customers deeply unaware of Mac CAD apps?
It appears that Apple education customers aren't too familiar with
the many Macintosh CAD applications that are available to them.
That's the message that came out of an
Apple Technology Update for Educators event that took
place recently in New England.
Education Blind Spot - Mac Folks Contemplate Windows Move for
According to an article sent to us by Gregory Conyingham, AIA,
an architect and president of one of the largest Apple-centric CAD
VAR's in the country, Integrated
CADD Services Inc., there appears to be a software (CAD) blind
spot in the educational market. Apple's own customers are unaware
of the vast library of excellent CAD software available to them.
As Gregory remarked:
few months ago I presented to a number of educators (around 350!)
over 2 days at Apple Technology Updates for Educators ran by some
of our New England Apple Education Execs.. I spoke with many afterwards
and was a little surprised by the lack of adoption of OS X but
even more surprised to hear about the lack of available software
offerings. We were showing ArchiCAD 7.0 for OS X which we sell
in a University Lab Pack for $150 for a 50 user license and were
bowled over by the response.
of the educators we spoke with were considering
switching over to Windows due to a lack of CAD software
for the vocational programs within their schools. After seeing
7.0 on OS X we had 14 school districts purchase it in short
this case, it wasn't that the software didn't exist, Graphisoft
had released the OS X version in 2001, just that the educators
didn't know about it until we reached out to show them! ---
Wow! Switching to Windows over CAD
To be honest, when we heard this story we were more than a little
disappointed to learn that Apple education customers were not aware
of Architosh.com and that
the resources it presents hadn't made a larger impact on this market.
Surprised too because Apple actually has an education page on its
Web site devoted
to Architecture with a capitol A and it list Architosh in addition
to other good resources. It is a pretty good page but a bit tough
Excellence in CAD Actually Prevails on the Macintosh
While the common Autocad, by Autodesk Inc., may not exist on the
Macintosh platform at the moment (it did in the past) almost all
of the remaining market-leading CAD applications not only exist
on the Macintosh but actually thrive there. While Gregory clearly
did an excellent job presenting ArchiCAD
7 for Mac OS X (especially if it resulted in 14 districts
signing up for the software) to educators, there are more than a
dozen superb technical, design and 3D CAD applications on the Macintosh.
In fact, we have over 50 applications listed in our Architosh
Digital Practice Guide. We have more great CAD on the Mac then
we can shake a stick at.
We would like to point out that CAD on
the Mac is a major market, to the extent that such a
site as this can actually focus on it, along with related 3D and
AEC software information. Apple customers need to understand this;
they don't need to move to Windows just to get superb CAD software.
In fact, two key software developersBOA
Research Inc. and Nemetschek
North America Inc. are major supporters of the Macintosh
CAD market, both in the depth of their software offerings, history
on the platform, and interest in supporting CAD on the Macintosh
in education. Both are key corporate sponsors of this site and any
Macintosh-based educator would do well to consider them.
line of CAD software (formerly known as MiniCAD) was initially only
available for the Mac until the mid-late 90's. Regarded worldwide
as one of the best CAD programs on both Mac and Windows platforms,
VectorWorks has proven itself in both professional and educational
environments as both a powerful but yet easy-to-use CAD program.
Along with ArchiCAD and the PC-only Autocad, VectorWorks is one
of the market-leading architectural CAD programs worldwide.
BOA Research's new BOA CAD
is actually built on the venerable Architrion CAD engine from the
80's and early 90's. A pioneer in the 80's with model-centric
architectural CAD development, Nader Family, CEO of BOA, has
an addictive enthusiasm for CAD on the Mac and is one of the Mac
platform's staunchest supporters.
While these are just a few of the CAD options, there are many more,
and many are focused on being general-purpose drafting and modeling
tools in addition to architecture and engineering. See below for
many of our available resources. If any educators wish to contact
us with any questions about CAD on the Mac, please
do write and we will get back to you. We also have an index
on this site which covers our articles on over 50 products for the
CAD market over the last three years.
