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Thinking Revit vs ArchiCAD? Stick this thread!

Anonymous
Not applicable
Some of you are aware of the noise coming from the Revit user community regarding the new release and how many users are frustrated that long-standing wishes were not met, and instead we got a half-baked UI that might work out in the end, but was not asked for.

A widely respected Revit user and implementor (see http://architechure.blogspot.com) who worked for Revit pre and post Autodesk buyout has blogged clearly and humourously about the shortcomings of the new release.

And now he's being pushed out by Autodesk -- he's being told that he can't speak at Autodesk University, the annual educational conference held in Las Vegas. His sessions are a gold mine to Revit users, and he's become a mentor to many of us in our quest to master the software.

But he didn't toe the company line, so he's gone.

Do you folks want to use software from a company that behaves more like a cult than a software vendor?

Long live ArchiCAD.
56 REPLIES 56
Mats_Knutsson
Advisor
metanoia wrote:
whose offering is more complete...
I'd like to say whose offer is more suited for the purpose. Many people mistake complete for features.

IMHO AC lacks some cool features (right now that is) but more than makes up for it with excellent workflow. All small things that the AC user takes for given...all those small things together that makes your process efficient are worth their weight in gold...it's the overall workflow.
Workflow can't be bought.

/Mats
AC 25 SWE Full

HP Zbook Fury 15,6 G8. 32 GB RAM. Nvidia RTX A3000.
Anonymous
Not applicable
sdb wrote:
yes most of the 'BIM' revit objects just seem to be simple static objects. These seem to be the best available for Revit www.andekan.com/ hardly amazing compared to what we can & do produce in AC.
It's arguable that those sort of simple objects are exactly the kind of thing that the ArchiCAD user actually needs. Complex objects take too long to build, are too difficult to maintain and keep up to date, and are seemingly too expensive for manufacturers to bother with.

I reckon what you need is an simple single non-adjustable dimensionally accurate GDL object of every component from every manufacturer that could be used on or in a building. It needs to be pre-programmed with all the relevant data to make it intelligent, like product codes, electrical usage, connection positions and sizes, flow rates, available colours, current guide price, contact details for ordering, and so on.

I want to be able to go to a manufacturers website and be able to download an accurate model of, say, a specific oven, which looks like it does in real life, and has all the correct data in it ready for me to drop it in plan and be able to schedule the data immediately without having to fiddle around modifying it to work with our schedules. (Or find it's last years model, and not available any more!)

The Revit folks are closer to getting there because they have such a large user base and so the number of freely available objects created by other users is fairly plentiful, and covers a wide range, but I should imagine the quality varies considerably and I doubt many contain any useful data.

Someone (Graphisoft) needs to show the manufacturers how to make these objects, and agree on a standard way of organising the intelligent data so it is consistent and useful for all users.
Anonymous
Not applicable
Peter wrote:
I want to be able to go to a manufacturers website and be able to download an accurate model...
This has to be the key. Once manufacturers get the marketing potential of providing bim content we're home free.

If you head to http://www.bimworld.com you will be taken (amusingly) to an Autodesk site. Search for GSM files with the keyword "all" to see -among others- some of Kawneers offering.

I got the link from Kawneers US website. In the UK manufacturers still stare at you blankly (or ignore your email) even if their company produces GDL objects for other countries (e.g. Velux: Hungary). Unfortunately I missed school the day we did Magyar.

This website's Depository is a huge step forward, but GS should use some of the 8 million budget to excite the big manufacturers if we are to begin to tap the potential of BIM.
Anonymous
Not applicable
Peter wrote:
The Revit folks are closer to getting there because they have such a large user base and so the number of freely available objects created by other users is fairly plentiful, and covers a wide range, but I should imagine the quality varies considerably and I doubt many contain any useful data.
You are entirely correct. A lot of the Revit families out there for ovens and the like are just imported DWG or DXF surface-based models. And a lot of the Revit families on RevitCity or other sites are poor quality. So we build a lot of stuff in house...
Peter wrote:
.........

Someone (Graphisoft) needs to show the manufacturers how to make these objects, and agree on a standard way of organising the intelligent data so it is consistent and useful for all users.

.......one would be shocked to find out that the manufacturers (not unlike actual AC users themselves) aren't easily endeared to the notion of having to GDL script or rather having to learn how to GDL script, as the only way of creating powerful parametric objects, rather than old-fashioned design-and-modeling method along with setting up the parameters and relationships in an interface and workflow that makes sense to a non-programmer and to a visual and graphical designer.

Yes, the onus is on Graphisoft, but it is not to teach the manufacturers how to do this (gdl scripting; which is what they would have to do) but rather to improve the way their own software allows users to create custom objects to classes and groups of objects with powerful parametric capabilities, in an interface that is anything but as counter-intuitive as it is now, and easy to pick up, learn, master and use.

That way they wouldn't even have to approach the manufacturers to do anything as users willbe jumping all over themselves to create these custom libraries of objects and making them more available than is currently possible with the depository on this site, where, it's virtually guaranteed that all the object creators are GDL experts.
Brett Brown
Advocate
Mats_Knutsson wrote:
metanoia wrote:
whose offering is more complete...


