A webpage dedicated to the planned event states: “Graphisoft considers Steve Jobs the greatest hero of the information age. We believe such superlatives are warranted: indeed, we cannot be entirely objective with respect to Steve Jobs, because to a large extent, Graphisoft ArchiCAD owes its global success to him. In 1984, Apple was willing to give Graphisoft a chance.”

BIM Begins on Apple Lisa

ArchiCAD is largely considered the very first true BIM (Building Information Modeling) software program, inventing and coining the term “virtual building” in the process of developing 3D CAD for architects which enabled them to literally build the building, completely, in 3D on the computer. “The first version of ArchiCAD ran on a Lisa computer, the immediate predecessor to the Macintosh,” reports the company. “We exhibited this program at the 1984 CEBIT in Hannover, where Steve Jobs saw it and decided to give Apple’s full support to its development and distribution. Apple gave us cash and computers at a time when Graphisoft was a young company with very limited resources; the technology represented by those computers was not even available in our part of the world.”

01 - Ark-Coca-Cola skyscraper wins fifth design excellence award. The project is a BIM achievement in Australia and was designed using Graphisoft ArchiCAD.

ArchiCAD quickly became available on the Mac and remained an exclusive on the Mac well into the 1990’s. Apple introduced the young Hungarian company to its global distribution network, which the company relies on to this day, helping sell and represent ArchiCAD in countries around the world.

“In 1985, after Steve Jobs left Apple, the company lost its soul,” states Graphisoft on this webpage. “At the time, many of our partners said that Graphisoft was the guardian of Apple’s spirit and soul. Some even said that we were the ‘real Apple’ at that time. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple 12 years later, the company again began to create miracles.”

“The working environment at Graphisoft Park embodies the spirit of Steve Jobs, which strives for excellence in every detail. Our built environment aims to inspire and promote this passion for quality in the talented people who work here. Graphisoft Park is indeed a fitting location for a statue commemorating Steve Jobs and his legacy.”

To learn more about Graphisoft’s thoughts on Steve Jobs and its view on Apple and the Graphisoft connection, click here. The event takes place in front of the Graphisoft building, 1031 Budapest, Zahony u, 7, G Building, at 3:00PM CET.

Those who wish to attend can RSVP by contacting Julianna Gulden, Graphisoft PR at: jgulden@graphisoft.com

Why a Web App?

Anthony Frausto-Robledo (AFR):  Over the years Architosh, and its readers too, have been following the evolution of the AIA Documents application with much interest hoping for a native Mac version. Why a Web application versus a real desktop application for the Mac?

Young Chang (YC): Everything we do is always based on user feedback and sound research. Our research has been showing, year over year, continued interest in the Mac, as well as the potential of a web based application to increase the accessibility of AIA Contract Documents to our users. Such an online version simplifies its maintenance and enhances the usability of the documents. We determined that the web based alternative was best for all users.

AFR:  So why and how did the online version come about?

YC: The major reason is because users are asking for anywhere, anytime access to AIA Documents.

AFR: And it also solves your Mac user demand.

YC: Yes.

AFR:  Can you give me some examples?

YC: Yes. Users want to be able to access AIA Documents not just at job sites but at client locations like client offices or at hotels while traveling. Being able to get to your contracts and modify them while away from the main office is very beneficial.

A New Approach to Pricing

AFR:  What are some other benefits of the new online version of the AIA Contract Documents Software?

YC:  One key benefit will be the new flexible licensing models. Right now there is just one way to get the AIA Documents package. Now we will have several packages, bundles and a pay-as-you-go model, which we think will be very popular.

01 - A preview view of the new AIA Contract Documents software web-based version online. The new online software as a service will bring great benefits to AIA members and customers of the AIA Contract Documents software, including the ability to work with the software from either Mac or Windows OS computers as well as new era devices like the Apple iPad.

In this tough economic environment having pricing flexibility is very key for our members and customers. Most architects are small firms, so we [the AIA] want to maintain and improve upon how we serve our members and customers with this new service. The online version of AIA Documents online will do that.

AFR:  What kind of packages are we talking about? Can you give me some examples?

