I hate Revit

[sbsaint]

Ive been required to learn Revit, Ive been at it for 6 months now, I started on a trial version of 2009 then my company purchased 2010 and they changed so much in the two releases that I had to learn where everything was all over again, many for the worst. I find myself using other programs to model components in order to avoid the labourious and impractical procedures in Revit.

Using Revit to draft and model is like driving a car using a boatload of of push buttons rather than a steering wheel.

Ive been using 3D programs since 1995, starting with FormZ and have been using AutoCad since 2000. I think that Revit is a terrible modeler and a mediocre drafting tool. I admit that it does alot, but I have to jump through the hoops and mindset of a team of programmers who think this is the practical approach of what creating architecture should be, If this is a program that screams design, then Id rather go back to a leadholder and a Mayline. The program is NOT intuitive, and instead of me VISUALLY creating a building component with numerical parameters, Revit seems to operate in the reverse manner. Im constantly battling the Revit Gustapo dialog box that says something to the effect that my model is an illegal operation. Ever try to do a 2 path sweep? FormZ had this nailed 15 years ago, and I could easily draw any profile and the computer would do the calculations for me. Revit seems to make you work harder and not the other way around.

The interface sucks, edit parameter controls buried deep within two to three dialogue boxes. The steering wheel is a joke. Why would you make a virtual controller to replace something that your mouse already does? Its like going back to the time before they invented the joystick, and Im using the keyboard to play pac-man.

My bottom line, Revit is a chore to use, It doesnt think for you, it makes you do all the thinking. Its not fun to use at all, and it takes the wind out of your sails when trying to come up with concept designs, and has me scrambling to find a pencil. Edited by: sbsaint on Mar 24, 2010 10:53 PM

[RobDraw]

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@pendean wrote:
it's really not geared for smaller firms to use in a value-added pricing structure.

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That statement is based on what? Smaller firms are getting on board the Revit train quite quickly around here. If they don't, they won't be getting as many jobs. Those jobs are not just the high profile ones anymore. The run of the mill tenant renovations are requiring Revit more and more.

[pendean]

Based on real market experience: has nothing to do with "getting on board", most of us are well passed that phase, REVIT is here to stay forever.

[pkolarik]

Well, I can tell you that around here Revit is not a requirement from the client on most jobs. Contractors like us to use Revit (it's makes the contractor's job easier), and any time they can get in the client's ear they try to steer the client that way.

Architectural (and structural, by association) firms have largely gone to using Revit as their primary (not only) cadding software in the area. But outside of those two disciplines autocad still remains the prominent platform for our work in the area.

[RobDraw]

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@pkolarik wrote:

Architectural (and structural, by association) firms have largely gone to using Revit as their primary (not only) cadding software in the area. But outside of those two disciplines autocad still remains the prominent platform for our work in the area.

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... for now.

The trickle down effect will happen and it is best to be prepared for advancing technology.

Don't get caught with your pants down.

[RobDraw]

@pendean, I'm having a little trouble following you. Maybe it comes down to where you draw the line between small and medium. Until relatively recently, I had been looking to advance my career and was actually surprised at the small size and variety of firms that were looking for Revit experience. On the other hand. On the other hand, one position I saw was for a major utility and they were all 2D on AutoCAD 2009 or possibly recently updated to 2011.

[pkolarik]

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@RobDraw wrote:

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@pkolarik wrote:

Architectural (and structural, by association) firms have largely gone to using Revit as their primary (not only) cadding software in the area. But outside of those two disciplines autocad still remains the prominent platform for our work in the area.

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... for now.

The trickle down effect will happen and it is best to be prepared for advancing technology.

Don't get caught with your pants down.

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A:)  It's no longer "advancing technology".... not only has Revit been around for a fairly long time now, but we've been hearing how "everyone is doing it" and "Autocad is dead" for almost exactly as long.

B:) We've had revit in-house here for years. The archie's jumped on it prematurely about 6-7 years ago (it --"BIM" -- was a buzzword and "everyone was doing it" which, of course, was patently false), and paid the price for it. The rest of the company has been using it at least 1 1/2 years now, but outside the archie projects it's used very sparingly since, like I said, it is nowhere near the platform "demanded" by clients.

[RobDraw]

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@pkolarik wrote:

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@RobDraw wrote:

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@pkolarik wrote:

Architectural (and structural, by association) firms have largely gone to using Revit as their primary (not only) cadding software in the area. But outside of those two disciplines autocad still remains the prominent platform for our work in the area.

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... for now.

The trickle down effect will happen and it is best to be prepared for advancing technology.

Don't get caught with your pants down.

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(it --"BIM" -- was a buzzword and "everyone was doing it" which, of course, was patently false), and paid the price for it. The rest of the company has been using it at least 1 1/2 years now, but outside the archie projects it's used very sparingly since, like I said, it is nowhere near the platform "demanded" by clients.