I'd like to say whose offer is more suited for the purpose. Many people mistake complete for features.

IMHO AC lacks some cool features (right now that is) but more than makes up for it with excellent workflow. All small things that the AC user takes for given...all those small things together that makes your process efficient are worth their weight in gold...it's the overall workflow.
Workflow can't be bought.

/Mats


Like how Archicad handles Demolition and Alterations, what workflow?certainly not worth their weight in gold in this aspect. How long has this program been around again? Take your blinkers off Mats
Imac, Big Sur AC 20 NZ, AC 25 Solo UKI,
NandoMogollon
Advocate
Brett wrote:
Mats_Knutsson wrote:
metanoia wrote:
whose offering is more complete...


I'd like to say whose offer is more suited for the purpose. Many people mistake complete for features.

IMHO AC lacks some cool features (right now that is) but more than makes up for it with excellent workflow. All small things that the AC user takes for given...all those small things together that makes your process efficient are worth their weight in gold...it's the overall workflow.
Workflow can't be bought.

/Mats


Like how Archicad handles Demolition and Alterations, what workflow?certainly not worth their weight in gold in this aspect. How long has this program been around again? Take your blinkers off Mats
With an hybrid methodology you can "create"your own workflow for Demolitions, Renovations and Options, but you really need to know how to handle the Mark Up tool, Layer Combinations, Layer Priorities, and other features. In "other" software all this is a single button "click" to have different option, or "click" to demolish.

The difference lies on the approach to the solution: do you give total free access and flow trough all the options and potential of the software (by leaving the integrity of the project and its standards in the hands of the user), or you give a couple of pre-set options like click for demolish and click for design options (by keeping the Integrity of the project standards to the software)

I found the second approach much more practical for the beginner and the average user, the fist one more useful for advanced users.

I like the idea o pre-set solutions, and background freedom of the script.

Regards
Nando Mogollon
Director @ BuilDigital
nando@buildigital.com.au
Using, Archicad Latest AU and INT. Revit Latest (have to keep comparing notes)
More and more... IFC.js, IFCOpenShell
All things Solibri and BIMCollab
Rob
Graphisoft
Graphisoft
I reckon what you need is an simple single non-adjustable dimensionally accurate GDL object of every component from every manufacturer that could be used on or in a building. It needs to be pre-programmed with all the relevant data to make it intelligent, like product codes, electrical usage, connection positions and sizes, flow rates, available colours, current guide price, contact details for ordering, and so on.
this is all nice but in reality this approach has failed miserably in the past. The major reason was and still is a huge overhead for maintenance and updating. The market competition forces manufacturers reinvent their product portfolio so quickly (often in a half year cycle) that the updating and most importantly delivering those library parts to architects and designers makes it almost impossible. Also, locked lib part material attributes create an absolute mess in the project attributes which was one of the main reasons we stopped using predefined library parts.

I think there is a good reason for sticking with the old way and that is an use of symbolic representations on plans/elevations and further specification in a schedule. At the moment this is not possible in AC as it would require another abstraction layer between the placed lib part instance and the schedule itself. A sort of dynamic favourites - in other words several instances of one library part could be linked to different favourite templates in the schedule view....
e.g.:
we could place four toilets on a plan using just one library part however we could attach different data to each instance in the schedule view. That would actually dramatically reduce a need for manufacturer/type-customised library parts.

Another reason would be revision tracking. In some countries it is required to keep all issued items in a schedule. So if you delete an item or D/W from the project and this item was at least once issued to e.g. the builder it has to be shown as 'deleted' and kept as such in the schedule till the project is completed. So the builder would clearly see that the item is not used anymore (various reasons - using old plans or just negligence of comparing superseded and new schedules) thus avoiding a dispute with an architect about who is responsible for ordering (and therefore paying for) redundant items. And trust me that the argument itself is not really enjoyable (based on my previous experience). This would be actually the main reason we cannot use AC schedules in current format.... but anyway I have drifted a bit sidewise from the original topic so excuse moi
::rk
Eduardo Rolon
Moderator
Read the comments…

http://insidethefactory.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/05/quick-access-toolbar/comments/page/2/#comments

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About AEC User Experience

The Autodesk AEC User Experience Team is focused on delighting you, our customers, by designing model-based architectural and engineering solutions that enhance your efficiency, satisfy your current needs, and anticipate your future expectations. We accomplish this through extensive user research, the application of user-centered design methods and practices, and the iterative evaluation of solutions.
and a rebuttal

http://architechure.blogspot.com/2009/05/factory-speak.html
Eduardo Rolón AIA NCARB
AC27 US/INT -> AC08

Macbook Pro M1 Max 64GB ram, OS X 10.XX latest
another Moderator

Anonymous
Not applicable
Anything official from Autodesk contains a worrisome and confusing array of CorporateSpeak that makes you wonder if these guys will even be able to communicate with us in the future. I hate technobabble. And they are definitely, clearly, technobabbling. They should hire me to cut the crap and give people straight talk. That's what everyone wants, right?

I do get that supporting two UIs is going to be hard for the developers, and I'm happy to ditch the old UI if it *really* *is* *better*.

Which the Ribbon at this time, clearly is NOT.
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