Core77

Getting some 3D CAD on your Mac

By Carl Alviani - January 5, 2009

in Tech

With a Jobs-less MacWorld now underway, we are reminded of two things: how much we yearn for the sweet, clean surfaces and brilliant interfaces of Apple's progeny; and how the need to do serious 3D CAD keeps them away from us. Unless you pursue the solution of one studio we saw, and keep both a Mac and a PC on every desk, the 3D modelers among you have probably gotten resigned to an unfair bargain: use Parallels to run your CAD in a half-assed way on your sexy Mac, or proclaim "I'm a PC" whether you like it or not. Developers of 3D CAD packages have been listening, though, and while not nearly to the level of their PC-based counterparts, a number of options exist for Mac-native modeling. Here's a quick rundown of what's out there now (along with some general impressions based on what little we've seen), and what's on its way: Form Z - Self-described as a "general purpose solid and surface modeler," Form Z has a definite entry-level look and feel to it, and most of the sample projects in the gallery bear this out. That said, many of those projects are visualizations rather than production data, and for this application it it seems well-suited, with lots of users praising its flexibility and ease of use. solidThinking - The only existing Mac 3D CAD we found specifically directed at Industrial Designers, solidThinking claims to be used by Toyota, Pininfarina, Bulgari and Nikon, among others. Features a combination of NURBS and solid modeling, with a Construction Tree reminiscent of parametric modelers. MacWorld attendees take note: we were recently informed that solidThinking will be handing out free student licenses of its software to full-time students who drop by their demo booth (#3320) at the Expo, from today until Friday the 9th.Shark LT - Also purporting to be a combination surface/solid modeler, Shark retails for $500 in the US, runs on both PC and Mac platforms, and is aimed squarely at the ease-of-use market as well. They also offer a free, fully-functioning 14 day demo on their site if you're looking to try it out. VectorWorks - Based out of Munich, parent company Nemetschek AG claims 450,000 designers use VectorWorks for "the AEC, entertainment, landscape design and machine design industries." Runs on a Parasolid core, also available for PC. Rhino for OS X - McNeel has actually been working on a Mac version of Rhino for quite a while now, and posts new builds of the thing on a pretty regular basis -- the most current is called Wenatchee, and is less than a month old. According to Scott Davidson in McNeel's marketing department, the Mac-based Rhino project is a slow one because they're re-working the interface to make it more Mac-like as they transfer the software over. "It'd be nice if it was a year away," he says of a fully-featured release, "but it's hard to predict." The current build has most of the functionality of the original PC version, however, barring certain minor features (though what constitutes "minor" is highly subjective) and McNeel eagerly encourages current users to download it and give feedback. AliasStudio (?) - Absolutely nothing official has come from Autodesk about what they've got in the works for Mac, though rumors and shaky videos abound. Rest assured they know people want a Mac version of Alias, though -- keep your eyes on this space for future developments. SolidWorks and Pro/E - Every time we ask a VAR rep from D'Assault or PTC if there are any plans for a Mac version, they chuckle at us.

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bruce

10 years ago

Z

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With Vizterra i have done some beautiful renderings and I am quite happy with it. Check it out here http://www.structurestudios.com/website/software/vizterra/

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Sammy D

13 years ago

Z

Z

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Try CADopia 11 for Mac. You can download an evaluation version from www.cadopia.com, I have used it under Windows since 1999 and now that it is out for MAC OS X, i am trying it out. So far, no problems and am quite happy with it.

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Tem Kuechle

15 years ago

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There is also a program called Shark. It is available in a few versions. I run the FX version. It has several common tools for solids and surface modeling, a 2D constraints system, good part drawing, acceptable 3D rendering, imports & exports many industry standard 2d and 3D file formats (works well with Pro-E, SolidWorks, and others), has a user friendly support forum, they don't charge maintenance, utilizes associativity and a kind of feature tree (but not like SW or Pro-E) does assembly differently (directly), is kind of like a 3D version of Adobe Illustrator among other things. IIRC, it originated in the aerospace industry, became Ashlar, and now is supported by Punch! software. Runs on Mac OS X & PC.
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Robert Bou

15 years ago

Z

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I know that Nelson Au mentioned Ashlar-Vellum Cobalt already, with one draw back being the price. It should be noted that Cobalt is quite a bit cheaper than SW. Additionally, Ashlar-Vellum Xenon is worth checking out, it is priced less than Cobalt and has the Cobalt features that appeal to ID users.
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Lou Gallo

15 years ago

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Bootcamp is the key for most 3D CAD apps. I have run SolidWorks on my MacBook Pro for two years but the key to the best performance is the graphics card. Without pro series cards like Quadro or FireGL the gamer cards fall a bit short. I use Rivatuner (Guru3d.com) and that allows me to tune the card to think it is a Quadro or FireGL and gives the best performance. If you use a Mac Pro you can get the Quadro Card and skip tuning all together getting as good or better performance than any other equivalent system.
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NYC designer

