Is AutoCAD becoming obsolete

[PRSS]

Hello everybody

 

Has AutoCAD become obsolete with the advent of BIM softwares? Is buying Full AutoCAD worth it? (I don't mean AutoCAD LT). Are there people who still do modelling in AutoCAD?

 

I have one Full AutoCAD 2013 and Five AutoCAD LT 2009 for my SOHO Office. Am I doing something wrong using plain AutoCAD? BIM has not really taken off in India, because of its complexity and a steep learning curve and also lack of teaching centres (I mean teaching centres who teach BIM as BIM and not as an easy tool for crating a 3D model just for visualisation). Should I wait till India is ready for true BIM and then transition to BIM like REVIT?

 

I am really confused. Please somebody help.

 

Thanks in advance

PRSS

[Dadgad]

I am a little surprised to see that you are using Autocad Vanilla, if your focus is Architectural.

Nowadays there are so many different options. Autocad Architectue, Revit Architecture, Revit....

the list goes on and on.

Have you taken a look at the Vertical Products offered? The suites are pretty great values when compared to an individual software license.

What you choose has everything to do with personal preference, the sorts of clients with whom you work, their platforms of choice, and of course the types of projects.

You are no doubt aware that you can download a free 30 day trial of just about anything sold by Autodesk, and take it around the block, kick the tires, see how it feels to you.

There is no such thing as being TOO well informed.

I have attached a comparison of different vertical products, to give you an idea of a few different ways to go.

It certainly looks like you could cover a whole lot of bases with the Premium suite, and pretty much be ready for just about anything, without breaking the bank. If cost is not an issue, as it is almost twice as much, get the Ultimate suite, then you are really covered.

The general feeling is that within about 10 years pretty much everybody will have gone to BIM, so it is probably a good idea to familiarize yourself, and start considering it.

These suites don't include Revit Architecture, but rather the full REVIT package.

 

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/limage?siteID=123112&imageID=19653712&id=16406616

[tzframpton]

Has AutoCAD become obsolete with the advent of BIM softwares? Is buying Full AutoCAD worth it?

Plain AutoCAD & BIM do not mix at all. BIM includes "intelligence" in the geometry, or model as a whole, where as AutoCAD does not have this capability. It's not that AutoCAD is becoming obsolete as much as AutoCAD cannot hold up to the information-rich modeling and collaborative design environment that some trades and markets are now adopting.

 

Am I doing something wrong using plain AutoCAD? BIM has not really taken off in India, because of its complexity and a steep learning curve and also lack of teaching centres (I mean teaching centres who teach BIM as BIM and not as an easy tool for crating a 3D model just for visualisation). Should I wait till India is ready for true BIM and then transition to BIM like REVIT

Dadgad is 100% right in his post. You can get "packages" that are roughly the same price as AutoCAD, and you still get AutoCAD. This allows you to learn at your own pace. That's what I personally was able to do.... learn what I could then when I got stuck I exported to AutoCAD and picked up the design where I got hung up in Revit, or AutoCAD MEP, etc. And now that I've been using Revit for a few years, I don't even like going back to AutoCAD at all for designs that relate directly to my industry. I still like AutoCAD MEP though.

 

I would suggest getting the package of software that relate to Architecture. You get the Revit suites, and the "vertical product" of AutoCAD's. So start with AutoCAD Architecture since it still works and feels like AutoCAD, but gives you a heaping number of new tools and options that will greatly increase your design and productivity, plus introduce you to a "BIM" or "modeling" environment as well.

[Organic]

For architecture, Revit will lead the way. I am not an architect though so don't have much interest in Revit. AutoCad & other design software packages works fine for me.

[PRSS]

Thank you very much for all. I would certainly like to follow what you say. The only problem is that what they teach here in REVIT is 3d Modeling & Visualisation. Is it possible to learn the actual BIM as self-learning process?

 

With best regards

PRSS

[tzframpton]

Is it possible to learn the actual BIM as self-learning process?

The "BIM" aspect of it is already built in. All you have to do is model a building correctly and the BIM is there.

[PRSS]

Thank you StykFace

 

With best regards

PRSS

[irneb]

In total agreement with all said. Using Vanilla ACad for modeling architectural - you're definitely wasting your time. There are programs which can give you the same thing much quicker: Revit / SketchUp as example - even stuff like Caddie is more suited to this task. The last time I modeled straight in ACad (only) was in the 90's, since then it's just become a 2D detailing tool for me. Very seldom would I do anything in 3D acad at all.

 

If you stick with ACad, I'd also advise going the Arch. vertical route (ACA). Even if you don't use it for modeling / BIM - its 2D drawing is just so much less work in arch that it's a no-brainer. In effect you'd save man hours overall by not having to draw each line separately like in Vanilla, rather you'd place something like a door into a wall and all the linework is trimmed for you as per your settings. Just that one thing saves greatly already, but ACA has a whole plethora of such automated tools.

 

ACA has its limitations though, seeing as it's more like an attempt to implement BIM inside of acad - it tends to not be a full BIM. And I've found it to become impossible to use on large scale projects. In steps Revit with much the same as ACA has - only more so. Revit works quite well on even large buildings, e.g. at present we're working on two 150 room 5+ star hotels with a team of around 10 people each. The RVT files vary between 200MB to 300MB, yet still works perfectly fine - and these hotels are already at construction stage (i.e. the technical documentation is coming direct from Revit).

 

Anecdotally: A friend of mine's been looking around for work here in South Africa. He's quite good with AutoCAD & SketchUp and has around 12 years experience as an Architectural Designer, so you'd think it wouldn't be too difficult. He's been having huge problems because everywhere he goes they keep asking: "Do you have Revit experience" ... Answer: "No" ... "Sorry then we cannot take you, we work exclusively in RVT".

 

As for the BIM aspect: StykFacE is correct. In both ACA and RVT you draw real-world objects, you don't draw lines. E.g. you'd generally start by drawing a wall, not a bunch of lines. Imediately that wall has real-world properties (e.g. Height, thickness, structure layers and finish layers, materials, bearing/sheer/etc) - all of which can be changed in the future in the same way you can change a line's colour. So as soon as you draw something (i.e. model it) you've made a BIM object already - even if you're not using its properties, they're there. If you're going to use these properties for stuff like quantity takeoffs, then you'll have to make sure that these properties are actually correct (the old adage of Garbage-in -> Garbage-out holds especially for BIM).

 

There is one thing I'd warn you about though: With the great power you get from something like RVT (e.g. changing the plan also updates the elevations and sections), this requires greater responsibility especially in collaborative work. Because an alteration on a 2D drawing causes a change to the model, which then affects all other 2D drawings which show that part of the model - you can easily do something in a plan without noticing you're affecting something else (e.g. having a wall's height set to more than one floor level means that wall will show on the floor above as well - it could cut through the middle of a room without your intention). These "mistakes" are not impossible to fix, but not necessarily easy to find timeously - so try to "think" about stuff before your draw. In one way Revit takes a lot of thinking out of the equation (e.g. drawing stairs does not require sketches and math as much as it used to in 2D CAD), but then adds new aspects to think about: like how will what I draw here affect something else.

[PRSS]

Thanks for the useful info - really enlightening.

 

with best regards

PRSS