Is Solidworks For Mac
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were rivals, peers, was it poor foresight to not make the SOLIDWORKS platform Mac compatible? Not So Easy There is a mythological lore that surrounds Steve Jobs and a lot of that has to do with pop culture and his portrayal in movies or books but all of that insight into the beginning of Apple does tell us a lot about. SolidWorks eDrawings 2011 for Mac. Known issues: Password-protected dxf/dwg files are not supported. The Search command in the Help does not work. SolidWorks drawings. Perspective views created in SolidWorks drawings are not shaded in the eDrawings Viewer. EDrawings Measure. Measure is disabled for non-draft quality broken views.
This post is offered as purely informational - in the chance that anyone is seeking information on this *specifically rare topic*: running SolidWorks on a Mac.
I am a SolidWorks (2007-2009) user and an avid Mac advocate (since 1986). SolidWorks isn't and won't ever be Mac-native. Sure, there are other CAD-CAM modelers made just for the Mac, but NONE of them drive the world-wide manufacturing industry as SolidWorks does. What to do?
Run SolidWorks in XP-Pro SP3 via BootCamp. Period, end of story.
I embarked on this experiment with Parallels v1 - and dropped the whole project until Fusion came out of beta. Moving to VMware's Fusion was great - nothing wrong with it as emulation goes - but Fusion (any emulation) insulates the graphics card you'll likely need to run SolidWorks. By ' insulate', I mean the card isn't recognized by XP - XP sees only a generic video card of SVGA). That's an emulation tax folks, sorry...
I still use SolidWorks in Fusion when I've got small, simple parts and quick design jobs, however, if I'm doing top-down assembly or working on some larger, many-parts models and/or I need fully detailed, photo-real rendering (PhotoView360), then it's over to BootCamp I go!
BTW - in Fusion (read: emulation), you won't see ANY RealView graphics OR PhotoView360 previews!
Per Dessault System's recommendations (makers of SolidWorks) the ONLY graphic card which IS Mac-compatible AND 'certified for use with SolidWorks' is the NVIDIA QuadroFX 4500. (note: There may be newer, improved cards since I bought the 4500 almost 2.5 years ago...)
If you want SolidWorks to see ALL of your Mac's core processors (in my case - four of them - critical for rendering models via PhotoView360) AND you want to tap the raw power of the video card you paid dearly for - you've GOT to do this scenario via BootCamp - not Parallels, not Fusion, not any other emulation software.
Note: I'm not at all suggesting emulation is a bad strategy, it just isn't good for use with SolidWorks.
The SolidWorks user experience is much more precise and 'crisp' via BootCamp. Trust me, I've thrown a lot of effort, money and research at this topic. Keyboard short-cuts, mouse tricks, etc. all work more smoothly AND PROPERLY in BootCamp as opposed to an emulation solution. Do these details make a difference you ask? YES!!!!! Trust the flat spots on my head from slamming it against walls... BootCamp = a more natural SolidWorks experience!
As for XP verses Vista - all I can add is that my SolidWorks VAR (value-added reseller) runs ALL of their PCs on XP-Pro 64bit, NOT Vista. That's enough of an XP endorsement for me. Since XP64bit isn't BootCamp-ready, we're stuck with XP-Pro 32bit SP3 - which doesn't see more than 2 GBs of RAM - so don't go hog-wild on buying lots of RAM thinking it will boost your SolidWorks experience.
Additionally, if moving files from MacOS to XP (and back again) is important to you, there are several options: MacDrive7, NTFS-3G with MacFuse to name but two popular options.
SolidWorks CAN INDEED exist in a Mac world! Don't take no for an answer; and don't expect the SolidWorks tech support guys to be 'open-minded' and helpful. They're not. When this topic is presented to them, +SW Tech Supp+ is resolute in their position that this shouldn't be done.
grrrr >:-O Right. And we couldn't get to the moon in under 10 years either.
Write for details. Your mileage may vary. Consult your physician. Member LASWUG and OCSWUG. 🙂
Cheers,
webdrum007
Message was edited by: webdrum007
Message was edited by: webdrum007
Mac Pro 3.0GHz Quad - 12GB RAM, Mac OS X (10.5.6), (1) 1TB external WDHD
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Written by: Kevin KeefePublished in: SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD, Articles
There is one question that we probably get 1-2 times per day in the CADimensions offices, which is, “Is there a SOLIDWORKS for Mac?”
