Autocad on Mac (Lion) running in Parallels via Windows XP (and keyboard shortcuts).

[Leave Me Here]

Not sure if I am the only person in the world that has tried this - But I recently installed Autocad (2007) within the Windows XP environment on my MAC (Lion) running through Parallels.

 

And it sucks. Just waaay too erratic, mouse is all jumping, couldn't even imagine trying to draft a real job.

 

Why would I even bother doing this when there is Autocad for Mac???

One simple reason - for the life of me, and as far as I understand, there is no simple way in Autocad for MAC to customise keyboard shortcuts the way you can within your CUI in Autocad for PC. Its just insane.

I live on my keyboard shortcuts, and can't efficiently draft without them.

And no, I couldnt load my PC saved CUI on my Mac Autocad either.

 

I am completely self taught, and maybe I am missing something, but surely there is a way to customize the MAC version the way you can in PC????

Ie - I want: SHIFT+V = MOVE

SHIFT+R = ROTATE

SHIFT+4 = MATCH PROPERTIES

etc

 

ehh.

 

Any discussion on this would be much appreciated!!

[Leave Me Here]

I might be close to solving my own problem regarding the keyboard shortcuts - aka, via Tools - Customize - Edit Command Aliases..

 

I can get a custom command aliase to work, ie

V, *MOVE .... Therefor V = MOVE

but how do I add in the SHIFT Key??

 

I was guessing it would be something like this

SHIFT+V, *MOVE

But that doesnt work.

 

Any ideas??

[SLW210]

See if THIS helps.

[f700es]

OK I just have to ask....why use a mac to start with? Why not just use BootCamp and load Win and Autocad in their native environment and not in virtualization? Virtualization will never be as fast as compared to real hardware usage. Is this a current version of Parallels? I set up a sales rep at my last company with AutoCAD on her macbook pro and it just sucked! But she kept telling me that macs were so much better. She had an older copy of parallels too and it was over 2 years ago so it had some issues. Bootcamp was better but she was not happy in the dual booting.

[SLW210]

OK I just have to ask....why use a mac to start with? Why not just use BootCamp and load Win and Autocad in their native environment and not in virtualization? Virtualization will never be as fast as compared to real hardware usage. Is this a current version of Parallels? I set up a sales rep at my last company with AutoCAD on her macbook pro and it just sucked! But she kept telling me that macs were so much better. She had an older copy of parallels too and it was over 2 years ago so it had some issues. Bootcamp was better but she was not happy in the dual booting.

 

I am glad you said it, I didn't have time to go there.

[f700es]

Well I wasn't trying to be rude or mean but I just don't see the point. I have personally tried Acad on several macs. Way back when on OS9 with Acad 2005 using VirturalPC, a complete joke. Parallels on newer Intel based systems and even under bootcamp. Even Acad for Mac is a stripped down app missing KEY elements need by professionals IMHO.

Buy more expensive computer

Buy Parallels software

Buy a legal copy of Windows

When one could have just bought a cheaper PC and come out better on all sides. Again my $300 Dell (AMD Quad-core, 6 gb ram & 1TB hdd) smokes Acad 2012, Revit, SketchUp and Inventor. Not knocking on Macs as them seem to be good computers but the OS is just so different. If one goes into Arch, you know what I am not going there.

[Leave Me Here]

Totally valid question, and everyone will have their own reason for choosing Mac. Mine is that I am a photographer by trade, but I still dable in my old trade which requires Cad.

I travel alot for my photography work, and would prefer to be on a Mac. However I need Cad working smoothly and fully functional.

 

Im using a brand new i7 Mac, and the latest parallels, but I think bootcamp might be the way to go. And its how I actually started, but the new i7 Mac and Lion dont support windows XP which is what I had!!

Ever since I've gone Mac, its been frustrating thing after frustrating thing. Trust me, I question it all the time!

 

Cheers though.

(If either of you DO know how to add the SHIFT key when editing the command aliases though that would be greatly appreciated. The link up above is all PC related.. The choices we make hey)

[f700es]

Fair enough answer and we all have different needs and sometimes we just have to got though some extra steps. I am glad you did not take offense and my rant. Is Aperture your main photo app? I have never tried that one. I am not against Apple in general but I do feel that they get away with tactics that other companies would not. Maybe an investment in Vista or Win7 would make the difference. I know you could borrow some ones Win7 DVD and use it for 30 days to see if this might offer some improvement before you spend $$ on it. Perhaps look over at the main AutoDesk user forum as we have a lot of members very few here use Acad in Parallels

Good luck and let us know how if you find and answer.

 

Sean

[SLW210]

Not really speaking ill of MAC, just the fact is AutoCAD is PC and does not play well with others. I would recommend getting an inexpensive PC and running AutoCAD on that, you can probably get a PC a cheap as a stand alone Windows 7.

 

I wish AutoCAD would run on Linux system, but we just can't always get what we want.

[El Jefe Dre]

I have this exact setup and it works flawlessly. For mouse issues its important to note that the Mac controls the mouse, not Parallels. In other words, if you have a Logitech you use the Mac Logitech driver to control it's tracking speed / options. Don't install the SetPoint software in the Windows VM, it won't work. Parallels basically treats all mice as standard 3-button mice. You can use the standard mouse control panel in the Windows VM to adjust the most basic mouse options in tandem with the Mac software but any button mapping, scroll wheel speed, etc, is done on the Mac side.

 

When I first started up AutoCAD in the VM the zoom speed was way too fast, it was totally unusable. I had to drop the ZOOMFACTOR variable way down to around 15 (i use 60 on my office PC). This could be contributing to the erratic behavior you are experiencing.

 

As far as your keyboard commands I don't really understand your issue. Why would you want to add the Shift key to your commands? Seems like a pain to have to stretch your pinky out all the time to initiate a command. Editing the PGP file with letter-only aliasses is the way to go IMHO. I have all of my commands mapped to the left side of the keyboard, my fingers basically never leave the ASDF row of keys. Example, LINE = F and MOVE = D. Those are two of the most used commands so they sit under my index and middle fingers, my strongest fingers. If i need more commands I just double up the letters. PLINE = FF and STRETCH = DD.