Help me win the ArchiCad vs AutoCad office debate

[Anonymous]

I joined a development corporation that until I arrived had no architecture department. I showed my skills and background and thanks to my knowledge of ArchiCad and the Chairman's intense pleasure in seeing things so quickly in 3D, got the job. 2 months later they bring on another architect, one who has done a few projects for this company in the past. He does not computer draft well, but the little he can do is in AutoCad. He's been framing a debate of one vs. the other since he arrived and while I openly offer to translate all the files I work on into his archaic and simplistic program, its like I'm talking to a brick wall. The debate is about to hit a major head and despite my ability to create much faster drawings and without additional time or expense place everything into 3D and have presentation images ready at the drop of a hat, he's playing the "industry standard" card. I point out that the DWG file format is the standard, not the program, but the company execs don't know the difference. I need more fodder for my argument. At this point I'm ready to walk away and pursue another route as this issue highlights more than just a drafting issue. And with a project as large as we are taking on, I can't imagine starting off on the wrong foot and always being 5 steps behind. Somehow the logical argument isn't having the effect I'd prefer. Any suggestions?

[stefan]

Switching a whole office on a "huge+" project might be a big step. The whole workflow has to adapt.

If you go into a mixed environment, with partly ArchiCAD modeling and partly AutoCAD 2D drafting, it will be a pain.

It depends on the office, though. Some offices evolve from AutoCAD 2D to Architectural Desktop (ADT), realise it's complex and downgrade to plain AutoCAD again.

Others rethink their workflow, evolve to advanced programs such as Revit, ArchiCAD (and yes, even ADT) and never look back.

You can be productive using ArchiCAD alone, but I suggest proper training and internal consultancy to set up a performant office template, to get to the promised productivity level. This upfront costs are well worth it, once you start getting productive.

Maybe contact other ArchiCAD offices in your area and try to have some reference work shown.

[Petros Ioannou]

Well instead of joining the AutoCAD - ArchiCAD debate , try to change it to an "BIM vs 2D CAD" debate and instead of presenting ArchiCADs advantages, show what are the trends inside Autodesk.
If you need, bring Revit on the table , not as a possible application to use , but just to let them know that even Autodesk (the developers of AutoCAD) are moving towards BIM.

Just a suggestion.

Petros

[Petros Ioannou]

And another thing to consider.
There is a category of AutoCAD users who are over 50 and started learning AutoCAD at their mid 40's, having no experience with PCs.
The difficulty with them has nothing to do with which application is better but with the fact that it took a great effort to learn it back then and now they feel that they don't need to learn something from the begining.

Petros

[Anonymous]

Yesterday I met my client. I bring my notebook and dongle for AC, and one very simple plan.
I show him 3D figure, what I want to show.
And I move with the client on the monitor of my notebook.
In this moment my client will see just 3D presentation on my notebook and no more 2D paper drw.
He coul understand very well, he is impressed very well, he gives OK sign right on the table.
And he said, this is my first nice experianc with a architect to understand visual.

Can you do this job with Auto CAD?

[Rakela Raul]

i am after a project in a city where they want to implement the bim thing,
with all city projects.....and killing 2d as much as they can.........i can see cities going that route in the future as well....
and of course besides dropping my pants im saying that we have 'expertise' in the bim department !!!

and we got shortlisted a minute ago, probably cuz of the bim thing....
(more ac selling for free) btw !!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Could someone clarify for me some of the terms being used in your responses? I'm not that familiar with the abbreviations. I appreciate the responses and first hand experiences. Please, keep them coming!

[TomWaltz]

Jarvis wrote:
Could someone clarify for me some of the terms being used in your responses? I'm not that familiar with the abbreviations. I appreciate the responses and first hand experiences. Please, keep them coming!

Which terms don't you know?

[Anonymous]

I am assuming "BIM" means something like "Building Image Modeling", is that correct?

Also, I don't know what was meant by "and we got shortlisted a minute ago, probably cuz of the bim thing.... (more ac selling for free)"

[Rakela Raul]

http://www.aia.org/tap_a_0903bim

bim = click link abv (above)
cuz = because