Thinking of switching to Revit MEP Series

[Anonymous]

I'm a long time user of AutoCAD. I'm a Cad Manger & Designer for a MEP firm we just upgraded to AutoCAD 07 in january of this year. The past month I have been reading about Revit MEP series. I have read and viewed all the available demos on the Autodesk site. My question is, how hard would it be to transition from AutoCAD 07 to Revit MEP series? And Is Revit MEP similar to ABS 07? I appreciate your feed back!

Seth

[Anonymous]

You'd have to forget pretty much everything you know about AutoCAD because Revit is a completely different animal. In Revit you aren't merely drawing 2D lines, you are drawing dimensioned objects. I like using the software but since it is so new, there is a lot of content missing. Hopefully the new version will be greatly improved. The current version contains very little plumbing/piping capability (out of the box). I've had to create many HVAC and electrical objects that were not included. Deciding to switch to Revit would depend on whether you have the building models also in Revit. If you are only using 2D architectural floor plans, you won't be able to use Revit as it was designed to be used. The main reason we purchased Revit Systems was that some of the local architects were using Revit Building. Don't expect to switch from AutoCAD to Revit overnight...... it can be a long process. There is a large learning curve. We are still doing the majority of our projects in AutoCAD and using Revit if the architect is using Revit also.

[Anonymous]

Jayspot,

I appreciate your response. I don't think we are ready right now to make this "jump" with Revit. A lot of our Architects are using Architectural Desktop 2004 to 2007. I should have asked you if ADT will work with revit or does the Architect have to be using Revit? I'm having talks with the "Higher Ups" at the firm I'm with about transitioning to 3D design. Since most of our Architects are using ADT I would like our firm to make the transition. From articles and overviews of Revit, the program is talked up like Revit will be the future of CAD design. Autodesk says it will cut design time in half and you don't have much drafting involved. All in all I think I have to just wait until our Architects start using Revit if it doesn't work with ADT.

Thanks Again,
Seth Cluckey

[Martin__Schmid]

If the architects are using AutoCAD Architecture (formerly known as ADT), your logical choice is to utilize AutoCAD MEP (formerly known as ABS)... which provides 3D design capabilities... there is little benefit of using Revit MEP if the architect isn't using Revit Architecture.

Since Revit MEP is only avaialble as part of the Revit / AutoCAD MEP Suite, you can license this option instead, and have both AutoCAD MEP and Revit MEP to begin learning about both.

[Anonymous]

I am pretty new to all the Revit stuff. We are essentially being forced into making a purchase because one of our arch. is making the jump. It all sounds great in theory, but doesn't the success of this new product have allot to do with 3rd party vendors (trane, rougher, carrier, pvi, marley, to mention a few) supplying all the necessary object information needed in order to make this whole thing work? In other words, every discipline in the drawing knows how to interact with the object around them. Hope this makes sense. Looking for any helpful information.

[Anonymous]

Until the vendors start creating their product lines in Revit (if they ever do), you'll have to create them yourself. Revit comes with some generic equipment objects but you'll have to modify those to represent the specific pieces of equipment you are designing around. I've actually had better luck creating them from scratch. I don't think the vendors will start offering their products in Revit until Revit becomes the "standard", if that ever happens. We have talked to a couple large vendors and they had never heard of Revit.

[Anonymous]

How diifcult is it to create these products yourself ? Also, can you recommend some good instructional books about REVIT MEP, and who might offer the best training courses available. My firm is located in the Southeast. Thanks again.

[i4edge]

I totally don't understand that. I mean if I was Trane, Carrier, York, Greenheck, MEtalaire, Titus, etc....

If I was them I would be busting down the door to create a catalog of my equipment for Revit. Add on top a way to intergrate my selection software with revit. Whoever does it first will have thier products specified by a lot of MEP engineers and even if they like other vendors. Message was edited by: i4edge

[KyleB_Autodesk]

This feedback needs to be delivered to your Manufacturer's rep every time they come by. I can assure you we've approached them about such content catalogs.

Next time they stop by to give you donuts, tell them you want such content.

Kyle B
Revit MEP Product Manager

[i4edge]

Well ok I'll do that. I'll hit up our Carrier, Trane, Greenheck, Ruskin, Titus reps.

[Anonymous]

I honestly don't think they will spend the time and money to create their products in Revit unit it becomes more widely used, and there is no guarantee that will ever happen.

[i4edge]

True. I know one way to get them to do it. Take one manufacturer in each catagory and do the most popular items. Then everyone will use those items because they are the only ones out there. The other manufacturers will then feel pressured to join in.

[Anonymous]

On Wed, 23 May 2007 18:31:05 +0000, i4edge <> wrote:

>True. I know one way to get them to do it. Take one manufacturer in each catagory and do the most popular items. Then everyone will use those items because they are the only ones out there. The other manufacturers will then feel pressured to join in.

Good idea!

Novell....it does a server good!

[Anonymous]

We (our company) would not recommend switching to Revit MEP right now. We've completed one large project (150,000 square feet) and had multiple issues that prevented us from meeting our deadline. We have not received enough feedback from Autodesk do determine whether our problems were software or user related (or both). We have complied with every one of Autodesk's recommendations to date and they have not resolved our problems, therefore we think they are software problems. We have only found one other MEP firm that completed a project in Revit comparable in size to the one we've done, and they had similar experiences.

FYI, we were scheduled to do two more larger projects in Revit, but the Owner and Architect have agreed to let us go back to our 2D software after witnessing our problems.

[i4edge]

Are you currently using ABS 2006-2008? Or did your firm just use 2d? I wonder if it's just getting used to 3d design that is the issue or is it revit?

[Anonymous]

Currently we are using ABS 2007. We have the upgrade to 2008 but can not use it because we received over 1000 warnings after upgrading our existing Revit model.

Revit is the issue. It takes 10 minutes to open our model. Save to central times can be in excess of 1 hour (sometimes faster, sometimes slower). It takes 30 seconds to draw a piece of duct/pipe. Placing a light fixture takes about 15 seconds. Plus, we've had several headaches when two or more people are working within the model at one time.

[i4edge]

Well thanks for the information. I am confused in one you said you were using ABS 2007 then said you couldn't go to 2008 because of errors. ABS is different from Revit. So am I to assume you mean you were using Revit 2007 and you can't go to 2008, or that before revit your team used ABS 2007. The reason for my question is each has a learning curve from Autocad to ABS to Revit.

Also each has their own problems.

Now about revit, I did notice that Revit model appears to be much slower than a similar ABS one. That is from just using Revit training models compared to other ABS 2008 models we have.