What is Mastercam?
Mastercam is a CAD/CAM program for Microsoft Windows. Developed by CNC Software, LLC, the program is indeed focused on creating CNC-compatible designs. It can be used to program most kinds of CNC machines, including mills, lathes, routers, mill-turn machines, wire-cut EDM machines, and others. It supports up to five axis of control for milling, turning, and mill-turn operations, which should cover even the most complex designs. When it comes to wire-cut EDM technology, Mastercam gives its users precise control over wire motion and its angle, and supports 2 and 4 axis wirepaths. It also has a variety of add-ons, which provide improved functionality for certain niche cases: for example, there is an addon that optimizes drilling routines. All things considered, Mastercam is an indispensable program for every factory. It is available only on Microsoft Windows, however, employees that prefer using Macs can also be accommodated. Certain third-party solutions are needed to accomplish that, however. The article below contains a brief overview of methods that can be used to run Mastercam on Mac.
How to run Mastercam on Mac
The easiest way to run Mastercam on Mac or MacBook is virtualization software. Despite the fact that emulators usually demand quite a lot of computing power out of a Mac, some of them (e.g. Parallels, VirtualBox, and VMWare) can be used to run Windows programs on OS X with minimal losses in the performance of your machine. Moreover, some of them support hardware acceleration, which can help with running graphically demanding apps and games. Also, they allow you to quickly switch between Windows and macOS desktops and copy any files between them.
Run Mastercam on Mac with Parallels
If you wish to run Mastercam on Mac, Parallels Desktop can be a solution. This is an application that allows for Windows virtualization on Mac, and has full support for GPU acceleration. In simpler terms, what this means is that it allows you to install Windows 10 on Mac with just a couple of clicks and switch between macOS and Windows instantly. So you will be able to run Windows and install Mastercam just like on a regular PC.
Run Mastercam on Mac with other virtualization programs
Another popular virtualization program is VMware Fusion. It can be used to run many operating systems, like Windows, Linux, and FreeBSD. It also supports hardware acceleration, so it can be use to run GPU-intensive applications and most modern games.
You can also try VirtualBox, Wine, and QEMU, however, these programs are not very accessible to users and require advanced computer skills to use.
Run Mastercam on a remote server
If you have a powerful Windows-based server and a fast internet connection, you can run Mastercam on this machine and connect to it with your Mac. You can use TeamViewer, AnyDesk, or other software for this purpose.
Run Mastercam on Mac with Boot Camp (for Intel Macs only)
Note: Mac computers with Apple Silicon chips (all M1, M2, and M3-based models, including those with Pro, Max, and Ultra versions of CPUs) do not support BootCamp. In this case, use the options above to run Mastercam on Mac.
BootCamp is a program for Intel-based Macs that allows you to install multiple operating systems on your Mac. However, you won’t be able to switch between systems like in Parallels. Instead, you will need to reboot your machine every time you want to switch from Mac to Windows and vice versa. Additionally, you will need at least 64 GB of free space on your device; this space will be used to store Windows operating system and all Windows apps. To set up Windows via BootCamp, please, do the following:
Important: macOS versions prior to OS X El Capitan 10.11 require a bootable Windows USB.
- Download Windows ISO file
- Open Boot Camp Assistant (Go to Applications > Utilities)
- Define the Windows partition size choose downloaded Windows ISO file
- Format Windows partition and go through all Windows installation steps
- When Windows boots for the first time follow on-screen instructions to install Boot Camp and Windows support software (drivers)