The Transition to Revit

[Archimac]

What do you feel you're missing? Do you not have an overall perspective on what Revit is and does? That would be a good thread in itself!
Well, I think Revit is amazing and aparently simple to use. At first you get a big bang for little effort - like when you first see the walls in 3d. Then when you add default windows and doors in 3d it's like - this is amazing!

But, when you start actually doing real projects and working drawings you realize you have to stop and consult help and the message boards at every step. There are all the hidden tricks and techniques that everyone needs to know in order to do a real set of working drawings. The process of really mastering Revit is actually just as big of a transition from hand drafting to learning autocad for the first time!

I think this is why more firms don't adopt it quicker. Their thirty day trial is over before they get a chance to delve deeply into Revit. And if they do, they realize that this is going to require a real time consuming commitment. That is when they fall back into the familiar arms of Autocad and get a glimmer of hope that maybe we can just make this old dog do new tricks. Then there is the confusing marketing by Autodesk that is makes it appear that ADT has the same features. This has done much harm. Woa to Autodesk! A house divided against itself cannot stand!

I am lucky to be somewhat independent and I am determined to make this work. I think Revit is still so revlolutionary even in the complexity. I guess you have to go by the old wisdom that if it's worth using it's worth fighting hard for. I still can't help but feel that this is somewhat a software design failure, but I am no computer programmer.

I just get a sense when I ask questions on the forum that there are differing opinions as to how to do things. Many of them require work arounds. All of the training materials are focused and not whollistic.

I think I would benefit from someone sitting down with me who knows Revit. But, I am cheap and a classic american DYI. So, I just ordered the new book from Amazon and hope this will help me become a Revit master!

[Wes Macaulay]

You are right. What you're talking about is probably the biggest "pain point" in Revit. You don't know what it is that you need to know. You know you need a chicken, but you don't know how to make the egg.

You really need to know most of Revit's features to really excel. Or at least, someone in your office does. Being on your own is tougher, though the payoff is greater IMO for the little guys than the big guys.

I agree that Revit is worth the hassle of learning something new... there are very few other programs in this arena for which that can be said.

[BomberAIA]

You need to go through the training on-line. Then you be able to produce a set of drawings. You're wrong about Revit being just as hard as ADT. ADT is a lot more complicated. That's my 2 cents

[muttlieb]

It sounds like I am in the same boat as you, aquav. I am the lone designer for a small design/build company. We just purchased Revit about a week ago. Going through the tutorials and participating in the online training seminars is very helpful. It is tough to continue to be productive with current projects and also learn and incorporate Revit into my workflow at the same time. But I can see the possibilities and I am committed to making it work. This forum has been a huge help and inspiration to me.

[ita]

Bomber is correct, I spent 7 months working with ADT before Revit appeared. In the first 7 months (using less training time) with Revit my app knowledge base was probably 10 fold and production doubled.

aquav also is correct in as much as the initial impact is fantastic, but to get under the skin of Revit and understand its workings is lot harder and takes some effort. The Zoog site (now this site) taught me so much about the Revit and there is so much more I have not touched yet. All I can say is that there comes a time when you start to feel confident about using the product and it becomes a lot of fun. Don't give up on it because the rewards are significant.

[MartyC]

[QUOTE=aquav]
I just get a sense when I ask questions on the forum that there are differing opinions as to how to do things. Many of them require work arounds. All of the training materials are focused and not whollistic.
QUOTE]

Actually, there are less work-arounds than you think, in reality, there are often a number of different ways in which to do something. There is a point where confidence in what you are doing actually points you to the solution before you know it. The training materials sometimes seem dissassociated, but actually they generally tend to have all the answers. One needs to follow ones instincts....!!

Remember that Revit, while being somewhat automatic, will not automate the learning process. Most ACad users have spent years learning all the whacky stuff, Revit can be easily learnt to a large degree in 30 days, enough to commence a reasonable size project as a learning vehicle. I personally think that is quite cool. I still find it amusing that long seasoned users of other software can be quick to criticise Revit because they cant drive it the first day........strange! Kinda like the transition from a bicycle to a Ferrari really; damn cant find the pedals.........


CheersM

[JamesVan]

...I still can't help but feel that this is somewhat a software design failure, but I am no computer programmer.

