alibre on Mac OS (Apple)

[jclements]

I'm Currently running ALIBRE on a Macbook Pro using Parallels software and WIndows XP.
This is as good as re-booting the Mac to run windows 'for real'.
If anyone is looking to waltz away from WIndows but still use Alibre, my advice is you can certainly do it.
I'd suggest 'tweaking' for speed. For example, I use Parallels windows in 'full screen mode', then
use the 3-finger 'swipe' to get back to the Mac. There are other adjustments, but you'll be pleased.
(And if can always reboot into Windows via bootcamp if you really need to.)

Good luck fellow alibrians.

 

[Ralf]

I'm Currently running ALIBRE on a Macbook Pro using Parallels software and WIndows XP.
This is as good as re-booting the Mac to run windows 'for real'.
If anyone is looking to waltz away from WIndows but still use Alibre, my advice is you can certainly do it.
I'd suggest 'tweaking' for speed. For example, I use Parallels windows in 'full screen mode', then
use the 3-finger 'swipe' to get back to the Mac. There are other adjustments, but you'll be pleased.
(And if can always reboot into Windows via bootcamp if you really need to.)

Good luck fellow alibrians.

Unfortunately, some important and specific information are missing:
- Alibre version ?
- Parallels version?
- OS X Version?
- ...

 

[jclements]

Some folks asked what my setup is for my Mac....
I'm (since my last post!) using Alibre 2012....the release of a few days ago.
My Mac is the most recent version ....10.7.2 (most current).
And Parallels is also the most up to date.
I'm using parallels in the mode where you 'swipe' several fingers and the entire screen
becomes a Microsoft Window. (Swipe again to get back to Mac).

If you are a mac user....some macs have 2 video adapters. One if for longer battery life,
the other is for faster graphics. I chose faster graphics in the preferenes pane.

All in all.....once you have windows (I have XP) its very simple.
(And if anyone has any advice on Windows 7 for the Mac, please let me know)
Jim

 

[Ralf]

Some folks are saying: Thank you for your clarification.

Unfortunately, Mac uses only the ATI scrap, therefore no alternative for us.
The existing iMac works well with Boot_Camp and XP.

 

[MikeH]

My Nephew ran Alibre (10 I think) trial on a MAC emulated and it performed seemingly better than my Dell M4300

 

[Daniel-B]

Hi,
This is to clarify why Parallels wasn't working when Ralf3 tested it, but is working fine for jclements and now myself: The latest version, Parallels Destop 7, has now explicitly added support for DirectX 9.0c, which Alibre requires. My video is fast enough that I don't sense any slowdown, and appears to be rock solid steady.

I'm running Alibre Design 2012 on an early 2008 model Macbook Pro, with OSX 10.6.8 on the Mac side, Windows XP (32 bit) on the PC side, and Parallels tying them neatly together without re-partitioning or re-booting. Some folks may also be interested to hear that Parallels supports multiple monitors, which is important because Alibre does also. Just select the "Use all displays in full screen" option. This also works well with the "Spaces" option built in to OSX 10.6, which got upgraded/extended in 10.7. All Macbook Pros have built-in support for an external monitor, allowing a small portable a lot more screen space whenever that's plugged in.

Anyone investing in new hardware to do something like this might be better off getting something that can be extended to 8GB of Ram, as there's a fair amount of RAM eaten up by all this overhead. My older MacBook supposedly supports only 4GB, but I found that I could reliably extend this to 6GB, which helps. Running the 32 bit XP also helps by not requiring as much RAM as Windows 7 would.

Daniel

 

[lance]

Hi, jclements and Daniel-B, could you tell me what graphics your macbook pro has (Intel HD 3000 or Radeon)? The reason I ask is that I have a Macbook Air (2011) with the Intel HD 3000 graphics. I use Alibre 2011 through parallels on Win XP SP3 just like you do...but I have display problems in 3D space. See the picture on my previous post at the link below. I have read that you can go into System Preferences-->Energy Saver and change your graphics to better performance, but my macbook air (2011) doesn't have this option and neither does my friend's Macbook Pro 13" (2011). I know only the MPB 15" has the Radeon though, so maybe that's the issue. I may try 2012 tonight. Has anyone gotten Alibre to work properly with an Intel HD 3000 on a mac? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=14595

Lance

 

[Daniel-B]

Hi, jclements and Daniel-B, could you tell me what graphics your macbook pro has (Intel HD 3000 or Radeon)?

