The primary reason for this is that it is a free download from Microsoft and for doing application testing I seldom need the added features that VMWare offers.įirst it is not really applicable to discuss Apple BootCamp as a Virtual Machine, it truly is just a dual boot and the Apple BootCamp install emulates the system Bios and adds windows drivers for the Apple Hardware. On my PC systems I am currently using Microsoft Virtual PC for Virtual Machines to test AutoCAD applications and configurations. My personal testing has been with four different Apple machines which are a Mac Mini, MacBook, MacBook Pro and my current system a MacBook Air. Since Apple has changed to Intel processors things have changed with the ability to use an Apple system as your primary or at least as a secondary system for use with AutoCAD and other Windows Applications. To start with I have used Microsoft Virtual PC, VMWare and Parallels on Windows XP systems for testing, but have also expanded this testing to using VMWare Fusion, Parallels and Apple BootCamp on Mac OSX… What i would like to discuss is using a Virtual Machine for testing AutoCAD custom applications in different possible configurations. What I wanted to write about is something that I have been doing for some time now and thought that it may be of interest to others that do AutoCAD programming. However, that is not the nature of this post… The last version of AutoCAD that I am aware of that ran on an Apple was Release 12. It’s Mac OR Pc.I know that that the title to this post seems a bit strange coming from someone that does AutoCAD development. In the long run, it shouldn’t be Mac VS Pc. Whatever environment you prefer, whatever hardware you favor. Each user should have the choice to use the operating system they prefer to get their work done. I've embedded a video below from the course where I go over the new DIM tool.Īt the end of the day, Mac vs Pc really isn’t the issue.
Take a look at Autodesk’s website to see a rundown of all the new features, and when you are ready to learn how to really use them, head over to and take a look at my new course on AutoCAD for Mac 2016 New Features.
Now we can map a Windows network path to a Mac OS X one, so we no longer need to look for our reference locations every time we open a file. XRef path mapping helps support those who work in mixed use environments where drawings are opened in Mac OS X and Windows interchangeably.
Now, AutoCAD for Mac 2016 is here and it brings a myriad of requested features to the table.Īmong other things, AutoCAD for Mac 2016 adds support for Xref path mapping, a number of Express Tools, a customizable Properties Pallete and some great PDF improvements.
2014 brought with it support for Retina displays. With AutoCAD for Mac 2013 I was able to all but switch completely to Mac for my CAD usage. With each passing year there has been a new release of AutoCAD for Mac, and with each passing release the gap between the two versions of AutoCAD has grown smaller. Here we are 5 years later and much has changed. As much as I understood the logistics, I wanted more. This process took time, and not every feature AutoCAD had built up in 20-some years would be easily re-coded for a completely different operating system.
Realistically, I understood that Autodesk had re-written AutoCAD from the ground up for Mac OS X, instead of some port or emulator. As overjoyed as I was that I was now able to run AutoCAD natively on my Mac, I was saddened by the feature set. When AutoCAD for Mac was released in the fall of 2010 I was both overjoyed and slightly saddened. AutoCAD was my chosen profession, my passion. I was fortunate enough to be an Apple employee for the release of 2 products that were very special to me: the first iPad and AutoCAD for Mac.Įven if I migrated from Windows guy to Apple fanboy, I was always an AutoCAD junkie. I even worked for Apple Retail for a number of years as a Genius. Since that time, I became quite the “Apple Fanboy.” iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs.
At the time, Mac OS X seemed more intuitive, more straight forward and had so many “little things” it just sort of won me over. I suddenly found myself carrying a 17” Sony Vaio to work in CAD and a 13” white Macbook to do everything else on. Then, at the end of 2007, I bought a white Macbook on clearance from a reseller store. I built PC’s, ran out to buy Vista when it was released, and used Windows Media Center to run my entire home entertainment system. The same way roads are not specific to one car brand, each user should be able to choose an operating system that they prefer (for one reason or another) to get their work done.
Everyone has their bias and at the end of the day it comes down to personal preference.