Young Chang (YC): There are over 150 separate documents available. I doubt anyone uses all of them. If you are an architect you are going to use a certain set of documents over and over. If you are a general contractor you will use another common set. Therefore, we will have packages tailored to the needs of specific types of users of the AIA Documents software.

Next page: Apple, the iPad and Development Details

The need in the industry is for a light-weight file format that is ideally open and “standards”-based. But Autodesk has attempted to usher in general use of DWF regardless. McDwiff, which is a curious and playful name, offers proponents of Autodesk DWF a very viable option for viewing DWF files on the iPad. And there is a Mac version!

DWF on Mac and iPad

We first wrote about McDwiff for the Mac three years ago. It was the first Mac-native DWF viewer application. McDwiff connects to Autodesk’s online DWF translator. This means accuracy is 100 percent perfect every time. With McDwiff you can open any DWF (2D or 3D) on your Mac or iPad.

01 - McDwiff for iPad enables you to view native Autodesk DWF files.

The program supports fast zooming and panning. McDwiff uses predictive image processing, allows you to print and the Mac version can export DWF to TIF, GIF, JPG, PNG, BMP, or….ready for this?…PDF!

02 - McDwiff for Mac was the first ever native OS X app that supported dedicated Autodesk DWF file viewing. However, the app does not do markup yet. You can export out to several formats, including Adobe PDF, DWF's main competitor file format.

There is no markup capability or editing ability yet. The developer says they are working on that. The program requires Mac OS X 10.4 and iOS 4.2 on the iPad. To learn more visit them online here: http://www.macdwf.com/

“We believe that Apple will be the first in our sector to embrace ARM for some Macs, as early as C2H12…” (I believe you read that as second half of calendar year 2012).

“We believe that Apple is already working hard on the software to accomplish this feat within the MacBook Air line-up,” continued Reitzes. “Through its own development of ARM-based processors and ARM-based iOS software, this migration would be rather natural for Apple.”

Joshual Schnell over at Macgasm has a good post questioning the logic of such a decision and specifically mentions Autodesk in his post. Concerning the fact that many major companies have begun to adopt OS X development because Apple is on Intel he questions whether they would be willing to pursue a chip architecture change of this magnitude. He writes: “Also, what about all those giant companies (Blizzard, Autodesk) that have titles for OS X now? Are they willing to design their products around ARM?”

Given that most longtime OS X developers have just completed an extensive chip architecture transition just a few years ago (moving from PPC to Intel) we think this is a very good and reasonable question.

Blurring the edge of OS X and iOS

Apple is already starting to blur the edge between its OS X platform and the iOS platform. Multitouch is already on OS X and has been for quite some time. It will continue to morph on OS X devices. While we think Apple is literally working on OS X for ARM and while we believe there will be some mobility on there coming up, the question of whether they will fully leave Intel is truly up for grabs.

And we must remember that Intel is not sitting still. Their tri-gate process technology announced last week was impressive. Read more here.

Sketch

Sketch is a vector drawing program for the Mac platform. It offers a fairly complete vector drawing toolset, including complex path transformation tools, grouping, multi-page documents and support for libraries and symbols.

01 - Sketch, by Bohemian Coding offers Mac users a clean-interface backed with quite a lot of power. The company also has a nice range of other Mac software

Sketch is produced by Bohemian Coding and the program requires OS X version 10.6+. It is at version 1.0  and cost 40.USD.

Inkscape

Inkscape is an open-source vector drawing program for Mac, Windows and Linux. Not as robust and complete as Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape nonetheless has a very solid set of tools, including a complete set of vector drawing tools for shapes and paths, including freehand drawing, object transformations and manipulation tools, a layering system, object grouping, cloning, gradient fills and node editing.

02 - Inkscape is open-source and free. The screen shot above is not of the Mac version but the program is fully available for the Mac, Linux and Windows.

Inkscape can be found at the Inkscape.org website. It is free.

Anyway, there are other great and interesting vector drawing tools for the Mac and image editors too that might be of interest to you. You can read more at the full article here and we’d like to point out a few now.

