The new Parallels Desktop 6 Enterprise Edition enables IT departments to deploy Windows-based solutions for Mac users with a configurable, policy compliant solution that easily fits into existing business processes.

Mac Use Up In Enterprises

“As Macs become increasingly more prevalent in the workplace, there is a growing need for Mac users to run essential Windows applications that are critical to their businesses,” said Laura DiDio, Principal of research firm Information Technology Intelligence Consulting.

Adding Macs into enterprises businesses has traditionally been a challenge or pain point for IT departments. But users are asking for Macs and more businesses today are using them in their environments. “Savvy businesses are addressing this issue by deploying desktop virtualization solutions that allow them to easily manage their Windows and Mac environents,” said DiDio.

Key Features

Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac Enterprise Edition helps businesses install pre-configured, policy compliant deployments of Parallels. This helps IT proactively enforce a configurable software update policy and well as local server options. That means IT departments can determine when and where software updates are applied to Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac across the organization.

Other features that differentiate this product from the regular edition of Parallels Desktop 6 Mac include:

• Unified volume license activation key — simplifies mass end user license agreements
• Streamlined Business GUI — adds customizable Request Support menu option to direct users to internal help desk resources
• Parallels Desktop for Mac Mass Deployment Application — enables a centralized configuration and distribution of software install packages, including enabling “lights out” deployments
• Annual subscription license — includes software licensing and business class support and more…

To learn more visit them online at: www.parallels.com

Earlier we wrote about the Inspired Visions Global Rendering and Animation competition by Maxon and Nemetschek Vectorworks. If you do renderings and animations you should sign up. You can obtain 30 and 42 day trial versions of the software used for the competition so it is an opportunity to learn more software and pick up skills while having fun. There are currently 13 weeks left and you can see the results of competition here. Also, for German-language users there is a new book titled Vectorworks Architektur: CADD+Visualisierung, by Horst Sondermann. This book is available here.

2011 iSquint Student Design Competition went to Colin Chaunche, who is a senior at SUNY (State University of New York) Fredonia where he will graduate with a BFA in theatrical production and design with a concentration in lighting design. As winner of the competition he will receive a professional license of Vectorworks Spotlight 2011 with Renderworks, as well as a license of Lightwright 5 and a single license of Field Template SoftSymbols V3. You can read more here.

LumenRT News

e-on software’s leader Matt Riveccie has noted that there are new same images from their new rendering software lumenRT, available for viewing on the lumenRT website. LumenRT is a new SketchUp rendering plugin coming soon. The new images are of the Azuma house by Tadao Ando.

Learn more here. http://www.lumenrt.com/

Parallels News – Makes Switching to Mac from PC Easier

Parallels has announced this week that there is a new application called Parallels Transporter which is available on the Mac App Store. The new software makes moving from PC to Mac even easier.

Parallels Transporter helps in the automatic transferring of music, pictures, Internet bookmarks, documents and more come over to your new Mac. To learn more visit here.

Nvidia will supposedly introduce three new Nvidia Quadro graphics cards at Autodesk University aimed at speeding up standard operations in programs like AutoCAD. The new Quadro FX 380 LP is aimed at the desktop while the Quadro FX 3800M and Quadro FX 2800M are aimed at mobile platforms.

The desktop solution is a low-profile card with 16 processing cores and 512MB of GDDR3 memory running on a 64-bit interface. You can read more here.

Next Apple Mac Pro Workstations to Be 6-12 Core Xeon Monsters

According to a Polish website called PCLab Intel’s upcoming new six-core Xeon microprocessors will be up to 50 percent faster than the previous generation four-core Xeons in parallel operations. And, get this, they will use 50 percent less power.

Intel’s code-named Gulftown” Xeons will be implemented on a new 32 nanometer fabrication process and will be the company’s first six-core processors. They will feature 12MB of L3 cache, and if paired with another chip as is typical of Apple for its high-end workstations the upcoming Mac Pros will feature up to 12 physical and 24 logical cores.

