Hi. I’m a student of 3rd year architecture. I’m currently sharpening my architectural software skills, and I would like to know what are the most important and preferred softwares other than autocad.
archinine
Oct 7, 17 8:37 pm
Revit does it all and is in demand by employers
Afrin_fatima
Oct 8, 17 1:03 am
Thankyou peeps!!
randomised
Oct 8, 17 1:20 am
MS Paint
thatsthat
Oct 8, 17 8:59 am
We use Revit for sure and Rhino is becoming more and more prevalent (finally) even for firms that do less complex work. InDesign and Photoshop are a plus.
And it seems ridiculous but if you can take a class in professional writing, it would be a good idea. (I took this way back in college; you learn how to write professional correspondence, grants, etc.,) Too many interns/entry level coming in that don't know how to write a professional email.
I'm not a robot
Oct 8, 17 10:36 am
Don’t try to do everything in one piece of software. be software agnostic. You’ll be more employable and will be able to work on a greater variety of things and be involved in more phases of a project. If you fall into the “revit-only” or “rhino-only” crowd you’ve just pigeon-holed yourself.
Btw - it’s getting harder to find people who know CAD - which there is still a real need for.
thatsthat
Oct 8, 17 12:15 pm
I'll second this. We hire a lot of entry-level grads and it's getting harder to find people that know CAD out of school. A lot of grads are coming to us with a resume full of modeling softwares, like Rhino, 3DSMax, Sketchup, etc., but we still do at least 1/2 our projects in 2D AutoCAD. Not every project has enough fee or necessity to use Revit, but EVERY project needs a CD set.
randomised
Oct 9, 17 2:40 am
Quit a job once because they tricked me in the interview telling me they were a BIM office while I had to do everything in Autocad once I started, they didn't even open the box with the software and had only one license while I was supposed to manage multiple people...
I'm not a robot
Oct 9, 17 8:37 am
We use cad for a lot of up-front and master planning work. Revit is not good for site planning - it takes the revit people twice as long to produce anything and they get frustrated at how many times things change.
thatsthat
Oct 9, 17 9:42 am
I have a boss who like to do pro bono/low fee work for non-profit organizations in our community which often results in these tiny jobs like replacement of a roof or porch. For these tiny jobs, it's often easier for us to pull in our stock details, add some notes, and then all you have to draw up is the plan and a section. We are half BIM / half CAD, but it's just too inefficient to use BIM for these low fee projects that have a lot of custom pieces.
I'm not a robot
Oct 9, 17 10:14 am
my day to day is usually clients calling up with “what can I do with this site?” Sometimes it’s just me spending 15 minutes putting boxes on a civil drawing.
I'm not a robot
Oct 9, 17 10:18 am
Sometimes I can have someone spend a day or two working something out if it’s more complex. However, I like activating the revit people because it means the project is more real and we
have budget.
archinine
Oct 8, 17 4:27 pm
If one knows rhino they automatically know cad so those arguments are moot. And OP already knows cad so relax with the cad koolaid. Cad blows anyway.
randomised
Oct 9, 17 2:42 am
I know Rhino quite well but am very inefficient in Autocad which blows indeed.
S W
Oct 8, 17 8:19 pm
I worked with someone who did complete floorpans with excel, the spreadsheet was really interesting from a computational/parametric design point of view.
archinine
Oct 9, 17 9:01 am
Random don't blame yourself. It's an inefficient and very dumb piece of software. That said step one is to google the cad equivalent of whatever you would do in rhino. Many commands line up, even more 2D drafting things simply don't exist, and plenty are basically the same with a different verb. Honestly if someone can't pick up the most basic piece of software - cad - within a day or two I would question their ability to do anything in a firm. Other software like Revit, one should be somewhat productive after a week or two. If one is just coming out of school at this point in time it is assumed you are computer savvy as you have little else to offer. You'll learn helpful exercises in any software you use which you'll then apply in other ways to whatever software you have to use in a firm. The important thing is knowing that something can be done and being able to search for the function rather than having all the commands memorized.