Neither. My macbook pro has an NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT.

Another data point, in case it helps you or anyone else: Alibre also works very well under VMWare Fusion. Perhaps anything needing Direct X 9.0c will work well under either.

I've also been doing some things with Solid Edge (free evaluation so far), which depends on the OpenGL 2.1 standard. At least for my graphics card, I'm getting better support for 3D graphics using VMWare Fusion rather than Parallels. That said, "better support" means it's always drawing the scene correctly, and is reasonably snappy at drawing a single simple part. The combination still slows to a crawl when rendering really complex parts or assemblies.

Perhaps because they're using Direct X, Alibre remains very responsive & snappy even with large assemblies.

Sorry for the very slow response. It's been a long time since I've been on this forum.

Daniel

 

[Daniel-B]

Here's another update on running Alibre on Mac OS:

As an update to my earlier comment: I'd now say Alibre works "adequately" under VMware fusion, downgraded from "very well". Every once in a while, I get some bizarre graphics issues, and one of these makes it impossible to see what I'm doing well enough to keep working. I don't remember ever seeing this under Parallels. In every case restarting Alibre has gotten rid of the problem, so this is a pretty minor annoyance.

Another interesting development in regard to CAD on the mac is that Autodesk has now launched a new CAD package, called the Inventor Fusion "Technology Preview" version, which is a free download from the fusion website or Apple's App store. The reviews are pretty good, but if you read the fine print you'll see that the package expires on Jan 1st, 2013. This is an interesting marketing move, and will probably make some big waves among mac users due to the scarcity of decent professional CAD packages there. The preview version is not limited to the Mac; rather the free Windows download lasts an additional 3 months. Perhaps they're doing this also for beta-testing reasons, to attract enough use hours to shake out most of the bugs, in a context where no one will complain too loud when they find them.

 

[Joe Gwinn]

I recently upgraded to Alibre 2012 Personal/Standard running on an intel iMac with Windows 7 running in Parallels 6. The keyboard is a Unicomp 102-key UNI0P4A, which is the old IBM clackety keyboard for a PC. I had previously been running Alibre 2011 on the same setup, and had no problems.

After I installed Alibre 2012, I noticed that keyboard shortcuts and mapping had become scrambled. This scrambling happens even if Parallels is not running. The same problems are seen in all mac applications. I was able to fix some of the mappings, buy not all. For instance Command-S (save) and Command-W (close window) stopped working, but remapping worked. Other commands, like Command-M (mark as read in some newsreaders) now does something else.

Anybody have an ideas? Thanks.

 

[chip]

Seriously, for 1/3 the price of a Mac, you can have a PC that runs Alibre 12 perfectly. My advice is to use the right tool for the job and if that means you have one PC and one Mac, it'll save you much frestration in the long run. I 've never heard of any engineering majors using a Mac for Solidworks, Pro E, or Catia and for good reason. Similarly, most graphics arts majors use Macs (although they could easily use PCs).

 

[Joe Gwinn]

Seriously, for 1/3 the price of a Mac, you can have a PC that runs Alibre 12 perfectly. My advice is to use the right tool for the job and if that means you have one PC and one Mac, it'll save you much frustration in the long run. I've never heard of any engineering majors using a Mac for Solidworks, Pro E, or Catia and for good reason. Similarly, most graphics arts majors use Macs (although they could easily use PCs).

Think of what you are suggesting -- that I should spend many hundreds of dollars and find space for a second computer just to solve a simple problem. (And yes, I do know how to run Windows, and do so at work.)

While Macs are more expensive than Windows boxes, they are better built, and the 1/3 is not correct if you compare like with like. Consumers Reports runs head-to-head comparisons from time to time. As do the PC magazines.

