ArchiCADvs.

Revit
ByRansomRatcliff 20110808 WhencomparingsophisticatedapplicationssuchasRevitandArchiCAD,oneneedstoreallyuse themforafewyears.IhavebeenusingArchiCADsince1995andRevitsince2008.SohereI haveroughlyoutlinedsomeofmyimpressionsofversionsofthesetwothatIhavehadplenty oftimetouse,Revit2011andArchiCAD14. Sinceitbecamealonglist,Ibrokeitintothreecategories: Technology(PowerandElegance) DrawingProduction Worksharingvs.Teamwork. PowerandElegance: 1. Revits64bitclaimdoeslittlemorethanallowlargefiles.Fewoptimizationsforspeedor memorymanagementandreuse.RAMrequirementsarestill20timesmodelfilesize. Whenworkingonlargemodels,workstationsneedtobeoftenneedtoberestarted aboutonceper4hoursofRevituse.Incontrast,Graphisofthasmadeeachnewversion ofArchiCADfaster,evenwhenusedonthesamemachinesthepreviousversion. 2. Revitsuffersfromaslowenginethatlacksmultiprocessingatitscorecodelevel.This resultsinslowregenerationofviews,slowpanandzoom,andslowresponsetothe mostcommonuserinteractions.Revitsusesmorethanoneprocessoronlyforcertain boltonpartsoftheprogramsuchasrendering,familyloading,andwallintersection cleanup. 3. Revitsprimitiveworksharingtoolsrequirethefastestnetworkinginorderto collaborate.I.e.dontexpecttodoworksharingfromhomeoronabusinesstrip,ifyou useRevit.ArchiCADBIMSeverexcelsatthiskindofthing. 4. TheRevitenginecreatesaBIMthatisparametricatthebuildinglevel.Inotherwords, relationshipsarecreatedautomaticallybetweenbuildingelementswithouttheuser initiatingthoserelationships.Forexample,walls,columns,floorsandceilingsallhave relationshipstoeachotherbasedoncircumstanceslikecongruency,intersection,and perpendicularrelationships,etc.Thiskindofautomationmayseemlikeitwillensure designintegritybutinstead,iteventuallybecomesastraightjacketwhererelationships arecreatedontheflythattheuserscouldnothaveanticipated.InRevit,thebuiltin relationshipsandconstraintsareahugedisadvantageintherealworldbecausethey causethemodeltobeinflexibletodesignevolutionandcreatedeadendsthatcannot beanticipatedbutcanonlyberesolvedbydeletingelementsandrebuildingtheminthe rightorder. 5. AsRevitconstraintsgetevermorecomplexinalargebuilding,evenexpertteam membersstartexpressingreluctancetomakedesignchangesbecausetheysensethe riskofcrashingthemodel.

6. TheconstraintbasedBIMengineinRevitrequiresthatitsdatabasebebuiltinacertain order.Thismakesitverydifficultforauthorsoftheprogramtoimplementthe following: a. Breakinguptheprocessesintomodularpartsthatcanbecomputedinparallel withmultipleprocessors. b. SavingbacktoanolderversionofRevitfile. c. EnablinganyotherapplicationfromAutodesk(oranyoneelse)toimportor exportaRevitfile. d. ToimportanIFCfilecleanly,sinceIFCdoesnotincludethesameconstraintsand otherapplicationswouldnotincludethem. e. Cloudcomputing. 7. TheRevitRibbonInterfaceattemptstoanticipatethetoolsthattheuserislikelytoneed basedonthecurrentoperations.Howeveritisoftenwrongandcannotreadtheuser's mind.Sotheuseristoofrequentlytryingtofindatoolthathasjustbeenconcealedby the"automatic"Ribbon.TheRibbonusespreciousverticalresolution.Itisslowto respondandallowingittocollapsemakesitevenmoresluggishtopresenttherelevant toolsthattheuserneeds. 8. ParameterselectionforFamilyTypesinRevitistextortabularbasedwithoutthe intuitivegraphicalinterfacesintypicalArchiCADObjects.Thisdifferenceismost pronouncedwithdoors,windows,andequipment. 9. OneclaimthatismadeforRevitFamiliesisthatmoremanufacturersaremakingfree contentthatyoucanjustputintoyourmodel.Thetruthisthatmostofthesefamilies areoverlydetailedforconstructiondocumentationandthereforeslowdowntheRevit modelwitheveryinstancetheyareplaced. 10. TheRevitenginelosesaccuracythefurtheryouarefromtheorigin(0,0,0).Inorderto copewithcivilengineeringdrawingsthatusuallyexceedtheRevitlimit,anotherRevit technologycalledSharedCoordinatesisused.However,itstillrequiresthatyoutomove thecontentofaCivilDrawingclosetoitsownorigininAutoCADbeforelinkingitinto Revit.Butthismanualmoveessentiallyinterruptsthecollaborationwiththe engineersandintroducesthepossibilityoferrorsinsiteplacement.Inshort,itssloppy. 11. ThosewhoarenewtoRevitmaythinkitseemseasytolearn,butthis"ease"isan illusionthatfadesoncesomeoneworksonalargeprojectwithotherteammembers. Theramificationsofseeminglysimpleprocedurescanbedifficulttoanticipate, catastrophicandirreversible.Morethaninmostapplications,newRevituserscanknow justenoughtobedangerous. ConstructionDocumentation: 1. NoautomaticsheetnumberinginRevit.InArchiCAD,sheetnumberingisbothautomatic andtotallycustomizablewithsubsetrulesandexceptions.Soaddingorremovingsheetsis automaticallyaccommodated. 2. InRevit,DrawingTitlescannothavegraphicscalesthatautomaticallysetthemselvesto matchtheactualscaleoftheplaceddrawing.ButinArchiCAD,thecorrectNCSgraphicscale intheDrawingTitleisautomaticallysettoeachdrawing'sscale.