15 years ago

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You also forgot to mention Ashlar Vellum's Cobalt, which is a hybrid 3D NURBS and solids modeler. Designed to run on OSX, it can be exported in a variety of formats for manufacturing, prototyping, or to PC-based modelers. Highly intuitive, it is a breeze to pick up once you have worked with Graphite and have some 3D modeling understanding. Only drawback is the price.
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Jerry Sarfati

15 years ago

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Z

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Yes, don't forget about NX from Siemens PLM Software. (CAD and CAM). An "Early adopters program will be available soon. (Including NX Design Freedom, powered by Synchronous Technology)
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Nelson Au

15 years ago

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Another application that is often overlooked is Ashlar Vellum. Many know it from the 80's and 90's as an excellent 2D drafting software. But they've been quietly developing and marketing a surface/solid modeler for many years. They offer both a Mac and Windows version. They have 2 versions, the high end Cobalt and Xenon version, Xenon lacking some of the higher engineering functions.

I use Coablt for all my professional work and on a Mac. It uses the ACIS kernal, same as SolidWorks and I have exported successfully to and from SolidWorks.

The software is actually very capable and can produce some very organic forms with the surfacing tools. The Solid creation tools are equally capable. It has a built in rendering capability that can produce some very fine renderings.

Of course it's not perfect, but I don't think any app is. The beauty of Vellum products is that they are intuitive. It's simple to draw a line in any plane and any direction, so it's like sketching in 3D.

I highly recommend it as an alternative. Or as a tool to very quickly develop the design prior to going to SolidWorks.

www.ashlar.com
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Cadjunkie

15 years ago

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Just read your article on Core77, good stuff as always. I agree that companies that "aren't on Mac" as native need to wake up and knows when that will happen. That said, I can tell you that I know of at least 20+ Design companies running SW on Mac with parallels (as you mentioned) and actually running with little to no problems. There is a new company that just got a shipment of the new Mac Book Pros w/the dual graphics cards running FEA. The jury is still out on that until they have run it through its paces. But if that works, WHEW....skies the limit. Though I would think that Boot Camp would be the best option for that route.

If you take it with the grain of salt that it is, most designers are not doing 5000 part Assemblies. Not just limited to designers or engineers, 3D program that can offer a UI that is intuitive (read: doesn't stink with confusing interface), offers data that can be used collaboratively (neutral 3D formats that read 100% across the board no matter what program is being used), and down the road gives seamless data for manufacturing...then what more could anyone ask for?

So right tool for the right job. I'm sure you saw the survey of the top ten tools that designers should have as a skills set at least in some shape or form. (Adobe Illustrator #1...it was expected, yet still surprising at the same time) The 3D Cad world, as you know, is in a serious free-for-all. There are more 3D programs that Taxi cabs in NY (and there are a s*&t ton of cabs in NY) Competition is always a good thing, and I'll be the first to admit that 3D wouldn't be where it is today without it. With ST/SE, Space Claim, hell Google Sketch up... giving the likes of Rhino, SW and other big dogs on the block, it's going to be an interesting time to see what floats and what sinks over the next coming years. This is way off in the future but as cloud computing becomes more and more prevalent, OS/Computer specific "may" become a thing of the past. While programs like Sketch Up could really go web based with probably very little efforts, asking for something like a Catia, NX, or heavy engineering program would probably garner a bigger chuckle than trying to get them to come to Mac native.

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Nick La Forest

15 years ago

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If you are a student, you can get a free copy of Vectorworks at: Student.Vectorworks.net. This is the FULL version, for Architecture, Landscape architecture, entertainment design and rendering.
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Luis M Ruiz

15 years ago

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Think about Vectorworks as one of the pioneer CAD applications born under a Macintosh environment, so if your studio was formed by architects, graphic and interior designers who had the need to exchange files and collaborate on single projects, well, Vectorworks was the proper selection. You can think of it as "Illustrator married 2d/3d CAD", plus is fun to work with.
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Rob

15 years ago

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Um... there's always bootcamp, which you guys completely failed to mention. No, I don't want a crappy PC with horrible resale value. No, I don't want to run windows through parallels and have really bad performance. You simply partition your disk, install bootcamp, install windows like any other windows machine, and you can boot between OSX and XP or Vista without any issues, with 100% native speed. I run Alias and Solidworks on my iMac all the time, then do photoshop/illustrator/sketchbook pro in OSX. It's easy and very very fast. Takes about 45 seconds to switch over to the other OS if I need to.
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al dean

15 years ago

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Don't forget NX (Unigrahics) is OSX based too - new rev due Q2 this year..

al "shakey cameraman" dean.. :)
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marc sicard

15 years ago

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You also have Concepts Unlimited (name sucks a bit ...), I've been told on a demo some years ago that it's a Catia client ...
Made by CSI, link :

http://www.csi-concepts.com/index.htm
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Mark Whiting

15 years ago

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Luxology Modo. More and more industrial designers are using it. Brilliant rendering with very fast modelling and a highly customisable interface.

More info: www.luxology.com
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