AutoCAD and Revit.

Someone I line manage is an architectural technologist but we're very much used to autocad as a practice and although we have Revit we're struggling to transition without some kind of training course which seem to be very expensive.

I'm not a Revit user, but I'd suggest taking the plunge with the aid of some YouTube tutorials.  We don't send people on training courses until they have had a play with it first to learn the basics.

I suspect it looks far more daunting than it is.

My personal reservation with it is Autocad feels like drawing, Revit looks like filling in databases!

We barely work with anyone using cad nowadays, but I've been in Revit based businesses for going on 15years now.

I learnt revit from YouTube and other media and got fairly proficient. To be honest I've mostly stopped using it as there's no value for me (electrical engineer) other than viewing an architectural model. From what I could see the training courses were no better than me learning online and it what got me over most hurdles was people helping on forums. The issue is the lost productivity though when you can't fathom something and then spend an age working it out.

I guess for architectural needs it's got to be something that you have in your locker as they say but for other disciplines not so much.

As a manufacturing\mechanical engineer it boggled my mind when the architect we employed to design my new factory didn't do it in 3D by default. Had to pay extra to get someone else to convert AutoCAD in to Revit so we I make some important decisions on layout

So, I’m a MEP services engineer (emphasis on the the M&P though). I’ve been trying to transition my team to Revit for the last 7+ years… We were almost there and then lockdown happened and the server licence won’t operate when wfh which derailed my efforts (admittedly only in the M&PH side). Then people left…

I’ve been through the pain of implementation before (elsewhere) as part of the BIM Implementation Team (leading on the Engineering side). I had a recent short, sojourn with them (after 7 years) and felt like a dinosaur (asked for the cad up-to-date titleblock only to be told nobody used autocad any more, not since I’d left!…). The M&E Team were all fully signed up to the Trimble design product and couldn’t say a bad thing about it (they’re even Trimble poster boys…). Don’t know if there are similar issues in architecture that would make a workflow product as necessary as for MEP…

I’ve just secured the go ahead for 3 day Essentials training for my team (and a 2 day families and creation add on for the ‘coalface workers’… 🙂 For 5 of us its ~£5.5k for a total of 15 days training (remote, web based ‘open’ sessions, dedicated closed group would’ve been £6-7k for the 5 us). And laughably, once we’re up to speed I want to transition to the Trimble package (Stabicad) as it looks waaaaaaay better than vanilla Revit MEP which has it’s own palette/way of doing things… (at £3-3.5k a seat!) them damn poster boys!

Anyway, I think some basic Revit training is essential. You need the ‘overview’ but there is a world of pain developing your templates. I know, I’ve been there… 10 years ago. Building up your families and view templates is the real pain… And nobody does it properly (which is why the interfaces to 3rd party Building Physics software etc. don’t work…). We are split between Cad and Revit users but the youngsters are all being started on Revit from the get go (we’ve just started 4 graduate apprentices 2 MEP/2 AT). Hence the training! It’s definitely the future.

That said one guy (who really screwed up his formal training by throwing a strop and walking out the first day) ended up going on a deep dive and joined forums, etc., ending up taking the certified Revit route off his own back (so forum and YouTube I’d hazard) so it is possible. And he is now a BIM Information Manager… so it was worth the effort for him I guess.

I’ve also found that if you don’t keep using it you forget it all… (which is why I’m retaking the Essentials course as I’ll probably have to roll metaphorical  sleeves up and ‘lead from the front’…).

As someone else said, familiarity with UI is beneficial so have a play about using the stock library and YouTube.

I can recommend the Ascent series of Training manuals though (I’ve spent >£300 on various volumes which are now not up to date…). Would get you off on the right foot I’d say.

Good luck!

I am a bit of a civil3d wizkid and can just about build a revit model.

Its not hard but its a very different workflow. Its not a 3d CAD its a parametric modelling package and that requires alot of front loading.

I'd learn it though, i went engineer rather than follow the tech route. But if you are good you'll be in high demand.