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That is a common misconception, Revit is not BIM. It is BIM capable and the use of it does not necessarily require being a part of a BIM process. It is a strong coordination platform that has many advantages over AutoCAD, even if you are not doing BIM. MEP firms are opting to do projects in Revit and dropping AutoCAD almost entirely just for internal coordination.

[pkolarik]

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@RobDraw wrote:

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@pkolarik wrote:

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@RobDraw wrote:

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@pkolarik wrote:

Architectural (and structural, by association) firms have largely gone to using Revit as their primary (not only) cadding software in the area. But outside of those two disciplines autocad still remains the prominent platform for our work in the area.

---

... for now.

The trickle down effect will happen and it is best to be prepared for advancing technology.

Don't get caught with your pants down.

---

(it --"BIM" -- was a buzzword and "everyone was doing it" which, of course, was patently false), and paid the price for it. The rest of the company has been using it at least 1 1/2 years now, but outside the archie projects it's used very sparingly since, like I said, it is nowhere near the platform "demanded" by clients.

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That is a common misconception, Revit is not BIM. It is BIM capable and the use of it does not necessarily require being a part of a BIM process. It is a strong coordination platform that has many advantages over AutoCAD, even if you are not doing BIM. MEP firms are opting to do projects in Revit and dropping AutoCAD almost entirely just for internal coordination.

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Of course it's a common misconception. Just like the common misconception that "BIM is ONLY Revit. AutoCad can't be BIM". I've not come into contact with any consulting/design firms around here that actually do BIM in all its glory (Revit, or no).... including our firm.

[hungphong790601]

I'm your side. Revit don't have enough tool for architecture design.

Hopeless.

[dkoppenol]

Hello,
Revit is a collection of loose parts.
Wtihout the help of third party software it was not even to use on the
European market.

An most of all, It has the same errors as Autocad.
No locking (with passwords) 'layer' technology.
Zo everybody can modify the model and change other man work. Only a good
cad manager can prevent that.
This should be within the Revit software and not within the organization
of the drawing room.

Kind regards
Dolf Koppenol

ww.cadmanpage.nl

[RobDraw]

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@hungphong790601 wrote:

I'm your side. Revit don't have enough tool for architecture design.

Hopeless.

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Hmmm... An interesting thing to say about a modeling platform that was built for architects by architects and is becoming the industry standard in architecture.

[pendean]

This post is attracting those who are not as experienced with REVIT: they are expressing more fear that anything else.

If they truly wanted help solving problems they'd all be posting in the REVIT forums https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit/ct-p/2003

[Sahay_R]

Revit requires an entirely different mindset and thought process from AutoCAD (Or Inventor, or 3DS Max, for that matter). A lot of what has been expressed in this thread has been a general unwillingness / reluctance to change that mindset. I have heard the line "AutoCAD does it - why doesn't Revit?" line WAY too many times from students as well as experienced CAD-ies. Having this flexible mindset will also make it easier to cope when a consultant send in files in AutoCAD, or Microstation, or Sketchup, or whatever nightmare they choose to inflict upon us .......

To gain comfort with the software - USE IT. The more you use it, the more your understanding (and admiration) of what it can do will improve. Unless you really REALLY enjoy visualizing and drawing elevations and sections. Or typing in schedules. Or doing so many of the repetitive tasks that Revit does for us. 

And of course use the Revit Architecture forum (where, BTW @pendean, I am a regular poster). You would not believe how much I have learned from this great learning resource.

[info]

I am trying to do Revit after having it since the beginning but never using it.

We took a base course in February and March. I always was first to use a program, but I was never convinced by Revit. However as more people seems to go with it (more due to the constant bombardement of what BIM can do) I decided to go for it.

Am doing first project for three coupled houses.

After a sweating and swearing a lot the first plans where sent as PDFs to the client.

I was extremely surprised at the following problems:

1. Joins of walls are terrible some joins simply do not get solved, or when you solve one on the level above another one no loner is OK, etc.....

2. another very big disappointment was to see that facades with shading are printed to PDF in RASTER format ? What the hell how long does REVIT exist ! Vector is only possible with no shade and this after 10 years of Revit ?

Simply unacceptable compared to AutoCAD, AUTODESK ???????

Then last week the client asked changes boy oh boy am I struggeling, one full day of problems.

1. I no longer can tag one room, deleted all unreferenced rooms form a schedule, still the problems stays, gave up at this point

2. Wall joins keep getting me frustrated, as does some wrapping, got some OK, but still some are not OK, gave up on it.

3. Some ohetr problems which I do not know how to describe

Boy oh boy, never had any program I had so much difficulty with from the start. I never used sketchup, but I modelled a lot in AutoCAD and 3DSmax, and I can say I had probems there as well, but not at this scale in any of those programs. Some ACIS arrors in AutoCAD but one new quickly how to get around them - this is just what is VERY different in Revit I do not find any sollutions.

