AS version of BricsCAD for V26 ?

We are working on a native build for Apple Silicon, but we can't tell when we will be able to deliver it.

Which was to be expected already since - from now - exactly 5 years ago - wow.

But I read there will be another 3 years of security fixes for macOS 27.

So Bricscad has at least 4 more years until an AS-only version is needed/mandatory. I have kept my old Intel Trash Can Mac Pro in the cupboard any way, in case one day I will need it again.

But I am more concerned about Bricscad's drawing viewport graphic or large file data performance on all platforms. Or feature parity for the non-Windows platforms.

I also contacted support this week because I hadn't found this thread yet. Since this discussion is here, I want to share the support team's response with you right away.

When it comes to native Apple Silicon support:
It is something we are working on, unfortunately it didn't make V26, because of multiple external factors.
For example one of the issues is Hoops Luminate's Metal support, which has
large performance issues compared to the opengl implementation, which
was removed for mac when they added Metal support.

»For example one of the issues is Hoops Luminate's Metal support.

It's not longer Hoops 'Luminate', it's now Hoops Visualize.

Tech Soft 3D the company recently consolidated their product portfolio.

BricsCAD's graphics engine's naming history looks like this:

RedSDK (Redway3D was acquired by Tech Soft 3D in 2022)

Hoops Luminate (renamed from RedSDK)

Hoops Visualize (renamed from Hoops Luminate)

https://techsoft3d.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/KR3D/pages/2385412130/Changes%2Bfor%2BExisting%2BPartners

https://www.techsoft3d.com/resources/blog/tech-soft-3d-product-consolidation-faqs?utm_campaign=23156597-2025+Product+Consolidation&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=383064506&utm_content=383064506&utm_source=hs_email

https://techsoft3d.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/KBHV/pages/1190658077/HOOPS%2BVisualize%2BDesktop%2BMobile%2BPublic%2BRoadmap

Did you ask Hexagon direct ? Vis support. Would be interesting to see what they say.

MacOS 27 will still include Rosetta, which will be discontinued in macOS 28.

Here’s a screenshot from Apple’s website page on the topic:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/102527?cid=mc-ols-rosetta-article_102527-macos_finder-52526201

The dedicated development team is actively working on this project. But we can't promise when the AS version is expected, to avoid wrong expectations, as the task is large and complex.

100% agree, love BricsCAD on my Windows box but on a Mac it's simply too sub-par to even bother using.

Totally agree.

as a side note:

one can run a google search "compare autocad for windows with autocad for mac".

the results I get, including official "Autodesk" document, shows that even that "native" version is not exactly equivalent to x86, to say the least...

the way I see it, it is more an Apple issue then software companies & developers.

I'm not a programmer but I can say if the conversion from X86 to AS is crazy hard and I don't doubt that it is, Greabert (ARES Commander) managed to do it. I have ARES 2027 which has the identical user interface for Mac OS and Windows same as BricsCAD. I can say the application seems to be equal on either platform. Mac here is a M4 Max Studio (base), Windows box is a Lenovo Think Centre Neo I7-14700 / RTX 4060 and the experience is the same on either. Greabert is a smaller company for certain and was able to pull it off very nicely so I would think Hexagon would have the resources to make the conversion as well.

From what I remember back then,
initially when we asked about the native ARM version and that RedSDK already offered Metal support, it was said that it is not a big problem to release a universal App, but it is hard to get it performant and that they want to do it right. I thought about a general issue, not that its related to Red's Metal API.

Meanwhile RedSDK was sold to a company that looks hardcore Windows only interested (?)

And the last news I heard was that their Metal support was still so poor that we got again a (faster) V26 OpenGL Intel Version.

To not be misunderstood,
I can open and work with reasonably large projects fine in Bricscad, for now even on Mac. I basically even could on my old 16 GB M1 Mac Mini.

But I always got certain "not very optimized" client source Files (IFCs, RVTs), that do heavily lag in Bricscad, while still working "ok" in my other BIM or 3D Apps. The problem is that this did not improve noticeably in Bricscad with current Mac hardware AND that it was also never really better on the "unlimited" Windows test PC.

I may get lagging in Viewport Navigation as well as things like Visibility switching in Structure Tree.

Hey all,

I just wanted to add some clarity here. Zoomer his explanation is indeed very close to the money concerning the reason why BricsCAD isn't running natively yet on ARM. We have a lot of external libraries we're using and all of them needed to be updated or compiled by us to be able to run natively. Since Apple switched to ARM we've been doing just that, sometimes being blocked by an external party that was a bit slower and we couldn't do it ourselves. The last one to switch was our rendering engine, where we received an ARM version roughly two years ago. When we tried it serious performance problems surfaced, but also other problems like incorrect display scaling and graphical artifacts. We reported these back to our supplier and have been working with them to try and come to a solution. It's too early to tell for sure but recent alpha versions we've received are showing progress. So keep an eye on the beta I'd say and in case we manage to release a universal binary help us test on ARM so we can stabilize as much as possible.

ty