3. InRevit,drawingtitleshavenoabilitytoautomatebackreferencinginthedrawingID bubble,butArchiCADmakesthiseasy.Ifthisisarequirementforyourdeliverables, ArchiCADsautomationwillsaveyoucountlesshoursandworry. 4. InRevit,drawingIDsaremanuallytypedintoeachdrawingtitle.InArchiCAD,theoutof theboxgraphicstandardsarefullycomplianttotheNationalCADStandard.Onthe ArchiCADLayout,placeddrawingscangettheirIDsfromtheirlocationonthesheetorfrom asimplesequentialnumberingsystem,orevenindividuallysetmanuallyforspecial exceptions.WhilebothArchiCADandRevitautomaticallyupdatedrawingreverencesin detail,section,andelevationcallouts,thisautomationisamplifiedbyArchiCADs automationofsheetanddrawingIDs. 5. RevithasnoDrag&Dropcapabilityforexternalcontent(DWG,vectorPDF,orimagefiles.In ArchiCAD,contentthatisDragged&Droppedintoavieworlayoutisautomatically linkedandembedded.Thismakesplacedcontendeasytoupdatefromotherapplications andalsoprotectstheembeddedcontentifthesourcefileislost. 6. LayoutSheetseasilyaccommodateexternaldrawingsinavarietyofformats,evenallowing differentpentablesandpenweightstandardsfordifferentdrawingsonthesamesheet. 7. Revitdrawingplacementlackstheabilitytocroptononrectangularshapesandcutholesin thedrawing.ButinArchiCADalldrawingscanbesliced,dicedandcroppedtoanyshape andlayeredtogetherincomplexpresentationcollagesofvectorandrasterimagery.In ArchiCAD,rasterimagesofdifferentresolutionscankeeptheiroriginalresolutionsthrough thePDFprocess,insuringfaithfulnesstotheoriginalsthroughthewholeeditingand printingprocess.\ 8. Revithasnodisplayorderlayering(Moveforwardorbackward)withcontrolof transparencyandopacity 9. NoabilitytoprintshadeddrawingsasVectorGraphics.ThismakesresultingPDFslargeand theirsharpnessafunctionoftheirDPI. 10. RevithasnoincludedPlotterDrivers 11. RevitincludesnoPDFauthoringtools 12. RevitcannotimportPDFs 13. ArchiCADhasPublishingSetsthatmatchoutputtypeordevicesettingswithparticular contentfromtheBIM.RevitsPrintSetsareveryprimitiveincomparison. 14. RevitlackscontroloffilenamesforexportedDWGsandtheirXREFs.Thiscreatesadilemma whendeliverablerequirementsdefinefilenamesforsheetfilesandtheirXREFs,because renamingtheXREFsaftertheyareexportedfromRevitwillbreaktheirlinkstotheirhost DWGs.RevithasthesamelimitationwithPDFswhenusing3rdpartyapplicationssuchas BluebeamorAcrobat. 15. Revitsdrawinggraphicsareofteninflexible.Forexample,itisdifficulttoshowraised flooringinsectionviewswithadifferentlineweightfromtheconcretefloorbelowit becausebothelementsaresimplyFloorsinRevit. 16. InRevit,detailsclippedfromthemodelareliveviewsonly.Thismeansthatenhancingsuch viewswith2Dinformationandannotationisriskyifthemodelisstillbeingedited.ArchiCAD letstheusercontrolwhenandifsuchmodelsourceddetailsaretoberefreshedfromthe model.AndinArchiCAD,iftheviewisrefreshedfromthemodel,anyeditsthathadbeen