The next Mac Pros are rumored to be coming in the first quarter of 2010. Apple is also expected to have short-term exclusive use of the new i9 based Gulftown six-core Xeons and has enjoyed such exclusive access to leading edge Xeons for the past two generations with the Mac Pro. These new machines should make wonderful 3D CAD and 3D rendering machines! You can read some additional information here.

Parallels vs Fusion

For those who continue to follow the story on virtualization on the Mac there is a good indepth article comparing the two leading virtualization packages for the Mac over at the Inquirer. You can read it here.

There are several key items announced in this news so read that full report here. 

The CAD Perspective

Despite the fact that in today’s Mac market there are more world-class, industry-leading CAD and 3D applications already running natively on the Mac OS X operating system than ever before doesn’t stop the quests by users and the demand on software makers to provide their Windows-only solutions to the growing Mac market. 

Autodesk’s recent announcements–since Macworld in January–portend to an evolving picture where “virtualization” is a stepping stone for software makers to deliver an interim solution to Mac users wishing to run Windows-only CAD and engineering applications.

The partnership between Parallels and Autodesk is a big blow to VMware; however there are several key Autodesk rivals which VMware could establish a working relationship in the same capacity. SolidWorks Corporation is one such major Autodesk rival, and SolidWorks is one such company that has users who would like to switch over to the Mac. 

There are interesting connections between user-bases on the Mac using native solutions and user bases on Windows-only platforms. One such connection is the partnership between solidThinking and SolidWorks. Many manufacturers have product designers using solidThinking on Macs and product engineering based around SolidWorks running out of necessity on Windows. There are overlaps with such organizations where a user on a Mac would like to be able to access files in both solidThinking and SolidWorks. 

VMware could search out such connections between major CAD and 3D design platforms and form partnerships much as Autodesk did with Parallels. By doing so it would fight off the perception that Parallels is a superior product for handling CAD applications.

VWware Fusion 3 – Further Performance Boosts

The competition between these two formidable virtualization software companies is a boon to Mac users wishing to run both native Mac and Windows applications at the same time on Apple hardware. VMware Fusion 3 adds performance enhancing capabilities in a new and more efficient virtualization engine that is less taxing on the Mac’s CPU, a very important feature for mobile computers running on batteries in particular.

It also sports a 64-bit engine and support for Mac OS X’s 64-bit kernel in Snow Leopard. There is full support for Windows 7, including its Aero interface and Flip 3D task switching. 

Lastly, there is improved support for DirectX 9.0c with Shader Model 3 (good for gaming, useless for CAD and 3D) and OpenGL 2.1 graphics–which is essential for running Windows-only CAD and engineering applications on your Mac. Our blog post goes into the CAD story in further detail.

Other Niceties

VMware Fusion 3, which will ship on October 27, 2009, has several other nice features, including a new migration utility that lets you import a real PC’s Windows installation over to a Mac, over the network. This is more flexible than the USB-based solution that Parallels delivers and it is more business-oriented.

There is also a new menu for your Windows apps that appears on the right-hand side of the Mac OS X menu bar. 

To learn more about VMware Fusion 3 go here.

Strata Foto 3D CX has been updated to version 2.0. New in this version includes the ability to create 3D models without the need for a calibration mat. A new curve outline tool enables you to make masks without a clean backdrop. The program has a new 3D model generation engine offering users a more robust experience with greater accuracy. Increased geometry limits now reach up to 20,000 triangles.

Strata Foto 3D CX 2 for Mac and Windows can be purchased for $695.USD but is currently offered for $395.USD. To learn more visit Strata’s website.

VMWare Fusion 2.0.6 Beta 1 Update

While Autodesk may have officially partnered with the Parallels folks, VMWare, a virtualization leader, has updated VMWare Fusion Beta 1 to version 2.0.6. The update helps solve Snow Leopard issues like the mouse losing focus and solves other bug fixes. It also solves slow 3D graphics on Macs with Nvidia graphics cards running Snow Leopard. Update your version here.

progeCAD on Mac with Parallels

progeCAD is an IntelliCAD-based product and is considered the best distribution. The AutoCAD compatible product is now being touted as being able to be run on Mac using either Boot Camp or virtualization software like VMWare Fusion or Parallels. The company has an online video titled, “progeCAD, the AutoCAD alternative, runs on Mac.” To learn more go here.

