Revit for new Apple M1 Macs

[Anonymous]

I use Revit in a virtual Windows machine on my mac. I'm thinking of replacing my MacBook with a new generation one, but because Apple has created their own M1 chips, its not possible to run virtual windows anymore. It's a pity, these new chips seem very powerful and efficient. 

When is Autodesk going to port Revit to the Mac platform? If this does not happen anytime soon, I'm afraid I and many other architects will have to find another BIM-solution

[RobDraw]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I use Revit in a virtual Windows machine on my mac. I'm thinking of replacing my MacBook with a new generation one, but because Apple has created their own M1 chips, its not possible to run virtual windows anymore. It's a pity, these new chips seem very powerful and efficient. 

When is Autodesk going to port Revit to the Mac platform? If this does not happen anytime soon, I'm afraid I and many other architects will have to find another BIM-solution

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No one here can answer your question.

If you are basing your BIM solution choice on hardware, you are doing it backwards. You should be basing your hardware choices on the software choices.

[Anonymous]

many threads on this already

search this forum: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?advanced=false&allow_punctuation=false&...

[JJWGallagher]

Why wouldn't you switch OS's rather than BIM software? Seems like going way out of your way so you can support Apple. If you're serious about Architecture use Windows.

[RobDraw]

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@JJWGallagher wrote:

If you're serious about Architecture use Windows.

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That's punny!

How often do you see apples on buildings?

[Anonymous]

When running an architecture firm, Revit is only one of the tools that can be used to deliver a project. Practically all software we use runs on both windows and mac, many architects use mac computers. Revit is the exception here. Our engineers have windows workstations, but the Engineers have MacBooks that run everything native, except for Revit which could always run virtually in parallels desktop. 

For architects, a computer is not a Revit machine but a toolbox that contains Revit as a tool. So no, serious architects don't need windows. Serious architects have been asking for Autodesk to come along, but it has been silent on their side for a long time.

[RobDraw]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So no, serious architects don't need windows. Serious architects have been asking for Autodesk to come along, but it has been silent on their side for a long time.

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So the architects that have not been asking are not serious? The smart (not serious) architects that want to use Revit know this and get appropriate equipment instead of speculating about future developments of something that is probably not going to happen.

On a side note, this is not the forum to be arguing about this. This forum is about real world solutions. New feature requests and developmental issues belong elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

There are reasons to have a mac and reasons to have a pc. Thats not what this topic is about.

The Feature request is for Autodesk to bring revit to the mac-platform one way or another, because it seems like I and many others cannot use revit anymore when we upgrade our macs in the future

[RobDraw · Accepted solution]

As I already said, feature requests belong elsewhere.

Good luck waiting for that. It will probably be quite a long wait.

[Anonymous]

There’s light at the end of the Windows, I mean tunnel. 

https://mspoweruser.com/parallels-worked-with-microsoft-to-bring-windows-10-to-the-new-apple-m1-macb...

[Anonymous]

If you’re serious about architecture use Windows? What????????????

[Anonymous]

Revit doesn’t work on windows ARM version 

[Anonymous]

There are people working on solutions of a kind.  Namely, Parallels and Microsoft.  Parallels is working on getting WindowsOnArm to work in a VM, and Microsoft is working to get 64-bit app compatibility working on WindowsOnArm.

Here's a video of someone running AutoCAD x64 and trying to install Revit on a bleeding-edge Dev version of WindowsOnArm with x64 support, running on a development version of Parallels.  (Remember, this is a Dev version of Windows and a pre-release version of Parallels 16 from Dec 2020.  Here we are in Feb 2021, and I'm curious to see how the software develops over the next several months.)

                          Running 64-bit Windows on M1 Mac with Parallels 16 | AutoCAD, Revit & Gami...

What we're all waiting for is software compatibility at multiple points from multiple vendors before even getting to Autodesk choosing to develop a Mac-native Revit version.  Personally, I want to maintain file-format compatibility with the AEC industry in the US, while using the OS of my choice.  (I read years ago that Graphicsoft has a slight majority in the EU and Vectorworks had a majority in Asia, but those stats are years old.)

Perhaps if Microsoft would create their own "transparent framework translation" similar to WINE, that would be another potential solution.  But I see that less likely than Autodesk making Revit Mac-native.

