GI Dude

Hello, my name is Alex,

I have used ADT as since version 3.0 and i like it very much, however i am tempted to move to revit, because i have heard that is very good and true BIM, i don't plan to began a discusion over wich is better, but i have a few questions aobut...

Learning curve, is it difficult to learn? will cost me more in terms of time and trining people as ADT did when we made the Jump from AutoCAD?

Libraries and content availible on line? is there any? is as vast as ADT, right now we use the Archidigm Libraries, wich by the way have some nasty little details, but we love it, also have many vendor libraries, and DWG stuff, is there any similar content librarie for revit?

Does the manufacturers support revit as well as adt? (marvin windows, hermann miller, and so on)

Is it fully compatible with autocad? can we still read dwg files from clients and data providers?

It has decent 3d capabilities? how good is the Max/Viz interaction?

Do i have to purchase AutoCAD Revit as well?

Do i need a Mega Workstation to handle it properly?

And last, a very stupid question, Is worth the jump to Revit from ADT?

The price is not matter since we plan to purchase it for a big project that we are going to start in a couple of months, the guy from autodesk already answered some of the questions, but he didn't knew Revit in detail, so i am asking you the ones that use it every day and work with its advantages and problems, i am not planing to get rid of ADT yet, but i really like to try...

Thank you very much.

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Alex Guzman

mbowers

Alex,

Perhaps i might be able to help you answer some of those questions. And i expect that many people will respond to this post as well.

1. There are many components available out there, especially on Autodesk's content site, plus many come preinstalled with Revit. They are becoming more and more abundant as time goes on. You can also make your own components and add to your own personal library. Manufacturers , as far as i know, are slow to updating their content files to Revit. The windows on Autodesk's website didn't come from the manufacturer, someone made them using a catalog.

2. Autocad is fully compatible with Revit as well as other cad platforms such as Microstation. Importing and exporting should be of no issue, besides the minor (or major) tweaks that you require.

3. When you design with Revit you are designing in 3D, it does come with it's own renderer, but most will output to Viz or Max, or another 3rd party renderer for more detail.

4. Not sure what you mean by Autocad Revit..could you clarify?

5. Megawork station? not necessarily. The more ram the better. I run a HP xw4400 Workstation with 2GB Ram, Dual 19" Monitors, Intel Pentium D 3.40Ghz, and it runs beautifully.

6. This question depends on you, is it worth your time to invest in this program? The 'head way' to getting Revit up and running is the most important step. Setting up parameters, building types, and second nature stuff we love and understand about Autocad will not be as simple in Revit. We spent about 2 months prior to our Pilot Project (which i highly recommend doing) just getting all the tweaks worked out...standards, plotting, file conventions and all that jazz lined up.

The pilot project is a must. The project has to be small enough (or simple enough) to get your feet wet, but you also want a turn on your Revit purchase investment. A small school project is what we used. Something that may or may not be available to you (but if a reseller or authorized Autodesk supplier is willing) is to have a member of their team right there with you to answer any questions that you will have along the way. We essentially hired a n Autodesk Solutions Specialist to be apart of our Pilot Project Revit team.

Personally i love it and if we weren't still married to Microstation (the bulk of our work is in this program) we would trash it and go 100% Revit. There are many things that will make your life easier and after you get past the initial hiccups, you won't ever look back.

I hope this gives you some insight and perhaps will answer and generate more questions.

GI Dude

Thank you very much,

We have planned to spend 2 months on training, an as you said "keep our feet wet"

The vendors as well as content are one of the principal concerns since we use many content availible on the web for our design, as you kindly answered it should be no problem since more people are begining to use revit and create new catalogs.

The integration with 3ds max is a must since we just invested on a hardcore workstation and full 3ds max license...

I agree with the pilot project, we have in fact a couple of small buildings (medical care) wich can be used for that purpose

Aobut the support from Autodesk, here in mexico, well it's good but never as good as the US, here the vendors aren't good in terms of support and the atention you get from these people who aren't related or comitted with the autodesk support programs... well that's one of our main fears...

about the AutoCAD Revit series, here's the link:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet...112&id=3761844

is the option of getting revit witout getting rid of your autocad license, i think... if some one is in this program i would like to know how it works...

now the novelty is that apparently new windows vista does not support open GL, and as a result, ADT and Revit are not supported, guess we have to wait until the next relase of revit wich i think is going to be in a few weeks...

thank you again and if anyone can go deeper in this advise or answering my dumb questions, i would apreciate...

