Thursday, March 27, 2014

New Feature List for Revit 2015

Here's a list of the items that are new to Revit 2015. I've put them into my own grouping.

Big Stuff
Sketchy lines - yep, create sketchy alteration to views
Family parameter order adjustments - reorder/control parameter position
Schedules/material takeoffs - Access to Additional parameters and Grand Total customization
Revision improvements - Delete Revisions and more sketching options
View references - Reassign view reference to different view
IFC linking - Import IFC on Insert ribbon, IFC tab in Manage Links, no RFA process
Pinned element enhancements - Harder to delete pinned elements
Reinforcements for parts - Parts can host rebar (Structure)
Enhanced multi-rebar annotation - Grouping, sorting and updating of annotations (Structure)
Structural Disallow Join - Disallow/allow Joins framing and Braces (Structure)
Calculation methods for pressure drop - Haaland or Colebrook Equations, custom equations (MEP)
Tapped duct and pipe tags - Tag airflow along ducts (MEP)

Other Stuff
IFC imports - Better visual fidelity and performance and Options dialog revisions
Anti-aliasing improvements (related to Sketchy Lines)
Images in schedules - Instance and Type Image parameters can be used in schedules
Shared parameters in view titles - We can add our own parameters to view titles
Manage links dialog - Add links from Manage Links
Assembly code settings - 2010 Classification file provided or use our own
Enhanced hidden lines - View setting to govern hidden line display (Structure and MEP)
Building element analysis - Improved surface analysis and calculations (Subscription Only)
Tag improvements - Leader behavior mimics text leaders
Presentation rebar sets - Create sets to document rebar conditions better (Structure)
Reinforcement numbering - new numbering options (Structure)
Single fabric sheet placement - easy to place one sheet (Structure)
Shape Handles and Snapping - Improvements (Structure)
Setback for Structural Members - Improved adjustment (Structure)

Subtle Stuff
Ray trace usability improvements - faster, better quality and smoother
Views on sheets - Double click to Deactivate View (compliments 2014's Activate View)
Duplicate views - New naming of duplicate views
Keynoting settings - Keynote settings access easier, more obvious
Trim - Use selection box to trim extend multiple elements
Tool tips for family parameters - Create our own tool tips for parameters (max 250 char.)
Formulas - Logarithm syntax and calculation - New ln(x) Old exp(x)]
Assembly code setting - Use alternate assembly code files
Attached Detail Groups - Clipped now, not pinned due to pinning enhancements
Tags can include new Elevation at Top Parameter (for Foundations)
Enhanced analytical model - Local Coordinate System, Loads and analytical links (Structure)
Location Line Visibility - New Graphics (Structure)
Graphical Justification - New control (Structure)
Structural section properties - Catalog for profiles allows for easier analysis(Structure)
Electrical API enhancements - Create wires, add/modify wire properties and remove vertices (MEP)
US AWWA content - New Waste Water project content(MEP)
Japan Localised electrical content (MEP)

87 comments:

Anonymous said...

Once again, very very very disappointed on those new features for another release... really minor stuffs and improvements and the factory didn't really address any real user hurdles that we encounter everyday... speechless...

Sam said...

I'm excited to see some of these changes, but when will we be able to organize schedules in the project browser??? :(

Rob said...

thanks for the update Steve!

was hoping for more access to using parts on multiple pitched roofs.. take it one step at a time i suppose

and goodness, when will we ever get simple canted/sloped walls without having to make them by face of mass.

Anonymous said...

this is their years worth of work?

for shame!

"Duplicate views - New naming of duplicate views"? They dare list this as a "feature"?!?

Anonymous said...

Is it all or this is just a joke?

mgonzalez said...

Reordering parameter is fantastic and I have high hopes for the improvements to joins as well as the Disallow Join for framing and braces. Also very interested to see what the "Location Line Visibility" and Graphical Justification" controls do. That said, I'm also hoping that you just chose not to list the improvements to text editing. "It's Microsofts fault" got old about four or five years ago and here we are still working with a 1980's text editor.

Anonymous said...

Hopefully that stuffs I tested in the beta are included in this official version. I will just wait and see.

Anonymous said...

Sketchy lines! Oh man I can cross that one off my wishlist. Finally those clients will stop bugging us about wanting to see our drawings with that old hand drawn look.

Improvements to the project browser. No
Improvements to the library interface. No
Improvements to the site tools so they're actually useful. No
A #$%^&$! text editor that doesn't look like a @#&*($%!!! second grader programmed it. NO!
Sketchy lines. Yes.

