apple cad

[dj_illusions]

hey all,

im a head tech at a venue in oz - so dont have a very big call to do cad drawings or design drawings of rigs, if i do i just use the software that work provided which isnt very good but someone in our IT department made a template of stuff to use but it doesnt do gel and patch paper work etc.

just wondering if anyone can recomened some good cad software that runs on apples, i know all the major stuff like vector, wysi etc. but was hoping for something on apple as i have to design a few shows privately coming up which require the rigs to be drawn properly.

any help would be great.

cheers!

[soundlight]

Maclux Pro. Actually not a half bad program if you're just doing basic plots. Just don't ask it to do much else...

Also, vectorworks does work on apples - it's probably just a tad bit expensive for you.

[derekleffew]

Vectorworks runs on Mac OS X (that's what you meant by "apples" right, you weren't talking IIe or Newton or Pippin were you?)

www.nemetschek.net

Yes, it's expensive, but I've never found a low-cost or shareware CAD program that's 1) easy, 2) good-looking, to scale, output, 3) file-compatible [.dwg, .dxf] with others, Mac and PC. I understand a student version of VW2008 is/will-be available.

That being said, look into Google Sketch-up. Also google "MacLuxPro" if you're looking for a lighting-only CAD program. I used to use it years ago, but now have Vectorworks for the reasons above. My favorite drafting program remains Blueprint, the great-grandfather of Vectorworks, but alas, is only >System 9.4.

[derekleffew]

soundlight jinx! You're "it" !

[Van]

Turbo Cad makes a Mac compatible version of there software. The less sophisticated versions are availible for less than $100. (us) and thier top o' the line, Deluxe version, is only $899.00 < US>, Which while expensive to some of us is nothing compared to ACad, VectorWorks, Yadda Yadda.

[dj_illusions]

thanks for your suggestions, i will probably just end up buying vectorworks because i remember using it on windows and know that it is a very good program and more than likely will continue using it once i have it.

i tried maclux once but wasnt very impressed, once you actually figured out how to use the stupid thing it just wasnt a very nice program to use!

thanks for your suggestions =)