i have been working on autocad for about 8 yrs and also tried revit and came out with the conclusion that THERE IS NO OTHER POWERFUL DRAFTING TOOLother than AUTOCAD ....revit is nice but if it comes to drafting our own imagination accurately AUTOCAD is the best tool....REVIT is something with which makes a newbee happy and nothing else...
Keep in mind Revit files are extremely large and cumbersom. You will find that 2x to 3x the man yours are required for the same task performed in Autocad.
The IT hardware needed to support Revit is massive, expensive to maintain, prone to failure and requires frequent add-ons to run newer versions of the program. Revit, just as much as Autocad is designed for planned obsolescense. That is, every year a new version comes out that is promoted as better. In most ways it is only different. With Autocad one can "save down" to an earlier version for coordination with consultants, for example. Revit does not allow that. Revit drawing features such stairs do not work well and when drawn are hard to edit. It is easy to cut wall sections in Revit but these do not join floor assemblies well. Much needs to be drafted over and corrected, Revit does draw nice 3D images.
Revit is masterful at producing eye wash that cannot be used in a set of construction documents other than on the cover page. This eye wash factor works well marketing Revit to firm partners who do not have to use the software. In sum, Autocad version 2000 will do 99% of what needs to be done. The other 1% can be done in Form Z or something similar.
I'm surprised you did not mention the main advantage of Revit, parameterisation. While in AutoCAD, when drawings are modified, coherence is lost with elevations, with details and amounts of work. Instead Revit updated instantaneously all. In addition, the parameterization is only required to change a value to change the other parts of the drawing. This does not work in this way with AutoCAD.
Nothing could be further from the truth..Revit offers a complete 2D and 3D workflow in additional to information management..far suprerior to ACA in my experience. The user interface has quite a few similarities ..so if you know AC or ACA it shouldn't be difficult to make the transition.
Revit is a far more robust platform than ACA ..and maximizes your time and efforts
No Ac will always have its place in the industries
Revit however will continue to grow and serve its purpose. They both get the job done..much of its use will depend on whom you work with, and their office preferences
Hi Jebb8903,
No matter you used to work with ACA or REVIT (or Archicad, Nemetchek,...), what is your main goal when you (or the design team) use such products ?
In my opinion, the goal is to produce documentations (electronic or not) for customer, authorities and suppliers. to plan, estimate, decide and build.
And in practice, your team collaborate with supliers who work with their dedicated softwares (TEKLA, PRo-E, PDMS, CADENAS, SolidWorks/Catia, ...).
About parametrics : use with caution. My advice is to well check effects after changing a value to avoid clash and future problems at work.
BR
Fabrice
Well this topic make me suffer:))) Because Autodesk simply don't developing ACA already,only had puting-in some new features. And Revit has more powerful 3d-engine and bigger number of capabilities by default and of course incrising number of folowers .Revit this is new level of BIM to my opinion. But my choise on the side of ACA till now because AUTOCAD ARCH it is like space station. If needs some moduls....you are wellcome. I only hope that such diamond like ACA in a crown of AUTODESK will not be entaerly abandoned by developers.
Jebb;
It's my understanding that with the newer versions of AutoCAD Architecture, you CAN set up and draw so that one change will update all throughout your project files.