Are you kidding me. THIS is what we pay thousands of dollars each tear for? Come on Autodesk. Do you actually look at any of the multiple wishlists that users submit? These don't appear anywhere in the top 10.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure these were issues that users were having. I'm sure I'll find some of these improvements useful.

It's just really frustrating to see the same issues go on year after year.

I can say Autodesk is smart for moving to all subscriptions because I have a feeling a lot of companies would choose to skip next years upgrade otherwise.

- Tom Harkins

Anonymous said...

This is incredibly disappointing. This is the weakest update I can remember. For shame, Autodesk. For shame.

Anonymous said...

I'm also very dissappointed. So many things are still so wrong with so many functions and have been for so long, it's amazingly shameful that they haven't fixed them yet. Not a day goes by that i curse them when I use the text editor, for instance. Nothing in this list will improve my day to day operations by any significant amount.

Anonymous said...

And all we wanted was a decent way to edit text...

Unknown said...

Remember they days when you paid a little more for updates but you got so many new features. Updates where updates not wasting time uninstall and reinstall all while leaving a little bit of the old version in your OS steadily slowing down your computer

Alfredo Medina said...

Hi, Steve, thanks for posting this list, classified by "stuff" as usual, hehe... I have not seen this version yet. Can't wait to see it. Some features that caught my attention from your list: ...sorting parameters, adding images to schedules, having access to more parameters in schedules, tips for family parameters,... Just to name a few. Interesting, thank you very much for posting this info.

Anonymous said...

"Big Stuff" - very s u b t l e.

Alfredo Medina said...

Is it my impression, or some of the items in your "big stuff" section would have been classified under "other stuff" had the factory taken care of some really big stuff that the community has been requesting for years? For example, why is sorting parameters under "big stuff"? Is that something that enables us to do something new in our projects, or is it more like a correction of something that has been bothering us before? My comment is not an observation to how your list is organized, but a comment about the relevance or importance of the features developed by the factory this year, and the amount of 'power' that they bring to the user to do new things.

Anonymous said...

You have got to be kidding me. I am about to abandon Revit because of the lack of a decent text editor. Doesn't anyone at AutoDesk realize that we place numbered notes on our drawings?

Anonymous said...

We should all send an email to CEO Carl Bass and SVP Amar Hanspal telling them how upset and disappointed we all are release after releases.... what a waste of money from all of us and our companies... They keep doing non-useful things... All the new features listed above only Structural features are quite good, but there is no *&^%^ useful feature for for architecture, and MEP. We want our money back seriously!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I already love Revit 2014.1 and, off course, the new naming of duplicate views is my favorite too. Absolutely brilliant!

I cannot wait for the new features in Revit 2015!

Please tell me this is an early April fools' day joke :-(

Anonymous said...

What about a way of tagging pipe invert levels? :(

Steve said...

Alfredo, I grouped items according to how much I like or care about them and/or how much people I know or I've worked with are likely to feel about them. It is definitely a personal assessment. I could have put everything under subtle because nothing is a major ground breaking item. No innovation. Everything is refinement. Even brand new things are really just refining what we've either been doing already or responding to criticism we've leveled at Revit over the years.

They didn't mention or take credit for improving performance but files that are sluggish in 2014 are better in 2015. More so compared to older releases.

I'm a bit mystified and disappointed as others about the narrow breadth and scope of this release. I welcome the refinement but I think they could have (should have) gone much further.

Alfredo Medina said...

Hi, Steve, it's good to know your opinion on this, and it does confirm my observation about the what's new list for this year.

Anonymous said...

It must be a joke of Autodesk! In a few days they will show us new revolutionary (ok - just at least well working) features of stairs, railings, roofs, site works etc!

I'm not optimistic: for example a new feature in AutoCAD 2015 “You can now fillet polyline arc segments.” it took them almost 20 years to make but finally we have it!

So maybe our grandchildren will have some new powerful enhancements in Revit!

Dana said...

I was somewhat disappointed with the lack of “new” or the cool factor features. There are a couple that will make my job easier (new trim option is one). If their job was to refine the program and make it snappier – I am all for it. One could wonder if AutoDesk is taking a page out of Apple’s iPhone development. Where we see a major form change every other year and refinement in mid-cycle. Just an observation.

sheesh said...

