AutoCAD vs. Revit
by: Paul Li
From AutoCAD Expert to Revit Experience AUTOCAD EXPERT
I
’ve enjoyed being very proficient with AutoCAD which I had learned since the late 1980s. Having used it for over three decades, I have become both an expert user and an adept customizer. I thought I would be able to continue to enjoy the AutoCAD ride and coast to the R word: “R”etirement.
THE OTHER R WORD But in the last office where I had worked for over twenty years, I soon heard rumblings from upper management of a major change that would soon rock my AutoCAD world. Though most of the office clients have only demanded CAD, many of the competing offices began offering Revit as an extra bonus. Their slogan was loud and clear: “We do CAD but we Revit better.” This is when upper management made the decision that this office will match if not provide a better “R”evit service than the competition. There it was, the other R word that I did not want to hear.
HISTORY REPEATS This reminded me back in the days when CAD was first introduced into the design profession. The ongoing slogan back then was: “We do cutting edge CAD for you.” Now I also remember back then that for staff who didn’t do CAD, they were not only left behind but were also eventually let go. The writing was on the wall for this go around as well. Upper management was faced once again with these options on how to transition from AutoCAD to Revit: 18
AUGIWORLD Magazine | March 2022
1.
Replace everyone who lacked Revit skills with new staff who already knows Revit
2.
Invest in the current staff and spend the time and money training everyone on Revit
AN INVESTMENT I’m glad upper management chose the investment option. Staff were initially offered the option to get reimbursed for a 6-week (twice a week) class sessions outside the office. Furthermore, word was sent out to Revit experts requesting for quotes on costs to train/consult the current staff in the office bringing everyone up to speed on Revit. Surprisingly the best package that came back was from the office Autodesk reseller at the time: Microdesk. They were willing to come into the office for two three full day sessions providing everyone with computers to train the entire staff on Revit. Of course, I took advantage of this training by sitting in on both sessions which was a total of six full days loading my brain with Revit.
ONGOING TRAINING Though the training sessions were informative, none of the staff including yours truly, came out 100% Revit fluent. We would still require weekly trainings thereafter as we started implementing Revit on small projects. That process was truly painful to say the least. We also hired Microdesk to spend the time converting all our title blocks including standard details from AutoCAD to Revit so we can use Revit to put a complete set of construction documents together. Furthermore, I augi.com
