ac 15 and revit 2011

[Anonymous]

Hi all I really like archicad but every time see some Image of revit 2011 ask my self if that time to move to revit I hope that not come ever .but ac 14 shock me I hope AC 15 have free model ,spilt face ,good sun study ,good stair maker,new interface,pattern ,sweep,smooth roof , and more.
every time I hear some move to revit and never hear some one move form revit to AC I hope hear that
thank you.

[Anonymous]

Link wrote:
PS. Don't flame me - I'm just being jovial (and perhaps proving how a post count is not always a reflection of one's ArchiCAD expertise!)

Link,

3307 is nothing to sneeze at (despite the high pollen count around here lately). Of course I didn't mean to suggest that the size of you post count is a measure of the size of your...

...uh, ArchiCAD experience. Just that someone with a post count like Tom's probably didn't get there with a bunch of spam or novice questions

[TomWaltz]

Aww, it's nice to be remembered!

Yes, I'm now working at Bentley and working on my third BIM platform (though now on the development side instead of implementation). I can appreciate aspects of software development that I really didn't before

After learning all three platforms, I found something truly interesting:
Moving from one to another requires some of the same advice that I used to provide to users moving from CAD to BIM.
Expect things to be different. Some concepts and ideas exist in both places and different does not mean better or worse. It just means that you have to break a lot of old habits and learn new ways to do the exact same task.

That said, any time you go down the checklist, you will find features, functions, and tools that one program has that one or more others do not.

And heck, even with my post count, it's been 3 or 4 years since I've seriously written GDL and probably couldn't code a parametric rectangle right now.

[JaredBanks]

I've got nothing to add beyond Tom's comments, except to shed some light on post counts and usefulness:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/takecharge-cando-guy-makes-horrible-decisions,717/


5 years and only 250. what a slacker.

[Anonymous]

I am currently using both Revit and Archicad about 50/50 although I have been with Archicad much longer, 15 years compared to 2 with Revit. The first 10 years with Archicad -v4.5 to v10 I think- I spent most of my working week doing design, development and documentation so I am very comfortable with it.
My first experience with Revit was as Mathew says, a management decision, and was not a happy one. A very large complex project in the Middle East with double curved facades and swoopy louvers all originally designed in 3D Max. All these difficult bits were done in Grasshopper and brought in. The problem was a team new to Revit and not enough horsepower (32bit PC's)

I now spend about a third of my time using Revit and with smaller less complex projects and 64bit 12gb PC it is fine especially in the early stages with concept massing quickly applying floor plates and curtain walling etc. You can work in a single 3D window, no need to build the model up storey by storey, sort of like sketch up but with data feedback such as GFA and NLA etc.

But at some stage, if the project is a goer, you have to get real with grids columns and cores etc. and this is where it is about equal with Archicad. Some things are better such as storey heights. Change these and all wall columns etc go with the new height. But stairs do not so these have to be remodelled. AFAIK only Generative Components can automatically gets stairs to do this.

Into design development is where Archicad overtakes as the parametric nature and auto-connective-ness of Revit can prove too clever for its (and yours) own good. Move a column and beams, slab and walls go with it over multiple levels (can be achieved with the marquee H command in AC). Managing the process can be a pain especially if ‘worksets’ and being used (Revit’s version of Teamwork) and less experienced users are sharing the model.

The Archicad model remains easier to deal with as the project becomes lager and more complex. I take my hat off to the BIM managers controlling large hospitals etc in Revit.

So for my own work I stay with Archicad because I prefer it but no longer feel I’d rather gouge my eye out than use Revit (as stated by ex-Archicad BIM Manager on the previously mentioned ME project, who had previously worked on the largest BIM project in the southern hemisphere, in Archicad)

Archicad 15 with concept massing? Yes please! (now on v14)

[Anonymous]

Harry & Matthew.

By this auto-connectivity or rigidity in Revit, do you mean that the actual room spaces or modules stay connected with each other?

Where as in AC its more freestyle with defined room spaces?

What about stairs in Revit, are they easier to design and implement than in AC?

[Anonymous]

I have not used any but the most basic stairs in Revit so I can't say much one way or the other about that. The relationship problems I have experienced in Revit are with the automatic component relationships, particularly in structures.

I have a fundamental objection to an excess of automatic functions in any software. If the software is going to make assumptions and take actions on those assumptions about how I want to work it needs to be correct very nearly 100% of the time and be very transparent not only in what it is doing but also in how to override the behavior.

I remember when OCR software was touting 97% accuracy as a good thing but that means that 3 out of 100 characters are wrong. That would be about 9 mistakes just in this post. If these errors are not easily discovered and fixed then the functions quickly become more trouble than they are worth.

[Anonymous]

I couldn't agree more. The main frustration in Revit is based on it's forced automation. Move a wall and another moves with it even if you don't want it to happen. Sometimes you find out about it when it's to late. And there is no easy to use manager of those automatic actions.

[Anonymous]

Yes, Revit has much more automation, as said both a good and a bad thing. To customise annotation such as tags (window, wall Id’s etc), floor level symbols etc is possible by editing the ‘family’ but is a pain so most don’t bother hence the uniformity of Revit documents – one reason large firms are taking to it. AC is much more customable on the fly, hence less stereotypical drawings emerge which is why it might suit individuals and smaller firms. More “Maverick” you might say

Saying that Revit can be customised and AC standardised by templates. Yes, mthd, rooms and modules stay connected and room tags, areas and schedules etc are updated if walls are moved. If a room is ‘breached’. i.e. there is a leak where a wall is no longer connected you get a big fat warning sign.

Even text is a family – no changing from ariel narrow to times roman on the fly- you have to edit the family. There is stand alone text for street names etc and you can write notes but cannot draw an arrow head line pointing the note at something- hard to believe no headers to lines. Also the standard Revit ‘library’ is limited.

Revit stair tool is a shocker, worse than AC and connecting stair rails to landing rails is no better so you don’t bother. I do all my railings later using the curtain walling tool to add handrails, posts, panelling etc. This usually works well with seamless stair to landing balustrade but is time consuming to implement and change. (This where I get the junior graduates to step in-BIM is more fun than flatland but there can still be tedious tasks). Haven’t tried the AC curtail walling tool for this that but might work also

[Chadwick]

Matthew wrote:
I remember when OCR software was touting 97% accuracy as a good thing but that means that 3 out of 100 characters are wrong. That would be about 9 mistakes just in this post. If these errors are not easily discovered and fixed then the functions quickly become more trouble than they are worth.

This is exactly how I feel about IFCs right now - I seriously wish these were more reliable

[Anonymous]

The connectivity are common in any parametric modeler. So if you think Revit is a nightmare, don't even try to work in Digital Project. You'll go mad. Fortunately, you can disable walls connectivity in Revit through unchecking a checkbox before moving an object. But it is annoying especially when you're accustomed to AC.

As for site and stairs, yeah, does are horrible in Revit. However, the whole point of the new massing environment and adaptive components is not necessarily for the Hadids and Gehry's, but for the basic day to day modeling like stairs. I've heard that the stair and site tools weren't approved for this release (typically Autodesk bureaucratic way of working), but some of this technology made it's way in Revit Stucture 2012.

I think AC is overhauling it's modeling kernel too.