"Pinned element enhancements - Harder to delete pinned elements"

hahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaa
now its even harder to delete something thats supposed to be undeletable to begin with......

pathetic...truly pathetic

not to mention you can not buy revit solo anymore but you have to spit out 7 grand for everything they ever bought and ruined from other real companies

pathetic aside, im not sure how this is not plainly illegal? shouldnt some senate antimonopoly committees be looking into this?

Anonymous said...

Pinned element enhancements - Harder to delete pinned elements

hahahahahahahah

aaaaaa

aa

get the gun!

Anonymous said...

Worst update ever!

Anonymous said...

Do not agree on the idea of adding images to schedules,...that should of been maybe add 3d views to schedules or something cool like that. Why should I go back to 2d...blows my mind

Anonymous said...

Where did you get info on the Electrical API updates? I can't find anything on the web.

Steve said...

Electrical API features were released as part of a slide show presentation at a User Group Meeting. I don't know if they are listed elsewhere on the Autodesk site yet. Most likely among other API info, if so.

Andy Milburn said...

Thanks for the info Steve, and for hosting all the hate speech :-) Yes I am feeling disappointed, but looking through the suite products, Revit is still getting more new features than most other packages. Not sure it helps to over-react and make like you are so much better informed than the factory.

Michalis said...

Hi all, are there any other features that are not listed here? Did Autodesk or anyone else gave a clue on other enhancements?

Or just sketchy edges that even the free edition of Sketchup can do?

Is there a SP1 underway that will come up with something serious or is that their best shot for 2015?

Alfredo Medina said...

In response to "Sheesh" and "Anonymous" : pinning elements in previous releases was not supposed to prevent the user from deleting the pinned element, just from moving the element. So it's not correct to say that the pinned elements were "supposed to be undeletable to begin with". Not true.

Mikey Stix said...

What are you guys talking about?

US AWWA content - New Waste Water project content(MEP)
Japan Localised electrical content (MEP)

THIS IS HUGE!

Antoine Petitdemange said...

well, I had not installed REvit 2014 yet, seems I will have to wait until REvit 2016 comes. It takes so much time to install I'll wait until it's really worth it :)

Produção "PHOLHAS" said...

If these are few as the news is really very disappointing. Revit Architecture is a very expensive software and as yet I paid the Subscription my disappointment is even greater ...(Wagner from Brazil)

Peter in Maryland said...

Autodesk continues to use your money NOT to improve the software in any meaningful way, but to buy up any potential competition, so they don't have to improve.

Anonymous said...

I am very excited about the structural enhancements - those were actually some major headaches.

But I think it is time for a text editor upgrade...

When I edit text in Revit I feel like I am trying to use a program written by a high school kid back in the early 90's. (me) lol

ATLEAST WE CAN HAVE SKETCHY LINES NOW!!!!!

Anonymous said...

They did fix the curtain panel flip bug that showed up in 2014 that was playing havoc with several of our large tower projects

Steve said...

Regardless of complaints, I'll be happy to use the new release.

Curtain Wall Panel issues - I don't know, didn't claim it in their sparingly light documentation so far. Will have to test when you get access to the new version.

Reviteer said...

Andy Milburn said...
Revit is still getting more new features than most other packages.

Andy, apparently that's because, according to most of its userbase, ArchiCAD is already "perfect"

Chad Bradley said...

We can all agree that this is the worst release ever. And I would be nice if Autodesk can explain what went wrong or what other reason they have for this horrible release. In any other industry they always release a press statement when things go wrong or when clients or users are extremely disappointed. But for some (arrogant) reason Autodesk thinks it can get away with such a release without giving any reasoning. They probably think that there isn't any competition but there actually is. Archicad at this moment is far more developed than Revit. They have had over 5 releases on a stretch with ground breaking features and enhancements like The Morph tools, Shell tool to name a few. Pretty much every feature in Revit 2015 is already implemented over a decade ago in Archicad. And if you look at the tools that are similar in both software packages, Archicad seems to have them more polished and refined. Just compare their BIM server to our Revit server. Compare their Priority Based Connections and Intelligent Building Materials to the way Revit handles wall, floor roof connections or the way Archicad exports IFC files. And don’t forget all the features Archicad has that Revit doesn’t but that are essential for every architectural practice like a simple working perspective view, a live visual window and door schedule, a one click tilt wall tool, an easy window and door generator, mac compatible etc. By all means, I’m not here to promote Archicad. I’m a Revit user myself, but it sickens me to see how Autodesk crippled the software and isn’t fazed by the competition. AECBytes.com has warned Autodesk several times for the direction Revit is heading while noting the extreme progress of Archicad. The beauty of mobile phones is that each phone company is doing is upmost best to be ahead of the game. One year the IPhone refines its design and brings out new features, the next year Samsung tries to top that and vice versa. That is the way it should be. Apparently Autodesk lives in a completely different world. AECbytes is going to have a field day reviewing this release.

