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Revit for Mac

Revit for Mac

Please start producing REVIT for Mac. It is a must have application for architecture students and the mac industry occupies a huge part of the computer industry. We really need the software.

891 Comments
Anonymous
Not applicable

I am sure I am not the first person to ask about this, but I teach Interior Design and our labs at the art school I teach for are all mac, due to all of the other design degree programs software working more efficiently on mac. The one and only software we teach on Windows is Revit and the functionality is not great on parallels or boot camp. It would be so helpful for so many in the field and in schools if Revit Architecture were available for Mac too.

Art2Architecture
Explorer

Make a native MacOS version of Revit like you have for AutoCAD.

I am learning Revit in offices as they transition from AutoCAD on Windows PCs, but I will not purchase a version of Revit unless it will run natively on my iMac on MacOS for my home use + small professional projects on my own.

I have used AutoCAD for decades in offices.

Thank you!

Anonymous
Not applicable

Hi,

 

I would love to know if Revit would ever be available on MAC. 

 

< Are you working on it? When should we expect it? What are the challenges you have bringing it? Is there a reason it's not yet available on macs? >

Are you working on it? When should we expect it? What are the challenges you have bringing it? Is there a reason it's not yet available on macs? >

When should we expect it? What are the challenges you have bringing it? Is there a reason it's not yet available on macs? >

Is there a reason it's not yet available on macs?

>

 

I have been a Revit user since 2009 (7 years) and I have waited patiently for Revit to get to Mac and I hope it does. 

 

 

I look forward to your feedback.

 

Thanks

 

Kene Ezekwem

Anonymous
Not applicable

To be or not to be....(in the software world...that is not the question)

I believe, if you looking into it some more, you would find out why this is not as simple as it might appear. Changing ones DNA to work on another platform with all the expectation of the original platform. Anything that sounds profitable -- AD will try to figure it out, see all the pros and cons and execute. Meanwhile, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Anonymous
Not applicable

We need Revit on Mac urgently as we need it for the university work and job later on. And also the 3D Max !!!

Please take it in consideration as it is really important.

Thanks in advance.

 

tomek
Collaborator

I'm a Mac guy from waaaaaay back and I'd love nothing more than to see Revit on the Mac but it's probably not the best use of Autodesk's time and resources. I'd rather see some major improvements like being able to edit in perspective mode. Geeeez, get that going already guys.

 

In the meantime I'm happy running Revit on my Mac through Parallels Desktop. It works well enough for my needs, especially now that my VM is running on a separate SSD.

 

-t

tomek
Collaborator

I've been running Revit for 6+ years  on my iMac through Parallels Desktop. I've updated the software over the years and upgraded my iMac and each time I got more performance boost. It was a 2010 iMac that ended up with 16GB RAM and a dedicated SSD for the VM. Revit ran very well on that setup. My iMac died last week and I can't wait for the new models to be announced hopefully later this month. I am confident that Parallels + Revit will deliver the performance that I need on the iMacs.

 

If there is a team within Autodesk that is toying around with porting Revit to the Mac (and it's possible, see Rhino) then I'll be rooting for them but I wouldn't hold my breath. I'd rather see some other improvements to the software in the meantime. Like being able to edit the model in perspective view (c'mon already, that ortho view us making me go all cross eyed)

 

-t

Art2Architecture
Explorer
Yes, I know that's an option, but I do not want to partition drive, buy Parallels, buy Windows OS just to run Revit. ACAD for Mac but not Revit when BIM is overtaking CAD? Come on Autodesk. That why I use other Mac based BIM programs & export to ICS BIM Revit standards for consultants.

Ralph Martin Architect
art2arch@mac.com
www.art2arch.net
425.785.0552
(transmitted via my Apple iPhone)
tomek
Collaborator
I see what you're saying and it sure would be nice to have a native version
of Revit for the Mac. However, ACAD and Revit are very, very different
pieces of software. Revit is a much more complex system and it's tied
intrinsically to the Windows development platform.

Getting a separate drive for your Mac to be used exclusively by Windows VM
is not that big a deal and the cost of Parallels Desktop is nothing
compared to the ongoing subscription cost of Revit. You could pay someone
to install it all for you and it would still be cheaper than buying a whole
new version of Revit.

cheers,
-tomek
--
about.me/tomek_piatek
cSol
Advocate

I'm using Revit 2016 and 2017 on a Mac Pro with Parallels Desktop and a friend of mine using it on an iMac 27" Retina. We're too using SSD's for better (let's say "much" better) performance. And we can approve, it works very well under this conditions. 

Anonymous
Not applicable
Hi I have a Mac book pro with retina, im wondering how to get a parallel in order to run revit efficiently. Im almost considering selling it to get a windows desktop. Any advice would be appreciated.
cSol
Advocate

Hi

Right now I'm using parallels 11 Pro Edition. The pro edition let you assign more then 4 GB of RAM to the virtual machine. A few weeks ago I tested Parallels 12 but couldn't use the full screen mode properly so I switched back to the previous edition.

For the virtual machine we use Windows 10. The Mac Pro I'm using is a late 2013 model. 32 GB RAM, 500 GB SSD. Displays are two 27" HP TFTs, each with 2560 x 1440 pixels.