I happen to do quite a bit of prgramming, partcularly Autocad customizations for my firm. One thing I can't stress enough is that you can't please all the people all of the time. Writing a program that will do all things for all people in exactly the way each person wants them to work is virtually impossible. If you have witnessed the evolution of Revit from the early versions (I've been around since 3.0), you would marvel at the advances the team has made in usability. For instance, Views and Project Standards used to go on user-defined worksets, not automatic! Ouch!

If you have some time, search through this forum for posts around release times. You will see an unbridled enthusiasm as the users just can't wait to get their hands on the latest version of Revit. As I recall back on the ZoogDesign forum, they had record online participation the day version 6.0 was released in December.

[sbrown]

I believe you will learn all you need to know by doing one project from start to finish, sure it will be painful and you will have to ask for help(thats what support and newsgroups are for) Sure you will learn more and more each project, but its all about commitment. Anyway, you can also start a local revit user group in your area, buy some pizza and invite people using revit and you will get your face to face for the cost of some pizza and beer. Or I do think Phil R is in NC and you could hire him and your firm would become on of the top revit users in the country ASAP. Depending on your firm structure and timeframes it could be worth the money to bring in a professional.

[SCShell]

Hi all,

If you read my post in the "out there" thread responding to David's survey, you will see my backgroud. (Hand drafting and design up until July 2003)

The thing I like about Revit, more than ANYTHING, is that I have somehow been "re-energized" as an architect after 16 or 17 years of having my own practice. I have found myself getting exited again when exploring a design solution, or a series of attempts. Revit has allowed me to play again! It reminds me of back in college when you worked with cardboard mock-ups, only without the X-acto cuts! I can actually draw and sketch really well; however, NOTHING can compare to the quick 3d and camera views which can be instantly generated by Revit! (not to mention the rendering capabilities!) And, if I see a better design solution or oportunity, I am no longer held back from making a major design change or direction because it is soooo simple to change a major design element such as roof design or building profile.

That is my 1.5 cents
Steve Shell, Architect

[Wes Macaulay]

Steve, that is almost bizarre! Not that you were a hand-drawing architect, but that you've moved to Revit and computers and all the nonsense that computers entail.

It's good to know that people are coming to computers later in the game and are being successful with something as complex and powerful as Revit (and Windoze, for that matter).

[SCShell]

Agreed Wes,

I kinda went from the bicycle to the Jaguar! I never liked ACAD. I trained on one of the first CAD systems back in '82. An old Perq system called "Graphic Horizons". I followed AutoCad through it's evolution; however, never saw the benifit as an Architect for the work I did. I only saw the drafting benifits. Design and graphic communication is where I choose to spend my efforts. Revit really does well in these areas. However, even with Revit, I choose to scan in my hand lettering and I spend a lot of time adding 3d and rendered views to my sets of drawings so that my drawings still have that hand drafted level of workmanship and graphic communication.

On a side note, for over 14 years now, I have chaired the City's, Design Review Board and Board of Adjustment here in Tucson. I can't tell you how many times we have wasted over 15 minutes during a case simply trying to understand an applicant's CAD generated Site Plan because he or she did not take the time to profile items or change line weights or add poches to help the drawing read better! Revit however, is a very strong graphic program right out of the box!. It really can communicate a design well.

Thanks for the kind words
Steve Shell

[Andre Baros]

Every time I answer a frustrated Revit question... I think about the dozen frustrated Acad questions that I answered today. Since we're only been using Revit for a few months, I expect questions... since we've been using Autocad for 10 years I shouldn't. Relatively speaking, when you consider the complexity of what Revit does, it's pretty easy, but when you consider the scope of what architecture encompases you realize why it's as complicated as it is and I'm just grateful that it's not as esoteric as Autocad was.

[hand471037]

I work for a reseller as their Revit guy. ;)

And I'd say that 95% of the 'support' questions that come in are all 'How do I do this' or 'how do I do that'. Sometimes what they want to do is complex, and they really need a class or a tutorial or something, or it's simply not possile right now, but still, all the questions are all about real WORK, about getting things done.

95% of our support calls for Autocad and ADT are concerning technical problems. Most of these are complex and time consuming, and have nothing to do with work, but instead with broken printers, broken settings, broken menus, broken something...

Also, I mean, there are a lot more people out there in our market using Autocad than Revit, so the call volume for it is obvously higher too, but in six months of working here I can count on one hand the number of times someone has called me because something in their Revit is 'broken'. That speaks volumes to me. :)