This first tool is called SunAngle Software, written by Sustainable By Design, a consulting firm in Seattle, Washington, USA, owned by Christopher Gronbeck.

Used around the world since 1995, SunAngle Software is a premium shareware tool that calculates solar angles based on location, date and time, anywhere in the world. SunAngle runs directly in your web browser on your Mac or PC.

01 - SunAngle software runs on any Mac browser, including Safari.

A more advanced version of the software is available as a stand-alone program and runs on both Mac and Windows and simply requires Microsoft Excel and Adobe PDF Reader. That product includes a thorough documentation manual, SunAngle for JavaScript–a more robust version of the shareware version, SunAngle for Excel and other standalone versions of many of the other free shareware tools by the company.

02 - SunAngle software for Javascript.

03 - SunAngle software for Adobe PDF Reader.

The advanced version costs 40.USD for electronic delivery or 50.USD for CD-ROM. The Web-based solution is free. You can learn more here: http://www.susdesign.com/

This version of AutoCAD software is written natively to take full advantage of Apple’s Mac OS X platform. Autodesk is making a free 30-day trial of AutoCAD for Mac available for download and will offer free educational licenses to students and educators.

01 - Screen image of the new AutoCAD for Mac.

AutoCAD for Mac is also integrated with Autodesk’s new AutoCAD WS cloud-based CAD platform and enables Mac AutoCAD users to share their designs online and then access them through the web or via Apple’s iOS devices like the iPad using the free AutoCAD WS Mobile software application.

Students and educators should visit this link for more.

To learn more visit: http://bit.ly/AutoCADMACTrial

Mac Growth

Last October after Apple’s fourth quarter results for 2010 we noted that Mac unit growth remained strong despite all of the iPad hype and growth. Mac unit shipment had essentially reached 3.9 million units prior to the big holiday season and we anticipated that the company would break the 4 million Mac units per quarter barrier this holiday. Apple did indeed do that, shipping 4.13 million Mac units, but that number fell short of the number we were hoping for.

We had anticipated that Apple would ship 4.4 million Macs this first fiscal 2011 quarter based on a 14 percent sequential growth quarter-to-quarter growth rate. The street consensus was 4.3 million Macs. The big news here is that Apple’s impressive Mac growth rate–while still very sizable–is slowing down, likely due to the rise of the iPad.

Looking on the Bright Side

While there is a definite slow-down in Mac unit growth rates the company did still ship 23 percent more Macs this quarter than it did a year ago. This compares to a 3 percent growth rate in the general PC market, according to Apple. All of this means that Apple’s Mac growth is 8x stronger than the general Windows PC industry.

Furthermore, Apple’s Asian Mac growth is extremely impressive at over 50 percent in Japan and Asia Pacific. Also, while Apple sold just shy of 1 million Macs through its own retail stores about half were sold to people who had never owned a Mac before. The percentage of people buying a Mac through other channels, including Apple online, who have never owned a Mac before is unclear to us.

The bottom line is that Apple busted the 4 million Macs per quarter barrier this quarter, signaling a future where the company will ship more than 16 million Macs per year.

Second Insight – Cash

Apple made over $6 billion in profit this past quarter and the company is now sitting on nearly $60 billion in cash and short/long term assets. This is a staggering amount of money and the best way to illustrate this is to compare it to some valuable companies.

• Adobe – market capitalization is presently at about $17.4 billion
• Autodesk – market cap is presently at about $9.5 billion
• Nvidia – market cap is presently at about $13 billion
• AMD – market cap is presently about $5.4 billion
• ARM Holdings – market cap is presently about $11 billion

All five of those companies above total less than $57 billion in market capitalization. Interestingly, they were chosen for this story because they all have something valuable to Apple’s future growth. ARM designs the main processor architecture behind Apple’s smaller devices and is the market leader. AMD and Nvidia dominate the graphics industries for computers, supercomputers and increasingly will play a role in smaller devices as well. And Autodesk and Adobe have been discussed targets for an Apple acquisition and their software assets compliment the Apple brand, story and its creative customers.

While is is unlikely Apple will ever buy any of these companies in the short term we feel it is interesting to point out their present street value compared to Apple’s available war chest in cash.

