Revit Sucks ... Again?

Wow... 2 years after I posted this people are still commenting. Cool...

The post, as I said before, was ment to be facetious and stir up interest. In that sense, it has been greatly successful. The very fact that people are googling the words "Revit Sucks" is interesting to me. I, personally, am a Manchester United fan. Yet, I have never googled the words "Liverpool Sucks". (Little analogy for my soccer/futball fans). Could the fact that over the last few months responses to that post have ramped up due to the traction Revit is gaining in the industry?

I was not receiving the emails for any of the comments for this post after switching the comment provider on the blog to IntenseDebate.

I guess I would just like to generally respond to all the posts I have not responded to yet and let them know I have read their comments and care about them.

First, a trend with the comments from people who do not seem to like Revit is that many of them state they are an engineer of some sort... I refuse to reply to them because I am much more comfortable with Revit Architecture and use it on a daily basis over the other versions. I have used the other versions but not enough to defend them. The only thing I will add is that within the past few months I have worked on two 100,000 SF schools. On the Architecture side, we used 100% Revit. Structural and MEP also used Revit. It seemed to work out very well.

I have said it 100 times over the 2 years I have had this blog... I believe in BIM. Revit is simply my preferred method of BIM. The name of this blog is TheRevitKid.com...expect pro-Revit replies from me. I will continue to "ignorantly" defend my passion and love for Revit as my BIM solution. Just as ArchiCAD lovers defend theirs.

I would like to end with something I heard Greg over at Revit3D say a few times at AU2010 last year (for some reason this quote will not leave my mind. If I screw it up please comment Greg):

"When you are driving on the highway there are two types of people driving around you. The people who are speeding past you are assholes and the people that you are passing are morons."

I hope I didn't butcher that... I think you all get the gist. Where do you want to be on the highway? I, for one, don't want anyone speeding past me and have no problem with the drivers I am passing calling me a moron.

***Edit*** Thanks for David Kingham for clarifying the source in the comments area:

Actually he's quoting George Carlin "Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?"

The Revit Triple Play

I recently purchased the Comcast Triple Play bundle for the new apartment I will be moving into come August. The very fact that Revit and BIM consume my life caused me to make a comparison.

Cable companies started taking on the phone companies a few years ago and then began offering the powerful triple play package. According to Time Warner revenue rose 15% the year it released the triple play.

The funny thing about the triple play is the numbers. Let's take Comcast:

• Basic Internet = $20/Month for 6 months and $46/Month after...
• Basic Telephone = $20/Month for 6 Months and $40/Month after...
• Basic Digital Cable = $30/Month for 6 Months and $60/Month after...

Therefore you are paying $70/Month for 6 Months and $146/Month for the rest of your time with Comcast if using all three services... then they hit you with the triple play: $99/Month for two years! Wow... Even if you don't want or need a house phone... might as well get it?!

To me, this is an absolutely genius idea. Could this be done with the use of Revit?

Let's take a project that does not use Revit:

• Preliminary Design Sketches
• Preliminary Design Physical Model
• Design Development CAD Drawings
• Sketchup Model
• 3D Max Model and Rendering
• CAD Documents

Now a Revit project:

• Preliminary Sketches
• Conceptual Massing Model in Revit
• Design Development Sections, Elevations, and Plans referenced from Concept Mass
• Rendering and 3D views already created. Just click!
• Construction Documents are more than half way done.

Without adding hours and prices to the lists above I wonder what is the Revit Triple Play? You can get a 3D model, renderings, and C.D's for $3,000 in 3 months OR you can get all three for $2,000 in 1.5 months (The price can be lowered due to not having to hire more draftsmen, modelers, and so on..).

Ah... Just a thought.

Revit Sucks!

He Says: "That's right... you heard it..."

I ask: "But why?"  

He responds: "Uh... I don't know... it just does".

Oh it is an ongoing saga.  Is it really worth trying to force those non-believers into believing?  I say it's not.  I have yet to hear a plausible argument behind the idea "Revit Sucks!".

Here is your Proof.

A couple of the posts on that discussion I would like to pick apart:

• "As a schematic generator and scheduling, it's great.  I'm not to keen on it for C.D.s"

Definitely never used the program before.

• "Archicad is more flexible and was the innovator..."
  

Wow... Just wow...

• "Would be perfect if it was command based"
  

That is interesting... I just modeled half a building without clicking a single tool bar...

• "Projects with curves, non-standard wall assemblies, complex curtain walls, i.e. most of the stuff that makes architecture fun, is not so easy with Revit. You may as well use a good 3d model (rhino because of its acad compatibility seems like the best option these days) and adapt plans, sections, elevations, and details to documents in 2d. and in regards to who is using the program, i found its greatest proponents to be students and firm principals, both of whom have had little to no real world, hands-on project experience with the technology. not to say that revit will not become the industry standard. if clients and contractors begin to demand it, it goes without saying that it will be the future, but it will also have major implications for the way we design. (similar to the way acad changed design in the nineties.)"

First off, that was impossible to read without the use of capitol letters.  Secondly, you just don't get it!  People like that last response will never get it.  It is not worth it to try to make them get it.  Out of all the nonsense in that last response the idea that Revit will change design for the worse boggles my mind.

I want all of my readers and followers to remember that these arguments are simply not worth it.  Become an intelligent building modeler along with your ambition and your creativity and your actions will speak much louder.

Do not let people like that bring you down...  The Revitlution is stronger than that! Muwahaha.

Revit Components.

More and more people are using Revit.  Great.  The goal of this site is to introduce people to Revit and hope that they will use it.  One of the problems I am seeing with this new rise of Revit users is the use of Free Revit Components.

Ah yes, free.  Everything in life is better when it's free. Right?  Not in this case.

We are all guilty of grabbing a component or two from RevitCity.com or other free component sharing sites.  The question is; How useful was that component?  It is very likely that the component you grabbed was not parametric, not exactly what you wanted, and looked like crap in one of the views (plan, section, or elevation).

I talked with some students in a design studio class at my school and they give me a look at their Revit models.  Of course, there were a few components that popped out like a sour thumb.  Freebies!  I asked them why they used the components.  They answered, "because I don't know how to make it" or "it takes to much time to figure out".  

Firstly, you're in an architecture program.  Take the time to make the components!  It will only make you better at Revit and understand the program much better.  It will also allow you to add the amount of information you need to that component.  It will allow you to create parameters that will be necessary to quickly adjust the size, material, light output, and etc... later on in the project.

Lastly, if you are going to actually extract information from your Revit model, such as energy analysis, then those components could play a crucial role.  For example, if you have a computer classroom in Revit there are over 30 computer, a projector, and lets add two 42" flat screen T.V.'s.  Anyone who has been around these three objects, especially the flat screen T.V., knows that they emit a ton of heat!  Don't you think this should be calculated when thinking about the heat loss or amount of heat needed for a space?  

Ultimately, I want my fellow students to not let the people who say "Revit is just a program full of built in components and restricts design freedom" be correct.  Let's not go the way of BIMpanzee's and CAD Monkeys.  Let us think deeper and farther out of the box.  Revit is not a drafting program.  Let's not use it as one.  

I hope this comes into your mind next time you are on RevitCity.com searching for a Mac that you can add to a desk that was already imported from a Revit model that was built in Revit 8.1.