Architects, engineers, students, and other design-based users run computer-aided design (CAD) programs specific to Microsoft Windows—like Autodesk Inventor, ArcGIS, and SOLIDWORKS—on their Mac without rebooting with Parallels Desktop® for Mac. CAD software enables users to visualize design, create photorealistic drawings, and even future-proof models for environmental factors.
Most CAD programs have system requirements that involve a Microsoft Windows operating system to run. However, rising sales and integration of macOS® in the workforce cause users to look for alternative solutions.
Potential Solutions:
AutoCAD ® is computer-aided design (CAD) software that architects, engineers, and construction professionals rely on to create precise 2D and 3D drawings. Draft and edit 2D geometry and 3D models with solids, surfaces, and mesh objects; Annotate drawings with text, dimensions, leaders, and tables; Customize with add-on apps and APIs.
- Purchase a secondary computer. (Expensive!)
- Partition an existing hard drive in order to use Boot Camp®. (You must delete all your data to partition your existing hard drive, and restart your computer every time you want to switch between Mac or Windows. The downside is data loss and time spent rebooting.)
- Utilize macOS virtualization software such as Parallels Desktop. (You must buy Parallels Desktop and a Windows operating system. To save here, users can also port existing Windows OSes from an older PC to avoid this additional cost.)
For over 10 years, millions of users have used CAD programs on Mac with Parallels Desktop to design 2D and 3D drawings. Rich integration between macOS and Windows allows users to switch between OSes seamlessly. This is how you can save time as opposed to the aforementioned Boot Camp alternative. With Parallels Desktop, you don’t have to restart your computer when you work, and you can even use macOS features in your Windows virtual machine, such as copy and paste, Siri®, the Mac Touch Bar™, and so much more!
Here are some examples of popular CAD programs running through Parallels Desktop for Mac:
(SOLIDWORKS on Mac with Parallels Desktop)
(ArcGIS on Mac with Parallels Desktop)
(DIALux evo 7 on Mac with Parallels Desktop)
Looking for a CAD program that’s not listed above? Other popular CAD programs such as DIALux evo, 3ds Max, Maya, Rhino, Revit, and DesignBuilder can be ran through Parallels Desktop.
Note: CAD programs are intensive, resource-heavy programs. Performance may vary depending on the technical specifications of your Mac. We suggest closing any other applications in the background of macOS while Parallels Desktop is running a power-hungry program to avoid any potential performance issues.
What’s next with the CAD market? New releases have involved cloud-based programs. This would eliminate the need for a specific device and limit the restrictions put on users. While we fully support users having the right tools to complete their jobs, we also want to be clear that Parallels Desktop will continue to focus developing software for the present, enabling users that are dependent on older versions of CAD programs that require run Microsoft Windows on Mac.
If you’re looking to run CAD programs for Windows on Mac without rebooting, we encourage you to download a FREE 14-day trial of Parallels Desktop for Mac and get started today.
Need to buy a Microsoft Windows operating system?
Windows 10 Home
Windows 10 Pro
Windows 10 Pro
Get started today!
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SourceForge
SourceForge
Open Source 2D-CAD
LibreCAD is a free Open Source CAD application for Windows, Apple and Linux. Support and documentation is free from our large, dedicated community of users, contributors and developers.
You, too, can also get involved!
How it started
LibreCAD started as a project to build CAM capabilities into the community version of QCad for use with a Mechmate CNC router.
Since QCad CE was built around the outdated Qt3 library, it had to be ported to Qt4 before additional enhancements. This gave rise to CADuntu.
The project was known as CADuntu only for a couple of months before the community decided that the name was inappropriate. After some discussion within the community and research on existing names, CADuntu was renamed to LibreCAD.
Porting the rendering engine to Qt4 proved to be a large task, so LibreCAD initially still depended on the Qt3 support library. The Qt4 porting was completed eventually during the development of 2.0.0 series, thanks to our master developer Rallaz, and LibreCAD has become Qt3 free except in the 1.0.0 series.
Meanwhile, for LibreCAD 2.2.0 series, Qt5 is mandatory.
