Attention NZ users + (Aus maybe)

[trombe]

Hi,

I would like to ask all of the kiwi users (and extend this inquiry to our mates across the ditch in Oz), what support there might be from you all, for an attempt at "persuading" all of the local NZ and Australian manufacturers and suppliers, to start making native .rfa content, for inclusion on web sites instead of only .dwg.

Since we cannot get numbers from anyone for Revit seats in EnZed right now it is difficult to make the strongest case to people like Steel Select, or CSR in Aus, or Marley, Hafele / Hettich and so on, to make Revit stuff available.
I think the time has come when there is a critical mass in NZ and Revit must now be classed as a mainstream platform of significant numbers.
This must already be so in Australia in 2006 ?

What have any of you done so far, to try and get Revit content created for manufacturer product web site download ?
(for instance, anytime I contact a manufacturer by e-mail or see a rep, I am always on their case that Revit content is now valid to supply, however, they always scratch their heads and say Revit..what ? ? ?, and otherwise say that dwg is OK why can't you use that.

For those of you now using the local kiwi firm ProductSpec , you will already appreciate this service, however, instead of being limited to .dwg, how about if we had .rfa to grab the description with and do the business ?

Many of you will know from talking to others just who has Revit and although we are all unwilling to declare this publicly, somehow we need to be able to form a pressure group to get something done.
If manufacturers do not hear the noise they will not respond.
In the meantime, ArchiCAD and even VectorWorks (increasingly) enjoy dedicated content access in our country while we have only .dwg.

So, how do any of you feel about the above ?
regards

trombe

[iankids]

Totally agree. There is very little in the way of Aus specific rfa's out there.

Steel Select is fantastic for roofing stuff - http://www.steelselect.com/

Design Content is a pay site run by KarelCad - http://www.designcontent.com.au/ They are putting up new stuff pretty regularly, however most of the content at this stage is freely available elsewhere. The new stuff seems to be Aus / NZ (?) specific. Garage doors etc from B&D Internal & external doors in Aus sizes 720, 820 etc. $500.00 per year.

I am happy to put my shoulder to the wheel, how should we do this. An email petition to the manufacturers? Any other ideas out there.

Cheers,


Ian

[rjcrowther]

I would love some content from manufacturers but I think our market is a bit small to get them moving.

I had asked Midland Brick (biggest Brickworks in the southern hemisphere I believe) for rendering maps and got a firm not available and not producing them in the near future. If rendering maps are too hard then .rfa has got Buckley's of getting a look in.

The other side of it is some on this forum (mainly the Northern American contingent) made comment on Andersen Windows being overmodelled to the max and making some pretty hefty family file sizes - probably a great selling thing for Andersen but not much good when you need to add another hundred or so families to a project.

For the times I have asked manufacturers the response has also been "Revit? - what's that"

If manufacturers know Karel Cad is producing families then that is a great excuse for them not to bother and merely direct you to Karel Cad.

I don't think you can class Revit as being mainstream yet. If you look at seek.com and add Revit as a search criteria then you will find very few Revit jobs - most of them list Revit as a side thing that would be good to have or be willing to learn in the future. Over here in the West, Archicad gets a far greater mention.

Sorry for the negativity but I just can't see it happening until there is a mass explosion of Revit seats in use (not the autodesk numbers but real bums on seats).

Thanks,
Rob