Architects: Revit or Archicad?

[Anonymous]

HII
Just gauging the popularity and usage of both Revit and ArchiCad in the industry. The school I'm in teaches and forces us to ArchiCad it in some of our works, which is odd considering that a majority of studios in our country uses solely Revit.

Is there something that ArchiCad that Revit does not offer? And the other way around?

[Laszlo Nagy]

Yes, I checked out the new Revit 2021 features, and on one hand, it is nice that they can now create Slanted Walls, on the other hand, the feature is pretty half-baked, they have a whole list of things that work with Vertical Walls, but do not work with Slanted Walls.
For example, when you place a Door or Window into a Slanted Wall, it is always placed vertically, no way to change the default Orientation, as far as I could tell. Then you have to select those Doors and Windows and change their Orientation to Slanted to align them with the Slanted Wall.

[qbic-ft]

I'm always disappointed with Autodesk and the new versions. after a year the improvements are minimum...They used to name those upgrades( before subscriptions) "service packs". Now they wait for the next version to "justify" the subscription model.

[Anonymous]

The million dollar question, that invokes passion and anger .
My answer to the question, having used both softwares: Archicad. That being said, Revit has some options that are quite nice that Archicad does not have, like being able to quickly change the elevation form of a wall. But overall, for architects, I feel that Archicad is more flexible. This also mean that Revit is more "square"...

Anyway, out of passion: Archicad.

[qbic-ft]

I only thing I like in Revit is the temporary dimensions and constraints... Easier to modify rooms or lock them.

[Brett Brown]

The title should be Vectorworks or Revit or Archicad.
Vectorworks beats them both in usabilty, feature tools and just about everything.
It has constraints and dimensions which move walls like Revits temporary ones. Look at its Landscape tools compared with the woefull mesh tool in Archicad.
Look at the simple wall tool in Vectorworks compared to Archicads. In VW you can make any shape you like in 3D or elevation and you don't need a roof or SEO's everywhere to achieve something close.
Then there is the Resource Manager where you store everything, anything new you make is then available to all projects compared to Archicad's export, import continually.
Not to mention It's included MEP tools, detailing tools, and its 3D modeling capabilities.
Slam dunk in my opinion.

[jl_lt]

It is worth noting that Revit finally has a more flexible perspective view. I dont know how much you can do in it, but if its the same as in its traditional orthographic view which seems to be the case, then its another one of the strong points Archicad had over Revit but not anymore.

About Vectorworks, over the last 2 years i have been kind of following their development and they have evolved and added a LOT of new features, at a much faster rate Archicad ever did. Their terrain handling is way beyond what Archicad or Revit can do. On the other hand, I have read that the software is not very stable and the models seems heavy to handle, judging by the videos, but those kind of things tend to get better. Somebody here with experience with both Archicad and Vectorworks that could illustrate us more on the diferences?

Things like this can get to our nerves. What is happening? Either Archicad is preparing for some MAJOR breakthroughs (i think they already have a lot of pieces set in place for that) or they are just letting the competition pass by. My bet is still on the first situation, but who knows? Hope Archicad 24 premiere shows us a glympse into the future.

[Ahmed_K]

Revit sucess is for one simple reason : an autodesk product, i learned it, and really it's nothing compared to ArchiCAD,
working on the same file with engeneers has never been an advantage like revit fan's say always.
1- interface : no visual commands, no clear icons, no clear commands, and a lot of hidden functionalities here and there,
2 - design tools, a mid range design tools, walls, slabs, columns etc, ArchiCAD wall as it is now is much superior to Revit walls, especially when we talk about complex parametric profiles,
terrains in revit have some good functionnalities but not that too much developped,
ArchiCAD design tools can be used for several modelling purposes, and they adapt for various situations,
3 - usability : revit selection is a nightmare, after selecting an object, there is a really few commands to perform in 3D, Revit workflow is based on plan view and sections, it's really hard to design directly in Revit
another point , the attach command is VERY OFTEN used in revit, to eliminate lines between same coplanar surfaces, enable material intersections ( no material priorities there, just skin priorities, limited to 5 skins )
and this is the Strghth of ArchiCAD, intersection priorities and Building material intersection priorities,
4 - 2D design tools are very limited, for initial sketching, drawing , presenting ideas.
5 - display : it's not that smooth and interactive, just add a terrain and the graphic card fans will be at top speed hhhhh
6 - families : i heared a lot here about the strength of Revit's families, but it looks like GDL is much superior, the Default ArchiCAd library is almost rnough, it needs a BIIIIIG update, certainly, but it's fully parametric and optimal for a BIM workflow not rendering purposes, ArchiCAD models are for quantities takeoffs and presentation, not for rendering,
7 - dimension tool, i discovered that revit diemsnions are not that smart, no automatic adjustments for small dimensions, and some other minor problems,
GRAPHISOFT, you have a well developped product, with very nice futures, keep on developping and listen to the users, i believe ArchiCAD is in the right way to be n°1 very soon,