Earlier in the year Autodesk announced official support for the Mac via Apple’s Boot Camp software. Back in July Apple was pleased to hear Autodesk announce official support for supporting Windows-only Autodesk software via Apple’s Boot Camp technology which enables Macs to run Windows operating systems in a dual-boot configuration. 

Support via Virtualization: Officially!

Now Autodesk officially extends Mac support beyond Boot Camp embracing the Mac with Parallels Desktop for Mac. The design software giant will officially support AutoCAD software, AutoCAD LT, Autodesk Inventor Professional, Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Revit. 

According to information that Architosh has obtained, Autodesk Revit is the most popular Autodesk application running on Apple hardware. 

“Autodesk customers are increasingly working with both Mac and Windows, and have asked us to support Mac virtualization,” said Chris Bradshaw, Autodesk chief marketing officer. “Today we are pleased to welcome Parallels as a partner and Parallels Desktop as our preferred Mac virtualization software.” ”This is the latest step in Autodesk’s ongoing efforts to support our customers on the Mac, who will now be able to use some of our most popular 2D and 3D design, engineering and entertainment software alongside Mac OS X, in addition to the five native Mac applications we currently offer.”

Actually, the number of native Mac applications exceeds five. This new or updated web page on Autodesk’s site lists a total of nine native Mac applications spanning 3D and design, engineering, and film and media. They also include items like Autodesk Combustion and Autodesk Alias software, in addition to the five mentioned by Chris Bradshaw. 

Parallels Continues to Open Up the Mac World

As expected for quite some time, Parallels and its virtualization technology are key enablers for Windows developers to segue over to Mac support and eventually Mac development. That is a process that is underway not just at Autodesk but in many software companies. 

“Parallels Desktop for Mac enables over two million users to run Windows-based applications seamlessly and simply on their Mac,” said Serguei Beloussov, chief executive officer of Parallels. “Autodesk has a long history of creating innovative and industry-leading software for design, engineering and entertainment, and we’ve heard many requests from customers interested in using their Autodesk applications with Parallels. We are delighted to partner with Autodesk to help make this software more broadly available to the Mac community.”

Why Switch Edition – Why Now?

Parallels Desktop Switch to Mac Edition is not only the leading virtualization solution for Mac users seeking to run native Windows applications on their Mac, this new version goes extremely far to help those new Mac users adjust to their new platform of choice. With Mac adoption accelerating, Parallels saw a big opportunity in the market to further boost sales of their product. They decided to do this by making Parallels more than just a virtualization program but a pathway to a happy migration to the Mac. 

“We are seeing an opportunity in the shift in the market overall,” said Mary Starman, Director of Global Marketing, Consumer Parallels, “where the market may have reached a tipping point for Mac adoption. Mac units are increasing quarter over quarter even though the rest of the industry is down.”

01 - New Parallels Desktop Switch to Mac Edition.

Switch Edition for Parallels Desktop will help new users who are brand new to the Mac platform get up to speed using a tool that equates Mac tasks to Windows tasks. And this is all down in a friendly video-based environment. 

Goals: Switch to Mac Edition

The primary goals behind this software are to help users learn the Mac, keep their investments from their Windows world, and enable them to run Windows when they really do need to. 

“What sets this product apart,” said Saied Ghaffari, Parallels Desktop Instructor, “is we invested a lot in tutorials to help users learn.”  Mr. Ghaffari understands exactly what that means in terms of helping users to learn software, he previously worked at Apple and understands his former employer’s cultural standards for ease-of-use. With this product you can come from the world of Windows and learn the Mac in literally a couple of hours. 

02 - Screen shot of the instructional environment. Notice video help instructor, help hints and instructions.

The product employs what the company calls Click and Learn technology. Literally click on anything on the screen and it will teach you about it. Next is you can watch it in action with onboard video instruction and lastly there is the You Try technology which guides you through the process of steps in learning. To see how this works exactly there is a demo video here online. 

