Revit on Mac

[Anonymous]

Hi why dont make  mac revit architecture I think is as important as the pc

thanks

[Anonymous]

Is your work in progress going somewhere? This post as been posted in 2013... There is still no REVIT for Mac available. 

[Anonymous]

I absolutely wish that Autodesk would give us an update regarding the Revit or even a Design Suite for Mac OS.   It has been way to long.  You, like myself have to decide to purchase a separate PC just to run the the latest Revit/Design Suite.  I would never run a Parallels or Boot Camp ever again...too much performance dilution and too many steps to take just to go back and forth, back and forth.   

[t.donov94]

Haha, I posted a comment on this topic, 3 years ago with no results. What has changed in that time is that I gave up having to run Windows on my Mac, due to the constant problem with graphics issues and I am now using PC full time. Probably there will never be a Revit for Mac or for that matter 3D Max or a proper AutoCAD.

Autodesk very disappointing!

[Anonymous]

For everyone still asking, they need to realise that a native Mac version of Revit will never happen.

There is no point posting any more requests about this. Autodesk will have done their market analysis, and aren't going to make a Mac version. 

Revit is integrated into the entire software suite. There is insufficient demand to justify the development and support costs for a native OS X port.

Autodesk are a huge company and it needs to generate a lot of money to sustain itself. Not only that, but it has to maintain its profit margins for investors. The vast majority of investors don't care about multi-OS support. They just care about making money.

It's impossible for large companies in the long term to sustain themselves in the same industry. They have to diversify into other markets. We are seeing this with mobile and web apps.

Mac users who want Revit will have to abandon OSX for Windows. By all means have a separate Mac laptop for other stuff, but for BIM, take the red pill and buy a big PC workstation (the Mac Pro is 2013 technology and way overpriced for its capability) for way less than a Mac Pro, install Revit, and get over it.

Alternatively, take the blue pill, buy a Mac, and run something else.

Revit needs a powerful Windows machine, Apple don't currently make a credible high end machine with the latest technology to run Windows.

Edited by
Discussion_Admin

[Anonymous]

Deploy Revit for Mac and the statistics will change.

92.7% - many are not there for their choice.

[t.donov94]

Well, I guess 6 years, there is no progress. Same old AutoCAD and that's all there is available for the mac.

[Keith_Wilkinson]

You could give this a bash - fairly sure it's supposed to have both Mac and PC versions...

rengacad

Edited by
Discussion_Admin

[Anonymous]

The stats wouldn't change meaningfully enough to justify the cost. 

Seriously - just let it go. There's even a song for it!

It's not going to happen...

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone.

What Autodesk has to do is make it clear if:

1. You are developing a native version for Mac OS.
2. If so, by when it will be available.
3. If not, if you plan to do so in the near future.
4. If you definitely will not develop a native version for Mac OS.

This way Mac OS users know what to expect and not be dreaming and wondering if there is such a version of Revit.

Greetings.

[Keith_Wilkinson]

I think the point you're missing is that they don't have to...

I'd hazard a guess the following answers;

1. No

2. See 1 above.

3. No

4. Maybe

But obviously I could be wrong... but it's pretty clear that Autodesk have no intentions of elaborating on this topic otherwise they would have responded to one of the many threads relating to it.

[ToanDN]

No companies want to shoot themselves in the foot to answer these questions with a definite Yes or No.

[Viveka_CD]

Hi @Anonymous

Users can now submit feedback for an enhancement to Autodesk software that would improve the program or benefit your individual workflow.The product feedback link can be found HERE

Want to get a feature implemented, post your IDEA now.

Please mark this response as "Accept as Solution" if it answers your question, to benefit the community. Kudos gladly accepted!

[Viveka_CD]

Hi @Anonymous

Thanks for visiting our community!

We are listening! Tell us what you think about our products and any improvements you would like to see. Be assured that we value your feedback.

Submit your feedback HERE

You could try installing Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac which is used by design firms working in Revit on Macs. It enables users to stay in the OS X space, access Mac applications and run them in tandem with Autodesk Revit.

Please mark this response as "Accept as Solution" if it answers your question and enable others to find a quick solution to similar issues.

Kudos gladly accepted!

[Anonymous]

Revit under Parallels is A REALLY BAD SOLUTION. It's one of the most demanding applications you can get, and you are proposing to run it under another operating system running in OS X.

This means that in addition to running OSX and other applications, you are running another application which simulates an entire Windows machine, and on top of that you are suggesting running Revit!

Parallels is a good application, it's fast, and virtualisation software is very useful. I use it on my dual Xeon 8 core Mac Pro with 20Gb RAM, but performance isn't what you would call stellar! Natively it runs Archicad, Vectorworks and SketchUp beautifully, and with complex models.

I wouldn't consider running BIM on my VM though. The fact that it works is fine, but what happens when you start to work on anything other than the simplest model? Whatever the minimum hardware requirements for Revit, you would need a significantly more powerful machine to run it in a Virtual Machine.

Given that currently high end Macs for demanding 3d work are a bit of an expensive joke, it makes no sense at all for Revit.

When the new mac Pro is introduced it may be a different situation, but I suspect you may as well pull a big pile of money out of your wallet and set fire to it!

In practical terms, if you want/need to run Revit, you need PC hardware natively running Windows. Bootcamp is unquestionably the best solution, but you effectively abandon OS X and move to a Windows environment.

Forget the Mac if you want Revit.

I have been a Mac user for a long time, and they are fantastic for all sorts of things - but not Revit...

[Keith_Wilkinson]

In all seriousness Revit in it's current form is never going to appear on a Mac - it's 17 years old, if it was going to happen it would have happened.  Just accept it.

