I was just reviewing Chris D?s list of what VW cannot do as a BIM tool. There are areas where VW needs improvement, including the BIM arena, and these areas are being addressed. But there are other factors to the practice and workflows of each individual that should really drive a decision on what tool you want to use.
But first and foremost, I want to say, that ANY successful architect or architectural firm that I know of, does NOT use one single application. It?s just not possible for a single tool to fulfill the demands of your desired output as an architect. Just like Bob H said in his post, its about finding the right program(s) that fit your work style and that expression. And, Autodesk falls pretty short when it comes to interoperability and file sharing amongst other programs. I?m not talking about sharing BIM models; I?m talking about basic things like importing PDF?s. Revit can?t do it.
The other thing that I wanted to bring up, is basically asking the question, what is BIM to you? Just like Patrick has said, the majority of tools that are available to create a BIM, actually fail. The software vendors espouse this ideal of what BIM is and what it can do and how wonderful this BIM Utopia is, but the reality of it is that the industry is no where near doing what a BIM is meant to accomplish. Just because an application can do live sections, it does not mean that it is creating a true BIM model. As a matter of fact, the majority of the problems that you have in your list do not necessarily lead to a true BIM. Most are workflow preferences. I don?t want to go through your whole list, but some of them are problems in most applications.
I?m an architect here in the U.S. and I?ve been using Revit since 2009. There are plenty of shortcomings in Revit too ? its not perfect in any sense and you?ll find yourself just as frustrated ? but over different issues and problems. You?ll just be posting on the Revitcity community board instead.
