Revit???

[STRAT]

Hi there

 

We've just had a salesman give us a lunchtime seminar on Revit.

 

Architecturally speaking it looks really handy (i wouldn't consider it for high-end 3d rendering or modelling personally). but obviously a sales rep makes it look this way.

 

can i have opinions from seasoned Revit users of the ins and outs, goods and bads, ups and downs please?

 

(not interested in the 3d rendering side of things, but more the 2d/3d architectural drafting side. a review for an architectural practice i can report back to my bosses with)

 

thank you

[mbowers]

Strat,

 

I have played around with Revit. I'm not seasoned by any sort however in playing around with the software i've come to like many things about it. It's all integrated. Simply put, when your drafting on the fly, and you move a wall, lets say 3", that wall is updated on every sheet that you have set up on. Same goes for all notes, tags, blocks, sections, elevations and the sort. It's all built on BIM and it keeps track of everything as you design, schedules and tables are no exception. It is nothing like Autocad or any Autodesk products at all. Which to a long time user of Autocad such as myself, made it very difficult to start designing. The panel layout is very strange, i find myself wanting to use the type in command, only to find out it does things i don't want it to. The learning curve could inhibit most to start trying however after a while you will get the hang of it. One of the most frustrationg parts about this new software (given its vast intelligence) is the fact that you will need to define your own attributes as far as wall thicknesses, window/door styles, templates and the such, of course they are available for download, it's just the "office standard" that will take a lot of time and effort to understand. Hope this helps..

[gfa2]

I asked a guy I know about it, he has been using it for about 3 years. He said for schematic design it is great to show clients what you are thinking and you could do it pretty quick, but for CDs he found that it was surprisingly inaccurate. Like he would draw something at 28 degrees only to find out that it was actually 28.0357 degrees or a wall was 35'-3/256" instead of 35'.

[chuck]

We've talked about going to a package like revit or triforma at my firm of 80ppl. Sadly I think it would take a ton of effort to get us to be productive. A select group of us could pick it up but most wouldn't have a clue. I teach sketchup basics to some of our designers and even that get's them really frustrated.

 

Besides that, we have a ton of standard details and firm specific standards that would take forever to convert into a new system...but we've never really tried either.

 

If I was going to start a firm with a few young guys I'd take a serious look. I've found the software easy to pick up and fun.

 

Didn't SOM do the "entire" Freedom Tower in Revit?

 

Chuck

[delirivm]

I asked a guy I know about it, he has been using it for about 3 years. He said for schematic design it is great to show clients what you are thinking and you could do it pretty quick, but for CDs he found that it was surprisingly inaccurate. Like he would draw something at 28 degrees only to find out that it was actually 28.0357 degrees or a wall was 35'-3/256" instead of 35'.

 

I think you must be talking about Archicad? Revit is 100% accurat! Revit is very easy to learn compared with other software that does the same thing. Cd's is a breeze in Revit. Every document updates as the model updates, hence little chance for errors. You can ofcourse detail the model with 2D drafting tools if you dont want to model it. Ofcourse you will need to make an office template where you set up different wall types etc. and it will save you a lot of time in future projects. A good way to make your template is to do your first project with the standard template that comes with Revit, when your project is done, and you have set up every sheet, wall, roof, floor types etc. you just purge the unused objects that you dont want in your template. Then you can save your project as a new template ready too use in your next projects.

[Sawyer]

I have played with it and I loved it. It was much easier to use than ADT and when I played with it I found I could get really really far doing CD's without anything more than the internet and the help files. I was not able to do that with ADT or even autocad. It is easy and I think you could do a set of drawings much quicker and make them ultimatly more accurate. I don't know about .0234 or whatever degrees but I know most of the errors that happened where I have worked stemmed from changes to the drawings after it was drawn correctly. I.e. the floor plan was updated but the elevation was forgotten or the section or the roof plan or...

 

Those are what Revit seems great for. Everyone can draw a box (building) my 4 year old could, it's getting the changes done throughout the life of the project that is the killer.

 

I have not done details yet.

[angelo]

The best quote I've heard is from an IT manager who noticed the new teams on Revit were actually smiling on a regular basis vs. the terminally frustrated ADT users.

[gfa2]

One thing I do know, is that I don't like the way Revit or ADT interacts with max or VIZ. When models are imported, every single item appears as a max/VIZ object, regardless of layers...freakin ridiculous. Anyone found a way around this?

[STRAT]

great insite fellers. what are CDs?

[chuck]

construction documents.

 

(aka the devil)

 

(also known as)

 

(chuck)

[Pete]

For more information about revit, tune to http://www.augi.com or http://www.revitcity.com. You'll be amazed what revit can do. One of the things that kept me from using Revit was the lack of organic modeling capabilities. With Revit 8.1 you can import very complex Nurbs shapes and turn them into building components. So, now i'm a happy revit user and enoying myself each time i use it.

[STRAT]

For more information about revit, tune to www.augi.com or www.revitcity.com. You'll be amazed what revit can do. One of the things that kept me from using Revit was the lack of organic modeling capabilities. With Revit 8.1 you can import very complex Nurbs shapes and turn them into building components. So, now i'm a happy revit user and enoying myself each time i use it.

 

so how does it cope with importing meshes from autocad and rhino for instance? can i import them and make them into intelligent editable components?

[Pete]

There are three ways to use a model from another program in Revit. They all start with exporting your model to a DWG, DXF or sat.