Will Hidlay said...

I was kind of hoping for some improvements to the legends means and methods of documentation. I was also kind of not since all of my hidden annotations phase work flow would become irrelevant and "outdated".

Will Hidlay said...

On the topic of monopoly or other BIM options, do the Archicad/Bentley folks have similar levels of disappointment or an apparent lack of resource dedication/investment from their parent companies?

Steve said...

"All" agree worst ever? Nope can't count me in that "all". Technically nobody is actually using the new release yet so it's a bit premature to say any such thing.

Release with the fewest exciting features? Sure. I'm happy to have most everything on the list. I wish the list was longer. There hasn't been a release where I felt any differently though. I'll never be satisfied with "the list".

Unknown said...

i am stopping my subscription on this! many necessary fixes are ignored forever. cant copy in perspective view? rooms disappearing in fase 'new'?
the list of ignored feature requests and fixes is reeaally loooong.

revit sucks lets face it...
they need a competition to get their act together. they know people are stuck with their crap once they buy subscription.
tom, using 3d software since 1988..

Daryl Gregoire said...

I agree with Steve. Lets wait and see. Does anyone remember the absolute 'Horror' of implimenting the Ribbon. O M G the world is coming to an end and REVIT is going down. We're all going to use ArchiCAD and watch Autodesk dissapear.

Well they're still here and still the no. 1 used BIM product. I think the key is to never get your hopes up with Autodesk. They have managed to stay No. 1 in CAD and BIM for 30 years so call it what you will but in this day in age that is almost unheard of.

I have to say this much, one way or another I'm raising my family and paying my bills as an Autodesk parasite and have been for almost 25 years. For that I am thankful.

The yearly subscription fee is peanuts based on the $$ it generates.

Plus on a personal note caos is cash in my business . . . DOH !

A re-written text editor, no idea what's taking so long . . . i'd gladly get on that email band wagon.

trombe said...

Thanks Steve for the heads up, gets to the point as usual. I remember you from Chris Zoog days too.

I agree with most of the negative comments, in terms of a lack of development, disappointment about the same things we have been asking for, over the past 10 years and many of them still not addressed.
This release does look bad form the outside but there does appear to be some good things there.

Now - last time I looked, AutoDesk,as the vendor, does not guarantee to bring out a new release every year or at all really. It does not guarantee particular developments or features will happen. So its no good expecting this is a given even though most vendors do have a known release cycle.


However, the upcoming release does look like they are stroking Structure and MEP because there is clearly, a large, critical mass of Revit Architecture subscribers now and they want to increase the other verticals market sales, to lock in, that end of the market and to address that, they need to make Structure and MEP more fluent (just my take on this) . With so many Revit Arch seats locked inplace with the commercial firms and small to medium firms, we all know you can whine all you like, but in the main, you are not going to exit Revit now are you ?

The exit costs are huge not the least because what else are you going to buy into ? There is only ArchiCAD. Generative Components ? no, VectorWorks ? (you're kidding me right ?) Microstation ? no.
Fundamentally, today, I figure its only Revit or ArchiCAD and AD hold a far superior position - they always did. So you are all going to get milked dry and with their subs changes, (how monopolistic is THAT !) you are faced with pretty much the two choices - stay with Revit or buy ArchiCAD.

The best we can do in all probability, is to stick together and never give up trying to exert pressure on the opportunities to contribute or fill out proforma or surveys or whatever because there is no other medium for you except to bail on the software and buy ArchiCAD if you can't deal with how you know, AutoDesk work.
So while I am as pissed off as you all, and I think it is OK to feel disappointed and say so, we still only have the two choices.
what's it to be ?
cheers

1 said...

Not many of these comments sound like the people using Revit designed or drafted a project by hand.
Regardless of what platform youre using, software of this complexity will always have its bugs. It's limitations will be based on teh weak side of the strengths that it offers; there will never be a perfect program to meet everyone' s needs.

Don't forget that Revit is a production workhorse so if youre doing something complex and abstract then get yourself Rhino or Catia and link it in.

Thanks for the new features lists, they are very informative.

Will Hidlay said...

