Revit Architecture 2011 Training Files

[wpowell]

I just installed Revit Architecture 2011 and cannot find reference to the training files and tutorials that were included with previous releases (although you always had to download them after the installation).

Am I just missing the obvious, has Autodesk abandoned this, or is it forthcoming?

Thanks,

John

[jeffh]

I just installed Revit Architecture 2011 and cannot find reference to the training files and tutorials that were included with previous releases (although you always had to download them after the installation).

Am I just missing the obvious, has Autodesk abandoned this, or is it forthcoming?

Thanks,

John

Revit 2011 tutorials were produced in video format and can be found here:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=14844953&linkID=9243097

[Alex Page]

One thing I really like when shipped the DVD is the "Getting Started" booklet you got....is this avaliable for 2011? I found it really useful to chuck this at a new user before starting training sessions

[mruehr]

Revit 2011 tutorials were produced in video format and can be found here:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=14844953&linkID=9243097
Jeff that can't be all.....the tutorials where always good why....may i ask

[Alan aka cadalot]

Autodesk dropped the Advance courseware for Revit Structure last year.

It will be interesting to see if the Essentials Courseware are forthcoming for RAC RST and MEP for 2011. Whilst in favour of the videos, the minor tweaks needed for alterations to the ribbon and due to new features would mean that a sensible company would just update the manual but Autodesk always seemed to need to rewrite the manual from scratch even using new example files.

The last little getting started manual for Revit Structure was 2009, A 2010 version was not included in the trial box and was never released in pdf on the Autodesk web site.

[jeffh]

One thing I really like when shipped the DVD is the "Getting Started" booklet you got....is this avaliable for 2011? I found it really useful to chuck this at a new user before starting training sessions

That deliverable was not created for 2010 or 2011. A variety of reasons led to it's demise.

[cblackford]

Revit 2011 tutorials were produced in video format and can be found here:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=14844953&linkID=9243097


Where are all of the rest of the tutorials that have been included with previous releases? IE; The ones that started with "Creating your first Building Model" took you through documenting a project and ended with rendering tutorials.. those are crucial for new users.

[Alex Page]

Thanks for that clarification - what would you suggest a completely new user starts on? i found the previous getting started booklet useful since its like a "project"....

[iru69]

None of them valid I'm sure.

It's unfortunate - for us, the residential one was a perfect way to introduce new users to Revit and get them familiar with the software before we did any training.

The new Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011 Tutorials are really awful, and it's a mistake to call them "tutorials". They were not produced by anyone who's ever done any Revit training themselves.

Really, anyone, feel free to check out the "Working with Parameters" one for example if you think I'm exaggerating.

Autodesk just never fails to shoot themselves in the foot when given the opportunity.


That deliverable was not created for 2010 or 2011. I variety of reasons led to it's demise.

[cstanley]

Hopefully there will be many more forthcoming. It's too bad, though. a solid searchable pdf file with datasets was very effective - truly "self-paced." Now everyone has to wait on (and rewind, ffw, pause, not search, etc) a video for this previously readily available information that could easily be utilized while offline (think traveling?) I seriously hope ADSK will consider reinstating the previous tools...

plus, I can't even watch the "tutorials" on corporate-issued iPhones because they are :gasp: flash? :p

[jeffh]

Where are all of the rest of the tutorials that have been included with previous releases? IE; The ones that started with "Creating your first Building Model" took you through documenting a project and ended with rendering tutorials.. those are crucial for new users.

The previous versions of the tutorials can still be downloaded here:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=13080067&linkID=9243097

[jeffh]

The new Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011 Tutorials are really awful, and it's a mistake to call them "tutorials". They were not produced by anyone who's ever done any Revit training themselves.

Really, anyone, feel free to check out the "Working with Parameters" one for example if you think I'm exaggerating.

Do you have any specific suggestions to make these video tutorials more useful to you? Keep in mind these tutorials are intended for first time users when first starting to work in Revit.

Feel free to contact me directly via private message or via e-mail with any suggestions and feedback.

jeff.hanson@autodesk.com

[iru69]

That's exactly the problem. Imagine trying to glean how to actually use the software from many of those.