And even from the support Autodesk Authorised Gold Reseller we then get if it does not work the do mask and draw lines over it !!!!!

How can I ever trust scheduling if you have to that, if I do scheduling I want 100% accuracy (not 99 or 95%), this means the drawing have to be 100% like I want them to be and this is where REVIT fails me !

If I draw something in AutoCAD or Max then I don't have to think how I will solve a join for hours really, by doing all kinds of test sollutions, redrawing. No I want to have the program do it correctly straight away.

I am a experienced 3DS MAX user, started of with 3D Studio 2 for DOS, and had many contacts with Autodesk people, even did beta testing for 3DS VIZ a long time ago.

I modelled quite a lot in MAX? even MAX has less problems then that, MAX is a joy to work with.

And yes I have an open mindset, but having to spend hours to make joins of walls correct is really unacceptable. And even then not all of them get solved.

I don't want to have to do that, I want to design, only if a program lets me do that without limitations then I am pleased.

I am strongly thinking of stopping my subscription of the Building Design Suite Premium after this struggle.

Christophe Van Oyen, Architect

[dieterjanssen]

As I write this, it is May 2017 and I could have just copied and pasted this comment verbatim. I used to enjoy drawing - not anymore.

[smitasam12]

Badmouthing a product isn't a good way to ask for help, IMO. It gives the impression that you have already judged the product as lacking and thus any help volunteered would fall on deaf ears. And you are in the wrong place; there are groups explicitly for Revit both here, AUGI, and elsewhere where you can get very specific help.

[MarryTookMyCoffe]

it is funny how often I came here. Revit is nightmare, I feel like a week is not enough to say how wrong he is, and yet I will try:

first and for me most imported the alerts of revit, do you what to see where the problems is? most of the time you can't and advance description of problem is just id of Element, who thought that was good idea?
The another thing that just stun me is how unpleasant is writhing a function in parameters(now I'm doing it first in notepad than I copy it to Revit),even the smallest mistake will erase all your tekst.

And the most irritating thing is creating families I can't even  count any more on how much time I waist on this ****. You are never sure what is possible and what is not.
I try to make a C profile that can be rotate, it may seems like this is possible but no there will be angle when the C flips on axis, and sweet merciful Buddha I have no idea why.

Oh and by the way, what's the point of being able to load profile in profile project if you can't do anything whit it ?

Dimension can lose track on what axis it was create, there are like quantum mechanic it only don't work when you look at it in family editor.

Most of the time  while you doing a family, you have to know from very begging, how exactly do it, the smallest mistake can force you to go back half of hour.

in Revit you don't try to solve the problem you learn how to skip it.

[Sahay_R]

That's what this forum is meant for. If you are in trouble ask for help.

[RobDraw]

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@MarryTookMyCoffe wrote:

it is funny how often I came here. Revit is nightmare, I feel like a week is not enough to say how wrong he is, and yet I will try:

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I've said it before and I'll say it again. It's funny how often people who blame the software just don't realize that their problems are due to a lack of knowledge about the program.

[dannett2B232]

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@rsahayUZMK9 wrote:

I have heard the line "AutoCAD does it - why doesn't Revit?" line WAY too many times from students as well as experienced CAD-ies. Having this flexible mindset will also make it easier to cope when a consultant send in files in AutoCAD, or Microstation, or Sketchup, or whatever nightmare they choose to inflict upon us .......

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I'm sick of hearing that cr...

Let us look at schedules and annotations for a second. I can't shift select words. I can't hit HOME or END to move the cursor to either end of the text string. Lord forbid I finish editing a cell and want to hit CTRL+S to save my work. No. In a schedule that will edit the cell my cursor is at.

How about Drafting Views? I can't dimension between two rows of items to show the centre line dimensions because dimensions can not snap to mid points of detail lines. I have to create a nasty work around. Oh but I can't create a line that won't plot! Maybe I could draw a line and dimension to that and then delete it. Nope, there goes the dimension. Hide it. Nope. Do I really want to create all these extra reference lines?

Why can't I put a view on a second sheet? A locality plan is a perfect example, I need it on my mechanical, hydraulic, fire and electrical drawing. The information is identical. But I have to duplicate it. And give them unique names. And then I have to modify it multiple times.

How about a simple task like printing? I can have hundreds of parameters on my sheets and in the model, but I can only name my files with the drawing number and sheet name, prefixed with the model name. Then I have to go into Windows and manually rename every file to suit project protocols. The information is all in the model. At a minimum, I should be able to create a custom pdf name with any sheet and project parameters that exist in the model.

Oh and to have some kind of command line or undo history that would let me know how many steps I am going back.

I am not comparing these short comings to any other program. They exist in Revit alone.

Don't get me wrong. I could like Revit. It has so much potential and I can do things it in I couldn't do in AutoCAD. And in some ways, I can do things faster. But the program is buggy and clunky and the new versions do little to nothing to polish out these flaws.

Dan