A little clarity would go a long way. Trying to infer intent can be misleading. I haven't done any heavy CAD production work (using Revit since '06, learned CAD in '99) but can still greatly appreciate the efficiencies and logic of the new over the old. The concern is one of equity. Are we really getting what we paid for? Is this company being honest or greedy? Explain to the dedicated user base (without compromising competitive advantage or trade secrets) why so many seemingly basic features haven't been implemented yet. Or that a focused effort is being made to expand the base and target MEP and Structural. Many architects using Revit would welcome a greater consultant adoption rate.

Anonymous said...

So what's wrong with refinement? Lots of new features just means the program won't work as good. Maybe 2015 will work really nice. As for sketchy lines, that's just another way to look at the model, the more the better. At least we don't have any big changes to deal with. Remember war on the ribbon?

Unknown said...

Wow, what a waste of an upgrade. Sketchy lines...really? Was anyone even asking for that? What about text tools...SIMPLE TEXT TOOLS....we're not even talking about graphics or anything like that.

Site improvements? How about some sheet renumbering.

Man, so many things they could have improved on and they gave us sketchy lines, double clicking to deactivate views, and faster access to keynote settings....oooooh!

I absolutely hate, hate, hate that I'm stuck here. They know full well they have us by the short hairs, and don't really have an alternative. What can I do but clunk down more subscription money? Autodesk is now fully indistinguishable from my cable company.

Nice.

Unknown said...

Hi All.
insatalled this last night.
on the face of it pretty pedestrian.
HOWEVER - it has fixed toposurface cut pattern overrides. no more drawing the existing GL with annotative lines and hiding the demolished phase. Big time save for me with sections.
cheers

Chad Bradley said...

I know a few Archicad resellers who made a huge profit the last 2 years due to the massive increase of Revit users who switched to Archicad, because of the staggering disastrous development of Revit. These same resellers are leaping with joy while anticipating even bigger profits after the horrendous release of Revit 2015. And I’m not exaggerating. At the same token, I know a few Autodesk resellers who gone bankrupted or starting selling other products because of the massive drop of costumers. So yes, there is competition and you do have a choice. You always have the choice to change software packages if it benefits your business. Regardless of the industry, no one is going to stick with a product with a bunch of flaws while there are better products on the market.

I don’t agree with the statement that software always have flaws. Can you imagine the software that operates a Boeing 777 or an Airbus A380 have so many flaws or have half-baked features like Revit? That would be unacceptable. How about the software that runs the anesthetic machine? Can you imagine that having all kinds of bugs? Flawless software does exist. Unfortunately we as Revit user accept everything thrown at us.

I also disagree on the fact that if we want to design something other than a brick colonial we will have to use Rhino. Why should I use a non-architectural software to design architecture because my software explicitly made for architecture is limited to off-the-self strip malls? No other industry would accept that. An industrial designer can design and document everything in Inventor without having to use other software because inventor has all the tools he need. So does the CG artist and animator using 3ds max or Maya or the aviation industry using Catia or Solidworks. They may use other products for other goals, but there is no such thing as using Rhino because Inventro for example can’t 3d fillet an edge. Modelling tools are the core of every 3d modeling package. But for some mysterious reason, Revit’s modelling tools are so crippled that we need to use other software made for other industries. At the same token, If Revit was indeed a workhorse as described, why don’t we have a decent text editor? Why do I need Tekla to knock out some decent stairs which is still limited in Revit? At this point I’m wondering, what’s the whole purpose of Revit. Is it still in its good enough for North American conservative small to medium size orthogonal buildings stage?

Finally, I do understand the positive and encouraging comments of the many resellers and Revit tutors here. You don’t want to see people switch to other platforms, because it’s your breadwinning. However try to understand that if the costumer isn’t happy, he will use something else and evidently means less business for you. So we all have a stake in this. If we want the product to get better and prevent these flimsy embarrassing releases, you also need to make noise at Autodesk. .

Anonymous said...

That Archicad propaganda is amazing. But don't forget, Archicad is still an old CAD program with add-on parametric modelling capabilities. It's the same as if ADT had continued to compete with Revit.

Anonymous said...

Those Archicad vs. Revit posts are some of the more interesting to read, and very valuable. Thanks Chad. There definitely is a place in the world of architecture for Archicad. I suppose it's true that an Archicad building in general is not quite as generic as a Revit building. But those system families can really make money for everyone if that's the kind of building required. And re-sellers started losing money because of online purchases. I wondered about the "staggering disastrous development of Revit" myself with that ribbon debacle. But that turned out to be a "wash", and the ribbon is now fine. If conceptual sketching is better integrated in Archicad than Revit, that's fine, but I prefer those idea sketches to be created outside of Revit, with either a pencil or a computer sketch program, and then manually converted to a Revit construction model. As for a "decent text editor"?- beats me! As for "make noise", oh heck yeah, more of that for sure.