Parallels and Windows are running in full-screen-mode. And I use Revit expanded over both screens. In coherence mode the performance of Revit is to low.

Hope this helps.

tomek
Collaborator
Don't use Coherence Mode at all. It imposes a serious performance penalty.
Also, while your video card is capable of driving two monitors at 2k res
each, I doubt that this configuration would perform well in a VM
environment.

I run my VM in full screen mode on an iMac switching between the virtual
screens using mouse gestures or keyboard shortcuts (depending on where my
hands happen to be).

Performance is satisfactory.

-tomek
--
about.me/tomek_piatek
Art2Architecture
Explorer
YES please...

Ralph Martin Architect
art2arch@mac.com
www.art2arch.net
425.785.0552
(transmitted via my Apple iPhone)
tomek
Collaborator

@divb wrote:

Please start producing REVIT for Mac. It is a must have application for architecture students and the mac industry occupies a huge part of the computer industry. We really need the software.

 

First, Apple's desktop business accounts for about 7% of the PC industry (IDC) so not a huge part of the computer industry at all. Apple desktops have always been niche devices. As I said before, I'm a Mac guy and native Mac Revit would be awesome but I don't believe that it's the right thing for Autodesk to pursue at this stage. I hope they concentrate on bug fixes and performance enhancements and innovation in the 3D modelling area.

 

Second, asking to just "please start producing X in Y flavour" shows a bit of ignorance about what is actually involved in producing anything. It's not like they can just pull a lever on the Revit making machine and it will start laying Apple branded eggs. You can't just port a system as complex as Revit to another, completely different, platform. That's like saying "can you already start making those petrol cars in diesel version". You actually have to make a whole new engine for that. From scratch. That's what it would take to port Revit to the Mac - a complete reimplementation of the whole system from the ground up. We're talking tens of thousands of man-hours of software development effort.

 

Still, we can hope 😉

 

cheers,

-tomek

Art2Architecture
Explorer
Then why did AutoDesk make AutoCAD for Mac OS X?

Ralph Martin Architect
art2arch@mac.com
www.art2arch.net
425.785.0552
(transmitted via my Apple iPhone)
Anonymous
Not applicable

I may be missing something. But can Autodesk please make a Revit version for Mac and Apple computers? Why isn't that still available? 

Anonymous
Not applicable

Why they don't adapt Revit for Mac as well as they done with AutoCad? Isn't good for us, Mac user's, have to partition the HD or install parallels to use Revit. I'm student of architecture and I'm almost changing to other BIM software like Archicad that have compatibility with booth Mac and Windows. Will be very good if Revit have compatibility with Mac. That's urgent!!

Anonymous
Not applicable

majority of this posts is from students and teachers...

seems to be autodesk do not see it important.

 

But in reality a lot of professionals do not talk about revit on mac because they very busy.

From IT department it looks like - revit made for PC - so you'll have a good PC - end of the story.

 

those companyes who loves work on mac's they do not have many choises - struggle with Revit on virtual machine or use ArchiCad, even they would love to have native Mac version of Revit.

 

and choices is naroving down if you going to work on the project bigger then 2 stories residential house - it is very bad on virtual machine.

 

BootCamp make absolutely no sense for those who want revit on mac ....running windows on mac.... same as having windows machine....

 

 

cSol
Advocate
I can’t agree with you, sirtas.

I think here in Switzerland things are quite a bit different. Mac’s are widely used. As an example: A wide range of architects in Switzerland use ArchiCad on Mac’s. In fact all architects I know use ArchiCad 🙂

So Revit is far more interesting for the MEP engineering part. I do not know many architects using Revit. In fact, I only know one personally.

All I can say: We use Revit on Mac’s in a virtual machine (in full screen mode) ... and we have projects (residential) with 20 or more stories (LOD 400 to 500). There are also large buildings from industry, banks and shopping malls in our portfolio.

The building model comes from the architect (in most cases as an IFC-File) and the MEP is done with other engineering partners who also use Revit. So we end up with about four to five Revit-Models linked into our own project file. And there is the IFC-File (transferred to a Revit file for better performance) and another Revit-Model only containing the 2D-floor plans from the architect (for printing etc.) also linked into Revit.

Performance issues? Could it be faster? Yes of course … as always, when you sit in front of your Mac or PC and wait for something. And let’s be honest: one or two weeks after you first started your brand-new PC or Mac it could be faster, couldn’t it?

I have used a PC for more than 20 years - always with AutoCAD and in the last 5 years with Revit too. Last summer we switched to Mac Pro and iMacs. The performance is absolutely comparable to the PCs we used before. No, it’s even faster in most cases.

BTW: In my case, we’re talking about a Mac Pro Late 2013 with a 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Xeon E5, 32 GB of RAM and a 500 GB SSD … the entry-level model. And then are there this 2 (!) 27 inch HP Displays - each with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels - in front of me. In full screen mode I can use both screen within parallels and stretch Revit over both of them.

I’m happy with this configuration. And the next Mac Pro will be the six-core model, for an even more powerful experience … 🙂

So, yes, it would be great for Mac-Users to have a native Revit-Version. But … if Autodesk does this conversion, like they’ve done it with AutoCAD for Mac … I think, then I prefer to use Revit on the virtual machine anyway.

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