"I've used Desktop in the past and it's really not what I'm looking for. It
's really not residential friendly imho. That's why I was kind of skeptic
about Revit. It seems like it might be more than I need and might be better
for commercial people."
A: No Revit is DEFINATELY a good fit for residential. (or commercial for
that matter!) It's not like Desktop, where you never really use the 'whole
tool'.
"Anyway, what's the learning curve?"
A: Honestly, shorter than most other programs. Many say they are
productive after doing some of the tutorials for about a week. Some of the
more challenging aspects of Revit, like the family editor and worksets,
might take a bit longer. But since you are familiar with other programs,
you will get it pretty quickly.
" I'd rather get it right the first time. That's why I'm researching like
crazy right now."
A: Go with Revit, you wont regret it.
"I guess I have a couple other questions. I realize that learning a 3d
program will be a lot different than using 2d AutoCAD, so I'm prepared to
learn a different direction."
A: Be ready to go a different direction. You have to NOT think like
AutoCAD. Sometimes, AtuoCAD users have a hard time of letting go, making
Revit more difficult to learn. Remember, its a different program. The
quicker you let go of AutoCAD tendencies, the quicker you will learn revit.
"However, how's the navigating around in a drawing? Is it similar to
AutoCAD? I love how the mouse wheel zooms/pans and I use the command line
for everything (is there a command line?) along with various other AutoCAD
features that we all love."
A: Scroll wheel pans and zooms, and 3D orbits, and real time perspective
walk-throughs, with Ctrl and Shift plus scroll wheel. VERY easy to
navigate.
"Is the rumor true that there is a yearly fee?"
A: You buy a subscription to Revit, so if you want to continue to get
upgrades, you pay a yearly fee. Full releases (5.0 to 6.0) have occured
every year for the last 3 years, and point releases in between. The
development is so rapid, and each release packed with so many new tools, it
would be worse to NOT have the subscription.
"This is minor, but it's something a lot of other programs surprisingly don'
t to. Does Revit do a good job with curved roofs, curved framing for roofs
(custom curved trusses), eyebrow dormers "curved", lot's of curved stuff?"
A: See the gallery at www.augi.com in the Revit Forums. Revit can handle
any shape you can throw at it. Someone once modeled Corbusier's Ronchamps
in Revit 3.0. You will need to create custom curved trusses on your own, or
find someone to build them for you. Think this way: if its custom, you
will probably need to build it; if it's standard, more than likely Revit
comes with the object out of the box.
"Also, what about doing the eyebrow feature on the side of the gable
EXACTLY like the one I've attached? Notice how's there's a little hip that
comes around the corner that's in front of the gable."
A: Yes, they can be done, examples also in the gallery at AUGI.
"I think that's it for now. I may continue with questions after I hear what
ya'll have to say about these questions, but for now, my research
continues... :-)"
A: Keep the questions coming. be sure to go to www.augi.com and become a
member (its free) and then check out the Revit forums there. AUGI is the
best site for all things Revit related on the web. Oh, by the way....one of
the two people that CREATED Revit, (Leonid) just responed to your thread.
Now that's customer support!
