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Anyone using AutoCAD & ArchiCAD?

Anonymous
Not applicable
I have recently moved to a company using AutoCAD (and AutoCAD Architecture), but my last company used ArchiCAD. Is it common for companies to run the two programs? And if so, what is the best practice?
8 REPLIES 8
Anonymous
Not applicable
1. Use archicad for designing, presentation, drafting,contract documents. publishing.

2. Use autocad for exporting-importing drawings from consultants.
to check if translations to/from autocad came all right. Some 2d drawings
(civil: roads, geometrical layouts) are still best done with autocad.
Da3dalus
Enthusiast
We have been a hybrid office for years. Unfortunately, it's often a problem. Here are some of the issues:

1. Senior management sees ArchiCAD as a 3D rendering tool, and AutoCAD as a "primary work machine". It may be backward, but this is difficult to overcome when they don't have any interest in the technological explanations. Executive buy-in is critical.

2. You will always have employees who resist, usually because they are "done learning for this lifetime". Ironically, they often hate AutoCAD so much that they just stick with it, because they think the next software may be even harder to learn.

3. When you finally do get ArchiCAD into the project stream, the first-project learning curve often costs hours. When a budget overrun occurs, it's the first thing to get blamed. Project Managers are then afraid to give it a second chance.

4. Using both programs creates a burden on the CAD Manager. Though some standards translate fine, many do not, so you are forced to create 2 sets of standards, 2 templates, 2 training tracks, all the time checking for incompatibilities. In my case, I'm also a (the) Project Architect, so most of my standards remain half-finished.

5. Hiring existing ArchiCAD users, especially junior drafters or interns, is nearly impossible. Most applicant know AutoCAD to some degree.

6. In a small firm like ours, many of the projects are quick-turnaround remodels. We get the DWG as-builts from the Owner, verify and correct them, add a couple of walls, and ship them out. Sometimes, it just makes sense to stay in AutoCAD, so you can make a profit. The people who specialize in those projects don't even understand why you're trying.

7. The Autodesk marketing juggernaut will often undercut you. About once a year, you'll have to do damage control when a Principal comes to you and says "we should switch to Revit (or ADT/AC Architecture)... this ad says it's an easy transition!"

I would encourage you to bring in ArchiCAD where you see a need. Try it out, use it for special projects, and try to get the most influential people in the firm to like it. If it takes, then push for complete domination. If it doesn't, don't beat yourself up. Some firms are made to stay in the last decade.

Just one man's opinion.
Chuck Kottka
Orcutt Winslow
Phoenix, Arizona, USA

ArchiCAD 25 (since 4.5)
Macbook Pro 15" Touchbar OSX 10.15 Core i7 2.9GHz/16GB RAM/Radeon Pro560 4GB
stefan
Expert
Good observations 😉
--- stefan boeykens --- bim-expert-architect-engineer-musician ---
Archicad27/Revit2023/Rhino8/Unity/Solibri/Zoom
MBP2023:14"M2MAX/Sonoma+Win11
Archicad-user since 1998
my Archicad Book
Anonymous
Not applicable
I agree Da3dalus. I just started working for a firm that uses, Revit AutoCAD and ArchiCAD. Fortunately they see the benefits and are very excited about the ArchiCAD movement.

We are actually kicking it up a notch to Constructor 2008, we had a VICO guy come in and teach us. I liked your comment about the, "all they are going to learn for this lifetime" HA
Anonymous
Not applicable
The office I work for uses both, but is making an attempt at switching completely over to ArchiCAD (and Macs). I see it as a bit of a problem, because as said previously some folk are hesitant to learn new software (and there simply isn't time to train people).

However, we are currently doing a joint venture project with another office which solely uses AutoCAD, so there have been a variety of headaches. Mostly with how ArchiCAD handles blocks out of AutoCAD, but it's nothing that a good back-and-forth dialogue can't work out (also hard to come by)
Anonymous
Not applicable
guitarchitect wrote:
The office I work for uses both, but is making an attempt at switching completely over to ArchiCAD (and Macs). I see it as a bit of a problem, because as said previously some folk are hesitant to learn new software (and there simply isn't time to train people).

However, we are currently doing a joint venture project with another office which solely uses AutoCAD, so there have been a variety of headaches. Mostly with how ArchiCAD handles blocks out of AutoCAD, but it's nothing that a good back-and-forth dialogue can't work out (also hard to come by)
The good news is that it is still easier to interoperate with AutoCAD from ArchiCAD than it is from Revit. In any case if you are going to use BIM you will have issues with AutoCAD interoperability. The only other option is to stick with flatCAD and this is rapidly becoming a non-option.

Since you are joint venturing with the AutoCAD firm and will presumably have a lot of back and forth and perhaps round trip file exchanges you may want to consider setting up all their standard blocks as ArchiCAD library parts and setting up a template (I paraphrase - the exact procedure is a little mode complex) so that when you bring in their drawings ArchiCAD can recognize their blocks as native parts. (It's been a while since I've done this. I am assuming this function is still available.)
Karl Frost
Participant
Another issue is, if you are a Mac-only office, that you cannot run AutoCAD unless you run Windows on your Intel (ooh yuck!). Of course there are/have been fresh rumours that Autodesk are testing the waters for a Mac version.
As mentioned in a number of posts it's a good idea to put effort into file transfer between ArchiCAD and AutoCAD with "optimised" translators and/or specific library parts.
The other issue we have is that the ArchiCAD translators create corrupted DWG files regularly, so I find I have to check the DWG files I create before issuing them to others.
AC23 (7000 NZE Full) AC24 (6004 NZE Full)

OS 11.16.1 iMac Retina 5K 27" 2020, 64GB RAM
Anonymous
Not applicable
To properly interoperate with AutoCAD users I consider it essential to have at least one copy of AutoCAD in the office (LT is sufficient in some cases). The only exception to this is if you have a very close relationship with all your AutoCAD consultants and they don't mind sorting out a few things on their end (I find this a vanishingly rare circumstance).

Autodesk products seem to run well with both VMware Fusion and Parallels (even running multiple sessions of both if you have the resources). If anything they seem more stable in emulation than on a Windows machine. It's been a while since I last tested but performance in VM isn't that far off of a machine booted directly in Windows. I doubt I would use it as a primary work machine but is is more than acceptable.

If I'm not mistaken you could even put the VM on a server and launch it from any workstation on the network - thus giving you shared access to a single copy. I'm not sure what this would do to performance though, and it probably would violate the EULA, so it might not be such a great idea.

In fact you cannot use Boot Camp with Autodesk products unless you dedicate the machine to run Windows exclusively. Every time you switch operating systems the system clock is reset and Autodesk wants you to reregister the software. After a few times Autodesk will stop automatically reregistering, make you call them to get your copy working again, and threaten to take away your license if it continues.