Do you use BIM?
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I used to work in an office that had both ArchiCAD and AutoCAD LT. ArchiCAD is a BIM solution, but we only used it as a 3D modeler. Nowadays there is more and more talk about Revit, another BIM solution.
So I want to hear if anyone here has BIM-capable software in their office and use its BIM features effectively.
(As much as we love SketchUp, please try not to diss other people's pencil.)
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We use Revit more and more at the office. BIM is the future for larger projects wether we like it or not.
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Our office uses Revit daily. There is only one person in the office who has resisted the switch and he pretty much works alone.
We do use the "BIM-ness" effectively and I would only revert to Autocad or some other non BIM software if forced to. As with any software there are cons but the pros far outweigh them, at least in my, our, experience. It was a step in the right direction for our office.
We have 8 seats running now. Common phrases heard over the office chatter now are:
"Can you save to Central".
"I have placed a request, would you grant it please"
"Dear God I am glad we don't use DataCad anymore." (applause follows)
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We have licenses of BIM packages too, but are still in a transition phase as comes to the real use of BIM features. With us, the push comes from our main clients, that have started to require BIM models from their designers. The big problem IMO is that the BIM packages, contrary to what their marketers say, are still largely works in progress, and the prospect of producing all the necessary documentation from a single, easy-to-make model without tweaking is still largely a dream, especially if the model has to be interoperable.
Anssi
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What BIM software do you use, Anssi?
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@unknownuser said:
We have 8 seats running now. Common phrases heard over the office chatter now are:
"Can you save to Central".
"I have placed a request, would you grant it please"Sounds familiar.
I am not using it that much myself yet (more SU) but probably will be soon.
Learning the basics for drafting in revit is quite easy. But getting to that next level where you can use it properly for BIM is a much steeper learning curve.
Setting up good sheets, controlling visibility of elements per sheet, making families,....pffft Still lots to learn.A comment I start to hear at the office is that documenting isn't that straightforward using Revit eventually because you need to pin point everything in a (too soon) phase. In early phases, you don't want to bother with the type of doors or door handles you will be using...
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After a couple Google searches on SketchUp and BIM solutions, I stumbled upon this old thread:
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6414&st=0&sk=t&sd=a -
Anyone tried Navisworks yet?
Here is a 30 day trial, looks good. I am registered for a webcast tommorrow for it and Revit.
http://offers.autodesk.com/9/aecsem/index.php/lp/index/137024/144219
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@anssi said:
The big problem IMO is that the BIM packages, contrary to what their marketers say, are still largely works in progress
Anssi
I can't agree more with the above quote. We aren't using it yet and have no desire to move into it anytime soon. We keep hearing from the larger firms with large projects that it's the way to go or the future of architecture. Well, for us smaller firms it serves as nothing more than an yet another inflated promise from a company that is all to ready take another +5000.00 dollar per seat for something that has to be bundled with another one of their +5000.00 dollar per seat packages just to create complete construction documents. It's brilliant from their perspective. As long as people keep buying it they will keep selling it, finished or not.
Sorry for the rant. No we don't use it and won't until 1.)It can finish a job without support from Autocad or 2.)the client demands it. Sadly the second seems to be whats driving it forward.
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Where I work we are a year + into the transition into Revit from the flavored (Acad Arch / Acad MEP) Autocad's. While it is going rather well on the Architectural and Structural side, the engineers are a tough sell and are dragging their feet. We are a medium size firm and we do small / medium / medium-large scale projects. It is definitely being driven from the client construction end - but for good reason. The best explanation as to why it is quickly becoming a business necessity is the following example I saw somewhere that has also been echoed by the larger construction firms we partner up with. You can spend $1 to fix a problem in Design, or you can spend $10 to fix it in construction, or you can spend $30 to litigate and fix it after it is built!
You will learn a lot during your first project on how to integrate BIM into your practice. A lot of what you learn may be that you need to change your process and in turn your practice. There are tons of good references out there - here are links to two that I have found most helpfull.
http://www.bim.construction.com/research/
http://www.engr.psu.edu/ae/cic/BIMEx/The trick will be to learn how to take advantage of BIM's advances by getting up to speed quickly and advancing your use and implementation to the next level, and then on to the next. It is sometimes painfull / time consuming / costly when you first adopt. But the sooner you commit and gain enough experience to move on to the next level(s) - the sooner you will start to see the many benefits and reap the rewards.
Not actually on a soapbox here - I for one wasn't all that interested in making the switch. I have found that the biggest obstacle for most users is the mental aspect. Also - people in this industry that can not put a building or parts of one together will struggle immensely, and are the most likely to resist the change. You are working with "things" (intelligent building elements) now instead of worrying about comands you need to memorize to develop linework that represents (in 2 dimensions) these same "things".
While the two (Revit & sketchup) don't necessarily play together very well - we have found that we still need to use them together due to the clunky schematic modeling tools in Revit. The efficient modeling practices you learned in working with SU will serve you well if you choose Revit for BIM as it is too easy for some to fall into the trap of modeling everythig! I hate the phrase "paradigm shift", but it is appropriate in describing the current A/E/C Industy shift to BIM - which is surprisingly similar to the move I experienced 15+ years ago from hand drafting to CAD.
HTH.....Bytor
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Very interesting posts so far. Seems like the BIM promise has been experiencing a huge revival these years since Autodesk's purchase of Revit.
Is anyone using a more budget-friendly BIM solution? I checked Revit's price and it's 5x the price of a really powerful PC. And knowing Autodesk, I guess you'll have to upgrade every year to the new version, right?
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I do medium to large residential remodel projects, I use Cadsoft Envisioneer, have for quite a few years, since version 3, at the time I think it was $995.00 USD. Version 5 came out last year, it's now available in three different packages from $795-1795. It's has a pretty small learning curve, decent 2D drafting tools, comes with a basic builtin renderer,the biggest con is that it doesn't live update from model view to paperspace but this is suppose to be coming,the biggest learning curve and time spent was setting up the BIM catalogues for my use. I think its the perfect way for a one man show or small firm to get into BIM without breaking the bank. Here's a link, http://www.cadsoft.com/ . But I sure have been using SU alot more lately
Mike
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