[DGSketcher]

bouhmidage wrote:
1- interface : no visual commands, no clear icons, no clear commands, and a lot of hidden functionalities here and there,
...
GRAPHISOFT, you have a well developped product, with very nice futures, keep on developping and listen to the users, i believe ArchiCAD is in the right way to be n°1 very soon,

Not sure if 1- was aimed at Graphisoft? Archicad is a very versatile piece of software, I am in no hurry to change and as you say it is a well developed product. The core software and programming skills are amazing in my opinion BUT the whole user interface feels like a mashed up mess of ideas with limited workflow focus and they are still carrying decades old settings that have had their time. The newcomer softwares have the advantage of a relatively fresh start without the burden of legacy projects but Graphisoft could, if they wanted, easily compete by investing in making Archicad much more user friendly, having consistent layouts to the tools & their settings and a more logical workflow. I would also reinforce the view that Graphisoft need to start listening to their users and start delivering that very long wish list.

[Ahmed_K]

I'm talking about revit interface here, Archicad interface is a mess too but the advantage is that you can make your own menues, your own display set,
I created a display for my self according to my workflow, and update it after every release just by going to work envirenement and filter command menues by "show new commands only" and i add them where they should be

[Anonymous]

Just some random thoughts about all three programs (I used Revit for about 5 years, have used Archicad for about 5 years and this is my go to program at the moment, and am currently taking a serious look at Vectorworks -

I personally like the interface of Revit. The one thing about Revit for me was that it made sense to me. I could find commands and the program logic matched with my expectations. Archicad is kind of a mess to me. While I can find most things now, the organization was initially confusing. Vectorworks is kind of in between for me.

Shortcuts - Revit has a different system - two keys for everything. While I initially found this odd, this has turned out to be my favourite method. The possible combinations are large (certainly larger than my brain can remember) and you NEVER have to take your hand off the mouse. Only a programmer would think up a system with ctrl, alt, and shift.

Dimensions - Revit is the winner for me. You can use the dimension to move objects which is immensely useful. Revit will also dimension wall thicknesses as part of a dimension string. Archicad will also do the wall thicknesses but you can't move an object by altering the dimension value. Vectorworks will move things but doesn't give you the wall thicknesses automatically.

Why did I leave Revit - I was looking for more aesthetic elements and certain things about Revit really bugged me. Revit attaches things which you may not want to happen and if you are not being very careful, objects move around without you knowing. Revit doesn't have a polyline. At the time I was using it Revit couldn't import a pdf. Basically, there were a number of small things which made working in Revit frustrating.

Why am I considering moving to Vectorworks from Archicad - Everything in Archicad (for me) involves a small lag. Revit was instant. Archicad is always updating its views in front of me. In Revit, when you go to a view, it is already updated. Picking points in Revit is instant, In Archicad, you need to wait a moment to make sure you have the right point (and yes, I have already set all the delay settings in preferences to zero). In general, Archicad is quite good but there are a number of small things which I think could be better. Is Vectorworks the holy grail here? Definitely not. It does have some good things such as much better report formatting and.a built in spreadsheet function.

Bottom line is that all three programs are very powerful. All three have their strong points and all three have their own particular deficiencies. The question for me is which one has the deficiencies which bug me least. It's looking like Vectorworks is the best choice for me.