 

1. You can bring in a massing model done in another software, and turn it into a Revit Mass. You do this by creating a new in-place mass, importing your 3D model, and then finishing your mass. Revit will now try it's best to make it (the imported model) act like a Revit Mass. You'll be able to pick surfaces on it and have them turn into walls, floors, roofs, and curtain systems, just like a Revit mass. So you can quickly turn your conceptual design that might have been done in another software into Revit elements that are useful in actually making the CD's and/or figuring out the particulars of the design that weren't addressed with your concept.

 

2. You can bring in models done in other 3D software, and turn them into Revit Elements. For example, you might have a curvy facede, a custom reception desk, a garden sculpture, a system of precast concrete bits that make up your complex curved walls, whatever. With this you either create a new in-place Family, pick what category the imported item should belong to, import your model, and then finish the in-place family. For stuff that you might want to use repeatedly within the building, like that precast system or a fancy custom office chair, then you'll want to import this into a new component family instead first, set it's visibility rules, and then load it into your Project and put it to use.

 

3. You can bring in models done in other 3D software, and use them as a base to do your Revit work from. Using the 'pick' options for wall creation, or for sketch creation, you can quickly turn your 3D model into a Revit model. Kinda like tracing, but faster. If you do #1 above when you bring in your model, and put it into the Generic Model catagory, you'll be able to cut it in section and stuff while working.

 

As for taking a 3D model and turning it into a Revit Building automatically, that's currently not possible, for something has to be there to tell Revit what the parts you're bringing in are, so it knows how they should behave and what they are made of.

[Richard McCarthy]

Hi STRAT!

From what I can tell you, ......Revit is da bomb!

 

But yes, I agree with others, Revit excel at schematic and concept design stage. There are many people who complaint about the CD (construction documentation - detailing) stage but I think it is got to do with unfamiliarity with the software more than anything else. I have work at many firms (large and small) on this software so far and I found that most users who adapt to it and enjoys it as the ones that haven't touch AutoCAD or have difficulty learning autoCAD. Consquently, the ones that have used autoCAD or are season autoCAD users are the most ferocious anti-Revit users I have known to date. I think it is mostly due their difficulty of switching or learning a new software. (and possibly their loyalty to it). The group that are autoCAD jockey usually are been left behind due to this, while the less than proficient people on AutoCAD are usually been assign to use the Revit.

 

I have also notice that teams that use Revit are much smaller than teams that use AutoCAD (+ ADT) to complete project. Same size project and Revit team usually would only reqire 3-4 to complete the project while AutoCAD team would need atleast a dozen (12-18+) to complete the same task (this is truely from my experience). The reason for this is because, for autoCAD team, they require literally a dozen people (or more!) to coordinate the intricate detailing of the architectural project, with very complex project, it becomes almost a nightmare to coordinate all the drawings and not miss any mistake with every revision on every page of the drawings (usually a medium size project I encounter are over 100 pages in A0 size).

 

With Revit, because all the revision and update is done automatically by the program, there is little chance of mistakes such inconsistancy to exist. This is the reason why Revit team are so much smaller, you do not require swarms of drafters to cross check each other's drawing, wasting valuable time for designing.

 

The strength of Revit as stated by others is it's ease of use (no cryptic command using keyboard entry). Basically, if your project can fit (or yourself can logically divide the project) into the basic idea of Revit, it can work really really well... Revit works in "floors, walls, roof" scheme, if you can divide your project into such, it works wonderfully, and very easily and quickly. If you have some exotic project where it doesn't fit into such scheme (such as bio-organic form of design, with integrated floors to walls to roof) you might have a bit more problem adapting to it, but as I stated, if you understand the concept of Revit ("floors, walls, roof") you would have no problem dividing the modeling of it into relevent parts and still make it work.

 

The other strength about Revit, lies in its BIM capability, with data from the Building as "LIVE" you can extract such data easily, such as areas of types of rooms, types of spaces, (for GFA calculation) using those data for analysis. You can even use it for costing analysis, as you can use it to automatically calculate the material cost of the building. (Costwork module seems to work only in USA at the moment)

 

 

And another point I like to make is that, how easy and powerful it is to create parametric building object in Revit. If you learn Revit, you need to learn how to create "family" (no naughty comment please! ) It's actually very easy to create parametric object, and a joy to create such thing (for me) because after the creation you can re-use it over and over in the future project. (object from sofa, receptionist's desk to lamps, skylight, to special roof and glazing members...etc)

 

 

The only down side to Revit so far for me, as far as I can see is still it's "Team Project Capability" (worksets). There are countless times I wish I wouldn't have to deal with such thing because sometimes things could go horribly wrong and the central project would be corrupted. (It was a prevelent bug in previous versions of Revit... not sure if it still exist in most recent releases)

 

 

So, the bottom line is, if your company is willing do the switch, if those AutoCAD jockey are willing, I am sure it will all go smoothly ... If not, expect some major fight in office for YEARS TO COME. (*until autodesk terminate AutoCAD/ADT ofcourse) LOL...

[STRAT]

cheers fellers. very much obliged for the help. printing comments out for further talks

 

all guys in our office are 2d caddies in acad LT, but they seem pretty excited about what R will do for them in a fraction of the time.

 

personally, i'll be sticking with autocad full. suits my modelling methods better than and s/w i know.

[TRANSPARENT]

Revit is awesome and I think it has potential to produce quality interior and exterior renderings, I've recently broke the ice on getting good renders after using revit since release 5.1. Here are a couple interior examples. There are no real lights in it yet but I think you can still see the potential. As far as modeling in revit it is quite easy with a very small learning curve.

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[ndousm]

I am looking for a template named as house rvt any one please help me to find it.