Third Insight – Cash Growth

Apple’s future growth is very much primed because of iPhone and iPad it is interesting to point out that the company is now making more than $1 billion from its iTunes Store alone, with an increasingly amount of TV and movies being a big part of the revenue picture. This means Apple is renting more than 4.5 million movies per month. And nearly three times that in TV shows. We feel there is massive upside in Apple media opportunities, and while everyone is focused on its “devices” and concentrating on competing with them the company is quietly building up momentum in media consumption markets where its primary competitors are Amazon and Netflix.

And speaking of Netflix, that company is worth $10 billion presently, an easily digestible amount given Apple’s cash horde.

And related to this insight about cash growth opportunities in media consumption is the new Mac App Store. In the conference call Tim Cook admitted that Apple’s own software does best. This is interesting because if the Mac App Store becomes as huge an opportunity as the App Store for iPad and iPhone then perhaps Apple should be developing and selling more of its own software? After all, Microsoft primarily makes its money on its Windows OS and Office franchise and the company’s margins are greater than Apple’s own. More interesting, if Apple were to acquire a significant software player, say Adobe, it could sell those design applications via the Mac App Store and eliminate the cost of selling that software the traditional way and thereby decrease costs and increase profit margins.

It will be interesting to see what Autodesk has to say in the near future about its Apple App Store experience…if it chooses to say something detailed.

Blocks are simply grouped objects that can be reused by simply selecting the block and inserting back into your drawing or a different drawing in later CAD sessions. The ability to do this in AutoCAD WS has been in demand.

Also new are the Chamfer function to connect two non-parallel lines and array functionality. Finally, AutoCAD WS’s latest update improves on locked layers giving the end user in WS more flexibility.

The latest version of AutoCAD WS is available on the Apple App store as well and supports these new features. A new open/download from email feature expands on the flexibility of AutoCAD WS as well as Amazon CloudFront and Zip support. To learn more read the news on the AutoCAD WS product blog.

Well PTC may have introduced Creo to much fanfare recently a chief rival SolidWorks Corporation is right on their heels with the product launch release of SolidWorks 2011. A new SolidWorks 2011 Launch Web Site has been announced.

SolidWorks is a MCAD program we believe will be supported on the Mac within the next few years, as well as supported on Apple iOS. The company shook up the Mac community and CAD world earlier in the year at SolidWorks World 2010 when they showed future SolidWorks products running on an iMac. The event sent waves of excitement and interest into the blogosphere on the matter. The company clarified future direction with respect to developing for the Mac market with Architosh in this article, “SolidWorks clarifies future direction with respect to Mac”, here.  We’ll dig into the future of SolidWorks on Mac more in the near future.

New Dosch Products

Dosch Design has new products that we think may be of interest. One in particular is called Construction Site and contains 50 detailed 3D models for all kinds of construction sites. This product could be very useful to AEC professionals modeling sequencing work in the field for a variety of reasons. Another new library is Doors and Window Details, containing 40 very detailed 3D models of doors and windows.  Dosch Design is a top location for obtaining 3D model information. You can visit them here: http://www.doschdesign.com/

BIM Talk at LinkedIn

A very lengthy discussion topic on LinkedIn asks why companies choose one BIM product over another. At over 516 comments it is one of the more touched upon discussions concerning BIM software selection in the BIM Experts Group.

From a 3D model you can create 3D plans and elevations from the model. The plugin also powers Rhino with smart architectural objects with parametric attributes. Stairs, doors and windows behave parametrically when inserted into model elements like walls, floors and other objects.

01 - VisualARQ plugin for Rhino 4 transforms NURBS modeler into powerful and efficient architectural tool. Mac version discussed for Rhino 5.

“With VisualARQ you can design in 2-D and display the 3-D model simultaneously, or you can work in 3-D and show the 2-D display,” says Francisc Pedrerol, ASUNI CAD general manager.

VisualARQ can automatically create project documentation from models. Plans, elevations and sections, et cetera, are dynamically linked to the Rhino model. As Rhino is a full Class-A NURBS modeler, VisualARQ walls are also NURBS-based, enabling users to create walls from straight lines, arcs, and free-form curves. Any volume created from Rhino can become intergrated into a project with VisualARQ so there is no restriction on creating shapes and geometry in new architectural designs.