LibreCAD is a feature-packed and mature 2D-CAD application with some really great advantages:
Completely and Utterly Free
No worry about trials, subscriptions, license costs or annual fees.
Open Source and GPLv2
Developed by an experienced team and supported by an awesome community, LibreCAD is also free to hack and copy.
No Language Barriers
It's available in over 30 languages with cross-platform support for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
macOS
Help is needed for macOS deployment.
from SourceForge
Find latest stable DMG packages there.
Find latest stable DMG packages there.
from GitHub
Find latest stable DMG packages there.
Find latest stable DMG packages there.
Windows
from SourceForge
Find latest stable EXE installer there.
Also automated nightly build installer for bleeding edge versions.
Find latest stable EXE installer there.
Also automated nightly build installer for bleeding edge versions.
from GitHub
Find latest stable EXE installer there.
Also special pre release installer for beta testing versions.
Find latest stable EXE installer there.
Also special pre release installer for beta testing versions.
Linux
Check your distributions preferred package manager, if LibreCAD is available there. But the version may be a bit older.
For Debian/Ubuntu distributions, you can use our Launchpad PPAs for stable or daily versions.
For Debian/Ubuntu distributions, you can use our Launchpad PPAs for stable or daily versions.
Build from source
![Architectural Architectural](/uploads/1/2/5/7/125746370/951897735.jpg)
This is an option for all platforms.
If we don't have the binary installer you are looking for, you can try to build LibreCAD from source code.
How this works for each platform can be read in our Wiki .
How this works for each platform can be read in our Wiki .
Source code could be downloaded from GitHub as ZIP archive.
Or you can clone or fork our repository, what is recommend if you plan to contribute.
The LibreCAD team is a small group of dedicated people. Lots of things have been worked out, but plenty of bugs and features are still waiting to be solved. How can you help? We need people that are coders, writers, testers, translators.
An open source community is a dynamic thing, people come and go as their private situation drive or stop them in contributing. So it will always help if you have existing resources we can use, know what other projects do in specific areas, or, most important, do what you do best and have fun doing it!
You don't have to sign a lifetime contract to contribute. If you apply one patch or more, garden the wiki or help others in the forum, our broad user base will appreciate your work.
You don't have to sign a lifetime contract to contribute. If you apply one patch or more, garden the wiki or help others in the forum, our broad user base will appreciate your work.
Come join our community, and contribute in any way you like.
Developing
If you are a developer, outstanding in C++, or a beginner we can use all the help.
With a bit of determination, the IRC channel, Zulip chat and the Libre-CAD-dev mailing list, we can help you getting started and making progress.
All you need is linked in download section and top links above.
With a bit of determination, the IRC channel, Zulip chat and the Libre-CAD-dev mailing list, we can help you getting started and making progress.
All you need is linked in download section and top links above.
Documentation
Developers are usually bad in making documentation, so if you like making documentation, great!
There have been extensive GUI changes in 2.1 series which need to be documented.
There have been extensive GUI changes in 2.1 series which need to be documented.
Translation
Help localize LibreCAD, we currently support over 30 languages.
Our translation server is over here: https://translate.librecad.org/ .
You can complete new languages, or request creating translations for a new language in the forum .
Our translation server is over here: https://translate.librecad.org/ .
You can complete new languages, or request creating translations for a new language in the forum .
As a non-profit, community driven open source project LibreCAD is dependent to have good relations to friends and sponsors.
Friends
BRL-CAD
BRL-CAD is a powerful open source cross-platform solid modeling system that includes interactive geometry editing, high-performance ray-tracing for rendering and geometric analysis, a system performance analysis benchmark suite, geometry libraries for application developers, and more than 30 years of active development.
BRL-CAD and LibreCAD collaborate in Google programs. We participate under the umbrella of BRL-CAD in Google Code-in and Google Summer of Code where we mentor school pupils and students in participating in open source projects.
Sponsors
JetBrains
JetBrains have generously supplied us with CLion licenses for the development of LibreCAD. This powerful IDE helps you develop in C and C++ on Linux, OS X and Windows, enhancing your productivity with a smart editor, code quality assurance, automated refactoring, and deep integration with CMake build system.