AEC Residential cad options

[cdmdwgpe.67574]

Of all the AEC programs available for residential 3D what is AUGI members preferences, I am trying to get into ADT2004 and find it so cumbersome & time consuming to learn. And have been using it as vanilla 2004. It's the extracing of working documents & setup that's the most frustrating for me.
Clients are pushing me to look at Chief Architect. I like AutoCAD, but I have to move to 3D for concept dwg. My typical. projects are small additions & 2,800 SF homes (largest 6,500 SF).

I feel like autodesk targets the commercial building (OK, understand that's cool) but I am not.
Please give me your thoughts. Maybe I'm just slow?????

[arcadia_x27]

I've tested an addon product for ADT called Vision REz, its from a company called AmeriCAD, It has alot of enhancements geared specifically for the Residential sector. Because my line of work deals with Modular as opposed to more traditional "stick built" resdential construction it wanst a big advantage to us because our methos of building are so specialized. You I would imagine would find it a great help to your line of work. I dont know their website off hand(I have it at the office but im at home now) but they are an AUGI advertiser so they're around here somewhere. Maybe another member knows what it is.

I totally agree with you that ADT is geared towards commercial and it takes alot of overhead to get it tweaked to work effectivly in the residiential area, once it is tweaked though Its a big help to your daily work. You may want to think about getting some training and maybe a little customization work done through your reseller which is what my company did and it was a big help.

ADT does have a high learning curve. I'd been using Autocad for 12 years and I found it overwhelming at times and of you dont have a good background in Autocad it will be that much harder. But once you get over that initial hump so to speak you will find its an amazing program. I'd recommend getting Paul' Aubins book "Mastering Architectural Desktop 2004" as a place to start learning and you've got a great source of information and assistance here in the AUGI forums. We'd all be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Another product you may want to look at is Autodesk Revit. its a 3D drawing program that has an eaiser learning curve then ADT if you have little or no AutoCAD background. (I hope I get some bonus points from the REVIT guys for giving them a plug in an ADT forum :smile: ) Its totally 3D, and I believe you can order a trial CD to test it out and see if it will work for you. Disadvantages to it are if your hevily invested in AutoCAD with customized Lisp routines and have a large library of ACAD drawings of your past work REVIT wont be able to use any of those. It wont read ACAD files unless you DXF them. If you have to be able to share actual Autocad files with other contractors or firms you work with then you wont be able to do this either. But if that need doesnt exist than it might be right up your alley.

Dont give up on ADT, it is cumbersome at first, but it is a versatile piece of software that can do residential drawings. It just takes some tweaking. Id be happy to help you out with any questions or problems you have with it to make your transition to it from Autocad eaiser.

[cdmdwgpe.67574]

I'm every interested in hearing more about Vision REz. I was hoping to get more of a response to Chief Architect & ADT (Maybe this is a ongoing battle in-house that I missed). Knowing this is AUGI world, I should know better to stick may neck out, but it didn't get it chopped off -THANKS). I was hoping for a large number of replies that would make me think about the direction to go. Thanks for the input on Vis Rez.

Don't misunderstand me AUGI rocks

[aaronrumple]

[font=Century Gothic]....s and have a large library of ACAD drawings of your past work REVIT wont be able to use any of those. It wont read ACAD files unless you DXF them. If you have to be able to share actual Autocad files with other contractors or firms you work with then you wont be able to do this either.
Not quite.
Revit will import DWG just fine and you can use your current details in Revit. Of course you'll want to eventually make them smarter to take advantage of Revit features.

Revit works quite well with consultants file sharing. It xrefs justlike AutoCAD, but we call it file linking.

If you need to give others DWG, Revit exports that just as well. Some say better than most people can draw with AutoCAD.

[Scott D Davis]

You definately need to give Revit a try if you are considering Chief Architect.

As Aaron said, Revit reads and writes DWG. You can share files easily with your consultants via DWG, and any old DWG data you may already have, like a detail library, can be used in Revit. Revit also reads and writes DXF and Microstation DGN, and you can link in image files such as JPG's. I'll give arcadia_x27 props for bringing up Revit in an ADT forum....just glad some others were folowing along to make sure the information was correct!

Revit is an Autodesk product. If you are an AutoCAD user, you can't go wrong by using Revit and even AutoCAD together (It's called Revit Series - they come bundled together).