I see people running Revit on a Mac in the future because it's the combination they choose to.  If I remember correctly, Autodesk had some people move their AutoCAD seats from Windows to Mac when they brought ACAD back to the Mac, but they also had an increase in their user base by gaining new users from the Mac world.  I can only think something similar will happen if (preferably when) Revit is brought to the Mac.

Even if a Mac specific version of Revit is not developed, Microsoft's expansion to ARM processors, and AMD's looking to purchase ARM, combined with Intel's year's-long fumbling on development, ought to help push ARM into the mainstream on the Windows side.

[RobDraw]

Good luck!

[liinanotko]

Fellow Mac users. I need your help.

I'm architecture student and I use MacBook Air M1. Where I should render my 3D work? I use autocad and fusion 360 but Fusion 360 rendering is not good enough in my opinion. What rendering software you guys use?

[Anonymous]

AutoCad and fusion 360 for architecture. What?????????????

[colourcaddy]

So surely you must accept that you can run more software that architects use on Windows. It's not just Revit, 3ds max and the full version of AutoCAD also don't run on MacOS. Now that Apple have given up on dedicated GPUs for their laptops and the Mini, it also rules out most 3D and rendering apps (Vray, Lumion, Twinmotion etc.). Even software available to run on MacOS (such as ArchiCAD and SketchUp) doesn't run as well as on a machine with dedicated graphics. Adobe software is the latest problem, because Apples block upgrades to their OS, even on quite recent MacBook Pros, which in turn blocks most Adobe apps on subscription. The workaround for the ones still with intel CPUs is to simply switch over to Windows, which will of course allow the Adobe software to be installed without a problem (even though it doesn't run as well as on a PC running Windows). Whenever I have a student with problem with these programs I generally can tell without asking that they are using a Mac.

I've been teaching a whole range of architectural software as part of a degree program for many years, and I'm always amazed by the number of new students who falsely believe Apple computers are better for the work we do, when in fact the opposite is true. I have seen before my eyes a row of PC laptops (often fairly cheap but with dedicated graphics) seriously outperform much more expensive MacBook Pros sitting next to them, performing the same tasks. Then you have the glitches and poor UI (or UX) of the MacOS and the confusion created by the introduction of M1. Risc processing (i.e. ARM) might be good for some people, but when we went through all of this in the 80s and 90s, it became pretty clear that the reason x86 processors were better for 3D is that the complex instructions risc doesn't allow were often used for 3D. If you don't understand all of this and just want to buy a computer that will allow you use all or the architectural software you need, just get a PC, and don't get sucked in by the unpaid Apple marketing fanboys, who in their selfishness, are trying to convince people to spend a whole lot more money on an Apple computer that in many cases simply won't do the job required

[colourcaddy]

Interesting that you point to ARM being the future for programs like Revit. From my experience I haven't heard of a risc based architecture that supports dedicated graphics. At present the fastest x86 processors (which also allow dedicated graphics to further improve performance) far outperform ARM processors. ARM may have some advantages on laptops and small desktops (like the mini) because they have better power consumption, SoC and small gate size, but compared to a high-end PC setup for 3D work (i.e. the sort of computer you need to run Revit) their performance is terrible.

If you think development of ARM will improve performance with smaller gate size, just remember that the M1 gate is not very many silocon atoms across, and you can't have gates smaller than an atom, that's just physics. While the development of ARM and the software programmed for it is very interesting, I wouldn't be writing off x86 any time soon, and at present an x86 PC with dedicated graphics is a far better optoin for architecture than any ARM solution

[colourcaddy]

I would seriously reconsider buying an M1 Mac for any sort of 3D work, but especially of course for Revit, since it is not supported on M1 Macs. Most 3D applications (including Revit) either require, or run much better, with dedicated 3D graphics. Now that the new line of M1 Macs precludes the use of dedicated graphics cards, it makes them an inappropiate tool for programs such as Revit

[colourcaddy]

It isn't just Revit that won't work on M1 Macs, but of course Revit is one of the more popular tools that only works on Windows. If you want to persist with the MacOS and now M1 processors, despite them clearly not being made to work with 3D capable software, you are simply giving an edge to your competitors who choose to use a platform (Windows) that is made to work with 3D software