or Inventor on a Mac

Does anyone have direct experience using AutoCAD and/or Inventor on a
Mac.
I am at a new company where they are trying to use Mac only. I have
heard that 2002 works within the G4 PC emulator. Can anyone verify
that and does anyone have experience with AutoCAD 2002? I would be
interested in any engineering CAD software for the Mac also.

 

why not use a native Mac CAD:
http://guide.apple.com/uscategories/3d.lasso
N.

 

When the CAD software starts with the prefix "ARCHI" I have to assume
that they have no attachments to FEA or a Fluid dynamic analysis
program. I guess many people think of Architechural work as
engineering. For the most part it is interior design.
I am having a great deal of difficulty finding an Engineering CAD
program that runs on the MAC. I am finding that the MAC software is
more concerned with helping the interior designer select the right
color. I am color blind and do not care at all about colors. Steel
has the same color as Nickel and Aluminum. Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Air,
and Oxygen all look the same. It is the properties that make them
different.

 

Sorry to ruin your understanding, but we (architects) also design the
exterior of buildings... in fact the whole building. We are not interior
designers. That is a very different discipline. Architects are capable of,
and required to, perform all the functions of an engineer (in the building
industry disciplines). We do however, sometimes, subcontract out the
engineering (structural, mechanical, electrical, civil, etc.) to specialists
(consulting engineers). Architecture is both "art and science." Please
excuse my rant.

--
Daniel J. Altamura, R.A.
Altamura Architectural Consulting
and SoftWorx, Autodesk Authorized Developer
-----------------------------------------------------------------

When the CAD software starts with the prefix "ARCHI" I have to assume
that they have no attachments to FEA or a Fluid dynamic analysis
program. I guess many people think of Architechural work as
engineering. For the most part it is interior design.
I am having a great deal of difficulty finding an Engineering CAD
program that runs on the MAC. I am finding that the MAC software is
more concerned with helping the interior designer select the right
color. I am color blind and do not care at all about colors. Steel
has the same color as Nickel and Aluminum. Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Air,
and Oxygen all look the same. It is the properties that make them
different.[/QUOTE]

 

Don't worry, I understand how emotional you people get. Go ahead and
rant, It must be very difficult for you to try to do a calculations
without all the mathematical tools of an engineer. I bet those art
history classes really came in handy when doing the engineering work.
If you do not have a P.E. or an engineering degree you are not an
engineer, you are just an interior designer dancing around pretending
you know something. Didn't ruin my day at all.

 

I don't claim to be an engineer. I do however possess the mathematical
tools required to design the entire building. Engineers do NOT design
buildings... architects do. I had one art history class and dozens of
"engineering" classes. I don't have a P.E. because I have an R.A., which is
just as difficult to obtain... believe me. I don't know anything about
interior design, because that is NOT my profession. I didn't mean to offend
you. However, you have done so to me and all the others who share my noble
profession. Please do not speak about that which you obviously know nothing
about.

 

Dan, thanks for the dialog but you seem to be missing the boat on what
this dialog is all about. There are other disciplines of Engineering
besides civil. There are many other things that have to be
manufactured/ built besides buildings. Like I stated a while back
Architecture is not Engineering. You just stated that. Architechs
are Artists technically educated in a specific field. But they do not
do engineering. Using the P.E. license on a building is only one use
for it. But your R.A. only has one purpose in manufacturing
buildings. If an Engineer were to use an Architechs CAD program,
he/she would be tieing both hands behind his/her back.

 

Actually, the dialog is about any experiences using autocad or inventor on a
Mac.

 

Terence; This was my original post. Please read paragraph as a whole.

Does anyone have direct experience using AutoCAD and/or Inventor on a
Mac. I am at a new company where they are trying to use Mac only. I have
heard that 2002 works within the G4 PC emulator. Can anyone verify
that and does anyone have experience with AutoCAD 2002? I would be
interested in any engineering CAD software for the Mac also.

 

I assume that nobody uses AC or Inventor f. Windows in connection with
a slow emulator (what about OpenGL, what about copy protection) on a
Mac in a professional surrounding, besides maybe some conversion
issues. Buy a PC if you wanna do some real, hardcore work and not only
launching the app...

For engineering CAD software on a Mac still check the Apple Software
Guide, am shure that there's not only architectural related stuff. For
e.g. 3D stuff you may want to check new Concepts Unlimited at:
http://www.concepts3d.com

No FEA nor Fluid Dynamic Analysis which probably needs for prof.
purposes in general and also under Windoze a separate, dedicated app.
as e.g. MSC/Nastran etc. .. besides maybe some HighEnd CAx apps.

Learn to quote, thx.

N.

 

As a follow up to my original posting I have an update on the status
of AutoCAD on a Mac. Thanks to all of you who contributed to the
dialog, especially the the Archy-types, they were a great source of
entertainment.

Being new to the Mac it took me a few minutes to find my way around
the "pretty colors" on the Mac screen and load the XP emulator. I
then took an older version of AutoCAD 14 (a very stable and slim
version of AutoCAD in my opinion) and loaded it on the Mac. This Mac
machine is dual processor G-4 with 2 Gig of RAM. I am comparing the
speed of this AutoCAD installation to my lap top, and this Mac-AutoCAD
(No Fries with that) version runs slightly faster then my laptop. My
laptop is a P-2, 266 MHz. My perspection may be off when making this
comparison since I am not used to the rhythm of the Mac just yet. I
will follow through with additional posts on later AutoCAD versions.

George Hobart

 

Architect defined: advanced boxmaker.

 

For my own personal choice of CAD hardware, I would use an AMD CPU
loaded with RAM and RAID controled hard drives, that I have built and
will maintain. This would give the most bang for the buck in my
opinion. My office however, wants to try something that has a lot of
merit.

They do not want to have a computer support department that for every
20 computer users they would have one I.S. staff member. I have seen
in many companies the I.S. department forgets that they are support
for the work being done and not the work itself. The I.S. department
starts to demand what software and hardware is to be used and upper
management because of it's ignorance listens to them.

A company either manufactures, designs, or sells it's information in
the form of engineering or intellectual property. The engineering
staff contributes to the end product by designs or R&D. The I.S.
department is a support of the engineering department and other
computer users.

So far we are a small company of about 30 people. We are all using
Macs.
Most have less experience with computers then I do. But with the Macs
it is easy for them to do many things that if they were on a PC they
would have to rely on the I.S. personel. If there is a hardware
problem with the computer, they send it out. If there is a software
problem it is solved very easily with the personel in the office. The
biggest problem so far has been finding an engineering software to run
on the MAC. This is what has brought me to begin these postings to
find engineering software that runs on the MAC.

George Hobart