The whole point of the old tutorials was a hands-on learn by doing approach. You can show someone how to do something, but most people don't really "get it" until they try it themselves. For the basic overview of features, it's much easier to understand and learn by actually doing. That's just basic learning principles. Using videos as a supplement to actual hands-on tutorials would be a good use of videos for beginners. So the first problem is that videos alone are an inherently poor way for most users to learn something that they don't already have the basic concepts to build on.

Where videos can be useful as stand-alone material is for users who are already familiar with the software and you want to show something that would be difficult to explain in words and a couple of screen shots - concepts that need to be shown step by step to be explained.

The videos themselves: the "narrator" of the videos doesn't sound like she's engaged in the actual activity happening on the screen. She sounds like she's rushing through scripted material as though there's this "keep each lesson under 2 minutes" mantra, no matter how complicated the material is. I'm guessing that the video has been edited and sped up and she's reading a script, trying to keep up. Important points are rushed through, there's no time to digest one point before it's on to the next point... there's no time for user retention. Very little is actually explained how to accomplish things in a step-by-step manner... things are just stated.

I didn't bother to watch every single one of those, but of the ones I did check out:

Examples of Passable: "Creating a Perspective View" - again, a rushed, etc., but I think a new user could follow that pretty well and then try it out on their own immediately after watching the video.

Examples of Awful: "Modeling in Revit", "Working with Parameters", "Customizing Content" - lots of talking with some sort of examples being shown, but new user isn't going to have any better understanding how to actually apply principles told.

Edit: one more thought - scrap all the current videos and just have a video (broken down into sections of course) of an instructor going through the old tutorial in real-time. I still don't think that would be as useful as the user doing it themselves, but at least they could see the step-by-steps of doing them and kind of follow along if they wanted to.

I've got a simple idea for you. Take ten brand new users who have never used Revit - have them watch the videos. Take a different ten brand new users and have them go through the tutorials. Now, with no further instruction, give them a set of printed plans for a very simple building and have them recreate the plans in Revit. Which group do you think is going to have more success?

Jeff, I don't know if you actually believe in those videos, or you know they suck. I hope it's the latter, because if you actually think those videos are in any way equivalent to going through the old tutorials, then I'm just at a loss for words.

It boggles my mind that some of this stuff even has to be explained.


Keep in mind these tutorials are intended for first time users when first starting to work in Revit.

[Alex Page]

Do you have any specific suggestions to make these video tutorials more useful to you? Keep in mind these tutorials are intended for first time users when first starting to work in Revit.

Feel free to contact me directly via private message or via e-mail with any suggestions and feedback.

jeff.hanson@autodesk.com

I hate to say it, but I dont think any videos can replace the "Getting Started" booklet for a users first "hit" at using the program.

[jsnyder.68308]

I hate to say it, but I dont think any videos can replace the "Getting Started" booklet for a users first "hit" at using the program.

Don't be a hater - what you say is the truth. When I found out that the Getting Started guide didn't get ported over to 2010, I felt strongly enough about it that I spent a couple of days reworking the whole thing to accommodate the new ribbon interface. I offered to license the effort back to Autodesk for a nominal fee, but alas, they did not bite. Seems like a company with Autodesk's means could afford to pay an intern to do this and have a technical writer proof it and then publish a PDF to put on the DVD it in very short order.

Based on responses to this thread and my own impressions of the diminishing resources available for training and learning this software (we get less and less with each release) it seems that there is a message here. But if one looks at the rather thorough and detailed tutorials that were included in the 2009 release, then the much less detailed and thorough tutorials in 2010, and now the complete lack of tutorials in 2011, the trend seems obvious.

In my opinion, vidoes are an inferior and low quality substitute for hands-on tutorials and examples,

[Joef]

We all forget that the way many of the resellers make their money is through training. Autodesk does not like to poach on their territory.

[david.kingham]

I hadn't realized how bad the tutorials/gsg had gotten since we haven't hired anyone in such a long time. Now that we are hiring again we are training users that have no Revit experience and we are using the 2010 tutorials (which are not great to start out with but better than the new videos) and having the getting started guide back would be a god send. Any chance you would be willing to share this jsnyder?

