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Tmac1-Visitor
1-Visitor
September 9, 2010
Question

Mac version of Pro/E on the horizon?

  • September 9, 2010
  • 24 replies
  • 16742 views

Does anyone know if PTC is even considering a mac version of Pro/E in the future? I know Boot Camp works just fine, but it gets pretty old after a while.

    24 replies

    P
    ptc-1917987-Bedrock
    7-Bedrock
    September 9, 2010

    They have dabbled in that arena before with Pro/CONCEPT which I am not even sure if that's a product anymore or if it is being discontinued. Given that SolidWorks is bringing their application to Mac then perhaps more incentive for PTC to follow suit.

    Consider Autodesk has their high end surfacing applications (well really was Alias tools) on Mac as well. Time will tell.

    Nothing official that I've heard.

    M
    MarcMettes1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    September 9, 2010

    It's not a technical issue. Pro/Engineer already runs
    on Unix and OSX is Unix. It's not rocket science.

    It's all about the business. PTC would have to evaluate
    whether it makes business sense to do it. Make the
    business case for it, and PTC will do it.

    Are they going to lose business by not porting? Are
    they going to gain business by porting? For either of
    these questions, if "yes", then how much?

    I think they will apply their experience with doing a
    Linux port of Pro/Engineer and take it slow. My guess
    is there are very few of their customers that would drop
    Pro/Engineer because it doesn't work on a Mac.

    V
    VladimirPalffy14-Alexandrite
    14-Alexandrite
    September 10, 2010

    Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 5.0 - Platform Support & System Requirements

    click here >> Hardware Notes - Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 5.0

    P
    ptc-1917987-Bedrock
    7-Bedrock
    September 10, 2010

    The question is more subjective and rumour milling, the OP wasn't asking if it is supported currently.

    I for one would like to see Mac version ported.

    P
    Polleke_CGC1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    September 27, 2010

    Autodesk is releasing Autocad for Mac shortly, but I haven't heard of an Inventor release for Mac.

    I think that the big problem of porting Pro-E to Mac is hardware related. There are no real CAD graphics cards supported on Mac.

    An Nvidia Quadro, or ATI FireGL on Mac ??? You won't find them even in the Mac Pro line.

    You can run Pro-e on a "games" card (like the one used in the Mac Pro line), but this is not ideal for pro Pro-E use...

    R
    rschaft1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    September 28, 2010

    Why not make it OS-independend!

    P
    Polleke_CGC1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    September 28, 2010

    I really think that that is not an option.

    Pro-e needs to be fast. Platform non dependent programs don't excel in being fast.

    Pro-e was a native Unix application. After de introduction of Windows NT 4 it became cheaper and almost as performant on Windows as it was on Unix.

    I think it is pretty normal that you can still tell what is the origin of Pro-e...

    R
    rschaft1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    September 28, 2010

    That fastness largely depends on your graphics card, so it has not so much to do which OS you are using.

    Pro/E has an Unix base so than this would be the preferred OS.

    T
    ThomasPhore1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    October 5, 2010

    Pro/E is professional software. Mac Pro desktops are usually available with Quadro cards. I think we can rest assured that they will be very consistently available going forward now that Autodesk and Solidworks are Mac. Probably laptops too in future as more and more of these apps become Mac.

    I'm a Mac user so I can't use Pro/E anywhere except my work computer. This is very annoying. As CAD software continues to become more and more popular with a wider range of the public (see the broad use of Solid Works by all kind of content creation users as example), I think it's going to be to Autodesk and Solid Works' tremendous advantage that they are on the platform that is most popular for other forms of content creation. Mac is king in music and video with Logic and Final Cut.

    I know many 2d designers (Illustrator, Photoshop, etc) who are becoming more and more interested in getting involved in 3d and I would love to introduce them to Pro/E but the industry is all Mac and there's no way they are going to install Windows just to use Pro/E when they can use Solid Works for Mac instead.

    P
    Polleke_CGC1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    November 26, 2010

    You can't buy an Mac pro with a quadro card directly from the Apple store (only one or two 5770 ATI cards or 5870).

    Nvidia has 1 quadro for the Mac.(FX 4800).

    I don't think Apple is really interested in the 3D CAD market... .

    T
    ThomasPhore1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    November 26, 2010

    Actually, it looks like the Mac Pro is getting pretty much the all-around best CAD and rendering hardware there is out there right now (the Fermi stuff) http://pressroom.nvidia.com/easyir/customrel.do?easyirid=A0D622CE9F579F09&version=live&releasejsp=release_157&prid=686603

    The reason I'm calling this the best all-around right now is because of how the most widely used photo-rendering softwares at the moment (e.g. the mental ray engine which is used by so many like Bunkspeed Shot and Solidworks native rendering etc) require Cuda for GPU acceleration).

    D
    DanMarotta12-Amethyst
    12-Amethyst
    December 2, 2010

    Did you see my Creo on Apple post?

    http://communities.ptc.com/docs/DOC-1535

    -BostonDan

    P
    pwyndham1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    December 2, 2010

    That apple points to the same thing I was told at a conference here in Seattle. "There are a lot of People talking about Creo on MAC". I am not a MAC person, but it would be nice to see the availablity.

    P
    ptc-1917987-Bedrock
    7-Bedrock
    December 2, 2010

    We've seen AutoCAD ported, NX. Dassault has teased showing future tech on Mac (SolidWorks proof of concept) so if Creo comes sooner than later I think we'd see that a product like Creo would legitamize the market and we'd see a mass movement for CAD on Mac.

    B
    BenLoosli23-Emerald III
    23-Emerald III
    December 20, 2010

    Siemens NX has had an official port to Mac OSx since their V6 release. It has been in development in conjunction with Apple since V4. That is about 5 years now that NX has been on Mac OSx. Apple uses NX as their primary mechanical design tool and they refuse to use Windows for obvious reasons. With the release NX6, the Mac was made available to all Siemens' customers.

    J
    JamesAvis14-Alexandrite
    14-Alexandrite
    May 3, 2011

    I was among the beta testers for Creo 1.0 and they told us that there would be a (possibly) free sketcher application for Mac. Other than that and their fascination with apps and what seems to be an effort to make a PTC app store for third party Creo apps, I've seen no evidence of putting ProE on the Mac. Of course it works fine on my late 2008 Macbook Unibody using Bootcamp and Windows 7. I've been meaning to try using WINE as well, but just haven't had time.

    I talked to Mike Campbell about getting ProductView on iOS and he seemed open to the idea.

    L
    lbeidler1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    May 4, 2011

    A viewer app for iOS could be hugely beneficial. iPads out on the shop floor, viewing parts, drawings, etc. That could be a game changer.

    B
    BenLoosli23-Emerald III
    23-Emerald III
    May 4, 2011

    Siemens has again beat PTC to market.

    TeamCenter Mobility on a iPad was shown at the opening session of PLM World on Monday.

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