Questions regarding Revit and compatibility with Mac.

[Avh_UK]

This is really a follow on from this topic (started on the cloud service topic) see below:

http://feedback.autodesk.com/cloudservices/topics/revit_mac_version

As Christiaan said "it's a travesty that there are no powerful and intuitive BIM programmes available for Mac. Revit and OS X belong together!!"

I understand that as an organisation you need to keep certain things quiet until they are released, but i presume this is more to do with particular features and tools within Revit.

The closest competitors to Revit already have their software native to both the PC and Mac. So i can't see why there is a need to keep the plans, or a possible time frame for Revit to include a native Mac compatible version quiet. (unless there are no plans for this to happen?)

Releasing this information can only be beneficial to Autodesk, its users and potential future users, as we can prepare our offices appropriately.

Our office uses Mac computers and the only thing holding us back from making the move to Revit is that there is not a version for the Mac OS.

The key questions from this thread are:

1). Is Revit going to be available on the Mac using OS X?

2). When is this likely to be?

3). What form is Revit on the Mac likely to take?

Can someone from Autodesk please, provide some clarification to these questions?

[justin.mcbride]

With the recent release of Windows 8 and the earlier release of Mountain Lion many of us have questions on what to do right now. Do we invest in another couple years with a windows based system or do we finally get to call our local Apple Store Business Teams and place an order? I would like nothing more then to equip my team with those flashy new Retina Displays.

Just tell me that it is time. TELL ME! I cannot imagine why this isn't available yet. Unless you have some IT guy at your office who thinks that Mac is of the Devil; evin then, fire him. We are a design industry. Allow us to apprecieate the varius values in design that we (your customers and share holders) choose.

LET US CHOOSE MAC!

Get with the program AutoDesk. You are in San Fran, you know just how influential the Mac world is. I've never seen any lines for a windows product. I don't know anybody who slept behind a mall for two days to get their hands on anything windows.

Stop being shy. Tell us. FREAKING TELL US!

[GPR_MN]

Sign an NDA with Autodesk?!! Crazy talk!

I could only image that Autodesk would then end up owning that part of my brain that contains that information and I would have to pay a knowledge reassesment fee of $1000 if I ever wanted to consider anthing else with that particular lobe.

[Lewismm]

I think the Post answer is logical, but the omission of a version Revit running natively on Mac is not (as is the omission of Inventor running on Mac although there appears to be a version of Inventor Fusion). 

Yes, it is technically necessary to move it into the OSX environment which shares roots in Unix (Windows does not) and to then access the Mac version through a cloud. This will be even more important with cloud environments that have a structured platform database and hardware that are supporting alternate operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux) and alternate softwares (BIM 360).

While the Amazon cloud is fine for storage or rendering, it is not acceptable as an enterprise solution, such as Oracle (which is a Unix friendly platform).

For those excited about 4D& 5D this is an absolute necessity for progress and true collaboration. 

[klabick]

As an Architecture undergraduate student I agree that Revit should be supported on Mac's.  I know myself and several of my peers, own Mac computers and would enjoy learning Revit in our spare time; seeing as our school does not teach Revit.  Therefore we do not have it on our school computers, and since the program is only supported by windows, we can not get it on our laptops, and are therefore at a disadvantage when it comes to our chosen career path.

[Avh_UK]

Hi DavisC

Unfortunately, the promise of a non disclosure agreement was an empty one, one of my collegues pursued this.  

I would much rather use Revit than ArchiCad.  Are you able to idicate if you are working on a version for the mac cant wait much longer!

[jevasshaug]

Bump!

Is Revit coming to OS X?

My 30 licence seat Mac-only firm is looking to switch software, and if someone could just whisper a yes or no to this simple question, I could tell my boss to hold out a little longer before switching. 

[justin.mcbride]

I have been using the parallels option for the past couple years. It is not a viable option to run Revit.

Running Revit within a virtual machine is a nightmare. It all starts with the omen that is the install process. It takes an insane amount of troubleshooting just to get the install to finish. I think it took somewhere near 20 tries before it finally completed the install.

After it is installed the ribon will be blank, menus will disappear and things will flicker. Even running it on the high end Retina MBP and allocating all of my graphics/ram/CPU I still have lag issues.

Autodesk, is this honestly how you want us to run your products? If you aren't willing to write a Mac specific version then at least write one that plays friendlier within a virtual environment.

Although we all know that the better option is just to release a cloud based version of your software. Let's be honest, BIM still isn't as cool as we all dream it to be. It lacks detailing components and digital documentation options. It also isn't exactly graphically adjustable. Creating beautiful drawings in BIM takes way too much customization and headache. It's easier just to use AutoCAD in the end...

But then there are the lack of AutoCAD features on the Mac. Features like custom commands and changing keyboard shortcuts. WTF Autodesk?

Please agree that this run around is getting old. These threads are YEARS old and the answer hasn't changed. You all are lucky you hold a "standard" in the market otherwise some young minds wich are ready to take hold of this market would come steal it away.

Let's recall Steve Jobs and his bouts with HP. How does it feel to be the HP of designer software?

[scott_d_davis]

You can now run Revit, Inventor, 3DS Max, and Maya completely in a browser, on ANY platform that has the capabiltiy to run an HTML5 browser.  

Run Revit on a PC, Mac, linux, unix, tablet...it doesn't matter what hardware you run.

here's the announcement from just about a week ago:

http://www.4-traders.com/AUTODESK-INC-4937/news/Autodesk-Inc--Autodesk-Provides-3D-Design-in-a-Brows...

[scott_d_davis]

...and here is a link to a 30-day FREE trial of Revit, running on ANY hardware that has a compatible HTML5 Broswer.

https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/B00FGB1VTC/ref=sp_mpg_product_title/183-8476288-5610011?ie=UTF...

