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Which should I learn?

5 REPLIES 5
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Message 1 of 6
l.p.mckinney
541 Views, 5 Replies

Which should I learn?

HI,

 

I work at an Electrical and Mechanical Engineering company and I produce the plan drawings of positions of electrical outlets, lights, pipe runs, duct runs etc. I am looking to study either Autodesk Revit MEP, or AutoCAD MEP, but am unsure which one is;

 

a - The better and more poewrful product

b - Which one I would be best of learning for my work

 

And I know Revit is part of the 'BIM's' family and I hear that's pretty much the future, but is AutoCAD MEP also part of this or not? 

 

Thanks.

5 REPLIES 5
Message 2 of 6
CoreyDaun
in reply to: l.p.mckinney

Welcome to the Discussion Groups l.p.mckinney!

 

Revit and AutoCAD each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Even though they're both Autodesk products, they are very different programs. Revit is significantly younger, and does have an array of fundamental problems due to being in constant development and originally being designed solely as a Architectural program. Revit is indeed a BIM program, but I believe that the vertical, AutoCAD MEP, is also capable of BIM design. It'd probably be ideal to know both to some degree due to the growing popularity of Revit and the sheer magnitude of AutoCAD users out there.

 

I believe that there have been conversations regarding this in the past, so try searching this forum using the phrase "Revit vs AutoCAD" and see if you can dig up some useful info.

Corey D.                                                                                                                  ADSK_Logo_EE_2013.png    AutoCAD 2014 User  Revit 2014 User
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Message 3 of 6
l.p.mckinney
in reply to: CoreyDaun

I've had a look and I'm still  a bit confused. Basically ar work, the Mechanical/Electrical engineers do what ever they do to decide on what ducts/pipe/electrical outlets they want on a job, they then hand draw that and give it to me to CAD up. I don't have any knowledge of Mechanical/Electrical engineering, I purely a CAD guy. So I'm wondering which would be better to learn for me?

 

If for example you need to know M & E Engineering to use Revit, but not AutoCAD MEP, the obvious choice for me would be AutoCAD MEP. We do need to move into BIM's and I know Revit is BIM's but is AutoCAD MEP also?

 

What would you suggest? Thanks.

Message 4 of 6
Hugh_Compton
in reply to: l.p.mckinney

 

On the Autodesk website there is no mention of BIM under AutoCAD MEP.  On the Revit page the title is 'Software For BIM'. 

 

I agree with CADastrophe that AutoCAD MEP is BIM BUT if you are trying to win a contract that stated all contrctors must be BIM compliant you might find it difficult to persuade them seeing as Autodesk haven't been explicit. 

 

This is a problem in the UK where apparently in 2016 all government related construction projects must be competed using BIM.  The phrase being used is something along the lines of 'we need to bash heads together'. 

Message 5 of 6
CoreyDaun
in reply to: l.p.mckinney

Actually, I came from the same general background, and I am not currently a PE (though I do have some engineering knowledge). At this small MEP firm I work for, I'm the one who's manages and teaches Revit to the others, here.

 

So, you are being offered the choice of which software you would like to use? With Revit, the driving force is typically that the Architectural client is using it. If you aren't going to have an Architectural Revit model to work with, working in Revit's probably not going to be the better choice.

 

Also, if you are going to be working for engineering who expect you to replicate their work magically on the computer, then you would run into a lot more snags and be saying "well, it just can't do that" quite a few times. Plus, the engineering calculations are imperfect. Revit is not a substitute for an engineer, it is a tool created to assist in the design process. I suppose AutoCAD MEP would be the same though - not a substitute for engineering knowledge.

 

I would recommend AutoCAD due to reliability and flexibility, and based on the assumption that you won't have Arch models to work with. But you shouldn't dismiss the idea of learning Revit because it will likely become more and more relevant.

Corey D.                                                                                                                  ADSK_Logo_EE_2013.png    AutoCAD 2014 User  Revit 2014 User
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⁞|⁞ Please use Mark Solutions!.Accept as Solution and Give Kudos!Give Kudos as appropriate to further enhance these forums. Thank you!
Message 6 of 6
l.p.mckinney
in reply to: CoreyDaun

thank you

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