Using Revit 2015 out of the box - Very difficult in India

[PRSS]

Hello everyone

I am copy pasting here what I have posted in a couple of other forums - so that I could get advice from a good cross section of the communities.

I am from a small city in India. Right now I am learning Revit 2015 (even though I purchased Building Design Suite Premium 2013 and still on subscription, it is only now that I was able to get a very good tutor to train me - backed up by Autodesk India).

I have learned to a fairly high level and have started doing pilot projects also. It is now that I am realizing a great difficulty.

I had always been under the impression, that if the Revit model was completed, all the enlarged details too could be generated from the model and after that they only needed to be annotated. This now seems to be only a theory to me. While it is true that the enlarged details could be generated from the Revit model if highly detailed component families were used in the model, the computer slows down to such an extent that it becomes impractical. For trials, I had used families available free of cost from the web (highly detailed 3d families) and from vendors abroad.

Then I realized that in reality that there were no INDIAN families or other INDIAN Library content available - even though Revit installs (for INDIA) folders in the library named as INDIA - for components, families, detail families, etc. etc. - there are folders named INDIA. But to my surprise, these folders contain almost the same as what are available for U.S. or U.K. There are nothing Indian there - not even a single component or family. THE INDIAN FOLDERS CONTAIN FAMILIES WHICH ARE TOTALLY ALIEN TO INDIA.

So what is the meaning of providing "Indian" Folders ? While people abroad like in U.S. or U.K. are able to use components & families straight out of the box - provided by Revit, we here in India have to create families on our own for each & every thing. Families / Libraries available free of cost from the Internet / Web are totally useless for India - so as families /components provided by the vendors free of cost abroad - they are foreign to India.

So I am wondering if I had enough life span to develop all the families & components required by me ( I am almost 60 years old now) - I do need lot of families which are suitable to Indian conditions - before i implemented Revit work flow in my tiny office consisting of only 5 junior staff & myself as the boss - with one BDSP suite and 5 AutoCAD LT.

My tutor ( who has very deep knowledge ) says use generic families available in Revit to do the plans & sections, and then in the detailed call outs, do 2D line drawings for the enlarged details. I am unable to digest this.

But all the video tutorials from the web, including some from the Autodesk website itself - shows such enlarged details derived or generated from the Revit Model and annotated suitably. I have done quite a bit of research on this on the web. This is not only for Revit , but also for ArchiCad (even the Archicad tutorials show the details generated from the BIM model )

If the details were to be drawn as 2D line drawing in Revit instead of generating from the intelligent model, it could as well be drawn in Autocad itself ! Again, for a stair, I give hyper detailed drawings - entire stair drawn at a large scale showing all the civil works (architectural) and finishes including showing mortar thickness, the thickness of the finish, the plaster, etc. etc. Then a separate detailed drawing to show the flow of the handrail, and later blow up details of the railings too . And most of the stair I do (except for very common, simple buildings) all are not the standard type of “U” stair or dog-legged stair or standard spiral / helical stair - while I understand that no software could give us unique stairs, but at least one expects that the stair types already given by Revit should be highly detailed enough to extract enlarged details of every portion / part of it. Does Autodesk expect us to do every type of family by ourselves ? Even as common as a parliamentary hinged door is not available straight from the library. If you took Staddpro structural software, the Indian installation would install all structural members and the design aspects as per the Indian codes (ISS codes - and updates are released when the codes are updated). So one naturally expects that the “Indian” Revit family should have Indian components most prevalently used. I have only cited a few examples. So from whatever I have learned so far in Revit, I have a feeling that I could get only he basic detailed drawings (1:50 or 1/4”=1'-0” scale) which would amount to only about 20 to 25 sheets out of the nearly 250 plus sheets of drawings done by me for a single house.

Now I am wondering if I have made a great mistake by misunderstanding that Revit would be successful even if one stopped at the detailed drawings stage. In fact, believing that I would become successful in using Revit, I have paid for another 3 years of subscription in advance ! Have I dumped my money in the dust bin ? Now, with your vast experience (the Revit users in this group ) in Revit, if you thought I have made a mistake, please feel free to tell me so frankly. I could stop learning Revit and save that time for design work. Unless I am able to generate at least 200 detailed drawings or so from the Revit Model for a residence / villa , Revit is going to be useless for me.

Thanks in advance for patiently reading this long post.

Replies are very much appreciated as I am in a great dilemma - to give up or to continue ?

Best regards

PRSS

[sureshchotrani]

Dear PRSS,

From your post it seems that you are using Revit at Design level, while working with new technology it always require patience. Below I am making you aware how I used Revit for US and the same for India.

I have been using Revit since last 9years, regarding Revit families you need to create at your end. No other option even I was creating the same for US & UK projects.

At your end if you want to take advantage of new technology, use both AutoCAD & Revit togather. Like you can create complete Revit modle for better visialisation & coordination of the each & every element in the model. While for creating 2D details you can use details which you already have in AutoCAD, this can be done by linking in Revit. 

Whenever you Junior staff has free time available, they can start preparing Revit families which you may require in future projects.

I have used Revit for Buildings, Infrastrucrue & water related structure. I have found it very useful. It gives you clear idea how the structure is going to be like. Revit is not only made for producing 2D details, there are other dimensions attached which are really helpfull.

Hope this answer your long question:)

[PRSS]

Thank you very much sureshchotrani. But let me also wait for answers regarding why Autodesk has not given Families for India.

From what you have said, the out of the box families are not suited to U.S. also ?

Thanks in advance

PRSS

[PRSS]

Still hoping for replies from a few others too