[justin.mcbride]

@Davissc so it is sold through Amazon? Why does this feel so sketchy? And it's an hourly charge?

Can you direct me to an Autodesk site with information on it? I want to fill in the gaps.

[scott_d_davis]

right now, through December 31st, its free (so longer than 30 day trial).  After that it will be a pay-as-you-go service that will (apparently) be paid for by the hour.  Personallly, even though I'm Autodesk, I don't know that much about it.  I know its been in progress for some time, but the press release caught me off gaurd.  Currently, i can't find any Autodesk.com links for it, except for links to the press release that i posted.

It's sold through Amazon's Web services, which is the same service Autodesk uses for Cloud Rendering, 360, etc.  It's Amazon's EC2 network.

I would suggest signing up for the trial, and it appears that there is a link on that site to a forum where you may me able to ask some questions.

[summerain]

why do they still not put revit on the mac?

[rose_leahy]

Hi there,

I am trying to download Revit onto my Mac as a trial, which I have done for Auto CAD in the past. But for some reason, it doesn't have a Mac option, only Windows. This is the problem I had when trying to download CAD, and someone on this forum sent me a direct link which the Mac option. 

Is someone able to please help me out? Desperate!

Thanks!!

[rosskirby]

There is no native Mac option for Revit.  You will have to install Windows first.

[philip.s]

Hi @rose_leahy!

Here's a full list of our Mac Compatible Products, including those that need a virtualized environment or Windows partition to run.

[rose_leahy]

Really? How annoying!! Do you know how I can install Windows onto my Mac?

Thank-you for your replies!

[BIMgirl]

Yeahh it's annoying indeed and Revit / Autodesk is the only reason why I have Windows on my Mac! 😕
The easiest way is to use Bootcamp, which is included in the Mac OS X. This gives you the best performance, however you need go chose between Mac OS and Windows when booting as you can't run them simultaneously.
Another option is using a virtualisation software, such as Parallels ot VMware Fusion, which lets you run Windows directly from the Mac OS. Obviously, the hardware ressources are shared between both systems, therefore this option requires more RAM / CPU power. Both Parallels and Fusion are quite similar; Parallels is promoted more by Autodesk, however Fusion is a bit cheaper. I'm using Fusion and I'm very happy with it!
No matter which option you chose, you need to buy a copy of Windows and have >100 GB of free diskspace (ir won't be completely taken by Windows, but Windows needs some space to 'breathe') 😉
There is an excellent article in optimizing the Windows performance on a Mac over at BIMtopia (the article assumes you use Parallels, however the settings in orher virtualisation solutions are qite sinilar!)
http://www.bimtopia.com/index.php/item/tips-for-improving-revit-performance-on-a-mac

[architects]

I confess to not understanding the coyness of AutoDesk not confirming the Mac Revit issue.

I accept that company employees can't divulge future plans, that's commonplace, and anyone who has a problem with that really needs to think hard about the issue. It's not that hard to work out 🙂

What I don't understand, is why Autodesk don't make a public press release about plans to develop an OS X port.

ArchiCad and Vectorworks both run on PC and Mac, and they are smaller companies than Autodesk, with a smaller market share. I have an office with Macs, I'm not changing to PCs, and I'm not going to run BIM software in a VM - I'm not stupid or rich enough for that. I don't have a fast or robust enough internet connection for BIM in a browser. This means it's a non-starter for my office. In the UK BIM is mandated for local government projects by 2015. I'm running out of time before I simply have a choice of ArchiCAD (Vectorworks' 3D implementation/workflow is just awful) or nothing on the Mac.

Autodesk produces some great iOS apps, many of which are free. It released AutoCAD for Mac.

The company has the resources to do it, and committing to it will only protect their market share, as many customers who have Macs and want a BIM solution will most likely hold off on purchasing VW and ArchiCad, and wait for Revit.

So - AutoDesk, major software vendor, largest BIM vendor, largest CAD/BIM market share, what are you going to do? 

Don't string customers along, with the, "We may, or we may not, but we can't tell you" approach.

It's not a matter of revealing what's in Area 51 or who really killed JFK, or what happened to Jimmy Hoffa. It's not like posting your source code for Revit or giving competitors a head start. In fact it's more like pulling the rug from under them.

[pedicini]

*architects* makes clear, reasonable sense in the post above. I will only add that most Mac users have no wish to create a Windows partition on their computers. Revit should exist in a stand-alone Mac version or as an independent fully functional Web-based version. Autodesk's customers are asking politely and directly what Autodesk's plans are for making that happen. For Autodesk to reply as if the answer were a state secret is simply silly. 

Kindly have enough respect for your customers to provide a straight answer and please make that straight answer a targeted date for the Mac version or Web-based version of Revit.

Thank you.

[architects]

For the moment, I have a great option in ArchiCAD. It's a very flexible piece of software, and very mature. More so than Revit in fact.

The point is that the largest CAD/BIM vendor in the world won't confirm that it wants to enter the market, which is creating more uncertainty and more likely to drive customers to competitors products.

I have a weird kind of split view about AutoDesk, based on 25 years experience. On the CAD side, they can be the most intractable and difficult company to deal with, and one of the least responsive. Their software is expensive, they push prices up, force upgrades whether you need them or not, and keep changing the file format with every release. This is simply unacceptable for many users. I hate the company.

On the iOS side, there are so many great pieces of competent, innovative and just cool pieces of software, that are very reasonably priced. A lot of stuff is free. I love it.

So AutoDesk, are you listening? Do you think I trust you enough to put (a large part of) the future of my office in your hands?