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INDEX 02: CAD: MCAD (Mechanical Computer-Aided Design)

  • Anthony Frausto-Robledo, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP

    • Here we have a complete list of CAD apps for the MCAD industry for the macOS platform. This list is in alphabetical order below.

    A Primer on MCAD for Mac

    With the exception of the early 1990’s period, the mechanical CAD industry has largely avoided the macOS platform until the latter half of the last decade, when Autodesk signed renewed interest in the platform. This brought about some big announcements, most notably Siemens’ PLM software for OS X. When Apple faulted with the new 2013 Mac Pro, some of these big MCAD players faulted on their Mac plans due to a poor showing of interest with a lack of ideal Mac hardware. But that hasn’t stopped continued growth in smaller players. While the Catia, Creo, and SolidWorks of the world continue to eschew the platform (though many run those apps on Mac hardware in a virtualized environment or under Boot Camp) smaller players have emerged to fill the void.

    One such group is actually a family of rivals, consisting of AutoCAD enemies in Dassault Systemes with DraftSight, Graebert’s ARES Commander (which is the engine in DraftSight), and Bricsys with its BricsCAD platform products. These are all DWG-based solutions and rival AutoCAD, which itself came back to the Mac platform at the end of the last decade.

    The other set of MCAD products include web-based solutions or hybrid desktop-web solutions, in products Onshape and Autodesk Fusion 360, respectively.

    We spotlight three MCAD apps for Mac below.

    Mac MCAD Industry Notable Apps

    The first one is BricsCAD Sheet Metal, a dedicated focused mechanical CAD application that is fully macOS native (as is the whole Bricsys family of products which support all three main platforms.). Certainly, BricsCAD itself—which comes in Classic, Pro, and Platinum versions is well suited for mechanical CAD. A comparison of AutoCAD shows it has more features in this department, like “assembly viewing,” and “assembly constraints,” and “assembly modeling” things that AutoCAD does not have on either PC or Mac. The Sheet Metal version adds more mechanical capacity to this Belgium-based application.

    Moving away from the DWG-based new upstarts who are delivering powerful competitive pressures to Autodesk, new companies like Onshape are disrupting the biggest MCAD players due to the fact that the whole product is delivered through the web browser on any modern platform. They even have an iOS version that is exceptional. Onshape is aiming its arrow directly at Solidworks but from a disruptive position under the latter’s market. Onshape features ARES technology in its new drafting engine, and while Graebert is making an ARES Mechanical product, that product isn’t quite out on the market yet and may not be macOS compatible. Onshape has had a competitive influence on Autodesk’s similarly aimed product in Autodesk Fusion 360.

    01 – BricsCAD features an extensive mechanical design feature set and a dedicated product devoted to sheet metal design.

    02 – Onshape is the CAD industry darling at the moment with its fully web-based platform.

    03 – IMSI/Design’s TurboCAD Pro Mac is fully ACIS based and punches way above its weight for a entry-level MCAD on the Mac platform.

    IMSI/Design’s TurboCAD Mac Pro, which has been reviewed here on Architosh, is an ACIS based multi-disciplinary CAD system but one that is much stronger on the MCAD side. It’s PC sister app actually utilizes a different CAD engine and is not a one-to-one version of the Mac app. TurboCAD Mac Pro has sophisticated rendering built in and overall delivers a lot of bang for the buck.

    When Architosh published its first Digital Practice Guide (Architosh DPG) back in 2000, the list of MCAD products was pretty slim. It has grown tremendously in rich options, even greater than the Mac side of the AEC market, where two sister (Nemetschek) companies dominate that market at a tremendous level. Of course, those sister companies, given their size, have grown their add-on application market tremendously on the global scale.

    One thing that happens when a CAD platform gets really large is you get a whole family of third-party add-on applications sprouting up. We could see that happening to some of the leaders in the MCAD market that are new and still growing.

    INDEX 02: A complete listing of Mac MCAD Apps

    The list of MCAD apps for Mac has grown substantially since Architosh first launched in 1999. Below you will find….

    Growing This List

    Have we missed a key software package? If you think so please email us at info@architosh.com and tell us about it. We will be sure to add it to the list at the next update AND we will give you a complimentary annual subscription to Architosh INSIDER premium membership.

    series index page: Mac App Guides for CAD/CAM/3D/AEC industries.

    Architosh will be reviewing and updating all our App Lists on a regular basis. See the dates below.

    Listing of Updates by Date

    15 Dec 2017 — Page last updated on.

    01 Nov 2017 — Creation Date.

     

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