Revit

How long do you think it would take an advanced AutoCAD user to learn Revit to a usable level? I’ve never even seen a copy running so I know nothing about it but so many jobs these days are asking for Revit skills. In fact some are willing to train new starters so I get the impression that the transition might not be too difficult?

i’d say a month to get ok at it, 2 years to master it. It’s really quite different from CAD

I followed some exercise training videos and got my head round it in a couple of weeks, but it took another 6 months using it every day to get upto speed with it to a decent standard.

It totally depends on the person though, we have some people experienced CAD techs who never really got the grasp of it. It’s quite different to AutoCAD.

Could you give me links to the videos you followed? I taught myself AutoCAD and also got up to speed on Architectural Desktop fairly quickly (a previous practice invested a lot of money in it but it never really caught on!)

The videos I followed were ‘infinate skills – learning autodesk revit architecture 2013’.
We had a DVD but you may be able to find all the videos online – propbably a newer version too.

You’ll also want to find a set of videos on creating/modelling families.

Perfect, thanks.

I was interested in this also, our company seem curiously slow to train us up on it, think the idea is that ‘senior’ engineers like me don’t get our hands dirty with the CAD/Revit side of things, but the reality is that we don’t have enough staff, so I end up doing loads of CAD but then have to pass it to our overworked CAD team to convert to Revit. Totally inefficient.

Saw a three day training course in Central Belt Scotland for £1080. Bit rich if I’m paying for it personally, and it’s unlikely a more CAD/Revit intensive role would pay more than the role I currently occupy (albeit reluctantly, see previous stress thread!). Worth considering as a sideways step if people are hiring Revit engineers…

In architecture it seems that Revit is almost mandatory for working in the larger practices. I’ve had a very quick look at some videos and its appears a similar idea to the very old AutoDesk AEC (twenty years ago?) in that things are drawn in one model but on their own levels so stacked on top of each other – but rather more advanced than that.
I’m waiting on a call about about some training – the essentials courses seem to start at about £450 for two days.

I did a two day course last year and got to grips with it easy enough. Not properly used it since though!
It is very intuitive, like flipping doors over and it automatically putting holes in walls where you want the door / window. it seems to me a bit wasted if only use for draughting / 3D. I can totally see the advantage when all linked up with schedules etc to make a proper BIM project buts its a lot of work upfront doing it from scratch, esp refurbs when there will be existing areas which should be BIM’d in same way as new stuff, otherwise its a bit pointless.

It’s fairly easy to grasp the basics, but takes a long to to become an advanced user. The other issue is that different practices use it in different ways, so you’ll always be adjusting your working methods. I’ve been on Revit for around 5 years now, acad before it since the late 90’s, I really like using it but there are hardly any transferable skills from acad.

Definitely worth learning, but the biggest issue I hear from day to day is people saying that they did a course a year ago but haven’t picked it up since. You’ll forget 90% if what you learnt if you do this, definitely best to take the plunge and try and use it every day!

I’ve made the switch to Revit, most firms now insist on it over AutoCAD, I work in civils/structural and to be honest it’s not the best tool for the job, particularly when it comes to anything that ‘twists’, like curved bridge decks etc. There’s work arounds like using dynamo etc but that’s a whole different thing again that takes some learning.
For grid based buildings revits a great tool.

I do actually prefer using it now though, as the control you have over 3D models is much greater than anything AutoCAD can manage.

It does take some learning, there’s no UCS as such, you can’t insert objects to given co-ords and everything is object based rather than on layers. Revit was bought by Autodesk years ago and hasn’t really been changed a great deal over the years, there’s not that many similarities with AutoCAD.

I’ve been lucky and work alongside some very experienced users who can point me in the right direction, there’s a lot of different ways to get the same result with Revit, it can be tricky figuring out the most efficient and effective way without guidance from experienced users.

I’m a mechanical engineer and picked it up years ago as an alternative to cad duct/ fab (a better tool for install but harder to get used too in the consultant world) I’ve recently taught a senior AutoCAD guy in my office. He initially struggled coming from the cad world, due to the way you use it (he describes it as Lego compared to drawing) but picked it up pretty quickly as we got past the nasty bits of it. I would suggest you register for an Autodesk student account and download it at home and use it as much as possible in your own time. As the others have said above it’s really only practice and the most powerful parts of it (visibility etc.) will only really come to you once you’ve done some time. Just remember to get out on the bike between sessions, because it can be pretty addictive as you get better!