[jsnyder.68308]

I hadn't realized how bad the tutorials/gsg had gotten since we haven't hired anyone in such a long time. Now that we are hiring again we are training users that have no Revit experience and we are using the 2010 tutorials (which are not great to start out with but better than the new videos) and having the getting started guide back would be a god send. Any chance you would be willing to share this jsnyder?

Unfortunately, I will take the 5th due to possible copyright issues. I suppose I could call Autodesk and ask for permission, but that would really rub my fur the wrong way since this is something that anyone with a copy of the software has already paid for.

FWIW, I found the time that it took me to do it a cathartic experience - and gave me a very good tour of the new interfaces (2010 and 2011).

For reference, here is a link to the original PDF that I downloaded from the Autodesk website (down at the bottom of the page):

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=11091739

[donnyvz]

I hate to say it, but I dont think any videos can replace the "Getting Started" booklet for a users first "hit" at using the program.

Is the "Getting Started" booklet available in PDF or any other downloadable format?
I'm currently trying to learn Revit Architecture on my own and the tutorial TutorialsArchitectureMetENU.pdf is rather vague, not what I'd call a real tutorial that takes you through a small project from beginning to end.
Also using the files from http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=13080067&linkID=9243097.
Just getting my feet wet... hopefully I'll swim and not sink when I get into deeper water!
Thank you in advance.

[jsnyder.68308]

Is the "Getting Started" booklet available in PDF or any other downloadable format?
I'm currently trying to learn Revit Architecture on my own and the tutorial TutorialsArchitectureMetENU.pdf is rather vague, not what I'd call a real tutorial that takes you through a small project from beginning to end.
Also using the files from http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=13080067&linkID=9243097.
Just getting my feet wet... hopefully I'll swim and not sink when I get into deeper water!
Thank you in advance.

See the link in my post just above yours. Lots of good material in there - all for the 2009 version though. Getting Started is down at the bottom.

[donnyvz]

Thank you very much J for the blindness cure, that's exactly what I was looking for.
Would anyone recommend some of the books available such as "Mastering Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011" or any other Revit books available through Amazon or Chapters?
I don't mind paying for a worthy tome.

[petebalf]

I would like to chime in here with a few comments based on teaching the basics of Revit to 1st year building design students. I suppose it is feedback of a sort, but in all cases I do appreciate the input from the many people involved with creating tutorials for Revit. Without those people it would be harder to impart knowledge to students using a variety of teaching methods. So thank you to those people.

1/ The best tutorials/training I ever worked with were the student workbooks from 2009.
The reasons:
They were PDF (therefore printable or screenable) in a landscape format. Depending on the person's preferences the workbook could be printed, or just up on screen behind revit. Personally I print, nothing beats having the printed word beside you, and not having to minimize between screens.
They had a very good flow through the process, clear and understandable.
Their technique in the layout of having a column for explanations, a column for images required for the task and a column for notes on the features and tools was a fantastic way of clarifying and sorting the incoming rush of information. It was merging the informational lanes into the freeway of information.
A brilliant pedagogical approach.
They dealt with a simple residential build. Not a commercial build complicated by commercial requirements such as curtain walls. (complicated to a first timer that is)
They were aimed at absolute beginners. Not first time adapters at existing companies.

2/ The metric tutorials for 2010 seem to be very good, but it is a pity that they do not have a residential equivalent. (our first year is residential) . They also don't have the 3 column approach that I felt worked so well in the 2009 workbooks.

3/ I have been disappointed at finding the only tutorials for 2011 seem to be videos. Personally and the opinion of fellow teachers is that videos are hard to watch, rewind, view and follow when at the same time you are trying to learn, to some, a complicated program.
I can watch the revit youtube channel till the cows come home, (and have done many times), but I would find it very hard to switch back and forth between that and Revit to duplicate the process.First yr students struggle here because they are not even sure whether the tool is still active when they come back to Revit. It just adds a degree of unnecessary confusion to my mind.