VisualARQ and Mac OS X

VisualARQ today only works on Rhino version 4.x. The next major release of Rhino 5 is supposed to be the first non-beta version of Rhino for Mac. At that time, the VisualARQ team will commence investigating a Mac-native version of the plugin application for Rhino 5 for Mac.

VisualARQ is 395.euro and 995.euro with Rhino included. To learn more visit their website here: http://www.visualarq.com/

There is no doubting that Apple’s Mac division is being upstaged by its new era product lines (with the exception of the iPod division which is slowing down in growth) but one only needs to look at the bigger picture to see it’s all okay with Steve & Company precisely because the “halo effect” from iPhone in particular keeps pushing Mac sales up at a healthy rate. Of course that rate may be slowing as the iPad begins to both produce a “halo effect” and a “cannibal effect.” (more on that later).

So how healthy are we talking about?

Mac Unit Growth

Let’s start with the quarter to quarter sequential growth. In this quarter Apple’s Mac units grew at just over 12 percent, which is a healthy growth rate.  This was the result of shipping more than 400,000 Macs than the previous quarter. Mind you, just a few years ago 400,000 Macs per quarter was approximately one forth the amount of all Macs in that quarter.

Marking a 16 Year Absence

That the company would produce such a savvy TV style commercial is not surprising given the amount of engineering effort that was required to implement the new native Mac OS X software for the return to Apple’s famed platform. What is, perhaps, a bit surprising is just how well the CAD giant has captured the spirit of Apple’s own ads.

01 - Screen capture image of the TV ad's opening frames.

The ad features an all new iMac prominently front and center while office workers from what looks like a typical architectural firm, begin to mingle and stand around the iMac. Accompanied by a very catching soundtrack (at this time we have not determined who has produced this song and who the singer/artist is and whether or not it is original) the whole commercial seems to capture the heartfelt wait and return of AutoCAD to the Mac platform by imagining its absence by focusing in on an Apple devotee’s workstation. In the spot the workstation features an iMac launching the new AutoCAD software and a vintage 90’s Apple coffee mug. The mug signifies Apple’s Mac past while marking the presence of a stalwart devotee of the Mac platform.

02 - For a few seconds in the early section of the new ad and old Apple coffee mug--very popular in the 90's--is seen next to the telephone and computer. The clever device marks nostalgia and dovotee-ism all at the same time.

The slick video also does a remarkable good job of showcasing the product’s strengths as a 3D application with several neat looking angles on various content produced by AutoCAD 2011 for Mac. For example it shows that the product is capable of hosting several viewports of your design content simultaneously.

03 - sophisticated computer graphics, no doubt partly produced on Autodesk's treasure trove of media applications, draw the eye into AutoCAD 2011 for Mac's slick interface.

It is completely unclear as to whether or not this very well executed video is going to make it to the television screen or just live on the Web. We would imagine that the company would at least run a 30-second version of it on TV in the near future.

We also believe that this new set of applications (remember the company is not just returning AutoCAD to Mac OS X, but has delivered a version to the iOS platform) may show up soon for Apple’s planned September iOS announcement. We just cannot picture Steve Jobs talking about updated iOS devices (iPods and iPads for sure…) without showcasing Autodesk’s new wares.

To see the full video go here.

“The release of AutoCAD for the Mac marks the return of professional design and engineering software to the Mac platform and an important convergence of power and design,” said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president, Autodesk Platform Solutions and Emerging Business. “Over 5000 customers have helped develop this product through our beta program and they are delighted to have the choice of a native Mac version of AutoCAD.”

Code Name Sledgehammer

AutoCAD 2011 for Mac was code-named Sledgehammer. After a 16 year absence the company has come back to the Apple platform in the correct way, embracing Apple’s phenomenal Multi-touch gesture technology on Mac notebooks like the popular MacBook and MacBook Pro, in addition to the Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad just recently introduced.