To learn more go here: http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/stm/

Dmitry Timchenko is a Masters student graduating this year from the Southern Federal University. After becoming familiar with Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD BIM software it was a natural step for him to advance his professional experience by taking on the Graphisoft BIM Experience Kit (BEK). Timchenko works for the Bureau of Reconstruction. 

“With the BIM Experience Kit, I immediately recognized ArchiCAD’s excellent performance with complex projects, its good compatibility with other programs and graphics packages, and its elegant handling of BIM,” said Dmitry Timchenko. “I can fully realize all the benefits of ArchiCAD in my daily practice. Read our ArchiCAD 12 review here.

Salon.com Looks at SketchUp and IKEA Planner for the Home Office

Salon.com has a nice little article titled “Tools for Planning and Visualizing Your Home Office Build.” The article notes that both of these tools are free and suggest that its worth taking a stab at learning them. We would really prefer it if people hired professionals for this type of thing, but with an economy like ours today it makes sense that Salon would run a story like this. 

Parallels vs. Fusion

MacNN noted a MacTech report that compared Parallels Desktop for Mac vs. VMware Fusion. The two virtualization engines battle it out for Windows virtualization on the Mac supremacy. Want to know who wins?

It probably won’t surprise you, for those that follow such things closely. Read here to see the report. 

BeLight Live Interior 3D v2.1 – Supports SketchUp 7

BeLight Live Interior 3D has been updated to version 2.1 this month and now supports SketchUp 7 files. Live Interiors 2.1 features the ability for users to import 3D objects created in SketchUp 7 and older versions, as well as export the Live Interiors 3D file into SketchUp format. 

New to the pro version of the program is the ability to customize materials with reflections, which helps to add realistic surface effects to various objects, parquet floors and other materials. Live Interiors 3D Standard retails for $49.USD while the Pro version goes for $129.USD. For a complete list of changes go here.

SolidWorks veteran and Mac user Ben Eadie, has shared his step-by-step instructions for installing and using SolidWorks on your Mac, including a process to hacking your video card’s driver software so that you can also run RealView. 

SolidWorks on the Mac

The post also notes that if you don’t want to hack your driver software you can “send Ben a beer” and he’ll send you the driver software for installation. The step-by-step instructions include:

• Install Bootcamp on your Mac (standard install on all new Macs)
• Reboot and install Windows (XP or Vista recommended)
• Install SolidWorks and MS Office (yes you need MS Office)
• You are done! 

Wolfram Research has introduced Mathematica 7, the latest version of its mathematical and computation software program for Mac OS X and other platforms. The new software includes over 500 new features including built-in image processing and analysis. 

Other key improvements include built-in parallel computing, new visualization and graphics capabilities — including comprehensive spline support and the representation of industrial NURBS surfaces.

New support for industrial NURBS

New image processing capabilities.

Mathematica 7 can adds a variety of computable data sources including the complete human genome, weather, astronomical data and GIS and geodesy data. 

Lastly, one key new feature is the new integrated programmatic email features, allowing you to construct any form of email including graphics, sounds and other attachments and to manage recipients and lists programmatically. To learn more click here.

VMware Fusion 2.0.1 Gets Performance Boost

Hot on the heels of Parallel’s new Parallels Desktop 4 for Mac, VMware has updated Fusion to version 2.0.1 adding a new performance boost. The new release will begin to ship Friday and will include a performance boost due to better CPU utilization and the patching of several previously unresolved issues. 

Other improvements focus on better performance when running 3D applications (including games and applications like Google Earth with 3D hardware acceleration) on the latest new MacBook and MacBook Pro and MacBook Air systems. 

Unity view has been improved, there are new hints in the Help menu and improvements to sharing, including nested folders and publishing Windows guest applications to the Mac. Fusion 2 users can download the latest release starting tomorrow here.

