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AutoCad -> Revit
zhen_rogue
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm a 15-year veteran of AutoCAD, I learned on R9, worked heavily in R13 and R14, and have been in the ADT 2006 realm for the past few years.
I would classify myself as a "guru" with the software, not to brag, but to illustrate that I have extensive knowledge of advanced usage beyond a normal user. I've written many of my own scripts, have my own LISP routines, I build block libraries and develop graphic standards for other architecture firms.
I'm now faced with the fact that AutoCAD will have more and more limited use in the future as compared to BIM-based programs, such as Revit. In fact, many of the civic/public projects I see proposals sent out for dictate that the architectural firm use Revit exclusively if they are selected to become a part of the design team.
I have access to a full-use 30-day trial of Revit 2010 architecture, and want to get as much as I possibly can from it. I want to learn how to use it from a basic-user perspective, such as drawing a simple building and then generating hardcopy scaled plans/sections/details/schedules from it.
I see purchasing a full Revit license in the very near future, so as not to be 'left behind' from certain projects.
However, I am worried that my brain is so hard-wired into AutoCAD thinking, that there will be many pitfalls and roadblocks along the way that will, frankly, infuriate me.
If anyone else out there has gone from AutoCAD to Revit, I would very much like to hear your experiences, your advice, your recommendations, and your suggestions.
Anything is useful, even if it's something as simple as "forget the X command that you're accustomed to, and learn to think of the Y command now".
Were the included tutorials of any use? Do I need to download the supplemental tutorials from the Autodesk website? Are there any good online/hardcopy 3rd-party reference guides to getting started?
Thanks for your help in shepherding an AutoCAD fossil into the BIM world!
I would classify myself as a "guru" with the software, not to brag, but to illustrate that I have extensive knowledge of advanced usage beyond a normal user. I've written many of my own scripts, have my own LISP routines, I build block libraries and develop graphic standards for other architecture firms.
I'm now faced with the fact that AutoCAD will have more and more limited use in the future as compared to BIM-based programs, such as Revit. In fact, many of the civic/public projects I see proposals sent out for dictate that the architectural firm use Revit exclusively if they are selected to become a part of the design team.
I have access to a full-use 30-day trial of Revit 2010 architecture, and want to get as much as I possibly can from it. I want to learn how to use it from a basic-user perspective, such as drawing a simple building and then generating hardcopy scaled plans/sections/details/schedules from it.
I see purchasing a full Revit license in the very near future, so as not to be 'left behind' from certain projects.
However, I am worried that my brain is so hard-wired into AutoCAD thinking, that there will be many pitfalls and roadblocks along the way that will, frankly, infuriate me.
If anyone else out there has gone from AutoCAD to Revit, I would very much like to hear your experiences, your advice, your recommendations, and your suggestions.
Anything is useful, even if it's something as simple as "forget the X command that you're accustomed to, and learn to think of the Y command now".
Were the included tutorials of any use? Do I need to download the supplemental tutorials from the Autodesk website? Are there any good online/hardcopy 3rd-party reference guides to getting started?
Thanks for your help in shepherding an AutoCAD fossil into the BIM world!
zhen_rogue on
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Posts
My background experience is similar to yours, and I've been trying to push our company toward BIM for the last several months now. (This tends to be a slow process around here). A few months back the company gave in a little to our fear mongering and sent 3 of us to the local community college for a 1 day crash course in Revit Architecture 2009. I had no trouble whatsoever keeping up with the instructor, in fact he (a representative from Autodesk), got stuck a couple times and I ended up figuring it out and helping him along, haha. Will your Autocad skills come in handy? Not really, I mean, there are some concepts that are similar like object snaps and polylines (which all have different names in Revit), but other than that it's totally different. Have you ever had a chance to use Autocad 2009 or 2010 and play with the "ribbon"? Imagine working in Autocad and ONLY using that to do anything. It's tedious, and sometimes counter-intuitive. I think it might have been a bit easier for me to grasp having spent a lot of time in Vue (or 3D Studio). It's much closer to that sort of interface.
As far as the program goes, it seemed a bit premature to me (this could also be that I just don't know how to make it work). Maybe things have improved in Revit 2010, I haven't tried that version yet, but some things just weren't polished enough to be used for production work. I can remember a couple instances with windows and half walls where you had to do things in a certain order to get them to look right. I also had a wall on a balcony that was made of glass panels, like you'd see in a conference room or something. Getting the program to space the panels so that they were centered with the room (instead of a 1/4 panel at one end) was an involved process, which should have been 2 clicks if you ask me. I imagine you'd run into the same type of thing with tiles or anything of that nature. Overall it had some impressive features that would be real time savers if someone took the time to set it up correctly. The program basically operates on "libraries" of materials (say a 4 1/2" wall with studs at x" and x" thick drywall and x amount of insulation) You pick the start and end point and it fills in everything else. That's all very nice, but it DEPENDS on having that type of wall defined in the library. You basically need a "guru" to go in there and predefine everything that you are likely to need for your drawings, or else the typical user is not going to be able to do anything with it. Think of drawing in Autocad, but you can only use dynamic blocks to create your drawings. The potential for incredible productivity is there, or you can spend an entire day trying to make a decorative fence.