Mac Os X Software For Designing Maker Projects

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Mac Os X Software For Designing Maker Projects Rating: 8,9/10 3419 votes

Aug 21, 2018 The list of the most used 3D design software for Mac (see below) is based upon our list of the 25 most popular 3D modeling programs. However, we excluded software that is not available or not suitable for the Mac OS. This leaves us with the ultimate 3D modeling list for Macintosh users. The Ranking: 3D Modeling Software for Mac Users. Mac Power Mac or higher 32 MB of RAM OS 8.6 - 9.22 Mac OS X Apple G3 or higher 128 MB of RAM OS X 10.1 The client I was designing for had older PCs using Windows 98SE. Obviously, I used the PC version of the software, which is very similar to the Mac version.

There are many PCB design software solutions available. The software you use should be able to draw both schematics and printed circuit boards.

And it should be able to output Gerber files that you can send to a PCB manufacturer and get your board made.

Mac Os X Software For Designing Maker Projects Free

Below I’ve compiled a list of three free cross-platform programs available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS.

I have copied their own description of themselves from each of their websites. Just to give you an idea of what they are about (or at least how they like to present themselves).

And at the end, I’ll let you know my favorite ;)

BTW – I HIGHLY recommend learning PCB design as it will help you big time in building cool projects. Without this knowledge, I would never have been able to build projects like a quadcopter, LCD screen, RFID Music Player +++

It’s one of many skills that I teach over at Ohmify.

KiCad

From the KiCad website:

“KiCad is an open source software suite for electronic design automation (EDA) made for designing schematics of electronic circuits and printed circuit boards (PCB). KiCad is developed by the KiCad Developers Team, and features an integrated environment with schematic capture, bill of materials list, PCB layout and much more.

Compared to the other free software alternatives, KiCad solves all stages with the same interface: Schematic Capture, PCB layout, Gerber generation/visualization and library editing.

KiCad is cross-platform, written with WxWidgets and runs on FreeBSD, Linux, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. A lot of component libraries are available. Also migrating tools for components are available (from other EDA software tools). File formats are plain text and well documented, which is good for CVS or Subversion and to make automated component generation scripts.”

Cadsoft Eagle

From the Cadsoft Eagle website:

“The name EAGLE is an acronym, which stands for Easily Applicable Graphical Layout Editor. This award winning software offers user friendly, powerful and affordable solutions for PCB design, including Schematic Capture, Board Layout and Autorouter. User Language Programs enable features such as simulation and 3D-visualization.

This is also the only partition scheme that PowerPC-basedMacs can start up from. Grant write permissions for directory in mac os x 10 12. However, PowerPC-based Macs running Mac OS X version 10.4.6 or later can also accessthis type of partitioning, but they will not be able to boot from it.Apple Partition Map (APM)—This is the default partition scheme used by older PowerPC-based Macs.

Whether you are a team of one, or part of a large engineering department, EAGLE provides quality PCB design software with the features that get the job done. For over 20 years, EAGLE has been satisfying design engineers around the world, by offering the same core functionality as expensive commercial software, at the fraction of the cost.”

gEDA-project

Mac Os X Free Software

For

From the gEDA website:

“The gEDA project has produced and continues working on a full GPL’d suite and toolkit of Electronic Design Automation tools. These tools are used for electrical circuit design, schematic capture, simulation, prototyping, and production. Currently, the gEDA project offers a mature suite of free software applications for electronics design, including schematic capture, attribute management, bill of materials (BOM) generation, netlisting into over 20 netlist formats, analog and digital simulation, and printed circuit board (PCB) layout.

The gEDA project was started because of the lack of free EDA tools for POSIX systems with the primary purpose of advancing the state of free hardware or open-source hardware. The suite is mainly being developed on the GNU/Linux platform with some development effort going into making sure the tools run on other platforms as well.”

My preference: KiCad

My preferred PCB design software is KiCad. I used to prefer Eagle up to around 2016. But then I switched to KiCad and I’ve never looked back.

KiCad is used by professionals and researchers alike. Did you know that even the people over at CERN use Kicad? They also contribute a lot to the development of it.

I wrote an article called Kicad vs Eagle where I do a more detailed comparison. Check it out if you’re not sure which one to use.

Mac Os X Software For Designing Maker Projects For Beginners

And if you’re sold, head on over to my KiCad Tutorial: Make Your First PCB.

Best 3D Modeling Software for Mac: 3D Printing with Mac OS

Mac Os X Software For Designing Maker Projects Download

Not all 3D modeling software is available for every operating system. That’s why we compiled a list of the most popular 3D design programs for Mac users. Read on to discover the top 20!

The list of the most used 3D design software for Mac (see below) is based upon our list of the 25 most popular 3D modeling programs. However, we excluded software that is not available or not suitable for the Mac OS. This leaves us with the ultimate 3D modeling list for Macintosh users.

The Ranking: 3D Modeling Software for Mac Users


The two most used 3D modeling software programs for Macintosh devices are freeware program Blender (score: 80) and freemium software SketchUp (75). Blender is known for its enormous design freedom and its endless number of tools and functions – however, it’s also known for its steep learning curve. SketchUp, on the other hand, is said to be rather beginner-friendly and great for architectural and geometric objects. However, it’s not suited for creating organic structures.

Next come three programs from the Autodesk family: its professional high-end programs AutoCAD (59) and Maya (59) as well as its beginner-friendly free-to-use online app Tinkercad (51) all score well with Mac users. ZBrush (49), a professional 3D sculpting software, comes in 6th. Its free light version, named Sculptris (19), made it to rank 15.

Software For Designing Clothes

After ZBrush, Cinema 4D (43), 123D Design (42), OpenSCAD (38), and Rhinoceros (36) complete the list of the top 10.

Mac Os X Software For Designing Maker Projects 2017

Screenshot of SketchUp, a popular 3D modeling software with Mac users.

The Popularity Score for 3D Modeling Programs

We calculated the popularity of a 3D modeling software for Mac based on their ‘popularity score’ in the 3D printing community. The popularity score consists of mentions and fans on social media, page authority, forum mentions, video mentions, 3D printing database mentions, and Google results. This score is especially helpful if you’re looking for a modeling software for Mac that is widely used for 3D printing, so you can be assured of an online community to brainstorm with and help you out if you get stuck.

3D Design Programs that Won’t Run on Apple’s Mac

Most 3D design programs are available for Windows and Mac users alike. However, some 3D design software that is not available for Mac OS includes Solidworks (62), 3DS Max (55), and Inventor (55). While these are not many, they still represent quite popular 3D modeling software packages. In our original list which includes all platforms, these programs ranked 3rd, 6th, and 7th among the most popular.

Some good news to end with: there are more and more options for Mac users. For example, Rhino 5 is available for Mac. Since many 3D design apps run online now (browser-based), programs like Tinkercad and 3DTin are also accessible from any device. With Cheetah3D there’s also a 3D design software which is exclusively available for Mac OS.

Are you new to the world of 3D modeling and 3D printing? Make sure to avoid these 5 common mistakes in order to create stunning designs. Do you already know how to create printable 3D files? Then simply upload them to our website, choose from more than 100 materials and finishes, and let us take care of printing your object.