For many years the dilemma of not having a key program run on the Mac has been the bane of existence for many a CAD or 3D software user. But since Apple went to Intel and since Intel brought out support of virtualization to its desktop processors (…for years IBM and big-iron boys have been doing this using specialized and very expensive microprocessors and systems) things have been looking very hopeful for these users. And now with Parallels 4.0 they are starting to look downright rosy.

Of chief importance in version 4 is the new expanded DirectX 9 and DirectX Pixel Shader 2.0 support and more importantly to most professional Windows CAD and 3D applications, OpenGL 2.0 support. 

What Works – All These Are New

In terms of what is new and working Parallels has a complete list of applications that work under it. Some of the applications also have native Mac versions so I’ll omit those and concentrate on just the Windows-only stuff. Here it goes:

• Adobe Acrobat 3D 
• Autodesk AutoCAD 2009
• Autodesk AutoCAD 2008 (ran previously)
• Autodesk Inventor 2009 (2008 ran previously)
• Autodesk Revit Structure 2009
• Avid Softimage XSI 7
• CATIA V5R18
• Delcam FeatureCAM
• ESRI ArcGIS 9.2 and 9.3
• Microsoft Virtual Earth (not really a pro 3D app but what the heck…)
• NASA World Wind 1.4
• Pro/Engineer Wildfire 3.0 (ran previously)
• Solidworks 2009 (2007 ran on Parallels 3)

“Mac OS X is the world’s most advanced operating system and its ability to run Windows on a Mac is yet another reason users are switching to the Mac at a rapid rate,” said Ron Okamoto, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. “This rapid adoption is supported by applications like Parallels Desktop for Mac, which enables users to get the most from their hardware.”

“The growth, in both performance and ease of use, of desktop virtualization software is making it easier for Windows users to adopt Macintosh computers. The availability of this technology is one of many factors driving growth in the adoption of Mac desktops and notebooks, for which shipments have grown 46.6% between the first half of 2007 and the first half of 2008, according to our data,” said Michael Rose, Industry Analyst at the research firm, IDC. “Those users leveraging virtualization software on their Macintosh hardware will find that many of the new capabilities in Parallels Desktop 4.0 represent another step forward.”

Some Details – Manage Windows from your iPhone

One of the coolest new features is the ability to manage your Windows XP virtualized machine from your Apple iPhone. Yes, with your iPhone you can remotely start, stop and manage your Windows VM from your favorite phone. Parallel’s new FastLane architecture supports 8-way multiprocessing with support for 8GB of RAM. There is also a new Clips tool to capture screenshots across both Windows and Mac. 

Availability and Pricing

Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac is available in English, and localized versions will be available soon. The standard retail price (SRP) is 79.USD and new users can fully test drive a full version for 15-days free. Upgrade price is 39.99.USD. 

To learn more go here.

There are some important distinctions when it comes to 3D games versus 3D programs like CAD and animation program. In the Windows world the vast majority of 3D games utilize Microsoft’s proprietary DirectX technology. On the Mac games use OpenGL, an open-industry standards-based technology for hardware-accelerated 3D graphics. In the professional 3D applications world OpenGL is also the dominant industry standard, as most 3d software companies write cross-platform and many of the largest CAD developers also write for the Mac as well as Windows.

The Atomic article is pointed at Windows games under virtualization. But OpenGL is intrinsic within the acceleration architecture as well. All newer Macs also natively support OpenGL at the graphics card level as this is a core component of the Mac OS.

The Atomic article is excellent on several levels because it does a good walk-thru of setting up your Mac and virtualization environments for optimum performance — which would largely apply to pro 3D apps. It covers memory configurations as well as what type of file format to use under the virtualized host.

A key item the article points out — which will be of value to pro users wanting to test out and run pro 3D Windows apps — is that VMwareFusion allows the user to assign “virtual SMP” on multiple processor cores. Symmetric Multi-Processing is common on many pro 3D apps and the fact that you can tap all the processor cores you have on your Mac under virtualization is a real benefit. To read the full article go here.

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Tidbits: Vista Runs CAD Slower, Maxwell Render, formZ and OpenGL not capable of supporting Vista’s Interface – Huh?