ArchiCAD vs Revit...pros and cons + various

[Anonymous]

Gidday fellas

I was just curious on everybody's thoughts about Revit and ArchiCAD....I have used ArchiCAD and am getting better and better at it...but i do most of my drafting (my architecture firm) using Smart Architect with AutoCAD. I am a forth year architecture student and have been working in an architecture firm for the last 6 months- cant beleive how much I have learnt!

Anyway, my firm is thinking about purchasing a license for REVIT.. no one else in the firm has had experience with ArchiCAD (well as much as me anyhow) and I was just wondering what everybodys thoughts are on REVIT and ArchiCAD? I have gone through REVIT very briefly and what I have noticed is that ArchiCAD seems to be more of a presentation tool and REVIT more of a professional working drawing tool. Anybody have any other comments or thoughts on the 2 programs so that I could relay them back to my office directors? Whats easier/ etc etc?

Any info much appreciated

Cheers,

Andrew

[Djordje]

Go through this forum ...

ArchiCAD is at least as much, if not more, of the CD tool; maybe nobody showed you how?

I would ask the local Graphisoft guys to drop by ... as the Autodesk ones have obviously already been there 😉

[TomWaltz]

While you could really debate the details for years, Archicad and Revit are not all that different.

They look different, act different, "feel" different, but it's almost impossible to call one better than the other in any meaningful way. They are both mature Building Information Modelers.

The thing I always recommend is to make the dealers do the work. Make your local Archicad and Revit resellers come to your office and SELL their product. Show them drawings of the work you currently do and ask them show you how their product can meet your needs (not just ask them if it can).

This not only ensures that the program will meet your needs, but also that your local reseller can provide the ongoing support you will need during any kind of transition.

[Rakela Raul]

again and again... this subject will never end !!!

mister, there is nothing like trying it yourself..."taste is everything"

[Anonymous]

An interesting way to look at the topic is to look at the wishlist for each product. I don't think Revit is any less a CD-capable product (eh Djordje!) but we still love it despite some of the holes, which are forgivable for the most part.

Here's the dirt:
http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=25943

[Djordje]

metanoia wrote:
An interesting way to look at the topic is to look at the wishlist for each product. I don't think Revit is any less a CD-capable product (eh Djordje!)

Well ... it should not be, right? Yet to see con docs of anything but family houses - done ONLY in Revit. Don't mention the Freedom Tower, marketing is marketing and facts are facts.

Maybe I am not looking too hard, maybe the blinkers are hard coded, or there is not much about, eh? 😉

Bottom line: it is the user. No software can do anything on its own. So, one needs to learn and to be supported. Where, how, when, how much? Where is the nearest reseller? Does he/she know anything except to give you a box and take a cheque? Is there a user group? Is there a community? Web forum (OK, it is there - "strangely" 😉 similar to this one)? Price? Compulsory upgrade (called "subscription") or not? Old version support? Ease of use? Complexity? Compatibility (not only dumb DWG and DXF, but more importantly, IFC)?

metanoia wrote:
but we still love it despite some of the holes, which are forgivable for the most part.

Quite so ... 😉

metanoia wrote:
Here's the dirt:
http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=25943

Browse to Wishlist ... 😉

[Scott Davis]

Web forum (OK, it is there - "strangely" similar to this one)?

Ah, so you have been lurking Djordje?

[Djordje]

Scott wrote:

Web forum (OK, it is there - "strangely" similar to this one)?

Ah, so you have been lurking Djordje?

At the old days of Zoog a bit ... no time for more.

And Wes placed a link, so how could I resist? 😉

Seriously, the wishlists are in spirit mostly identical (freeform modeling for example), except for the stuff that one has and the other does not. I am really surprised that you guys don't have better DWG compatibility!

[Anonymous]

I am an occasional archicad user, however I am having a look at Revit, ( due to possible deployment in workplace). My first impressions of Revit , compared to Archicad are:

Revit doesnt have as good or intuitive an interface as AC.
Not quite as snappy as AC on comparable sized projects.
AC's library of objects is maturer and better developed.

Revits has live linking to its sections elevations, whereas you need to manually update in AC.
Revits sheets are simpler, and more user friendly than plotmaker
The "live connection" between walls to floors/ ceilings is a bit smarter in Revit.

I prefer AC, but the more I play with Revit, the more I am becoming impressed with it. (if only they made a mac version )

[TomWaltz]

Lennox wrote:
I prefer AC, but the more I play with Revit, the more I am becoming impressed with it. (if only they made a mac version )

Funny, I told our Revit dealer that too when we picked Archicad. "If you made a Mac version, you would have had a sale...."