randomised
Oct 9, 17 10:03 am
I just can't stand it why you would use the computer to draw lines between points when you could virtually built walls with specific properties and qualities. It's mostly a personal aversion because I hate doing things twice or more, how often you don't have to redraw an entire set just because one wall had to move and it affects redrawing plans, sections and elevations etc. it's moronic. In BIM you just move the wall and send over your updated IFC model.
archinine
Oct 9, 17 1:07 pm
Random you're preaching to the choir. Cad vs BIM is like a horse and buggy compared to a speed racer. Unfortunately lots of dinosaurs out there who just can't let it go and don't understand it well enough to get that there is no 'size' requirement to be more efficient in BIM.
If there's a permit/CD set happening, and people legit know how to use both programs, BIM is faster, even on small stuff. If a team actually knows Revit or archicad it's completely unnecessary to demand higher fees. In reality one could be charging the same fee and still make a bigger profit than in cad. But everyone needs to know how to model. It's the learning curve no one wants to pay for. Charging more is perfectly acceptable, but that should be icing, not making up for people not knowing software.
sameolddoctor
Oct 9, 17 3:35 pm
archinine, i would love to find a team (contractor, MEP, HVAC etc etc) that all use Revit. CAD sucks but is not going anywhere for a while. Comparing Rhino to CAD though, doesnt work, as Rhino does not have a lot of the advanced features of CAD like xrefs, sheetsets etc.
randomised
Oct 10, 17 1:06 am
Did a hotel where all parties worked in BIM, from engineers to MEP, HVAC and contractor. Only some consultants drew with sharpies on our printed pdf's and scanned them, the rest was all BIM.
thatsthat
Oct 10, 17 10:07 am
Give me a consultant that uses any program correctly and produces drawing with the right number of light fixtures in vaguely the right location, and I'd be happy. Currently working on a few projects in BIM only, and mostly it's going smoothly. The main problems occur when the consultants don't coordinate their work with the architecture model. :-\
ecnal
Oct 10, 17 9:56 pm
sameolddoctor - yep, rhino has xref system. plus most other things you're looking for, but only crazy people doco in rhino... (i've done it, not great.......)'
G4tor
Oct 9, 17 6:51 pm
Generally, I'd say Revit and sketchup. There are a lot of fringe ones out there (i would say Rhino is still pretty fringe in my region) that are will be useful to learn but not really all that necessary. I'm more of a "don't put all your eggs into one basket" kind of guy so if you have the time, i would say you should learn all of them.
Specifically,I'd say that the most important software is the one that your local arch firms are asking for. I didn't know anything about vectorworks before working at my current job and now, it's the most important software i use since my job depends on it.
Hi. I’m a student of 3rd year architecture. I’m currently sharpening my architectural software skills, and I would like to know what are the most important and preferred softwares other than autocad.
Revit does it all and is in demand by employers
Thankyou peeps!!
MS Paint
We use Revit for sure and Rhino is becoming more and more prevalent (finally) even for firms that do less complex work. InDesign and Photoshop are a plus.
And it seems ridiculous but if you can take a class in professional writing, it would be a good idea. (I took this way back in college; you learn how to write professional correspondence, grants, etc.,) Too many interns/entry level coming in that don't know how to write a professional email.
Don’t try to do everything in one piece of software. be software agnostic. You’ll be more employable and will be able to work on a greater variety of things and be involved in more phases of a project. If you fall into the “revit-only” or “rhino-only” crowd you’ve just pigeon-holed yourself.
Btw - it’s getting harder to find people who know CAD - which there is still a real need for.
I'll second this. We hire a lot of entry-level grads and it's getting harder to find people that know CAD out of school. A lot of grads are coming to us with a resume full of modeling softwares, like Rhino, 3DSMax, Sketchup, etc., but we still do at least 1/2 our projects in 2D AutoCAD. Not every project has enough fee or necessity to use Revit, but EVERY project needs a CD set.
Quit a job once because they tricked me in the interview telling me they were a BIM office while I had to do everything in Autocad once I started, they didn't even open the box with the software and had only one license while I was supposed to manage multiple people...