I would say though the best chance of it happening in the future are : 

1) if Revit becomes a cloud based option - as internet speeds improve and more storage moves to the cloud this may well become a viable option.

2) Revit gets a long overdue re-write from the ground up at which point maybe it's possible to develop it in a more dual platform friendly way - but as I'm not a programmer this it purely conjecture on my part.

I'm off to the Ideas forum...  ;o)

[Anonymous]

I think if Revit on a Mac was going to happen....it would be more at the Revit LT level, as worksharing is based on Microsoft functionality and not possible on a Mac.

If people were fine with a Revit LT for Mac...that might be possible.  But full Revit on Mac, yeah...  c'mon....we are still waiting for a tilt wall tool.  

[Viveka_CD · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous

Thank you for contributing by providing your feedback on our suggestions! 

Revit is configured to run on a windows based platform. Autodesk support these products via Boot Camp, part of Mac OS X that lets you install and run Windows (and Windows-based applications) on a Mac.

• To see a list of Mac comparable software click HERE.
• For running Revit on Mac,you have BootCamp and parallel desktop as options. BootCamp is the first preference for many - memory and performance being the primary reason.
• Boot Camp makes a separate partition on your computer's hard drive (think of it as splitting your hard drive into two separate parts) specifically for installing and running windows.Boot Camp is less of a strain on your Mac's memory and is easier on your Mac to keep up and running.
• With parallels desktop there is an easy file integration between systems. You can even link desktops between your Parallels program and OS X so that any documents created in one system are automatically copied and saved to the other system.
• Since Parallels Desktop for Mac maps the hardware resources of the host computer to a virtual machine using a guest operating system, your Mac must have enough memory to run the Mac OS X and your Mac applications. It also needs memory for the virtual machine's operating system and the applications installed on the virtual machine. 
• A feature called Coherence Mode in Parallels desktop blends the Windows and OS X environments together, giving you a common interface for both applications. This means that instead of having a whole Windows Desktop open within OS X, you can open Windows apps in Coherence Mode
• For information on how to install and use Windows on your Mac with Boot Camp click HERE
• Installing Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac which is used by design firms working in Revit on Macs. It enables users to stay in the OS X space, access Mac applications and run them in tandem with Autodesk Revit.
• It is highly recommended to look at the system requirements for the Autodesk® Revit® product line.
• To find system hardware or graphics hardware and drivers click HERE for information.
• For maximum performance, use Boot Camp to run Autodesk Revit, Autodesk Revit Architecture, Autodesk Revit MEP, Autodesk Revit Structure, and Autodesk Revit LT in a native Windows OS. For small to medium sized projects, Parallels Desktop provides greater convenience and good performance.

Here is a peek at the user reviews below.Thank you Tomek Piatek and Christian Sollberger for sharing your views with us! I hope your views will benefit the community and users seeking solutions for similar issues.

@tomek

"I've been running Revit for 6+ years  on my iMac through Parallels Desktop. I've updated the software over the years and upgraded my iMac and each time I got more performance boost. It was a 2010 iMac that ended up with 16GB RAM and a dedicated SSD for the VM. Revit ran very well on that setup. My iMac died last week and I can't wait for the new models to be announced hopefully later this month. I am confident that Parallels + Revit will deliver the performance that I need on the iMacs." - Tomek Piatek

@cSol

"I'm using Revit 2016 and 2017 on a Mac Pro with Parallels Desktop and a friend of mine using it on an iMac 27" Retina. We're too using SSD's for better (let's say "much" better) performance. And we can approve, it works very well under this conditions." - Christian Sollberger

Please mark this response as "Accept as Solution" if it answers your question. Kudos gladly accepted.

[Anonymous]

I'm afraid I'm not convinced by this.

As they say, different strokes for different folks.

I've seen how Revit runs in my office on dedicated Windows machines. I've seen how my Mac Pro Virtual machine runs everything else, including SketchUp, and I just wouldn't consider Revit in a VM.

It's true that Parallels generally has better performance than the VMWare Fusion VM that I use, particularly for graphically-intensive applications. It's also true that customer support for VMWare is generally a lot better than for Parallels.

Parallels' Coherence mode is similar to VMWare Fusion's Unity mode. I stopped using that because of glitches. 

It simply fails the 'common sense test' that running Revit in a virtual machine will give anything like native performance.

Given that high end Mac performance is not up to the level of high end PC performance, I think it's entirely fair to say that a Windows PC of similar specification to a Mac will always produce better performance (given that the Mac will have to use a VM), and at a much lower price.

The fact that some of your customers may be happy with the performance they get under Parallels is not necessarily indicative that the performance will be acceptable to others. 

I've been our office CAD Manager for around 15 years, and we have between 15-20 users. I've managed AutoCAD, Revit, Vectorworks, SketchUp and Archicad in a mixed Windows and Mac environment.

Recommending Parallels to customers without identifying the performance hit is in my opinion irresponsible.

[Viveka_CD]

Hi @Anonymous

Thank you very much for your suggestion!

I appreciate the time you took to share your experience with us on working with both Mac and PC platform. Taking your cue from 'different strokes for different folks', I agree that all of this ultimately boils down to specific requirements and work environment. My previous post mentioned options for users to research the same (based on their unique requirements) and provide available solutions.  

If you can share more about the system configurations you used in mixed environments, I am sure it will greatly benefit the community and users looking for similar solutions.

[Anonymous]

VMware & Parallels Desktop can be installed on mac to run Autodesk windows software such as Revit from your mac.