Will Revit Structure Suite Users Get Impression?

[Alan aka cadalot]

Autodesk has announced that Impression will be offered as a subscription benefit for customers with AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Map 3D, AutoCAD MEP and AutoCAD Revit Architecture Suite in March.

I have not seen any mention of Revit Structure Suite, which comes with AutoCAD so do we or don't we get Impression if we have subscription?

Any lurkers within Autodesk care to comment?

[dhurtubise]

Try asking your reseller

[Mike hacker]

With Suite you get Autocad so don't see why not.

[Alan aka cadalot]

It was the resellers flyer that made me ask the question in the first place as it was not clear and Revit Struture Suite was not mentioned, I have assumed that having AutoCAD as part of Revit Struture Suite the answer would be yes.

I was hoping that someone from Autodesk or a reseller would know the answer and answer it here.

I will ring them when I get the chance and post the answer here

[Alan aka cadalot]

The reseller did not know, so I've asked the Autodesk Support Team who have replied as follows:-

"Thank you for your question.

I asked for a confirmation if Impression will also be delivered with Revit Structure Suite. I hope to have an answer for you tomorrow."

So when I get an answer I will post it here

[Alan aka cadalot]

As a result of my sending the support request I have been contacted by Senior Management at Autodesk who initially asked me to build a “use case” for Structural Engineers owning Revit Structure under subscription to get Impression as part of the subscription.

In my reply I explained that

I have not seen any mention of Revit Structure Suite, which comes with
AutoCAD so do we or don't we get Impression if we have subscription?

AutoCAD is part of Structure Suite so we should but it's not mentioned
in the resellers newsletter sent by email

Reading your (Autodesks) own literature

We would use it to "impress our colleagues and clients with compelling
presentation-ready graphics created directly from DWG and DWF Files".

Structural Engineers in the UK do a lot of smaller schemes without the
assistance of an Architect, as our drawings are sufficiently detailed
for there not to be the need for an Architect. We (Structural Engineers)
also undertake Civil Engineering. In the UK we take an Honours Degree in
Civil Engineering and usually take the final year options of Advanced
Structural design.

A picture is worth a 1000 words and the better the picture the better
the understanding.

This package would be useful for civil engineering schemes which include
landscaping.

I hope this helps you understand the use cases, Bottom line has to be if
you are making this available to people that own AutoCAD then Revit
Structural Suite owners should get it.... I just wanted it confirmed and
if not lobby for it to be made available to us”

There have been further exchanges of emails and I have been requested to send some example drawings to assist in building the case
.
Unfortunately I recently had my backup hard disk die on me so I am having to scour through piles of CD’s to find some good examples.

If you could send me some example dwg or pdf files to my work email at alan.wooldridge@byl.co.uk so that I can collate them and send them back to Autodesk I would greatly appreciate it and we Revit Structure Users may end up with a very useful additional tool.

[David Harrington]

I would like to see this app for Structure Suite as well. Until we have it, no way of really knowing what could be done.

[Chad Smith]

Alan, I would be putting the question "For what reason do AutoCAD Civil 3D and AutoCAD MEP require Impression?", forward to your Autodesk contact.

The answer seems no different to why Revit Structure users require it. Also, how is it that AutoCAD MEP users require it, but not Revit MEP users?
Further more, last time I tested Impression it 'imported' DWG files, so what does AutoCAD have to do with it. Revit exports to DWG, by-passing AutoCAD and going straight into Impression. So why does Revit Architecture Suite get it, but not Revit Architecture?

If there is one thing we have learnt about Autodesk and Revit, it's that they are very deliberately selective of who gets what, instead of offering a complete package and allowing us decide what we need to use. All the best in getting what you need.

[Alan aka cadalot]

Thanks for your observations Chad I will pass them on with any example drawings I receive.

Somewhere I have a redevelopment of a Civils/ Highways project I undertook for a traffic calming scheme to a High Street, that we had to colour up, so that the councillors and shopkeepers, action groups etc could visualise what we were proposing to do for the Local Authority, do you think I can find the #?@*&^ thing!

Any examples of drawings produced by a Structural / Civil Engineer that Impression would have enhanced, would be greatly received to send on as proof that this application would be of use to us Engineers as well as the Architects.

[Chad Smith]

Alan, one other thing you might want to consider is asking for MentalRay to be available in Revit Structure. It's really easy to use and already built-in, so there is no messing around with exporting as with Impression.