Which Autocad package to buy?

[anissen10]

We have a small home deisgn firm looking to migrate to AutoCAD but are not sure which package will best meet our needs. Also, which of AutDesk's current offerings is likely to take center stage - ADT or Revit?

I suppose another option would be AutoCAD 2005 with some architectural add-ons?

Our basic needs are construction drawings, elevations, details, roof plans, etc - 3D is optional. Automatic generation of roof plans, details and elevations is prefered.

Also needed is the ability to produce a rendering that has a "hand-drawn" look to it is needed for marketing.

Any suggestions or input is much appreciated...

[arcadia_x27]

What CAD software are you currently using? and is this your first forray into the AutoCAD world?

Both of these packages (ADT or Revit) would be good for what you do. Both offer the same capabilities (and more) that youre looking for, both have their plusses and minuses. One of the big questions is how literate are you and your staff in Autocad? Have you ever used it at all before? or is this your first forray into the Autodesk world?

ADT is a great program, extremly customizeable and configurable. It does many things automatically and does save you alot of time drawing. The biggest thing with ADT is that it takes alot of time to customize and talior it to your operation. There is a fairly high learning curve to it and if youre not familiar at all with AutoCAD or autodesk products you may find it gives you more fustration than relief. Also in my experience I find that its tailored much more towards commercial and large scale construction then residential. The company I'm employed by is one that builds manufactured residential houses. We currently are in the process of converting from AutoCAD to ADT and our ADT is heavily customized both because we are a home manufacturer and because we are residential.
But it is eaiser if youre doing just a normal stick-built house to draw with it but the learning curve is still there.

Revit on the other hand (and i am by no means an expert in it. I just play around with the software.) seems to be much more eaiser to use out of the box. the first time i tried it I had drawn a house in about 2 hours and I think somone with no Autocad experience at all could do pretty much the same thing. It does everything that you are looking for in your software to do. and it's available as a bundled package with AutoCAD. Maybe someone from the Revit community will be able to add much more than I can on Revit's abilities and ease of use. In my opinion if you have no Autocad experience at all, Revit is probably the way to go.

[David Haynes]

Both ADT and REVIT are mature, ready to use products. Some differences are:

ADT is based upon ACAD legacy code - therefore, any ACAD command will work within ADT.
REIVT is built from the ground up as an architectural product - REVIT thinks like architects think.
ADT uses dwg format and xrefs - generally you will have many files, but smaller files.
REVIT is a building information model - one drawing file - but file size can get quite big.

REVIT and ADT both can be used in coordination with consultants that use ACAD based products.

Most importantly is that both products are true vertical products - to use them to their highest proficiency, training, or your entire project team, is key.

Hope this helps..

[abarrette]

I highly suggest you look into Revit. While most of us here seem to be taking Revit into the commercial world it has always seemed to live and breath houses right out of the box to me.

The ease with which you are able to conceptualize your vision and mold that Idea into something cohesive is part of what makes Revit so powerful. With the massing tools provided in Revit you are able to work in clay, so to speak, before you do anything definitive. Revit lets you design your project and makes the "form follows function" line start to blur, IMO. With fully customizable schedules and integrated 3D views, elevations, isometrics and rendering capabilities I think Revit is by far the way to go.

The best way for you to see the differences in a more tangible way is to get the demo for each program. Run through the tutorials and see the differences for yourself. The differences were glaring when I went through both demos.