Anonymous said...

Not sure if it's good or bad at this point. Just looking for the "Assembly code settings - 2010 Classification file provided or use our own". The in-built version doesn't look like Uniformat 2010 to me and I can't find the UniformatClassification.txt file. Can anyone direct me?

Thanks.

Steve said...

The resellers I know are busy as heck and at least one of them is having a record year. I can't confirm the so called disasterous effect of 2015 on them, besides it is way to soon to be able to evaluate that truly. We've barely been able to install it for a week now. Most resellers have not relied on software sales alone to stay profitable for quite some time. Those that are might be suffering, but that writing has been on the wall for some time and nothing to do with Revit 2015.

Steve said...

My hard drive died so I have yet to reinstall 2015. Hopefully another reader can point you to the location.

Steve said...

2014 Assembly Code file is here, maybe the same for 2015 but I can't check right now:

(UniformatClassifications.txt)

C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\RVT 2014\UserDataCache

G:Lam said...

Sam fancy seeing you here. I think some of the features like sketchy lines are pretty much worthless. If they are trying to compete with sketchup then they are going into the wrond direction. Going to try it out and see if there is much of an improvement. Currently running AutoCAD architecture 2014 and it allows me more freedom to design and not have to switch back and forth between softwares to create details.

Anonymous said...

Text editor!
Text editor!
Text editor!
Why not a text editor?

Anonymous said...

2 years of wasted subscription money. I'm sick of it. I didn't even bother with 2014. It looks like 2015 will sit in the drawer too. I may give it one more year, then I'm bailing on upgrades. 2013 works just fine for me.

Steve said...

Not installing and using the new release is a bigger waste of subscription dollars. The performance improvement from 2013 to 2014 alone was enough motivation for me. Same is true of 2015.

There is no new feature I won't come to appreciate having over the coming year. My disappointment is that they did not get more done this past year.

Rick Berry said...

So steve, as you said, you are also dissapointed with this release. Will you voice this to Autodesk since you have closer contacts with them? I'm curious what their reaction would be?

Steve said...

They know. They set their agenda. They also know more about what is required to accomplish any given task than I do, the nuts and bolts of getting things done. In my seat it is very easy to decide that things they've not done are easy or should have been done already.

In the end I can only keep pressing them for more, more vision, to stretch their own goals, to act on our wish lists with more urgency.

No company stays on top forever, no software dominates forever so unless they stay focused and deliver what their customers want/need, another one will step into the limelight eventually. At the moment it is their "game to lose".

Rick Anderson said...

I don’t think we should give Autodesk the fault for the disastrous development of Revit over the past decade. On the contrary, most Autodesk products like Inventor, Maya, 3ds Max, Alias have a much higher customer’s satisfaction level than Revit. These software do a terrific job for what they were made for. If you take a look at Inventor, they have gotten 14 new free form modeling tools in the new release which is marketed as one new feature. So for starters, where Revit needs to emphasize sketch lines, or view references as a major earth shattering feature (understandably since there are no other major features to market), Inventor gets 14 new tools as a small part of many other features and enhancements. So eventhough they are the same company, it appears that each department is very autonomous within the same company. Second of all, the fact that all software gets at every release new features and enhancement concerning the core of the software which is modelling tools, Revit doesn't get any of that, while Revit's modeling tools are amongts the most limiting of Autodesk whole portfolio. Also this suggests that Revit is a company on its own within a bigger company. So in that sense, we should really focus our attention on the people making Revit or the decision makers of Revit instead of Autodesk.

Anonymous said...

Lets not forget the icon change. We pay at least $30,000 for that, not to mention hours spent unnecessarily installing this on every single machine, and then forcing our consultants to do likewise. At least this way we don't have to waste any time training our employees.

Anonymous said...

"They know. They set their agenda. They also know more about what is required to accomplish any given task than I do,"

Ahhh. Finally, someone said it.

Steve said...

The text of what follows is a comment this post received this morning.

Like it or not, it's my blog so I get to choose how bad the language gets. All comments are moderated. That means I see them before they get seen by anyone else as noted on the sidebar. That's because of spambots offering their prescription drugs and other products/websites.

Instead of just deleting the comment wholesale, which is the only option Google's Blogger gives me for moderating a comment, I removed the last sentence.