4/ First year students can vary in computer experience. They also vary in age, I teach from 18-50 year old.
3D technology and Revit are not, for some students, the easiest to understand and grasp and it seems to me the later tutorials don't take that into account as much. Another preference for the 2009 set.
We now introduce them to Sketchup now at the start of the year, and this has become an excellent conduit to the 3D universe that is Revit. But some still struggle in a fashion that might have been alleviated by the use of the 2009 workbooks.
It is easy as users of revit to forget the initial shock and awe for some that can accompany the introduction to a program that will be your tool to use to pass a course. I know I was confused by it and more than a little worried that I had to use it proficiently enough to produce drawings capable of getting the tick of competency in a course that just used revit as a tool.

5/ So, I either use the 2009 workbooks again, with extra tuition time spent explaining the interface differences, locations and extra tools available in 2011, or I use the 2010 ones, (with less UI differences) and balance them with some residential ones of my own.

6/ Disclaimer.....I am aware of the age difference between myself and my students, and regularly ask their opinions about stuff like this. I am then guided by their learning styles, not my own 'theorist' style.
It has been an interesting journey into learning styles. Now my first class, instead of being a rigid instruction, is a very basic house then 'let 'em loose' into a playtime for the day, and spontaneous questions are answered individually or as a group. (Play with it, you can't bust it) The next class starts the tutorials process.

Cheers

[Brian Myers]

Aussiebiff,

This point will take a little while to get to, but it relates back to your post.

When I first started working as a trainer we had several instructors on staff, but one was by far more popular than the others. He fielded every question thrown his way and would relay stories of things he had seen in the field and relate them back to the current student's experience. He also would give out books but would never use them in class. I was green (new) at the time to training and hadn't really built my experience level up beyond my own years of experience in the field. I was well liked but tended to use the books for exercises and fielded questions as best as I could. In time something occurred... I didn't just learn the book... or the program.... I learned the book, the program, and the stories of others that I had taught or helped out in the field.

Today I am that well liked instructor. I never train directly from the book, instead it's a "back at the office/classroom" reference... but that's all. My classes typically get very good reviews as I pass on stories of real life happenings they can relate to. I also train them on the construction of building elements and not how the software is used to construct a building. That is a key difference. In other words, a book will guide them on how to create the simple elements and how these elements generate a generic structure. On the other hand, I guide them on how to create the elements they'll actually need to create in their projects, why they are creating them then, and day to day practice.

In the case of a residential design course (I performed residential design for 7 years in the office environment) I would go "each piece" at a time, drawing a house and having them follow along... explaining why I did each thing while relating it back to the construction process. Revit is, after all, an excellent tool in understanding a wall is not just a wall (or line) but a 3D element that has relationships to other elements. Ultimately once they understood the principles I would likely "let them go" and address their projects on an individual basis (as well as demonstrate the solutions that seemed to be items the group could benefit from to the class as a whole).

Too often we teach that "this is how you draw a wall, a ceiling, a floor" and rush through the program because it's a program... but it isn't. It's the construction process with layers of materials and physical relationships built in. Items people have to consider in the field. I've yet to find a book which teaches that properly, which is why I only use the book as reference material and not project/lecture time materials.

[petebalf]

Hi Brian,
To clarify the situation the last thing I do is rely upon the tutorial as the main teaching method, although I can see how I could you might have got that idea from my last sentence. Actually the tutorials are used at their best by the students at home as a work through with a result at the end they can show me at the next lesson. This is the main use I approach the tutorials for. I do agree the construction methods can be so easily shown through the use of it and is a fantastic way to do it. Generally I emphasis the fact of spending a lot of their own time at home playing, reading and learning it, as this program has never been learnt by anyone who simply has sat in a classroom for 4 hours a week. Anything they get stuck on at home, we all have a look at the next session, not necessarily by regurgitating the tutorial.
The method of drawing a house and having them follow along, I tend to use for a short time or in short bursts as the cross section of ages and backgrounds and attention spans are such that this approach has a definite time limit.
One method we use is I ask their construction assignments are drawn inside Revit as soon as they are up and going. Even in the 2D drafting area, anything to get them used to opening a CAD program and using it.
Generally the teaching days are spent employing different teaching methods and never sticking to an exact lesson plan, you have to be able to sway a bit throughout the day to bring the best out.
cheers