We use cad for a lot of up-front and master planning work. Revit is not good for site planning - it takes the revit people twice as long to produce anything and they get frustrated at how many times things change.
I have a boss who like to do pro bono/low fee work for non-profit organizations in our community which often results in these tiny jobs like replacement of a roof or porch. For these tiny jobs, it's often easier for us to pull in our stock details, add some notes, and then all you have to draw up is the plan and a section. We are half BIM / half CAD, but it's just too inefficient to use BIM for these low fee projects that have a lot of custom pieces.
my day to day is usually clients calling up with “what can I do with this site?” Sometimes it’s just me spending 15 minutes putting boxes on a civil drawing.
Sometimes I can have someone spend a day or two working something out if it’s more complex. However, I like activating the revit people because it means the project is more real and we
have budget.
If one knows rhino they automatically know cad so those arguments are moot. And OP already knows cad so relax with the cad koolaid. Cad blows anyway.
I know Rhino quite well but am very inefficient in Autocad which blows indeed.
I worked with someone who did complete floorpans with excel, the spreadsheet was really interesting from a computational/parametric design point of view.
Random don't blame yourself. It's an inefficient and very dumb piece of software. That said step one is to google the cad equivalent of whatever you would do in rhino. Many commands line up, even more 2D drafting things simply don't exist, and plenty are basically the same with a different verb. Honestly if someone can't pick up the most basic piece of software - cad - within a day or two I would question their ability to do anything in a firm. Other software like Revit, one should be somewhat productive after a week or two. If one is just coming out of school at this point in time it is assumed you are computer savvy as you have little else to offer. You'll learn helpful exercises in any software you use which you'll then apply in other ways to whatever software you have to use in a firm. The important thing is knowing that something can be done and being able to search for the function rather than having all the commands memorized.
I just can't stand it why you would use the computer to draw lines between points when you could virtually built walls with specific properties and qualities. It's mostly a personal aversion because I hate doing things twice or more, how often you don't have to redraw an entire set just because one wall had to move and it affects redrawing plans, sections and elevations etc. it's moronic. In BIM you just move the wall and send over your updated IFC model.
Random you're preaching to the choir. Cad vs BIM is like a horse and buggy compared to a speed racer. Unfortunately lots of dinosaurs out there who just can't let it go and don't understand it well enough to get that there is no 'size' requirement to be more efficient in BIM.
If there's a permit/CD set happening, and people legit know how to use both programs, BIM is faster, even on small stuff. If a team actually knows Revit or archicad it's completely unnecessary to demand higher fees. In reality one could be charging the same fee and still make a bigger profit than in cad. But everyone needs to know how to model. It's the learning curve no one wants to pay for. Charging more is perfectly acceptable, but that should be icing, not making up for people not knowing software.
archinine, i would love to find a team (contractor, MEP, HVAC etc etc) that all use Revit. CAD sucks but is not going anywhere for a while. Comparing Rhino to CAD though, doesnt work, as Rhino does not have a lot of the advanced features of CAD like xrefs, sheetsets etc.
Did a hotel where all parties worked in BIM, from engineers to MEP, HVAC and contractor. Only some consultants drew with sharpies on our printed pdf's and scanned them, the rest was all BIM.
Give me a consultant that uses any program correctly and produces drawing with the right number of light fixtures in vaguely the right location, and I'd be happy. Currently working on a few projects in BIM only, and mostly it's going smoothly. The main problems occur when the consultants don't coordinate their work with the architecture model. :-\
sameolddoctor - yep, rhino has xref system. plus most other things you're looking for, but only crazy people doco in rhino... (i've done it, not great.......)'
Generally, I'd say Revit and sketchup. There are a lot of fringe ones out there (i would say Rhino is still pretty fringe in my region) that are will be useful to learn but not really all that necessary. I'm more of a "don't put all your eggs into one basket" kind of guy so if you have the time, i would say you should learn all of them.
Specifically,I'd say that the most important software is the one that your local arch firms are asking for. I didn't know anything about vectorworks before working at my current job and now, it's the most important software i use since my job depends on it.