How many versions of Revit does it take to work as a consultant? Well, it takes as many versions as your clients choose to use. As a consultant, you work for a variety of clients, that may be on any given version of any given software.
In the DWG world, we have simply become experts at converting formats and versions up and down as needed. If I'm on 2010 but you use R14, no biggie, I can even convert MicroStation files as needed.
In the RVT world, I have projects in Revit 2009 that will not be migrated for what ever reason by my clients. Two of these projects will be in my office for the next 3-4 years. That means I will keep Revit MEP 2009 on my users PCs until 2012. I will be using Revit MEP 2013 by that time. Does this mean I may have 5 versions of Revit running to satisfy the needs of all my clients? Unless something changes... Yes. (Will my PC be able to handle that?)
Where before, my users opened the current version of AutoCAD (MEP) and worked in it all day converting when needed, now they will jump from one version of Revit to another depending on the job they are working on.
I understand the benefits behind restricting compatibility with Revit products, at the same time I really wish I could dumb something down when I need to.
There is a really good chance that I have missed something simple here, so if you know something I don't, please comment. In fact no matter where you stand, I would like to hear about it.
10 comments:
I'm currently evaluating Revit MEP. Having made the transition from Autocad to Solidworks during my university days, I became very frustrated switching back to non-parametric drafting in Autocad when I moved into the world of MEP. However, I had forgot I had the same problem with Solidworks and model computability between versions. This is a fairly significant disadvantage of Revit. If I'm using Revit MEP 2010, and the architect is using Revit 2011, will BIM fall apart?
If the architect is using a newer Revit version, then you must upgrade, because you will not be able to open the architects files.
If the architect is not interested in using BIM they can always export to AutoCAD, in which case there are many ways to work in different versions.
I don't like the sound of this. You would think that any firm switched on enough to use revit in the first place would be on a subscription and always using the latest greatest, but history shows you'd be dead wrong.
I am also currently evaluating RevitMEP for my firm. My knowledge of Revit is limited, as I have not done much analysis yet, so correct me if I'm wrong. If you keep a subscription of Revit you will always have the most up to dat version of the software. And, a newer version of Revit will open an older version. As long as you have the most up to date version of Revit you should be able to open any project created on an earlier version. The problem, as I'm sure you've already found, is that is where the coordination will stop because you'll never be able to save your drawings with the user of the older version.
Paul,
You are absolutely correct in all of your points. All we need people to do is upgrade every chance they get. My reality now is that firms are upgrading yet leaving projects started in a particular version, in that version until the job is complete. If the job lasts a long time, that's how long they hold on to an old version.
Hi Todd, long time no see. My current reality is that the design firm I am contract at is still using Revit MEP 2009 because the cad/bim manager doesn't like the ribbon. And that after I'd trained on my student version of it.
Autodesk has a white paper on turning off the ribbon in 2010
Turning off the ribbon does not change the version of Revit you are working on. It only changes the way it looks.
You know I really loved my digitizer tablet. It was so much fun writing all those mnu files, and then compiling them, and you could digitize an image using it. Guess wha - I don't have it anymore. Someone(s) worked so hard at Autodesk making that ribbon thingy it seems a shame not to useit.
Well said Fishandchips, Bravo.
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