I don't recall the percentage, but there are people who buy intel Macs, scrape MacOS off, and install Windows, just to get the better hardware.

And the cheaper solution for me would be to use Apple's BootCamp software, which allows one to dual boot -- choose Win or MacOS at boot time. The advantage of Parallels is that one can switch between Mac and Win at will without rebooting. Said another way, intel Mac hardware can be a perfect Windows PC.

 

[chip]

I've been running Dell computers without any issues now for 6+ years. I'm not talking about one, I'm talking about multiple PCs and laptops. Al have been trouble-free. How can I possibly justify spending thousands of dollars more for Macs because they are supposed to be "better built"?

My son buys and sells all kinds of computers and yes, Macs do fail. When they do, a visit to the Apple store is required and a 1 day turn around is rare, if at all possible. But yes, if you can run Alibre on your Mac, go for it. By the way,I can buy an excellent Sony Ultrabook for $700. It outperforms the $1700 Macbook Pro and most likely would handle Alibre with ease.

 

[joshua.white]

I've been running Dell computers without any issues now for 6+ years. I'm not talking about one, I'm talking about multiple PCs and laptops. Al have been trouble-free. How can I possibly justify spending thousands of dollars more for Macs because they are supposed to be "better built"?

My son buys and sells all kinds of computers and yes, Macs do fail. When they do, a visit to the Apple store is required and a 1 day turn around is rare, if at all possible. But yes, if you can run Alibre on your Mac, go for it. By the way,I can buy an excellent Sony Ultrabook for $700. It outperforms the $1700 Macbook Pro and most likely would handle Alibre with ease.

I would expect most of these people have other reasons for using Macintosh computers, and are not using Alibre all day, every day. Buying a separate piece of hardware seems silly, given that so many people seem able to successively run Alibre on a Mac using virtualized windows. I am a mechanical engineer, and I work in an environment with Windows, Linux, and Mac computers. While I'm sure your experience is vast, the mere fact that you don't know any Engineers that use macs doesn't mean that there aren't any. How would you feel if the next time you have a problem with your car, your mechanic suggests taking the bus? Nobody is forcing you to use a Mac. If you like your Dells, then use your Dells and be happy, but don't crap on people for doing otherwise.

 

[GWestberry]

I have run Alibre 11, the 12, then Geomagic13 and now 14 in boot camp on a MacBook Pro without any problems. I ran Alibre on my Toshiba for a while but without a doubt, it runs better on the Mac and battery life is 8 to 10 Hrs! When it is time for my next machine it will be another Mac. Apple knows how to write a stable OS unlike Mirosoft (vista for example), plus the upgrades for the Mac OS are cheap, $25 buck?

 

[heidtwd]

I have run Alibre on my Mac Pro and Macbook Pro computers with for six years now. I am currently running Geomagic 2014 on OSX 10.8.4 with XP and Parallels 8 and it runs very smoothly on both machines. I have always liked the operating system stability, file sharing and overall quality of the Apple package. After decades of struggling with Windows machines and "rushed to market" Microsoft operating systems that were disasters, it gives me a certain amount of pleasure to see Windows relegated to a window on my desk top where it belongs.

In all fairness, if Windows is your thing, then go for it.

 

[johnwhitley]

I'll chime in that I've been running Alibre (2014 and just recently 2015) on a Macbook Pro under Parallels (9 and 10). This MBP has the discrete GPU. This setup works brilliantly, and saved me from having to shell out for a dedicated CAD box. I'd originally booted into Windows directly with Boot Camp, but have been very happy with performance under Parallels. I basically never notice the hardware or runtime platform; if I have any "trouble" it's just a software issue with GD that would be the same on any hardware.

An aside: GD 2015 finally landed some fixes to the UI so that it's readable at the MBP's full "Retina" resolution. Previously I'd have to use an external monitor or run the Parallels VM radically downscaled for GD to be usable. That's a *huge* fix for those of us with modern high-res laptop displays.