Revit vs. Cad

[anbm]

Heard Revit has been used more recently among MEP firms across states, does anyone here work with Revit and know the advantages/disadvantages compared to AutoCAD (especially in electrical design/production application?), how long does it take to learn and how to use Revit?

 

[DetroitEE]

Heard Revit has been used more recently among MEP firms across states, does anyone here work with Revit and know the advantages/disadvantages compared to AutoCAD (especially in electrical design/production application?), how long does it take to learn and how to use Revit?

We use Revit almost exclusively on new projects. We work mostly on larger projects.

I have been using Revit for over 3 years now and I do like it quite a bit. I will say though, it is quite a learning curve, and people that cling to the ways that drawings are done in CAD have a difficult time adapting. The most important thing to know when trying to learn Revit is to forget almost everything you know about CAD, imo.

As an electrical engineer, one of the things I love about Revit is the circuiting and panel schedules feature. Panel schedules are automatically generated and coordinated with the circuit numbers that are shown on the floor plan. You can move circuits around in the panels, and the circuits update automatically. The circuits will give you distances, so voltage drop calculations are quick.

Another advatage is it almost forces you to think in 3 dimensions. There's no excuse for not coordinating cable tray routing, avoiding conflicts with duct work, etc. It is so easy to cut a section in the floor plan and look at elevations or 3D views. This is also very helpful when trying to understand what is happening in a space from an architectural standpoint.

The main disadvantage is the huge learning curve. There is so much to know about this program and how to use it properly. It took our firm a while to get up to speed. The first few projects people try in Revit always take much longer to document.

 

[steve66]

Heard Revit has been used more recently among MEP firms across states, does anyone here work with Revit and know the advantages/disadvantages compared to AutoCAD (especially in electrical design/production application?), how long does it take to learn and how to use Revit?

Many advantages and disadvantages. It takes more time to set up a project, and to set up all the components you want to place in a building. Revit is much better at 3 dimensional modeling. It also does some basic design stuff. It keeps track of all the VA's on the panel schedules, and totals them all up. (But, that means you have to add VA's numbers into each load you connect. ) Move a circuit from one panel to another, and it updates the enitre project including circuit numbers on the homeruns and panelschedules and load calcs.

It even does some crude voltage drop calcs. and wire sizing. It can also do photometric calculations right inside the your model.

How long does it take to learn? It depends. If you are a fast learner, you can start drawing walls and rooms in a hour or two. But after using it for years, it still makes me want to bang my head on the desk much more often than autocad.

Its much more difficult to control what shows up in a view. Trying to place a light fixture in a plan and getting an "Object not visible in view." error is just one of the frustrating things that will have you run up against. Then you have to check the view range, any view regions, view graphics, workset graphics, temporary hidden objects, etc.

It really puzzles me why the error message can't tell me why the object isn't visible, and give me the option to make it visible. I could list about 100 other things that would be on my wish list for Revit.

All in all, Revit is more powerful, but it usually takes longer to do a project in revit.

 

[anbm]

We use Revit almost exclusively on new projects. We work mostly on larger projects.

I have been using Revit for over 3 years now and I do like it quite a bit. I will say though, it is quite a learning curve, and people that cling to the ways that drawings are done in CAD have a difficult time adapting. The most important thing to know when trying to learn Revit is to forget almost everything you know about CAD, imo.

As an electrical engineer, one of the things I love about Revit is the circuiting and panel schedules feature. Panel schedules are automatically generated and coordinated with the circuit numbers that are shown on the floor plan. You can move circuits around in the panels, and the circuits update automatically. The circuits will give you distances, so voltage drop calculations are quick.

Another advatage is it almost forces you to think in 3 dimensions. There's no excuse for not coordinating cable tray routing, avoiding conflicts with duct work, etc. It is so easy to cut a section in the floor plan and look at elevations or 3D views. This is also very helpful when trying to understand what is happening in a space from an architectural standpoint.

The main disadvantage is the huge learning curve. There is so much to know about this program and how to use it properly. It took our firm a while to get up to speed. The first few projects people try in Revit always take much longer to document.

Can Revit link the load between upstream and downstream panels like SKM?
How's about short circuit calculation, can Revit perform it too?

 

[anbm]

Many advantages and disadvantages. It takes more time to set up a project, and to set up all the components you want to place in a building. Revit is much better at 3 dimensional modeling. It also does some basic design stuff. It keeps track of all the VA's on the panel schedules, and totals them all up. (But, that means you have to add VA's numbers into each load you connect. ) Move a circuit from one panel to another, and it updates the enitre project including circuit numbers on the homeruns and panelschedules and load calcs.

It even does some crude voltage drop calcs. and wire sizing. It can also do photometric calculations right inside the your model.

How long does it take to learn? It depends. If you are a fast learner, you can start drawing walls and rooms in a hour or two. But after using it for years, it still makes me want to bang my head on the desk much more often than autocad.

Its much more difficult to control what shows up in a view. Trying to place a light fixture in a plan and getting an "Object not visible in view." error is just one of the frustrating things that will have you run up against. Then you have to check the view range, any view regions, view graphics, workset graphics, temporary hidden objects, etc.

It really puzzles me why the error message can't tell me why the object isn't visible, and give me the option to make it visible. I could list about 100 other things that would be on my wish list for Revit.

All in all, Revit is more powerful, but it usually takes longer to do a project in revit.

Some of my friends who knew Revit said it won't help much especially for electrical. Anyway, to be prepare for new technology and employment requirement, I guess I have to take this class. Thank you