Brett wrote:
You can't be serious Bricklyne, first statement you have made that I don't agree with. Your starting to sound like the few Archicad users left who haven't a least played with Revit to see how good it is. And I know you have.
Personally, if I was a new user starting out now and looking for a BIM architectual program for my business, Revit wins hands down.
No addons needed just to get the basics. To just name a few missing in Archicad - Design options, Renovations/alterations, Revision manager, workable Stairs.
Also, for new users, learning resources, 100's of blogs that can teach all the not so obvious things Revit can do. Where's Archicad's? This forum is about the only resource available.
Us long suffering users have finally had the renovations/alterations phase included. How many more versions before the absolute basic things we need are included? For the majority, 11,12,13,and 14 were a waste of the Sub cost. Hence so many users aren't upgrading.
At least with Revit, out of the box, it is useable. In Archicad you need addons from Cadimage, Cigraph and Objective to get anything done. And then put up with there bugs as well as Archicad's
In Revit I can experience the satisfaction of making my own parametric objects the way I want, very easily. I don't have to wait for, pay for, and know GDL to get the same object in Archicad.
......
Yes Brett, we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one.
As you've correctly noted, I have used Revit, and as such my opinion is coming from an informed place.
Are there things that Revit does better than ArchiCAD (like custom parametric object creation)? Absolutely.
Should we be concerned about the relative pace of development of the 2 softwares and how Graphisoft seems to be falling behind while Autodesk considerably improve Revit every year? Without a doubt.
With all that said would I still prefer to use Revit or even conclude that it's a superior software to ArchiCAD?
Not even remotely.
When it comes to a user experience and User Interface (GUI) implementation, ArchiCAD still wins hands down over Revit. They have never been able to get away from that Pro-E (Pro-Engineering) background of the software that's rooted in a mechanical engineering design software and it tells just from the way the software works and feels (multiple dialog boxes just to get the simplest thing done, inability to work in perspective view in the 3D window with everything locked in Axonometric view, choking up on large project files and sizes and so on and so forth).
And they only made it worse with the implementation of the Ribbon which even their own users absolutely hated and which is a poor man's version of what's already existed in ArchiCAD in a more logical fashion for far longer in the tool information bar.
But the User interface and the workflow methodology are only a small part of it, as the fact that the program can't deal with large projects without beginning to choke as your project size grows and over-constraining begins to hog all your PC resources is yet another thing I hate about it.
And then there's the fact that it seems a program designed for people who can't think for themselves and have to have everything either automated for them (hence the over-constraining) or giving you limited ways of doing things based on a template developed by the programs developers.
In other words, it's not a program designed for creative people like designers and if anything it hampers and debilitates creativity massively.
It seems to be a program developed for technocrats and cogs whose only job is to come in a do the rote stuff and the unthinking mechanical tasks that don't involve using the right side of the brain.
Maybe that's why it seemingly (by some opinions, anyway) excels at documentation over ArchiCAD, rather than in design.
Well from my training education and experience, Architects are DESIGNERS first (with a heavy premium on creativity and flexibility) and Drafters/Documenters second (with a heavier emphasis on control, rigidity, and automation). And ArchiCAD has struck the right balance in creating the perfect program for people who are designers first and then having to translate those design ideas into standard documents second.
Which is why I can never ever conclude that Revit is ever in any way superior to ArchiCAD - despite all of ArchiCAD's flaws.
And all my banging on GS to improve the program is rooted in my long-term desire to stay with the software I enjoy using rather than being forced to learn and use one that I despise and whose user experience is akin to scratching a chalkboard with your bare nails.
It's not because I want ArchiCAD to be like Revit - but rather because I would much rather they find better ways to allow us the users to have ways of doing what Revit users can, without ruining the experience we currently enjoy and which they do not.
The addons are obviously unfortunate seeing as they seem to hamper development of the program by convincing the developers that they don't need to develop certain things in the program that are already available as addons.
But on the flip side they also give ArchiCAD users access to a greater array of tools to do things that simply can't be done in Revit. For example there's no Revit equivalent for ArchiTerra - inside the program or as an plugin. Ditto Virtual Building Explorer.