We would like to start with a disclaimer. There are obviously arguments to be made for both sides of this debate which is nothing that we intend to settle here. The whole “Mac vs PC” conversation is bigger than us and we don’t intend to offer any opinion on the matter.
So, why can’t you get a SOLIDWORKS for Mac operating system? This is a totally fair question for somebody who is just doing research into things like “what is CAD?” because while Macs are just so common today. When SOLIDWORKS was being developed, that wasn’t always the case, and to tell this story properly, we have to jump into the Wayback Machine and step into the year1995.
CAD Machines
In the early days of the computer age, platforms like Windows were being brought in to replace machines that ran primarily in business environments. These companies may have used IBM mainframe computers since the late 50s and by the time we hit 1995, PCs that run on Windows dominate the space for business computing. This is where Bill Gates cashes in.
We all know some part of the Genesis story behind the development of Windows and Macintosh. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were rivals, peers, was it poor foresight to not make the SOLIDWORKS platform Mac compatible?
Not So Easy
There is a mythological lore that surrounds Steve Jobs and a lot of that has to do with pop culture and his portrayal in movies or books but all of that insight into the beginning of Apple does tell us a lot about their go-to-market strategy. Apple wanted to be the machine for your home, your personal computer. The position was to let IBM and Dell and HP fight over the business machines, Apple is going to be the machine on your lap in your living room.
Built With Windows In Mind
Is Solidworks For Mac Os
SOLIDWORKS was built during the 90s when IBM compatible computers running Windows were simply more prevalent in the business world. Windows had many advantages to developers who were looking to build software simply because it was open-source. Being open-source meant you could customize, change, boost, and really experiment with what a computer but also software is capable of doing.
As a result of that tandem evolution of PC and Software, SOLIDWORKS incorporates many tools and commands that were designed to interface specifically with a Windows operating system in mind. Things that are common actions like “right-click” in SOLIDWORKS would need to be accounted for in a different way. Keystrokes that are incredible, timesaving shortcuts would all need to be re-written to respond with a Mac keyboard.
Why Not Start Now?
We would be lying if we didn’t own up to thinking this to ourselves at least a few times. Hey, why not just make a SOLIDWORKS for Mac? Macs today are synonymous with being powerful machines, especially when it comes to graphics, rendering, and working with programs that require a lot of capability. As we are CADimensions and not SOLIDWORKS we can’t comment on any official position they may take on this. We assume it would probably be cool, but too darn expensive!
We wouldn’t hold our breath waiting for a SOLIDWORKS for Mac.
What Do I Need To Run SOLIDWORKS?
So you already invested in a Mac but you need to run SOLIDWORKS, what are your options?
Well, you’re going to need to invest in a PC, and CADimensions is a re-seller for Boxx, a line of PCs built to run SOLIDWORKS. Read more about Boxx.
No matter what brand PC you end up with, we do have some suggestions based on our experiences. A lot of this is what guides our decisions when buying the computers that our engineers work from. Of course, you can always see what SOLIDWORKS recommends as their base system requirements here.
Spring For A Good Graphics Card
SOLIDWORKS is a visual program that let’s engineer build incredible things in 3D space. In order to render those graphics, you need a card capable of some pretty heavy lifting sometimes. We often recommend the Nvidia Quadro series, and you don’t have to go top of the line. Nvidia has a great product and their mid-range cards work for a majority of everyday SOLIDWORKS applications.
Choose Clock Speed Over Cores
The more cores the better right? It depends on what you’re doing. SOLIDWORKS is built as a linear application. This means that as it processes the data in the tree, it does so from the top down. It’s building a model, so that makes logical sense that you would build an object that way. As a result, SOLIDWORKS is often only drawing on one core of your machine at any time. In contrast, if you’re using a program like Visualize, for example, to render out a high definition image. This process will use multiple cores for concurrent processing of the image from all angles because it can.
What really helps boost performance and should be something you consider carefully is the clock speed. The clock speed is the best indicator of what kind of user experience you will have working with SOLIDWORKS. The faster clock speed means information is being processed faster. The end result is a better user experience.
Clock speed and cores are getting better every year, these are just a few things to keep an eye out for.
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Running Solidworks On A Mac
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Categories
Subscribe to Our Weekly Blog Email
Download the CADimensions' SOLIDWORKS Task Pane here.
More resources are available here.