Gem Cad on Mac?

[mr-john]

Does anyone have advice for running Gem Cad for Windows on a Mac?
Thanks

[Alan Balmer]

There was a discussion about this on GemologyOnline: https://www.gemologyonline.com/Forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7234

[mr-john]

Thanks for the link to the forum, Alan! It’s a few years old, but no reason it wouldn’t work.

[mr-john]

I was able to use Crossover as described in the Gemology Online link, but I’m having the same issue as one of the posters in that string:

“The only issue that i have is regarding the printer. I can print any diagrams i want (so far, no problem) BUT it doesn’t want to print the angles and indexes. AND when i look at the print preview, it directly shows the same mistakes encountered on the actual printing. SO, i am pretty sure that the problem doesn’t come from my printer but elsewhere? Any guesses? Advices? Any help would be more than welcomed!”

On screen the program works well and all appears normal. I can even enter all the information I want into the diagram. However, that’s where the fun ends. A preview of the diagram finds the cutting instructions garbled and unusable. And like the person above states, the printed instruction has the same unusable appearance.

Does anyone have any insights as to what may cure this issue?

[mr-john]

I finally came across Gem Cut Studio https://gemcutstudio.com/ This program is awesome and has a 30 day free trial. It is the solution to cutters with Mac computers.

[bthomason]

Try creating a folder on your desktop. before you try to print, save the diagram in that folder. go to the folder, then print.
If you don’t want to keep the diagram. just delete it.

[master1975]

Im a Mac guy as well… Gemcutstudio is amazing!!! I wouldn’t live without the cutting assistant.

[caseytrump]

I long for the day and can’t wait for GEMCAD to be programmed to MAC. It has in the past been downloadable using crossover “Bootcamp”. It does put stain on the Mac and heats up more than it should. The better option is to just buy a Microsoft Windows Operating System laptop and dedicate it just for GEMCAD. From my experience that is the better option! GEMCAD has revolutionized the gemcutting industry and I would not be without it!

[mr-john]

I tried Gem Cut Studio https://gemcutstudio.com/ for the free trial and liked it enough to make the purchase. It works differently than GemCadWin, but I’ve used it regularly and have now found it to be much easier to use than GemCadWin. One of the features I like best is the optimization. I can take a design for any material and optimize it for the material I want. The angles are all changed automatically, and it even displays the raytracing data. For those of you with .gem files – Gem Cut Studio reads those as well as it’s own files, .gcs. I doubt that I’ll ever go back to using GemCadWin.

[Lowjiber]

@Mr.John… I totally agree with your comments above. I’ve used GCS exclusively for over two years and haven’t even “opened” GemCad.

[jimfoster]

I use an old copy of Crossover (now subscription) and get at the printing problem this way. Use the screen shot tool to copy the display page and put it on your desktop. This will have all cutting instructions. Then do a print preview and so the same thing with the name, gear etc. I use a new Pages file and paste both of the screen shots together. Print that.

I still use Gem Cad because I like to run that file through the GemRay program to optimize the materials performance in that cut.

This one reason I refuse to upgrade to Catalina OS since it is 64 bit and I’m not sure that these programs would work.

Jim Foster
Santa Barbara

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