AutoCAD Comes to the Mac … and the iPad!

Last Tuesday, Autodesk made a product announcement that came as quite a surprise, and an exciting one at that—it is releasing a Mac version of AutoCAD, and simultaneously also releasing a version of AutoCAD that can run on Apple’s iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, and other mobile devices. It is commendable when a dominant company in a field can still come up with something unexpected—something different from the incremental improvements and product upgrades that are typically so routine that they carry little by way of surprise, let alone excitement. This was certainly not the case with the news from Autodesk last week. At the 2011 product launch earlier this year, we did not even get an inkling that Autodesk might be developing a Mac version of AutoCAD, let alone a mobile one, so the announcement definitely got the “wow” reaction. In addition to announcing the new developments at a press conference last week, Autodesk also scheduled an event the same evening in its San Francisco office for select customers and media, providing additional details about the products as well as the opportunity to see and play with the Mac and iPad versions of AutoCAD first-hand. This issue of the AECbytes Newsletter looks at what has been shared so far about these two new “avatars” of AutoCAD and analyzes its potential impact on the AEC industry—including the possibility of the iPad becoming an exciting new medium for accessing, communicating, and even creating building information.

The Mac Version of AutoCAD

Many current users of AEC technology may not even be aware of the fact that Autodesk used to develop and support a Mac version of AutoCAD; but this was nearly two decades ago, so it’s understandable that it has long receded into the annals of history. The last AutoCAD version for the Mac was released in 1992 and Autodesk stopped supporting it shortly thereafter, preferring to focus its development efforts on the Windows platform. Since that time, as AutoCAD grew to become the dominant CAD application in the AEC industry, it also led to the increasing adoption of Windows-based computers in AEC firms, even those that preferred the Mac platform. While applications like ArchiCAD, VectorWorks, and form.Z continued to support both platforms, thereby providing some options for those who were determined to stick with the Mac platform, the overwhelming majority of AEC applications were, and still are, Windows-only—including Bentley’s MicroStation and its BIM applications, Revit, Tekla Structures, NavisWorks, Nemetschek Allplan, Newforma, and a multitude of other design, analysis, construction, collaboration, project management, and facilities management applications. The AEC world has become primarily a Windows world, and it is rare to find an AEC firm that has most of its workforce on Macs instead of Windows computers.

Ironically, it is in this world of Windows near-ubiquity that Autodesk has chosen to suddenly bring back a Mac version of AutoCAD (see Figure 1). The company attributes this decision as being driven primarily by customer demand—apparently the number of requests it received for a Mac version of AutoCAD had been steadily rising over the last few years. This does seem hard to believe from the standpoint of the AEC industry, given how Windows-centric it has become over the last decade, as well as the fact that BIM has overtaken CAD as the dominant technology in the design and construction of buildings. On the other hand, the Mac platform seems to be seeing a resurgence in the computing world in general, buoyed undoubtedly by Apple’s phenomenal success with its iPod, iPhone, and iPad devices. Considering both these developments, it would be more understandable if Autodesk’s AEC customers were asking for a Mac version of Revit! But, of course, Autodesk serves many other industries in addition to AEC, and it is possible that AutoCAD is still used extensively in some of them—for example, industrial or product design—which may have prompted the demand for a Mac version of AutoCAD. Some cynics may also think of the move as an attempt by Autodesk to still keep AutoCAD alive and in the news at a time when its flagship product may be in danger of losing relevance in many of the industries where it was once dominant, such as AEC.

While the Mac version of AutoCAD may not significantly increase either AutoCAD or Mac adoption in the AEC industry, it will certainly be welcomed by those already on the Mac platform who would like to run AutoCAD on it. From a technological perspective, the Mac version does promise to be a success—it is a 64-bit, native Mac OS application, and has been designed to take advantage of many of the advanced features and sophisticated capabilities of the Mac platform, such as Cover Flow navigation to flip through graphical previews of drawings files (see Figure 2), and use of Multi-Touch gestures for intuitive panning and zooming. Rather than being a “carbon copy” of the Windows version of AutoCAD, as many cross-applications tend to be, the Mac version’s user interface has been designed to give it a distinctive Mac look and feel. Yes, it offers all the AutoCAD capabilities and functionalities of its 2011 release (described briefly in AECbytes Newsletter #44), including its many customization options including shortcut keys, screen settings, and display settings to suit individual workflows and project demands. (LISP routines may have to be recompiled, but they should work.) As Autodesk puts it, the product “has the heart of AutoCAD and the soul of the Mac.”

The Mac version of AutoCAD will be available later this fall, bringing full DWG compatibility to the Mac and DWG interoperability between the Mac and Windows platforms. It will be priced the same as the Windows version; however, it will be offered free to teachers and students in recognition of the popularity of the Mac platform among students. At this point, there is no AutoCAD LT version for the Mac, and there was no indication that Autodesk was planning to develop one.