Comment begins:

Autodesk chose to purchase Charles River software rather than develop their own BIM solution.

That's why Revit is so different from(read: sh-**-er than)other Autodesk products.

They are ultimately responsible for releasing this sorry piece of s-*t, and continuing to refuse to fix the multitude of glaring problems (mainly because it would be a de-facto admission that those problems existed in the first place.

Instead, you get bs like the items in this list.


-Last sentence excluded-

Steve said...

Rick Anderson said...
...I don’t think we should give Autodesk the fault for the disastrous development of Revit over the past decade. On the contrary, most Autodesk products like Inventor, Maya, 3ds Max, Alias have a much higher customer’s satisfaction level than Revit...

Thanks for commenting. In my view the difference between Revit and the products you mentioned is that they weren't uprooting an established encumbent like Autodesk's own AutoCAD or entrenched computer based hand drafting practices.

Autodesk products ARE run by their own teams and management. Inventor's team is not responsible for Revit or vice versa. It is easy to assume that both product teams are within easy reach of each other to chat about this or that.

For example Inventor's team is primarily in Portland, Oregon while Revit is in two cities in different states on the east coast with supporting teams in China and other parts of the world. Revit is also three products with an overarching platform group.

Inventor was created from scratch by Autodesk but along with some key acquisitions of staff and technology. Maya/Alias was an acquisition. Max has a more convoluted story, within, then apart from Autodesk and then back.

One story I've heard has it they bought Revit, in part, because they hoped to avoid the major capital expense of building something like it from scratch based on lessons learned from doing so with Inventor.

I wouldn't describe Revit's development as disastrous in overall or in terms of this release's lackluster list. One release doesn't define the history of a product nor its future.

Unknown said...

Actually, when I think about it, it's not Revit or revit 2015 I'm upset about. It's not the lack of new features that I'm upset about. It's not the fact that wishlists keep getting ignored that I'm upset about. That's not it at all.

AutoDesk has the right to upgrade whatever it wants. They have the right to concentrate on MEP or Structural or whatever else they wish to. Revit is a strong program. Revit is better than drafting by hand (somebody mentioned that above).

What am I really mad about?

Subscriptions. That's it.

They have a right to keep putting out sub-par updates, but unless I want to get stuck paying a huge tab in a few years (when there is an upgrade worth buying) I have to keep paying this absurd subscription.

Even if I were not to buy 2015. Just on principle. They still win. Because at their current prices, I would have to wait at least 6 or 7 years to "break even" (by that I mean the point at which several years of subscriptions equals the full purchase price).

They know I can't keep working in one version for 7 years.

So, they got me.

And that's why I'm pissed really. Not about sketchy lines.
But about the fact that I have to pay for them.

Bonnie and Dave said...

While I would like to upgrade to take advantage of some of the structural improvements, I can't upgrade due to the backward compatibility issue. Architects are less likely than ever to upgrade to a disappointing release. Meaningful improvements to the text editor would have had everyone upgrading.

derek said...

There are several problems with Revit. And let me begin by saying Revit is the biggest P.O.S. software I've ever used in my over 20 yrs of working with CAD/CAM/CAE products. It's horrible, I hate it. First of all, AutoDesk is a software company, they dont actually design buildings, or MEP systems. So, we get what they think we need, rather than us telling them what we need to do our jobs. Second of all, AutoDesk got cheap/lazy and bought a crap software in the beginning and has just pile on top of the original crappy foundation...guess what?? You're still left with crap. The only way Revit would be good would be if they completely blew this thing up and started fresh from scratch, the way they should have about 8 yrs ago.

Steve said...

Feel better now? :)

rbcameron1 said...

I'd side a little with Derek on this in terms of: Its probably not a bad idea to re-write Revit from scratch. It was programmed in what, the late 90's? Look what Autodesk has been able to do with Fusion and even FormIt in just a year or two.
With all due respect, Revit does feel like its 20 year old software and that's not Autodesk's fault since they bought it and transformed it. It was less risky. What is the future with cloud services...Can it truly run on the cloud? Not in the same sense that Fusion does. You have to have a remote software package, a tank of a server and so on. Think of all the legacy files that are associated with Revit if it were to be re-coded, re-programmed, etc... Heck, look at Vasari and Dynamo, if I'm not mistaken, they are written in newer languages and they are awesome and CONSTANTLY updating. I think the whole idea of "release 2015,16,17" is outdated too. It is just one steady stream. Update 4.0.1, update 4.0.2, update 4.1.1 etc...that way you aren't tied to a yearly...oh wait.

