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Software for a small residential project?


Playdo
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A question to those of you experienced in architecture.

 

What software is most recommended for designing a small residential project, and creating drawings, with 1-2 employees? Without a steep learning curve. I've been looking at Autocad, Archicad, Vectorworks, Revit, and Rhino (but there may be others). Would be great to get experienced opinions.

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Depends on your budget and what the employees are familiar with so they don't have to be trained.

Do you want to create construction documents or just draw it? Do you want 3D capabilities? Renderings?

 

For construction documents, the industry standards are AutoCAD and Revit. I don't have experience with Archicad but I think it's similar to AutoCAD in its output. Don't know what you would use Vectorworks or Rhino for in a residential project. If you want a computer model, look into Sketchup.

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Budget or previous employees not set yet. Just doing initial research. Looking for the best way to design in 3d, and to create 2d drawings from it. Final constructions drawings from that would be ideal if possible.

 

Vectorworks is common in exhibition/interior design, and Rhino in architecture. Sketchup's good for 3d modelling, but afaik, you can't produce drawings. I can't see the benefit of using Sketchup over say, Rhino.

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You can use the layout aspect of sketchup for construction docs, and I believe Trimble are looking to focus on this aspect a bit - at least there was mention of this in the lstest release.

 

Archicad is probably more closely aligned with Revit than Autocad, though I'm not exactly sure of the distinction. The Archicad V Revit discussion is a moot point - comes down to which one you happen to learn/get introduced to IMO.

 

Presumably cost comes into it, which is where sketchup may be worth investigating. I know Graphisoft offer a 'lite' version of Archicad for smaller studio use etc, but I think the cost is still quite considerable... BIM probably doesn't interest a smaller studio working on residential or small scale commercial as much as outlay?

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Agree with all. You must define the depth and extents of the project development. Sketchup is free (although there's a paid Pro version), easy to learn, full of free models via 3d warehouse and fun to use; yet, for detailed quantifiable and accountable models / documents, Sketchup / Layout require the user to have a wide range of tools / plugins / libraries that only can come along over time and not all of them are free. This is IMO the drawback.

 

Revit and ArchiCAD are BIM applications; they are made specially for this, but they are expensive and not so fast to learn. Just how far in are you going into this?

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Revit and ArchiCAD are BIM applications; they are made specially for this, but they are expensive and not so fast to learn.

 

That is the truth.

 

I believe with only one or two persons you will want to utilize a BIM package such as Revit or ArchiCAD as it will make coordination much easier as the project progresses. Keep in mind that all of the weight to track projects will be on these one or two people, so getting comfortable with one environment that can handle most of the documentation needs would be ideal.

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I'm not an architect, but I have architectural knowledge, and experience in modelling and reading drawings. From what I understand, I'll be working with two others (one qualified architect) who are not experienced in 3d. My task is to come up with the initial designs (also in 3d), and to produce 2d drawings from this - which I would then refine with the architect. He will produce the final construction/structural drawings for submission.

 

The main requirements are that it is very practical the design stages, and can produce 2d drawings (ideally with control over lineweights and hatching etc for presentation). Sketchup seems popular. I'll take a look at it in more depth.

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Sketchup for 3D and AutoCAD LT for 2D work...

 

Or instead of Acad a free or cheap acad clone like Draftsight

http://www.3ds.com/products-services/draftsight/overview/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLV3gWl01-o

http://www.3ds.com/products-services/draftsight/resource-center/videos/functionality-tutorial/#c370934

 

If it is only for one small residential project i would say every BIM package is overkill...

 

 

Btw. Sketchup is no longer free for professional work... ;) the latest free version is Sketchup 8.

Sketchup is free (although there's a paid Pro version)
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  • 2 weeks later...

Either sketchup+autoCAD LT or Rhino+VisualARQ.

 

VisualARQ will help get you some Revit type functionality (auto generated drawings being the most valuable) and Rhino will offer the most freedom to 3D model professional quality surfaces for a variety of outputs and workflows.

 

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

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I was working for ArchiCAD recenlty , so ill try make this as un-bias as possible.

 

I have used Revit in the past for small residential/commercial etc. has its pros and cons like any program.

I find it to be a little 'clunky' when you work with larger files. - i still use it on occasion.

 

as for ArchiCAD, its the best BIM software I have ever used to date.

 

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You could try to use SketchUp, then you will have a good 3D model when you're done, but there would be continuous struggles and work arounds. Or look into DataCAD. I used it for years, it's better for residential architecture than AutoCAD, IMO. But it's not as popular, so finding people who can use it is a bit tougher. The current version read/write .DWG files fine, so that is a plus, and that it's about 1/4 the price of AutoCAD. Or look into AutoCAD LT, you can always upgrade later to full AutoCAD.

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Thanks for all the replies. Unfortunately the project isn't going ahead now. For future reference though; If I was to model and create drawings in Sketchup and Layout, could they be used to submit a planning application? My guess is no. So if not, would they provide enough information for an architect/structural engineer to easily create submission-ready drawings from?

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  • 4 weeks later...

For future reference, I have some personal insight:

 

I have worked for three small offices (1-3 architects), one utilizing SketchUp Pro, one Rhino + Revit, and currently at an ArchiCad office.

I disliked the SketchUp Pro modeling work flow.

Rhino lacks the obvious BIM, so it's not appropriate (great design program, nevertheless).

When comparing Revit to ArchiCad. ArchiCad is my suggestion.

 

Other things to note: My entire office is Mac based. I am currently doing research on Cinema4D, considering Cinema4d responds well to any design alternations made within ArchiCAd. Hope this helps.

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I remember a few years back a three way pack that was offered in Latin America: AllPlan as the BIM base, Cinema4D for all other modeling and for rendering and Opus AEC (mexican great stuff) for cost and planning management. The beauty of this is that building information could be updated pretty much dynamically between the apps.

 

However, only C4D stood the fight in the 3d field, Opus is still the strong one and it is made to run independently and AllPlan kinda lost the battle among the BIM's. The pack wasn't cheap but yet far less expensive than any Autodesk solution.

 

ArchiCAD has been ringing my bells for quite a while. Worth taking a look at.

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