Design in Revit

[biomedfred]

Does anyone use Revit for any design work?  I work at an architecture firm and Revit is a BIM tool that is constantly changing and allowing designers to store more information in their models.  It is a pretty expensive software so I'm not sure if it is practical for small operations but maybe for some companies that do commercial work.  With Sketchup being free, it seems to be the go to tool for most woodworkers but I was interested to know if anyone works in Revit.

 

[kev carpenter]

I use it it's great, my misses got it free as she was a design student and they get all auto ad stuff free.

 

[biomedfred]

Kev -

Do you ever have an architect or designer provide you their Revit model of the space and then you design your work within it?  Or is it mostly for your personal designing and testing?  This type of worksharing is basically why Revit was created in the architecture world so that consultants and trades could all work out in the same model.

 

[duburban]

I'm in Arch school now and Revit is all the rage amongst the construction management crowd and higher level arch students. Presenting drawings from revit looks much better than sketchup. Can't wait to start using it, I may be able to get it free as a student...

 

[kev carpenter]

Kev -

Do you ever have an architect or designer provide you their Revit model of the space and then you design your work within it?  Or is it mostly for your personal designing and testing?  This type of worksharing is basically why Revit was created in the architecture world so that consultants and trades could all work out in the same model.

no the drawings in 3d i get these days is for kitchens and most big companies have tailored  software based on auto cad , but my misses says most of the jobs out there for designer they want rev it  trained people, but most universities train you in 3ds max. i find more complicated stuf easier in revit

 

[Rob-GB]

I've heard good things about Revit....but then I heard good things about Inventor too and tried that out.....just could not really get on with it so am sticking with Autocad as most architects I have had dealings with use it, except one who used Microstation and converting stuff to Acad from that threw up some issues.
I had a play with Sketchup too in the early days and not been back to it.  [2cents]  [bite tongue]

There is a fantastic site and forum out there called Cadtutor (try a linky thingy....)  that covers all brands of CAD/Design software with members who are like those here, very nice and very helpful,  ;D I even got into writing routines to run in Autocad with some advice from them. So a valuable resource for those learning any of this type of software. There is also a link to the "Swamp" from cadtutor, you will see some of the same characters there too! But , beware! The Swamp can suck you in..... [eek]

Rob.

 

[biomedfred]

I would find it hard for small outfits to truly learn all the ins and outs of a software like Revit.  Especially since AutoDesk comes out with a new version every year and their are always compatibility issues between years.  Even small architecture and engineering firms utilizing Revit typically employ a full time person to be their in house Revit expert.  With that being said, Revit does play nice with AutoCad in that you can import AutoCad drawings and either use them as background layouts or they can be imported as 3D "families" (Revit language).  Now an area where I think Revit would be incredibly useful would be for a furniture designer who maintains a catalog of stock models that may only have slight variations between actual builds.  You could develop those variations into parameters of the model and simply updating those parameters with drop down menus or numerical input would automatically revise your plans.  You could even produce a bill of materials right off of your plans. 

Rob, you can also write routines in Revit.  I've developed a few that place equipment in an architectural floor plan based off an excel listing of locations.