I'm a mech engineer and am self taught on Solidworks, I also have Autocad that I've used for years but I absolutely hate - the interface is soooo clunky and the work flow poor.

I downloaded a bent copy of Revit a few years ago just to see what the score was. It seemed pretty intuitive and I 'built' a basic house in it fairly quickly/easily.

But I can't offer much more insight than that.

We use both (North London based Architects) but prefer Revit for larger projects. We've a BIM coordinator now who has helped to organise the bigger stuff but mostly we rely on smart folk having a basic knowledge and picking it up as they go along as feedback from formal training was mixed.

We've not had too many issues coordinating with other consultants like structural and MEP engineers, and for more niche stuff they seem to remodel things anyway in different software for various disciplines (microclimate, DLSL, overheating etc.)

We're also looking for experienced technicians if anyone fancies something new. (Not sure if this counts as a stealth ad. Mods please delete as appropriate...)

Thanks everyone, all useful info.

Some time ago i start watching YouTube and got to the stage of building a decent model but I've forgotten it all now.  But i think i need a bit of one to one just to get the basics sorted out.  I find in AutoCAD there are usually multiple different ways of achieving the same end result but if you start off the wrong way it can come back and bite you later on when its too late to change it.

My work is almost exclusively in social housing (I work for a District Council), we have a small design team but I'm the one with the most work on my desk!  One of the problems i see going forward is if I start creating Revit drawings no one else in the team will be able to do anything with them as in the nicest possible way they can barely use AutoCAD.

Maybe a basic question - do you still use AutoCAD for drawing details or is that done in Revit as well?

Use revit every week as well as autocad. Revit is just awful over complex software where you lose days of time over modelling. It is way too complex for simple stuff and really struggles with getting decent basic outputs without a serious time investment. That said there is no other way at the moment as it is becoming the expected skill set. I have been on numerous training courses but they are relatively useless. Best is to learn next to someone or use YouTube tutorials doing specific relevant tasks. It is a very long learning process though.

Showed this thread to the wife who is an architect, south coast fancy residential now but background in larger commercial. She had pretty much used Revit exclusively since uni and it's definitely gotten her jobs. When we moved here from Australia most of the recruiters asked her to take a Revit skill assesment before they would take her on.

Cheers, I've never been asked to do an assessment but I've heard of it happening.

My work is almost exclusively in social housing (I work for a District Council), we have a small design team but I’m the one with the most work on my desk!  One of the problems i see going forward is if I start creating Revit drawings no one else in the team will be able to do anything with them as in the nicest possible way they can barely use AutoCAD.

I also work for a LA. We have only recently started doing MEP housing design internally. Architecturally the models are in Revit, we get Autocad layouts exported from Revit (we’ve not transitioned yet…). So they wouldn’t be able to tell the difference really…

Having a 3D model is pretty useful (e.g. you can generate a section anywhere  and export it in minutes).

10 years ago (for a different LA) I did some social housing mech Revit modelling. That LA does pretty much everything in Revit these days….

Maybe a basic question – do you still use AutoCAD for drawing details or is that done in Revit as well?

Revit has pop outs which is basically cad ‘in-Revit’ (except all the commands are the opposite of how they are done in Autocad…). I think these can be exported to autocad as well (but never had to do it myself, as I’m MEP).

I'm a self employed architectural designer that has autocad for 30 years on small scale resi projects, one off houses/barn conversions/extensions. I self taught myself revit to check whether it would make my work more efficient in the long run. I found it far too complicated for my line of very bespoke work especially on existing historic buildings. I would possibly use it for new houses which required detailed servicing such as passivhaus.

If I was working in a larger practice I would not hesitate to learn revit or a similar product purely for awareness/familiarity/employability.

I did our first ever Passivhaus project just last year all in AutoCAD,  Would Revit have made it any easier?  It wasn't difficult in AutoCAD 🙂  One of our structural engineers is still using AutoCAD r14 so the change of collaboration is zero!

Now if BIM is required then that might be another matter but so far its not been for any of my work.

I have the luxury of being able to choose what I use, if I wanted to move it Revit and I was able to use it then that would be fine and i could just do.