We need to Pick A New CAD system

[kenalexander1737]

Four Architect Design Build Firm {Residential Remodeling}
We are currently using Acad 14 for all work.

We are trying to decide between

ArchiCad
Revit
Chief Architect

{Architectural Desktop is not in our list}

So far, in my opinion Revit Wins, but not everyone agrees here.
Some want Archicad, One would like Chief Architect.

I would love to Here from other firms that have made this decision.

[J-G]

I suggest trying the programs. I don't know about Cheif, but Revit and ArchiCAD will give you a demo. Revit is the best. I had to make this choice last year and I am so happy I went with Revit. It is simply a beautiful program.

ArchiCAD is not as fast, not as new, and not as well thought out. For now Revit is the CAD of the feature. They got out of the CAD mindset a created a program that revolves around desgin and objects.

Also like it or not being under Autodesk is not so bad. They seem dedicated to making money and keeping their market share. This means that Revit may very well become the "ACAD" of the future. I am looking forward to the day when we will jsut go to a product manufacturers website and download a family (object - like doors, windows, equipment, etc).

ArchiCAD jsut hasn't been able to become a leader. Revit surpased them within a few years. Bottom line try the porgrams.

PS. I never even placed Chief Architect in the same category as Revit and ArchiCAD. My personal opinion is that Chief and DataCAD are more of "B" rated programs.

[Kroke]

Well, I know about chief.

I can say it kicks major glutes in some areas. Like foundations mostly. Also it has built in bidding features, and structural framing in any view. It creates your trusses and profiles as well. It frames your floors and walls even, it's amazing in that area! But it's still not powerful enough for me.

I have been sponsoring a local cad enthusiast group and the last two meetings have been on Chief v8.

Everyone in the room was pretty much woo'd over it, but I have used it. I have found it to be too controlling for my personal customization standards. Yes, it automates a lot of stuff ala Revit, but Revit is waaay more powerful.

In fact, when I first started using Revit in release 3, I always thought they basically wrote the program based off of Chief, it's that similar, except Chief is the little sibling and Revit is Papa.

Good luck on your decision.

[Martin P]

:D is that 60x80, (wondering if mine is going to appear with this post??)

[christopher.zoog51272]

:D is that 60x80, (wondering if mine is going to appear with this post??)

:D it worked!

[Martin P]

:oops: not a pretty picture of me though! took it my new photo phone at arms length about half an hour ago, think I am squinting a bit! maybe update it l8r - very very impressed though!

[JamesVan]

We ran the demo of ArchiCAD 7.0 for a couple of months and were not that impressed. Graphisoft has some enticing demos and animations, but when you start working, you realize the limitations. ArchiCAD is still a layer-based system (requires management), the user interface is so counter-intuitive, and you almost need to be a programmer to create custom parametric objects for your projects.

Revit makes the technology more transparent so you can return your focus to the design of the building, not on CAD Management.

...my two cents.
- JV

[PeterJ]

Oh I want in on the photo-fun, but I don't have any pics of me here (I'm on holiday for a couple of days). I toyed with downloading a pic of Clint or maybe Ewan McGregor, my sidekick here suggests a pic of Frank Lloyd Wright but that doesn't quite work for me so maybe I'll just wait til I get home.

As for Chief Architect vs Archicad and Revit, I don't know chief as it doesn't I think sell in the UK and while Archicad does and claims to be parametric it requires much more drafting than Revit does. What is appealing about Archicad is its use of drop in technology similar to i-drop, but Revit responds to that with the family method and in time it is likely that manufacturers other than Andersen will come into that arena. Many of course already have fantastically detailed section drawings etc which can be used for the making of detail components and once you get up to speed modelling pretty generic families is pretty fast.

That's my thoughts on the matter.

On a different line, Z, the implementation here of your threaded board is so much better than the web-based browsing of alt.cad.revit where you can only see one post at a time. It's why I came over here this morning as I didn't want to clog up my friends news reader with mountains of back messages. Well done!

P

[adegnan]

I spent a little time with Chief Architect at the JLC Live show in Milwaukee last week. (Man, has a week gone by already?) THere were some features that I like quite a bit. Revit often has more than I need-- and I am not a family-creation master yet. I like how Chief created many windows easily, of many different types. But I don't like the update method for views and sheets, and I really like how Revit automatically assigns items to their own "layer" and you can turn them off by turning the item off!

[Steve Jager]

I have used Revit since v1.0 and Chief since v5.0. Revit is a much more comprehensive program for design and drafting. It lends itself well to commercial, education, retail and residential. Chief, has a demo, is well and suited for contractor type houses. The latest version creates some really good ext/int renderings. If your firm is doing just small residential projects and you want to create budgets from the plans Chief works easily. If you have a more robust practice than I would go with Revit.

The plus in my practice using Chief for homes is the ability of the program to create custom window types in seconds, along with all their attiributes. In Revit you have to create all of them from scratch.

But as they say get the demos and see for yourself.