[8 Dec] Hot!
3d: Nemetschek N. A. releases free SketchUp plugin for VectorWorks - [6 Dec]
CAD: VectorWorks 12 Training CDs Now Available - [5 Dec]
CAD: ArchiCAD Seminar in Boston Area - [5
Global Architecture Resources Grow - [1 Dec] Hot!
3d: EVOQUE launches "solidThinking Live" - new web training
program - [28
Sales this Holiday Quarter and Special Friday Event - [23
3d: Adobe and Cinema 4D Breakfast Event in Sweden - [23
CAD: VectorWorks Users win AIA-NYC and AIA-NYS Design Awards - [22
and 3d roundup - SOM and SketchUp, Alex, and MaxonForm - [21
CAD: HighDesign 1.6 released - dozens of improvements - [17
from Intel in future Macs and the Art of Fast User Switching - [16
AEC News on the Web - ATI, ProjectWizards update and more... -
introduces world's fastest graphics card -
CAD - Graphisoft Honored with Wall Street Journal Award and more... -
Behind Apple's Rosetta Wins Wall Street Journal 2005 Technology Award -
3d: Alias Introduces 'Design MasterClasses' -
3d: Pixar debuts RenderMan for Maya -
patent shows company possibly preparing for OS War -
Ships First Issue of ToshLetter™ -
Gets 'Sketchy' with new SketchUp Integration -
CAD: Nemetschek NA ships VectorWorks 12 -
Fixes Missing Graphics Card on e Store -
CAD/3D news on the Web - Cheetah, Adobe-UGS, ArchiCAD and more... -
CAD: ArchiCAD 9 Seminar in Providence, Rhode Island -
3D: Pixar to announce Third Quarter 2005 Earnings, November 8th -
Power Mac G5 Quad Garners Industry Buzz -
[21 Oct] Hot!
Supercharges Rendering by 200 Plus Percent: a modo reaction -
Nvidia Workstation Option, When it Matters -
New Power Mac G5s - Initial Thoughts -
CAD: True Workstation Graphics Finally Arrive on the Macintosh -
CAD: Share Utility - How to share Ashlar-Vellum Files, both Old and New -
Lloyd Wright's Massaro House Presentation Available - Architect Talks up
Working on Macintosh
CAD: Ashlar-Vellum translates 'Graphite' into Japanese -
CAD: Nemetschek announces VectorWorks 12 Product Line - [13 Oct]
CAD: Graphisoft Scores Firm Win in California - [7 Oct]
SketchUp News: @Last
Software Previews New "Grizzly" at 3D Base Camp - [6 Oct] Hot!
CAD: TouchCAD 3.5 Becomes "Touchable" At Last - [5 Oct]
Impact: Autodesk to acquire Alias - what does it mean? - [5 Oct] Hot!
Exclusive Interview: Architosh
Talks to Graphisoft US VP Don R. Henrich II - [4 Oct] Hot!
Special Series: Apple-Intel
Transition to be Positive for CAD/CAID/AEC Developers and Their Users - [4
Show Reports Index - [4 Oct]
introduces ToshLetter™ a new industry newsletter focused on Mac
CAD/3D industries - [30
3D: e-frontier's new Shade 8 modeling and rendering program - [28
CAD: Ashlar-Vellum releases Graphite service pack 2 - [28
3D: Maxwell plugin for SketchUp on Mac - [27
3D: Alias ships MotionBuilder 7 PLE - [27
3d and CAD news - SketchUp, Maxwell, EIAS, Softimage - [27
User Wins Venice Biennale's International Design Competition -
Mac Firm Management Software Tool for Architects and Engineers - PSA Scorecard - [16 Sep]
CAD Discussion - PowerCADD, BOA for Mac OS X Roadmap, Piranesi and more...
- [16 Sep]
World Gains New Engineering CAD Tool with IMSI TurboCAD 3D Mac -