AutoCAD for the iPad and Other Mobile Devices

Along with a Mac version, Autodesk also unveiled the upcoming AutoCAD WS mobile application, which can be used to access AutoCAD files on mobile devices such as the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch (see Figure 3). While a customized version of this application has been developed for Apple’s mobile devices, AutoCAD WS should also work on other mobile devices such as those running Google’s Android operating system. The Apple version will be available as a free app on Apple’s iTunes App Store and can be downloaded by anyone to use with an Apple device. It would enable them to pull up AutoCAD files that are in the “cloud,” zoom and pan them using the intuitive touch gestures that Apple’s devices have popularized, add comments and markups using a basic annotation toolset, and even edit them if required. I found that while the editing capability does work, it is not that easy to use—it would be best to use an actual computer for editing a file. Also, the mobile application currently does not support 3D DWG files and is therefore limited to sharing drawing files only, as opposed to models. Another aspect to keep in mind is that the DWG files are not stored locally, so you have to be connected to access a file. Behind the scenes, the drawing is actually being downloaded as you zoom or pan, which is how the application is able to handle large files.

Thus, while AutoCAD WS is not intended for creating drawings or even for major editing, it works as a great companion product to AutoCAD, allowing users to access and share drawings anywhere—in business meetings, on construction sites, on the shop floor, anywhere an Internet connection is available. It can even be used by non-AutoCAD users who simply need to view the drawings and perhaps add comments and markups. It opens up a new way to collaborate on drawings, where multiple team members can access the same drawing from different locations using their mobile devices and navigate and annotate them in real time.

The iPad – A Promising New Medium for AEC?

Of all of the mobile devices currently available, the iPad is undoubtedly the most fascinating from a business perspective, especially in the AEC industry, because it has a large screen that makes for a pleasant user experience and actually allows it to be put to some meaningful use. Therefore, it was only to be expected, following its launch six months ago, that we would soon starting seeing AEC applications developed for it. Vendors such as Vela Systems—which develops field management software for construction—were one of the first to develop an iPad version of their applications, and Autodesk itself has been an early entrant to the field with its SketchBook Mobile application for Apple’s mobile devices, which works especially well for sketching and illustration on the iPad. Now, with the ability to access DWG files on the iPad, it just became an even more interesting and compelling new medium for professional use in the AEC industry.

It is not simply the ability to view drawing files on the iPad that is exciting—it is the potential opening of the floodgates to many more such applications in the near future. Imagine an iPad version of Autodesk Design Review, which would allow models to be viewed and annotated in the same portable and intuitive manner in which consumers currently interact with digital content on the iPad. Going further, we could even think of a Navisworks app, which, given the popularity of the application with designers as well as constructors, in the office as well as on site, would be a godsend for multi-disciplinary collaboration and design coordination. Other leading AEC vendors would also go ahead and develop iPad versions of their applications, if they are not doing so already.

Moreover, we don’t have to be limited to simply accessing content on the iPad created elsewhere—there’s no reason it cannot also become a design tool for creating content. Just as Autodesk SketchBook Mobile enables professional-quality drawing and painting on the iPad, it is not difficult to imagine applications that will allow conceptual sketching and 3D modeling on it. Autodesk already had a conceptual design application geared towards tablet computers—remember Autodesk Architectural Studio? (See AECbytes Newsletter #13 for more about this application and why it was discontinued in 2004.) Autodesk should consider bringing it back and getting it to work on the iPad—it would be a perfect fit. An application like SketchUp also is well suited for a tablet-based medium, and I almost expected an iPad version of SketchUp to be announced last week in conjunction with the release of SketchUp 8. Sadly, this was not the case; perhaps Google is waiting for its own Andriod-based tablet before it releases a mobile version of SketchUp. (For those who just can’t imagine creating models with touch-based gestures alone, styluses are available as third-party accessories for the iPad, although these are more like our fingers with wider flat tips as opposed to pens that have narrower sharp points.)

Conclusions

Autodesk’s decision to bring back a Mac version of AutoCAD after a span of almost two decades should be a welcome development for AEC professionals who still use AutoCAD and have stuck with the Mac platform despite the long dominance of Windows applications in the AEC industry. However, this development, in and of itself, is unlikely to increase the adoption of the Mac platform—or of AutoCAD itself—in our industry, given the increasing move away from CAD to BIM technology. For those who never left the Mac platform, applications such as ArchiCAD, Vectorworks, and form.Z provided them with the CAD, BIM, and 3D modeling capabilities they needed, and while these users could do with a copy of AutoCAD to ensure DWG compatibility, it is unlikely that they would switch to AutoCAD as their main design application. Now if Autodesk were to release a Mac version of Revit, that would indeed be a significant game-changer, both for the Mac platform as well as for the AEC industry.

AutoCAD on the iPad, however, can definitely be seen as an exciting and important development for the AEC industry, as it paves the way for the iPad and other forthcoming touch-based tablet devices—some of which have already been announced, such as Samsung’s Galaxy, and several of which are supposedly in the making by companies like Dell and HP—to become a brand new medium for professional use in AEC. Autodesk deserves kudos for becoming the trailblazer here, not just for bringing back AutoCAD in style and with aplomb, but for also making it the harbinger of possibilities ahead that could open up a whole new way of doing things in the AEC industry.

About the Author

Lachmi Khemlani is founder and editor of AECbytes. She has a Ph.D. in Architecture from UC Berkeley, specializing in intelligent building modeling, and consults and writes on AEC technology. She can be reached at lachmi@aecbytes.com.