01 - AutoCAD 2011 on the Mac. Autodesk makes huge announcement about this new software tile, marking a significant return back to Apple's platform.

Apple’s Coverflow is supported and the company has done an admirable job with its graphic user interface for the program, including the adjustability of its colors (two-toned approach). The UI is dark and gray like many leading rival 3D and CAD applications on both the Mac and other platforms. The dark interface makes the content window more clear while diminishing eye-strain due to screen brightness.

AutoCAD 2011 for Mac works across platform for DWG file sharing. Users can open up AutoCAD files that were created by Windows AutoCAD users and vice versa. Additionally, older version of AutoCAD files will also open in AutoCAD 2011 for Mac and the company has shared with Architosh that they have worked extensively on the API for customization and third-party integration. Several big third-party AutoCAD software vendors are preparing native versions of their software for AutoCAD 2011 Mac.

AutoCAD WS

Autodesk announced AutoCAD WS as well. This new mobile application is a new free app that will be available from Apple’s App Store for sharing and editing AutoCAD files on the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch for real-time collaboration on the go.

Both AutoCAD 2011 for Mac and AutoCAD WS will be available in North America and Europe sometime between this announcement and October. Users can pre-order the app starting Wednesday, September 1.

We’ve been getting tons of emails over the weekend about the new screenshots and video of AutoCAD Sledgehammer Beta for Mac. Earlier in the year we reported on other rumors of Autodesk planning to release its flagship program (AutoCAD) for the Mac. This time the evidence continues to pile up and aligns with multiple changes we continue to see in the market and even with items said and intimated by Carl Bass, Autodesk’s CEO. More on that in a minute.

Sledgehammer – What Is It?

Sledgehammer appears to be the code name for either the first native version of AutoCAD for Mac in more than 18 years or the specific beta phase name. We think possibly the former. The sighting was first tipped off to us by readers who pointed us to enthusiast site Italiamac.it. Within its forums was a post that said basically (translated from the Italian) “I managed to get a beta of Mac AutoCAD showing some first screen shots.”

01- Sledgehammer version of AutoCAD for Mac Beta. Autodesk appears to be serious about producing a native version of its flagship design CAD program for Apple's platform after being not available for over 18 years.

The images have since been removed from the site and replaced by images containing the following text in Italian: “Questa immagine e stata rimossa dallo staff a seguito di una richiesta non-ostile proveniente da una persona legata all’azienda produttrice. Ci scusiamo con i nostri utenti. Lo staff di Italiamac.” The Google translation is approximately:  This image has been removed from the team following a non-hostile request from a person connected to the company that produced them.”

Meanwhile, over at YouTube there is a video of the new Sledgehammer Beta. Very professionally produced, this video highlights Mac-specific features in AutoCAD Sledgehammer for dealing with Apple’s Magic Mouse and Multi-touch interface technology on trackpads.

What We Can Tell

We have no information from Autodesk on what Sledgehammer is. Since this emerged for us over the weekend we’ll have to wait until the upcoming week to try to contact the company for an explanation. Interestingly, Architosh just had a private WebEx meeting with Autodesk a week ago (on a related product) and there was no mention of a native way to produce a DWG file on a Mac from within an Autodesk software program. We note this because, as you will read shortly in our upcoming feature, this was a shortcoming of the product that was previewed for us.

The images of AutoCAD Sledgehammer for Mac beta have been taken down from the site from which they first appeared but they can be found on other sites and publications. The AppleLounge.com seems to have most of the images we have seen out in the wild. Macstories.net has some additional images, including one focused on the Apple Multi-touch technologies.

From what we have scanned and picked up off the Net, AutoCAD Sledgehammer is a true 64-bit, Cocoa-based application. Why do we think its Cocoa-based? Very simply, we don’t believe it is possible to produce a full fledged 64-bit Mac app that has standard Aqua interface and Cocoa UI without using Apple’s xCode development environment. Also, we have been told by those in the know that Autodesk would need to rewrite AutoCAD for the Mac from the ground-up–which is partly why the company has not produced it sooner.

This is not AutoCAD LT either. It appears to have full-fledged 2D and 3D features. In fact you can see the 3D functionality right away in the YouTube video mentioned above. It also has a Command Line option.