Steve said...

Revit isn't written in some ancient language. It's been essentially rewritten at least once by now, in part because of the effort required to provide the API. The other applications named don't do more than a tiny percentage of what Revit provides.

Anonymous said...

I heard that in odd years minor changes are made--while even years have larger upgrades.

I would like to see DWF markup support, this is a great feature that has not been developed well.

Steve said...

There isn't a simplistic we do this in odd years and that in even years. Every thing is a project, little or small and it gets a scope, budget and staff assigned...if it get's on the table. Some projects take longer to complete or require other things to happen first. I've written it before, it is uncanny how much like architecture/engineering projects software design and creation is.

Revit supports DWF markups... it could do a lot more.

Anonymous said...

... and when will we be able to number sketched stairs steps? The most tedious task in doing plans. And when will we be able to to make distance measurements in the 3d view?

S. K. Ullfvck said...

Revit is the most awesome program I have ever had the pleasure of working with - and the 2015 release is the best yet!!!

Anyone who doesn't think so is probably hung up on unimportant things like 'productivity' or 'profits'.

It was brilliant the way that Autodesk pulled an end-run around the industry by going directly to government agencies and convincing them to require BIM, meaning that firms would get the opportunity to take advantage of the surprisingly reasonable fees for Revit - which always runs flawlessly on existing hardware/network infrastructure.

Then the employees of those companies get the once-in-a-lifetime chance to be part of finding fun new ways to do their jobs as Revit effortlessly and seamlessly incorporates itself into the workplace.

Anyone who doesn't like Revit is probably just a dinosaur who wants to go back to using pencil/paper to draft. It's just such a pleasure to use - why can't people understand that?

/Sarcasm Off

DDearborn said...

Hmmm

Licensed owner/user of AutoCAD going all the way back R9 in the late 1980's. Licensed ADT/MDT remember MDT anyone? AutoCAD has been pulling this same scam of buying an existing platform and spending the next 5 years trying to sort out the bugs. They never do get it right. Of course the problem with that approach is that spending all your time fixing coding errors doesn't leave much time or money for actually improving the product. And since the platform was never stable to begin with, each change creates new bugs.

I have been using Chief for a decade and it runs circles around Revit. I can generate more output in an hour with chief than a day in ADT. But more importantly the limitations imposed by ADT (aka Architecture) are so severe it makes the software useless. Chief also works in 3d in real time with textures adding shadows takes literally seconds.

It is only $400 a year as well. And take a long hard look at how the platform has been developed. Its updates are completely User centric and user demand driven. And of course it can generate dwg files for export. Best architectural design software I have ever used. It is not suited for large commercial projects. But neither is it limited to residential design. I always had a love hate relationship with Autodesk. Eventually I couldn't stand them anymore so we got divorced.

JMN said...

I enjoy the progress and changes. Revit can be frustrating, but it has made progress (and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel where bugs are exceptional instead of normal).

Now that I got that feel good stuff out of the way, it would be really nice if we had a decent text editor. I don't think that's too much of a request, especially after several years of such a basic item being completely relegated. Am I missing something? Is it really all that hard?

Steve said...

Yes it is harder (text editor) than we might think, in my opinion not 14 years in the making hard, but much harder than plugging in something "off the shelf"...at least that's what I've been told.

naturlig_canuck said...

adding my two bits and hoping (but not expecting) that someone at autodesk i reading.

What about the obviously necessary and seemingly easy fixes like:
- filterable print list
-sorting of filters in the filter editor (default sorted chronologically? why, why, why not alphabetically???)
-"paste to selected views" window that can be re-sized.

These are things that annoy real people doing real work, every day. I can't imagine they're too hard to fix either.
But waiting to see it with each release, but no. Not this year either...

Anonymous said...

I have been using Revit 2015 for a few days and there is really nothing new...
the only thing I can see is that now you can chose between raytracer and mental ray for rendering..

Anonymous said...

can I use more than 16 cores in revit for rendering?

I'm buying a new pc and I 'm thinking about dual xeon 16 cores .... (64 cores total)

can I ???

Thanks.

Steve said...

Anonymous - this link is for the system requirements. It states that up to 16 cores can be used (that's primarily for rendering, a few other operations also support being multi-threaded)

http://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/System-requirements-for-Autodesk-Revit-2015-products.html

As I understand it Mental Ray is Nvidia based while Raytracer is based on Autodesk's own technology...gazing into my crystal ball...what the future holds, nobody knows.