Thanks for all the help guys. I have detected some cross over between autocad and revit – for example using escape to back out of menus and Z, E for zoom extents – all little things that make it so much easier to use. Still waiting for contact back from a few training companies I’ve contacted – shame they seem to be so busy that they can turn away paying customers 🙂

I’d been a AutoCAD user for about 10 years when I started learning revit in 2008/2009. And just taking what I was doing in AutoCAD and trying to replicate it in revit.

Once I moved to a practice that had already made the switch and I was using revit every day (2013ish) it quickly became second nature on usage.

There is commonality between aCad and revit. And there are also vast process changes that you need to get your head around.

I haven’t used AutoCAD since 2015 beyond opening some survey drawings to check the scale and it’s amazing how much I’ve forgotten about how to use it.)

If you look at autodesk university there are several talks on switching from CAD to revit.

Some really good books: particularly recommend ones by Paul Aubin as he is very good at explaining the program.

These days my job involves a lot revit training in my practice. We have a new starter training session which lasts 4 full days which gets folks going if they have never used revit before.

Just a link to some of paul’s training material

i self taught via youtube and some apps a few years ago. It’s fairly easy to get the basics and after about 6 months playing around on a student licence at home i started to introduce it to work projects (Mechanical / Electrical services).
We now use it for about 30% of our projects but there is a knack to “really” using it quickly and efficiently and there are times when the team insist we just use CAD as it just sometimes over complicates the process of getting basic plans out of the door.
On an Architectural side though it does now seem to be the default package.
For M&E there’s still a way to go before it’s fully adopted and the cost to provide the training, the bolt on packages such as magicad and the fact that we still need CAD for schematics etc mean that it’s still seen as an unnecessary resource.

I’ve been using it since R08, self taught plus the original course. OP I’d say it depends on what you want to use it for and how often you’ll use it, as others have said getting the hang of it is easy but there’s a lot going on in the software and mastering it on your own is time consuming, if you have someone to help you out that’s great but YouTube is great for help if you don’t have support in the office. If you’re familiar with shortcuts in Cad you can make life easier by setting up the same command shortcuts (view tab-User Interface-keyboard shortcuts) and also see what’s already set & there’s a lot of overlap.
The OOTB families are rubbish, download what you need from somewhere like national bim library, plus they have the advantage of having COBie data attached if that’s your bag. Building Revit families is a whole other skill.
Don’t give up, it’s daunting when you first start but it’s been around for a long time, the additional Internet manufacturer support means it’s getting better faster, and it is the future. A month should see you tottering, 2 months walking, 6 months running, but you need to use it daily if you can.

Just as a slight difference to everyone above, have you considered if Revit is the right package for the industry/sector you’re in? Great for architecture, mech eng, structures (some), but not great for 1:1 detailing and useless if you have to produce manufacturing drawings to send out to have made.

As above it is pretty different to using Autocad but still imagine with regular and consistent use you’d pick it up fairly quickly to a useable level. What takes the time is learning the tricks/shortcuts/easier way of doing the same thing.

I’m an Architectural Technologist and practices these days are using Revit to produce BIM models. I don’t really know if they use it in conjunction with regular AutoCAD to do the detailing? Sounds likely they might have to? I think many practices might have jumped on the Revit bandwagon and are using it inappropriately perhaps?

but not great for 1:1 detailing

this i don’t get.

Model well & your detail is 80% done when you create the section and call outs. then can be embellished with some 2D line work, text and tags

https://www.autodesk.com/autodesk-university/class/Attention-Detail-Creating-Construction-Details-Revit-2015#handout

https://www.autodesk.com/autodesk-university/class/Modeling-Construction-Documents-Creating-Construction-Details-Revit-2016#handout

https://www.autodesk.com/autodesk-university/class/Creating-Intelligent-Details-Revit-2017#handout

So tracing over a viewport of the model then to create the 1:1 detailing? That’s kind of my point, Revit doesn’t do 1:1 detailing direct from the model itself. Do you model membranes, fixings, brackets, insulation etc in your Revit models and can you create pressed metal items in them?

Just my opinion, in my industry, that Revit doesn’t do the kind of detailing that I need to do, nor produce a fabrication ready model.

I’m not saying that Autocad does this, as it obviously doesn’t, just that depending on the OP’s requirement Revit may not be the answer.

Rockhopper – Having a clear out at work and have found a book ‘Mastering Autodesk Revit Architecture 2012’.

Bit out of date now but it’s not really changed too much since then.

Happy to send it over if you like for the cost of postage.