Why Architectural Desktop?

[SunGlare]

Hello,

Does enyone found it usefull, effective, process improving buying ADT?

 

Im running plain Acad, and wondering if it is really that big step forward using advanced app. like ADT 2006.

 

Recently I had a hard time, convincing one of mine friends, an architect, to use ADT2006. His point was realy good: to much time is consumed to prepare highy detailed virtual model, that can save time producing automated plans, sections, elev etc. But what is crucial is "the detail", if You make decision of designig box like any other, You're fine. If You one of those unconstrained minds, You'll end up correcting automated plans, over and over again, designig countles patches for your Sheets, adding another window style, wall style, roof style, section view style, mass element as a wall, ..and so on, so on.

Then, You think... well at least I have redy to render cosistent Model. Hmm... Have You count the multi-million face count on one of those? I did.

 

And at the end, where is my time? I've saved some? Didn't I?

 

What do You think.

As a Designer,

As an Architect,

As an Illustrator,

As a Drafter.

[bully712]

We use ADT at work, and we primarily bought it because it sounded easy. Build the model and then you have your floor plans, elevations, wall sections,etc. We've had it for a little over 2 years now, and have attempted to only create one project using the 3D aspect. Also the 3D part slows down your computer, and the larger projects just put it to a hault. I think now we're are only going to be using it for 2D drawings. As an Illustrator, I would rather build my own model then use a model created in ADT. Pretty much Autocad is Autocad. This is just my opinion. Others might disagree.

[WestCAD]

I have been using ADT for about 5 years now and would never go back to vanilla acad. It helps if you have a general understanding of 3d. You can quickly general arch plans, rcp and elevations from your model. The doors, windows, walls and roof are all easily customised. Widths, heights and styles can be changed thru properties window. Materials are assigned to objects and are easily changed. Mass elements can be quickly generated and can be stretched or modified thru properties window. Elevations can be quickly generated from model and updated if changes occur. ADT comes with Vizrender which is not a bad rendering tool which links your model, so if there are changes the render can be updated.

[AJLynn]

I've worked in an ADT firm and it was useful, though we weren't using the full capabilities - mostly just drawing plans with smart walls and doors/windows, to make drafting a bit faster. When I was last there they were evaluating upgrading to 2006 and getting deeper into it, and thought it would be worthwhile - but would require more training. Personally I'm not convinced it offers advantages over Revit or any of the other BIM packages, except for it being Autocad based (and everybody knows Autocad).

 

I've used it on school projects before I was any good at any other 3D program, with Viz Render, and it was good for when I needed something ASAP. I use it over Autocad because my school has both and there are a few useful features, but I don't use it for 3D anymore. I could see the 3D features being useful for an office that wants to do some low-end 3D work in-house without paying for Max or the staff hours to do real vis work, but beyond that - well, it's just nowhere near as good as Viz, Max, C4D, etc. I've never seen anybody use the section and elevation features and like them - they might be good for basic layouts, but the real drawings should be done individually unless you're designing strip malls, KMarts or barracks-style housing.

[mskin]

I dont really understand the BIM as a design tool. I don't see how automating the creation of elevations and sections improves the final quality of a project. There is something to be said for actually drawing these views to better understand our designs.

 

I see value in terms of contract documents: linking doors, tags, databases to automatically generate a door schedule is another story - but i don't know if that is BIM or ADT specific.

[Tim Saunders]

i took some classes using adt in school and the concept is awsome. as far as needing to draw everything in 2d to understand how to build something, not sure that really helps that much. i think you'll have just as much of an understanding of how stuff is buit by generating your bim. no need to waste time on drawing door and window jams and the other tedious stuff that the bim programs help save time with. my problem with adt is the ui. i got so tired of trying to figure out how to make certain modifications to certain elements. for example in a given window, you make some adjustments in the object properties, some from the toolbar, some from another tool palet, and so on. it frustrated me that you had to remember 4-5 different paths to modify an object. that being said, i'm not totally against bim programs, just adt. i used revit a bit and love that. revit as everything related to modifying the object all in one tree on the left of the model. simple ui. plus it keeps the graphics simple so orbiting in your scene (model) doesn't blink lik eyour doing the robot as aposed to adt which completely lags once you get a slightly complex model built. i also hear good stuff from archicad users, but don't personally have experience with it. but seriously, if you are thinking of making the investment, give revit a trial.

[brightlight]

Have you considered Revit or Archicad? I know from experience that the latter

is very good for designing in 3d, but it's not Autodesk. I've heard that Revit is

similar. Didn't Autodesk buy it as ADT wasn't cutting the mustard with the BIM

concept?

[WestCAD]

I have been using AutoCAD since 1984 (version 1.14) and now use ADT exclusively. I draft everything in 3d..from the model which contains RCP, floor and external features to the individual components. Each component is sectioned and detailed and becomes a working drawing and is xrefed into the model. The model, by changing display properties becomes the plan view, elevations, sections, rcp, joinery layout, security plan or whatever. If a component is modified, that component is quickly updated and the revisions are reflected across all drawings. Makes the workflow a hell of a lot easier.

[bully712]

Each component is sectioned and detailed and becomes a working drawing and is xrefed into the model. The model, by changing display properties becomes the plan view, elevations, sections, rcp, joinery layout, security plan or whatever. If a component is modified, that component is quickly updated and the revisions are reflected across all drawings. Makes the workflow a hell of a lot easier.

You make it sound so easy. I have a question: What type of projects (size wise) do you work on? Sure it works for small simple projects.

[WestCAD]

I mainly do store fitouts (single tenancies) in shopping malls, but have also used the workflow on multi storey department stores and office refits. I have also worked on large explosion proof control centre for oil refinery with a team of 5 draftspersons. Using xrefs and multi view blocks each person worked on separate area...ie ewalls, iwalls, furniture, electricals etc. The whole project was created in 3d and a drive by animation was created in Renderstar. I place all notes and dimensions in paperspace, which saves the hassle of creating separate dim styles for mixed scale drawings. Using ADT's Project navigator, design centre, detail components and sheet sets allows me to fully detail the drawings, and saves a lot of time and allows control over multi-level projects that is not possible with standard AutoCAD.

This process might not work for everyone but it sure works for me.