[Editor's note: some key comments on this story on below in the Comments area.]

Autodesk AutoCAD 2011 Mac Beta

Over at Outside the Box, a blog on AutoCAD and ObjectARX, Owen Wengerd has discussed the evidence of a native Mac port in the works by examining some of the latest ObjectARX 2011 SDK (software development kit) header files. This type of nosing around and discovering “code comments” to learn about what may be coming down the pike is what Apple fans often do to figure out the future of the Mac, iPhone or iPad OS.

Blurry screen image of possible Autodesk AutoCAD 2011 Mac Beta.

Evidence of a Mac port comes in the form both comments and changes made to the files so that they can work with the GCC compiler and the Mac OS X libraries. Some of the code looks as follows:

#if defined(_WINDEF_) || defined(_ADESK_MAC_)

/* AutoCAD graphics window handle */

HWND adsw_acadMainWnd();

#ifndef adsw_hwndAcad

#define adsw_hwndAcad adsw_acadMainWnd()

#endif

And in another file (acedinpt.h) there’s more telling evidence of the Mac:

#ifndef _ADESK_MAC_

#ifndef ACAD_PORT

#ifdef ACAD_API

#define ACAD_PORT _declspec(dllexport)

#else

#define ACAD_PORT

#endif

#endif

#else

// On OS X, we will export all symbols by default and will use GCC

// attributes to exclude symbols we don’t want to export.

// In this case, we do want to export the AcEdInputPoint symbol

#define ACAD_PORT

#endif // _ADESK_MAC_

Wengerd writes that it is clear that “Autodesk has successfully built a limited executable of AutoCAD for OS X” in both 32 and 64-bit forms. It is not clear to us how he can determine the bit-ness of these possible early builds unless he has a copy of the beta itself. He writes that changes do “break binary compatibility for ObjectARX applications” and thus “no full-blown Mac port” can be near.

There are several source of this information on the Net, including Wengerd’s blog here, a summary at Hardmac.com and the screen capture from this site, which published a “no” article to Autodesk developing a native Mac port.

Thanks to reader David Chaney for pointing this all out to us.

Each session is a free one-hour long webcast that will show you Vectorworks 2010 and how to save valuable time accomplishing various tasks and processes. Some of the topics for this series include:

• Unified 3D modeling environment
• Use of new Dimensional Constraint Manager from Siemens PLM
• New architectural and landscape architectural design features
• New rendering functionality
• Key new usability changes, all built upon the Siemens Parasolid modeling kernel

The schedule of events is:

• Vectorworks Architect with Renderworks – March 23 – register here
• Vectorworks Spotlight with Renderworks – March 23 – register here
• Vectorworks Landmark with Renderworks – March 24 – register here
• Vectorworks Fundamentals with Renderworks – March 24 – register here

For more information on Vectorworks 2010 series products go here.

Key New Features in Maya 2011

There are several key new features in Maya 2011 some of which are specifically aimed at Mac OS X users. Starting with the Mac features first:

• Mac OS X 64-bit Availability – Mac users can now access considerably larger memory to handle complex scenes with a new 64-bit executable.
• FBX technologies have been brought up to speed with Maya 2011 format
• Redesigned User Interface – Nokia’s Qt software development technology is behind Maya 2011’s modern user interface, offering more power and flexibility.
• High Performance Core – Maya 2011 has a brand new graphics pipeline that helps speed up overall performance, especially related to the feedback speed in viewports.
• Improved Maya Composite – A new Vector Paint feature in Maya Composite dramatically improves its painting and rotoscoping capabilities.
• Accelerated 3D Editorial Workflow – new Camera Sequencer adds powerful multicamera editorial capabilities to help facilitate pre-visualization and virtual movie-making production using the Maya timeline. The Camera Sequencer supports import of both AAF and Apple Final Cut Pro EDLs.
• Enhanced Skinning Workflow – A new dual quaternion option for smooth skinning, interactive volume binding and enhancements to Paint Skin Weights tool.

