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Good CAD program for Mac OS X

Posted by termhn 
Good CAD program for Mac OS X
October 23, 2010 07:36PM
Hey everyone, I'm new to repraping and I want to know if anyone has a good CAD program for OS X? I designed my modified version of the Mendel, and want to CAD it (so to speak) but can't find a good CAD program for Mac sad smiley
Re: Good CAD program for Mac OS X
October 23, 2010 11:38PM
There are mesh modellers like Blender and Rhino (in beta at least) that work well on a Mac, and I believe OpenScad will run, but it's more of a scripting language than traditional CAD. Autocad has a version out now for about $4k, but I have had good luck running Alibre ($100) in either a VM or with bootcamp and windows 7. It was pretty slow with an XP VM though, but it worked fine when bootcamped in XP.

I'd love to hear about an affordable native OSX CAD; Alibre is the only reason I boot Win7 at all.

Wade
Re: Good CAD program for Mac OS X
October 24, 2010 05:37AM
Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure there is no such thing as a good mechanical engineering CAD for the Mac. All you can do is to adopt what Linux has. This includes e.g. FreeCAD, BRL-CAD and Salome, additional to the already mentioned ones.


Generation 7 Electronics Teacup Firmware RepRap DIY
     
Re: Good CAD program for Mac OS X
October 25, 2010 12:25AM
Thanks! But I'm sad there aren't any good ones out there sad smiley my vision is that one day Mac will take over the world!
It depends what you intend to use it for, if you want to use it for architectural drawings, 2d drafting or illustration then get MacDraft Pro

If you want an interior design or 3d modelling software then I also use Microspot's 3D software: Interiors Pro
Re: Good CAD program for Mac OS X
October 23, 2012 09:24AM
you also have Inventor Fusion on the app store.
Re: Good CAD program for Mac OS X
October 23, 2012 12:31PM
VectorWorks is a mac based CAD program, but I seem to remember it being pricey. AutoDesys makes FormZ that is also a mac CAD program that is cheaper. Rhino for mac and AutoCad for mac will do basic CAD work but sometimes get flakey with advanced stuff - they are working to make them more stable. And I guess there is Google Sketchup as well.
Re: Good CAD program for Mac OS X
October 25, 2012 03:42AM
Also Google Scetchup. it may not be a true CAD but it's fairly easy to use and I know at least one company that designed all of their 3D printer (they sell it) on it. There is also a pro version for $500.

Also as mentioned Freecad. I use Lightwave 3D but it's not cheap and is really designed for making prints and animations, it's actually used in some movies and a lot of TV shows but I am using it to make printable parts.
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