madetotheoriginalsourcegraphicsintheviewareautomaticallytreatedasusercontent andnotrevertedtothe3dmodelsprojection. 17. Revitcannotcontrolofsectionalcutandviewdepthofimported3DDWGcontent. 18. InRevit,3Dprojectionviews(suchasisometrics)arenotaccuratetoscaleeventhougha scalewillbelistedinthedrawingstitle. 19. InRevit,youcannotdimension3Dprojectiondrawingsincludingperspectivesand axonometricviews. 20. InRevit,Massesneedtobeusedfor3DblockingandstackingdiagramssinceRevit"Rooms" donotshowin3Dviews. 21. InRevit,renderingtextures,suchasbrickcoursing,donotmatchthecoursing,placement, ororientationofvectorhatchingofthesameelementsinConstructionDrawingviews,etc. 22. AlmostnoabilitytocreatecustomhatchorFillpatterns.ArchiCADhasaneasywaytodraw anymotifandcreateahatchfromitwithawidevarietyofpossiblerepeatandoffset options.AlsoinArchiCAD,fillshavepenselectionforbothforegroundandbackground,so yourmotifcanplayasthebackground.Forexample,asimpletilepatterncouldbedrawn withawhitepen(representingthegrout)andthebackgroundcouldbethecolorofthe tile.Manyotheroptionarepossiblewithgradientsanddistortedfillswherethemotifgets stretched. 23. Revithasnoabilitytoautomaticallycontrollineweightofbuildingelementsinsectionand elevationviewsbasedontheirdistancefromtheelevationmarkerorcutplane. 24. Revithasnoabilitytocreateelevationswhosecutlinesstepforwardorbackwardthrough theplan.(AvailablewithSectionViewsonly.) 25. RevitGridLinescannotbeCompoundCurves. 26. ArchiCAD'sefficientenginehandlesandprintslargesheetsets(over200sheets)without runningoutofmemorylikeRevit. Revit2011Worksharingvs.ArchiCAD14Teamwork: 1. ArchiCADanditscompanionBIMServertechnologyisfullymultithreaded,soitmakes fulluseofmulticore,multiprocessormachines. 2. ArchiCADBIMServerservestheworkstationsdirectly,ratherthanbeingconfinedto interactionsbetweentheLANserverandaCentralWANServerinanotheroffice.This resultsinadistributed,andthereforemorerobust,collaborationinfrastructure. 3. ArchiCADBIMServerisfastenoughtoeasilysynchronizeovernormal(DSLtypeoreven broadbandwireless)internetconnections. 4. ArchiCADBIMServercanworkacrossdomainssothatdifferentcompaniescanwork togetherwithoutconstructingcomplexnetworktrustrelationshipsorrelyingonremote desktop. 5. ArchiCADBIMServerhasabuiltinIMsystem(TaskOrientedInstantTeam Communication)thatintegratestheeditingrequestswiththeworkflow.Revit's WorksharingMonitor,whichneverworkedwellinthefirstplace,willnotbesupported withRevitServer.Thereisanewfeaturethatisbeingdiscussedasareplacement, BluestreakbutthiscannotcomparewiththeArchiCADfeatureinusability,integration andelegance.

6. ArchiCADBIMServermakeselementownershipexchangeeasywithoutfull synchronization. 7. MultipleArchiCADBIMServerscanruninmorethanoneofficesothatnotallthe projectsinacompanydomainneedtobehostedfromonlyonelocation. 8. ArchiCADBIMServerisscalabletoallowmuchlargerteamstocollaborateinasingle VirtualBuildingmodelavoidingtheneedtosplitthemodeltogiveaccesstoanlarger team. 9. ArchiCADBIMServerallowsuserstoworkofflineforextendedperiodsandhas"Pack andGo"whichallowstheworktobecarriedonathumbdrivetoanotheroffline machine.IntheRevitworld,therewasthepossibilityofWorkingatRisk,ifyouknew noonewasgoingtoworkonitwhileyoutookacopyofthecentralmodel.Thisisnot thesameandisnotbepossibleanymorewithRevitServeranyway. 10. ArchiCADBIMServerallowscontrolofwhichusershaveaccesstowhichTeamwork projectsandsophisticatedfinetuningofthecontrolgrantedtodifferentusers.Revit ServerallowsanyuserwhocanaccesstheLocalRevitServertoaccessanyprojecton theRevitCentralServer.So,inorderforustocontrolaccesstosensitiveprojects,we needasecondRevitServer. 11. ArchiCADBIMServerincludesscheduledbackupsandtheabilitytoRollbackthecentral modeltoanbackup.InRevit,"youcannotrollbacktoabackupoftheCentralfileusing theRestorebackupstoolwithinRevit.Localfilescanberolledbacktoapreviouslysaved version,butCentralModelscannot." AsfarasIknow,RevitServerdoesnoneoftheaboveandoffersnootheradvantagestocounter them.