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Alex Guzman

Cesar R

okay my turn...

"now the novelty is that apparently new windows vista does not support open GL, and as a result, ADT and Revit are not supported, guess we have to wait until the next relase of revit wich i think is going to be in a few weeks..."

Do not be concerned about Vista compatibily - if you are buying Revit within the next month tust me when I tell you that you will be okay. If you are buying it tomorrow buy subscription just do not buy the "Home version" of vista.

Revit Building Series:

All this is, a bundle of Revit Building 9.1 + AutoCAD 2007
you one license to install and run both applications on the same machine. Reason for this is to make the transition easier and to cater to Autocad firms moving to revit.


Hope this helps,

CR

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Xeon 5130 : Revit + 3DSMax
Architecture Student / Autodesk BSD AE
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Fa5 - Honda Civic Si

AJLynn

Direct3D support is an advertised feature of the new Autodesk versions and the release dates are announced. But stay away from Vista for the other reasons

antonio_frias

Hi Alex
Revit is not more dificult to learn than any other BIM program, it just depends on how you set about to do it? Personally I learned Revit in a couple of weeks using the free video tutorials I downloaded from the website www.Cadclips.com (formerly www.dgcad.com). Even now when I have a doubt I go back and review them.
Hope this helps

GI Dude

Thank you all for your comments, i will give revit a try...

AJLynn, What other reasons to stay away from windows vista?

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Alex Guzman

AJLynn

It's a memory and resource hog, driver support is nowhere near where it needs to be, the DRM scheme is so obnoxious I'm predicting it either gets revised soon or causes way more trouble than Microsoft has anticipated. (E.g., it makes it impossible to watch an HD movie on a DVI display because DVI is not "secure". So the first time somebody figures out how to circumvent that protection on, say, a Radeon x1900, which would be a perfectly reasonable and morally laudable even if technically illegal thing to do, and the MPAA subcommittee in charge of this kind of thing demands that Microsoft decertify all Radeon x1900 drivers... Well, there are so many potential problems like that built into the scheme, it's a near certainty that it all hits the fan and the consumer loses. "Trusted computing" is for the benefit of intellectual property owners, not consumers.) The supposed "authentication" system provides very little in the way of actual security, but it really is as annoying as it's made out to be in that Apple commercial. The whole thing is actually less secure because several important security companies were left out of the micensing altogether during the beta phase.

Meanwhile, there is nothing at all that runs on it that doesn't run on XP and probably 99% of what runs on it also runs on 2000, but anything you have that uses OpenGL either doesn't run on Vista or runs much slower. As for Direct3D programs, these include a bunch of games and one Autodesk product, everything else isn't out yet so are you going to rely on it?

The better question is, what reason is there to buy Vista?

Sawyer

I think support is the key. Revit is really easy to use and its fun, I think and it think like architects or at least more so than Acad. The key is how do you make it do ALL of the things you want it to. The first job I had as a drafter 8-9 years ago they used ADT they just used it as a fancy 2d cad drawing system that popped in doors and windows and trimmed walls. We took classes that were desinged to help us use it as a true 3d BIM and eveyone in the office thought it was too complicated. In January I rendered a file from them and it was the SAME - no BIM functionality just a fancy 2d plan (but it was in 3d they drew 2d elevations, sections and the doors and windows were the same default doors and windows that looked nothing like what they were supposed to). 8 years later they still were not able to use ADT to its full potential and part of it was because they couldn't adopt it to their workflow. And part was the classes we took were over 2 hours away RT. There was no-one local who could sit in the office and help them as questions happened.

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And you may ask yourself
What is that beautiful house?

Ron-HK

Hi... just to supplement the other guys comments... and aside from getting your feet wet.. it is very important that you understand the Revit workflow first before jumping to doing a reall project... this way, you can avoid abortive works...

Once you get license copy of Revit, go to the program files/Autodesk Revit 9.1 (in my case)/program and look for "BuildingMtrTutA4ENU.pdf" and print the page 23 to 107, it's about Creating a Building Information Model. This is a very, very good and straight forward tutorial... and from this...the next pages is all about everything you want to know about how Revit works... what i'm trying to say here is.... knowing the right process first so you won't find yourself in dead end.

Try this site... http://www.revitcity.com you can download lots of ready made model here...and they're free...

Good luck!

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do not leave anything undone...if you can do it now.