[arcadia_x27]

My bad about thinking Revit cant read DWG. Ive played around with it but Ive never really gone beyond the tutorial that it comes with and the version I was using was 4.5 I'm sure revit has matured a bit since then.

[cdmdwgpe.67574]

arcadia_x27,
I am having trouble w/ end caps, its the initial set up. Do you start a new dwg (unnamed or "dwg1.dwg") then drop the wall you want to work on into that dwg? 1) draw draw a lg of that style, then draw the PL endcaps 2) them what? copy the drawing (Wall Style) your working on to where or just save it (to where)? 3) now what ?

So far, If I open up endcaps in the dwg I'm working in I can't change or rework the existing endcaps from wall style I used to create the style I wanted. I went out an created a new dwg, draw a section/lg, draw endcaps, but I can't figure out whats next. And the one style I reworked and renamed w/in the dwg works, except the end caps are doing things I don't want. I changed to STD caps (that's OK - BUT I am not controlling, its controlling me)

[arcadia_x27]

The eaisest way would be to have a template drawing that loads up with all your endcaps everytime you start a new drawing. First, start a new drawing, draw in all the endcap styles that you want to use. Then save the drawing as a template file (.dwt). and reconfigure ADT to use this file as the default drawing template. That way when you start a new drawing all your endcap styles will be loaded automatically and will be available for every new drawing you start.

[dkoch]

Where do you keep your wall styles? If you are using a source file, such as those that ship out-of-the-box, I would set up your wall styles with whatever endcaps you need in that source file. Endcaps assigned in the style would come along when you bring the wall style into one or your drawings [via Style Manager or, in ADT2004 or ADT2005, when using a tool].

[cdmdwgpe.67574]

Arcadia

Attached is an endcap style, its not working for me, what am I doing incorrectly. The results are not what I wanted or expected. Especially the angled brick, I don't understand what drives this?

Thanks.

Dave

[arcadia_x27]

The biggest error I see on your drawing is that your endcap has to start and finish at the same position. Take a look at your DWF That I've marked up ill post something a little more detailed later on this afternoon

[arcadia_x27]

Ok, I made a movie of how I design my endcaps so i hope this makes it a little clearer than the dwf I marked up earlier. I took an exterior wall style that consists of 4 components; drywall, the stud, the sheathing, and the siding. What Im creating is an endcap that lets the siding and sheathing extend past the end of the stud and drywall components. The biggest things to remember are always use a polyline to create your endcap, Always start and end your polylines at the same point and always make the polyline wrap around each individual component in your wall. Take a look at the video and see if it helps you out any. My interface might look a little different than yours because im using ADT 2005 but theres no difference in the proceedures.

[cdmdwgpe.67574]

Arcadia,

Thanks, I'll give it a try, impressed w/ your video and help. I did notice a few of the functions you used. Like endcap autocal. I use the set form, and didn't lay PL over the wall, but drew a PL above.

CDM

[Chuckyd67]

Getting back to the question that started this thread, either Autodesk ADT or Revit are excellent tools for production and design work. Being too lazy to learn a software package is no excuse to eliminate its use. Didn't you take the time to learn to drive a car? Way back in ADT 2.0, I trained two people to use the program while producing documents for a small 30,000 square feet, but highly detailed and technical building. Even though I trained two people on the program, I was able to reduce my manhours by 30% for the project.

If you are a one-man operation, that is, you don't share drawings with anyone else, I would highly recommend Revit. This software takes drawing coordination to a new level and is a powerful part of the system.

For the 3D part, there is nothing to be afraid of. It's just one more dimension to think about when you are designing. Three dimensional work is an ADVANTAGE, not a disadvantage.

So, get over the fear of learning, and jump in.

[gregcashen]

If you are a one-man operation, that is, you don't share drawings with anyone else, I would highly recommend Revit. This software takes drawing coordination to a new level and is a powerful part of the system.

For the record, it is entirely possible, indeed quite simple, to share dwgs between Revit and Autocad. In fact, Revit produces better dwgs than most if not all of the consultants that provide us with dwgs.

[aaronrumple]

I've had more complaints about sharing ADT drawings with plain AutoCAD users than Revit drawings with AutoCAD users.