Oh wow. 3d in ACAD seems so 2002 to me. I always found 3d CAD to be tedious and clunky - much better for either 2d or for 3d machine parts, not so hot for architectural interiors. 

What's your goal for 3d interiors? Is it speed? Showing 3d spaces to clients? Quick documentation? BIM? High quality renderings? 

I use REVIT for most everything,  and CAD as a backup tool for 2d, working with engineers, some projects still make sense in CAD. But we don't do a lot of interiors. 

Thanks for your advice.  I want to show floor plans as well as 3D design(wall construction details, ie. the interior of walls.etc) as well as rendering of 3D interiors, not so interested in speed.  I just purchased Autocad so I think I can return it for a different product.  What about AUTOCAD for architects,  seems cheaper than Revit, but I don't know which would be better in the long run.

thanks for your advice

Rick

If you are looking for an affordable option, do AutoCAD LT for 2d drafting, and pull the CAD into Sketchup for 3d visualizations and renderings. Some people use Sketchup for everything, but does not work for me. 

Our low-cost workflow for 3D interior renderings is modeling in Sketchup and then rendering in Artlantis.  Final postproduction is then in Photoshop.  AutoCad for the the working  drawings.

I used to use 3d ACad back in my undergrad.

I'd say either do the whole thing with Rhino, or use a mix of Sketchup and ACad for the 3d and 2d respectively.

I'm thinking about AutoCAD for Architects software or REVIT now, hard to pick from with all the choices. Right now I'm leaning toward AutoCAD for Architects and return my regular AutoCAD.

Who buys AutoCAD 2017 at $1400 a year without knowing how to use it? Are you sure that where you put "purchased" you didn't mean "downloaded an illegal copy" instead ;-) I don't have any useful advice besides just don't use AutoCAD, period. It seems quite the expensive overkill for what you need your software to do.

May I suggest Drafsight for 2d and sketchup for 3d?
 

3d autocad is a very powerful tool to go from 3d model to construction drawings.  I've seen some amazing 3d models in autocad - complex and precised as shit.  Others are turning you away because of the difficulty of mastering the software, it is very clunky, where as, sketch up only requires a short period of time to become proficient, but it is also not made for the level of precision you can get in acad.  

^  Im not trying to come off as a jerk or anything but almost 99.9% you dont hand the builder / contractor a 3d model. so who cares about accuracy in model? im sure if most "3d people here were honest, more than half of their models rendering are not "precise as the cd's". client and everyone else may not know it but they do. modeling and rendering is basically for selling the project / idea.

time is money. y waste time trying to eat soup with a fork. part of being a good architect / designer is adding value, add value using the proper tools. imho acad for 3d is not one

Thanks for the comments.  I did get AutoCAD legally from Autodesk when it went on sale for $1050 a couple of weeks ago.  It's back to $1400 now. I can still return it and get my money back, which is why I am looking at other options.  I've been looking at "AutoCAD Architecture" as opposed to "AutoCAD".  REVIT looks good as well as Sketch Up.  Hard to decide.  I do need 2D details of walls, floor plans, etc as well as 3D views so I can show custom wall interiors,because in designing Home Theaters, you make your walls customized, like adding sound proofing materials, not just using standard walls..

Hi. I know I could make my own original post, however I've read through this thread and am confident someone here will be able to answer my question.

I post files to websites, including Revit and Sketchup files, but I do not know the workings of either software package. The files I have to post are zip files that were created, named & zipped years ago (2013 I think) to match the company website's product structure. Now I am posting them to a new website with a slightly restructured product tree. Can I unzip all of the files, rename them and rezip them to more closely match the new product structure, without rendering the files useless?

My fear is that there may be something within the files themselves that are tied to the original file names. (I do not have Revit and cannot open the files.)

Remember AutoCAD is a "drafting program". 3D sucks in it. Use SketchUp.

Recall SketchUp is a "3D Massing" program. BIM 3D is a different beast too.

BUT, use the proper tool for the job, and recall using other tools is advisable, so don't toss AutoCAD just use it for what it is best for.

Now bar none SketchUp is the fastest, easiest, and  least expensive, even free (SU-MAKE) mass modeling tool. If you are just doing visuals, SketchUp MAKE will never cost you a dime and it can do beautiful things. (Unless you have 3 months to draw a simple house, LOL)

Think of AutoCAD as the best drafting program and SketchUp as its 3D massing counterpart.

Use the other stuff only if you have to for some specific reason such as BIM or advanced animation needs.

Definitely, learn 3D in AutoCAD so that when you use SketchUp you will be further amazed. And SketchUp MAKE is free and has pretty much everything you'll need.

Also distinguish mass modeling needs versus BIM. If you do not need to know the molecular compound of every molecule in an architectural component go SketchUp.

If you need to also wire in every quark in them atoms of every compound in an architectural unit go Revit, because extending BIM capability by programmatic methods is far easier in Revit because of their object model interface.

To remain competitive architects will eventually wield the technology sword upon each other's firms far more thoroughly in the next ten years, and some will not make it. The ones that will will be where they should have been in the year 2000.