I think we're cancelling Revit

[qball]

My boss has decided to cancel our subscription for Revit Structure.

In my opinion, the program is like a padded bra - really exciting up front but kind of a let down when you really get down to business.

We had a high end custom home to design structurally and I chose this to start the learning process. It had concrete, steel, masonry and wood, and as complex as anything overall. But essentially simple structures when you break down the components, so I wasn't intimidated by the learning curve. (Some of you helped me on other posts as well).

The 3d modelling is really good, quick, easy to change things. However, anytime someone wants to espouse the benefits of 3d modelling they show a nice rendering. Which is great, but when it comes down to it we have to produce a set of 2d construction drawings, right? I think the 2d stuff (including text formatting) are way behind Autocad.

I went into it understanding that it is not Autocad, but considering they are by the same company, it is hard not to compare.

Some of the help I got from our reseller consisted of "why would you want to do that?", "sorry, I don't know", "that's not an option" or "just use MS Word and import it".

Basically I had learned all I could from videos, tutorials, forums. I asked the Autodesk reseller if he could access a completed Structural Engineering drawing for me to see how people in the real world are doing it. Obviously, there are legal implications with that. So far I have come up empty handed.

I want it to work, and I guess I am still hoping something will show me what I can do to make the program work for us. But the boss probably won't change his mind unless I come up with something very profound.

[tzframpton]

In my opinion, the program is like a padded bra - really exciting up front but kind of a let down when you really get down to business.

This made me seriously laugh out loud.

 

And I'm right there with you with giving up on Revit. I understand completely.

[Jack_O'neill]

You'd think a company that publishes drafting software would give more attention to actually getting stuff on paper. The early versions of Inventor had the same problem. You could make some spectacular looking models and really do a good job of designing your machine or whatever, but it stank when it came time to make shop drawings for the parts. I can only hope that's been remedied, as I haven't even looked at Inventor for a very long time. MDT didn't have that problem, it made great shop drawings, and did a reasonable job of creating a parts list for you. We like to think these days that we can have a "paperless" industry, but not so. As long as people are going out in shops with milling machines and lathes and welders, or to jobsites with hammers and saws and nailguns, we will have paper drawings. Even more so, as long as there a need to prove why you did something a certain way, we will have paper. The information on the screen can change in an instant. When the house gets built and there are 3 windows in the living room instead of 4, you can pull out your trusty paper drawings that show 3 windows and say, "that's why".

[troggarf]

I prefer using autoCAD and when a 3D model is needed I use sketchup. This semester (Spring 2011) for my design & analysis class, my teacher basically rags on AutoCAD and wants everyone to use Revit. I bought into into it for about a week & a half and have now gone back to AutoCAD. I was sick of Revit telling me what I could not do. The beauty of AutoCAD is that you can make it do whatever you want it to do. And if you don't know how to do something, there are plenty of people online who can help. When I search for help online in regards to Revit, I tend to find people who have the same questions and very few answers and solutions are available right now. I am sick of the hype of revit and the frustration with it.

[harley558]

qball, has your boss considered Chief Architect. It lays out great 3d renderings and works well with 2d plans for construction.

[qball]

qball, has your boss considered Chief Architect. It lays out great 3d renderings and works well with 2d plans for construction.

 

I've been to their website. I may look into it more. Any experience with Structural drawings with it?

It sounds like Autodesk makes it very difficult to downgrade subscriptions (ie the cancellation cost equals the renewal cost). My boss wants to stick it to them, but I don't think our 3 or 4 seats are going to shed any tears. I don't know about being without Autocad though. It's such a standard.

[Noahma]

I sort of feel the same way. We have not put it into practice in the office yet, but my boss is enamored with what it can produce, until we got a set of drawings from another firm (the company switched) and the set well.... less than spectacular. I LOVE Autocad Architecture, it produces a BIM model with the same reliability and output we need. Hopefully as Revit matures, it will become a great program for 2d CD's as well.

[zjer8]

try revit architecture 2012 bundle @ $150.00 by infinite skills. i've been using autocad for about 15 yrs and about 6 yrs ago I got on a subscription for revit with autocad included. I played with revit off and on, bought many books, but never really got my head around it. I still recognized it as being a powerful program. I purchased the dvd from infinite skills and finally i was able to understand it a little. I found it to be very, very, very helpful.