Maya 2011 will be available in English and Japanese in April 2010. (SRP) for Autodesk Maya 2011 stand-alone license is 3,495.USD while the (SRP) for the upgrade is 1,745.USD.

You can check out some features on Autodesk’s YouTube channel here.

At SolidWorks World 2010 what as shown was what Fielder Hiss called “technology components” or pieces of software that are demonstrating the technology that SolidWorks is developing in its labs. “They are not products or future products,” said Hiss. Those components were shown to demonstrate how SolidWorks is trying understand and solve customer problems…by looking at “what is core to what customers are really trying to do.” Specifically in terms of the Mac or what was shown with the iMac at SolidWorks World was technology components which leverage the cloud or cloud-based computing.

Clarifying the Mac

What people saw off the Mac was being run from a cloud server. It was running a design tool that “does not have a name” according to Hiss. “We are trying to find the best way to deliver solutions when the cloud becomes a common solution for our customers and the industry.”

“The component technology we are developing in the labs is future oriented.” said Hiss. “We are architecting these components in a way where we can deliver not just cloud-based solutions but deliver to native platforms if and when the market needs that.” These component technologies according to Hiss are 3-5 years off before they become products that ship. “We do not have clear plans today to deliver our flagship product (SolidWorks) to the Mac.” he said.

Fielder Hiss noted that the Mac is a in-demand item with their customers, especially in the home. “I’m a Mac user at home to be honest,” he said, “there is a lot more excitement about the Mac out there in the community.”

The Future is Flexibility

For SolidWorks the future is about being flexible. Mr. Hiss gave a wonderful example of a typical dad working on a product and rushing off to see his daughter’s soccer game late in the afternoon, then returning to his design later in the evening from home (possibly from a Mac) to continue further work. The future is about being flexible, about having options for how you can access information from different devices from anywhere in the world through the Internet. The cloud-based technologies SolidWorks showed at SolidWorks World are aimed at meeting that kind of flexibility.

As for native versions of SolidWorks? The company is officially saying there is no commitment to ship a native Mac version of its flagship SolidWorks application. What was said on stage and to other press was that they are studying concepts for native Mac software–thus some of the confusion.

The New KeyShot

KeyShot is a realtime, interactive ray tracing rendering program. It utilizes physically correct and CIE verified rendering engine technology featuring many innovations developed by 2004 Academy Award Winner Dr. Henrik Wann Jensen. The program is available immediately for purchase for both Mac and PC operating systems.

KeyShot breaks down the complexity of producing high-end photo-realistic rendered images and is particularly valuable to auto-design studios and product designers. It has also been used in architecture thanks to its SketchUp file support, though it is less ideal to that discipline. The program utilizes unbiased sampling techniques that compute mathematically correct results, generates scientifically accurate materials, multi-core photons and more.

01 - The new KeyShot by Luxion, advanced realtime rendering on Mac OS X.

KeyShot has a technology called Dynamic Light Core that allows users to see results at the same time as changes are being made. Combined with its general ease of use KeyShot gives users remarkable rendering power and speed, independent of the model size. The program supports many native file formats, including: SolidWorks, Rhino, OBJ, IGES, STEP, SketchUp and more.

KeyShot is the next advancement in the last evolution of HyperShot and includes these following key improvements:

• Certification for Mac OS X Snow Leopard (v10.6)
• Faster rendering speed
• Improved overall image quality
• Support for direct import of SolidWorks 2010 data
• All new importer platform that includes support for IGES and STEP on Mac OS X
• New high-quality HDRIs from www.hdri-locations.com and www.hdrlightstudio.com

“KeyShot is based on more than a decade of research in efficient rendering algorithms,” said Dr. Henrik Wann Jensen, Chief Scientist of Luxion. “Being able to create amazing images in realtime on any computer without specific requirements such as special graphics cards is the goal of our research. We have developed several novel algorithms that take full advantage of all the cores in modern CPUs in order to deliver the ultimate rendering tool for end users.”

KeyShot pricing starts at 995.USD, while KeyShot Pro begins at 1,995.USD. Educational and floating license versions are also available. Please contact sales@luxion.com or for more information visit them on the web here: www.keyshot.com or www.luxion.com