I've done several house plans in Revit (mostly recreating what I had done in
AutoCAD Architecture as a self-training exercise). At this point I would not
dream of using anything else.
Here's my take:
One of the first "skills" to pick up in Revit is the ability to let go of what
you did in AutoCAD/ACA. The second skill is to let go of what your plotted
documentation looks like, because it WILL look different.
In AutoCAD, there is no concept of level of detail. People are very much used to
overdetailing at the plan or building section level, because they want to draw
it once, and to exactly understand how things come together. So you have 1/8"
plans with all of the wall components, including column wraps and complex wall
joinery. Sections will show all of the minute detail for the curtail wall
system. This allows you to then go into detailing by reusing your plans and
sections. The problem is the plans and sections take forever to draw and are
very much prone to error.
In Revit, LOD is built in, so you can make your 1/8" or 1/4" plans and sections
look appropriate for that scale, but the information is still there for
downstream detailing. Go to smaller scale views and up the LOD to get the
correct detail. You can even do things like embed window head/sill/jamb detail
components into the window family to get to your detail view without having a
lot of additional work to do.
The huge benefit to Revit is the ability to cut sections on the fly to complete
design work. Out of all of the sections I do, maybe 20% of them make it to an
actuaql sheet - the others are on the fly to work out a condition for further
modeling. Same with schedules.
Modeling all of the other stuff like fascias, trim boards, and casework takes
time but it is entirely possible. And, once you do it on one job, it's done and
can bee reused again and again. Because residential is very repetitive, you can
crank out your first job, save all of the pertinent families, levels and
settings into a template and to your library, and start the second job almost
halfway done. All you have left to do is add the actual geometry. My second
house took less than half the time as my first, even through it was much more
complicated.
Matt
matt@stachoni.com
On Sun, 18 Apr 2010 12:29:54 -0700, IronDave <> wrote:
>Is there anyone out there who uses Revit for house plans ? I am experimenting with the trial version and it looks great but I have been "drafting" in Datacad for several years, I have also used Autocad and Softplan. I have to speed things up and I want to stay ahead of the game and not sure which direction to take - also want to use something that isn't obscure like Datacad - it isn't bad, it's just that I played with Revit and now I can't stop thinking about it.
>I am used to creating a design by drawing it from the footings up to the roof, thinking about each step and how it all goes together. You can call me and ask what I was thinking about any part of the plan and I can explain it to you because I had to draw each and every piece. I can get in there and see every little detail. I have my own style and I don't want to lose that part of how I do things.
>This has given me a great reputation but it takes me an eternity and seeing Revit really excites me just because it does so much up front work and looks like it would save me a ridiculous amount of time. I just haven't seen a lot of examples of plans done with it that look as detailed - I am in no way saying it can't be done, I haven't got close to that yet, I just want to know if anyone else has been using it to create residential stuff. I spend a great deal of time with exterior finishes, trims, roofs, fascias etc - I don't want to produce a generic looking plan, I want it to be spot on. Seriously, I am lying awake at night thinking, man, if I could become proficient with Revit, I could be unstoppable, I am just a little afraid of losing the "flair" I have and still being able to "draft" like I have been. I want to know it works not assume it does because the software did it for me.
>Any opinions are appreciated, I am going to keep at it while working at the same time and see how it goes. I am a one man operation and I need to step it up. I have no complaints about my work except it takes me a long time spending endless hours perfecting things. I don't care if it takes me months to learn something new.
>Thanks !!
>
>Dave Edited by: IronDave on Apr 18, 2010 7:28 PM