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SDimps

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As a Revit user for almost 15 years, and as the subscription/maintenance model has now changed, Autodesk are forcing me to look at alternatives.

As I retain the perpetual licence, I am not in desperate need to suddenly change. I am however looking for an alternative.

 

I came across VW amongst other software solutions, and I have been searching online for tutorials/videos and cannot find any that show how to get started, from drawing a simple floor plan with doors/windows, to adding a floor/roof, to creating sections/elevations, and creating views/sheets for exporting.

 

There are a large amount of tutorials online for the other software (Archicad) I am trialling at the moment (6 months free trial!), while the company offered training, the cost was far too expensive for a software that I may decide not to use. I would like to trial VW, but if I can't find any worthwhile tutorials to at least get me started, then it's pointless installing the software for 30 day trial, if at the end of 30 days I'm still none the wiser.I am looking for a reason to trial the software but I am struggling to find one at the moment.

 

I will be one of what I think will be a growing number of sole trader small businesses taking this route in the future, so it would be a good time for both VW and Archicad to promote their products.

 

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I think there are lots of good video tutorials for VW.

E.g. on their YouTube channel.

Especially starter tutorials, which got much better since

I started VW with these. It is good to even just watch VW

tutorial videos for entertainment, to get a feel for VW and

its possibilities.

As, I have now real clue about how Revit works, but I expect

that it works totally different than VW. And at the beginning

you may just more miss all Revit comforts, which may not

be in VW, before getting aware about VW Pros until you get

more familiar with these.

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@SDimps What types of buildings do you design?

 

Vectorworks may or may not work for you... Depends on how much you used Revit, what level of detail you need to work to, and what outside parties you regularly need to collaborate with.  If you structural and MEP consultants are heavy into Revit, prepare for a big learning curve getting them the data they need out of Vectorworks.  It's possible, but set aside plenty of time dialing it in.  Revit, though far from perfect, just seems to do a better job on addressing architectural features, specs, and coordination with other disciplines.

 

The ArchiCAD architects I work with seem to produce higher levels of detail than what Vectorworks can easily achieve.  I trialed ArchiCAD for a few weeks and it seems to be the ideal tool for architects.  Their tutorials were easy to follow and get you moving quickly.  I was able to model my house and a multi story office building within a week.  Their sales person told me they had a pool designer using it to make water features and such, but they never provided further detail so I abandoned exploring it further.  I am a landscape architect so neither ArchiCAD nor Revit make my life easier compared to Vectorworks with it's tools for my industry.  I use Vectorworks to model and document the occasional building for architects and builders that I enjoy working with.  It does a nice job on multistory residential and commercial buildings.  I don't think I would want to use it on a stadium or high rise project with complicated structure and MEP, but it's certainly possible.

 

It all boils down to what you need to produce and who you need to coordinate with.  Vectorworks does a nice job on buildings and you can get to a decent level of detail within the package without having to do much outside the program.  But just like Revit and all the other BIM packages, you will have to dedicate a good amount of time defining your workflow and building your assets (in Vectorworks... styles for walls, slabs, doors, windows, roofs, etc...)  Once you have your components defined, it's pretty fast.  @E|FA's endorsement of archoncad is solid.  I don't know of a better resource to teach you the finer points and tricks to Vectorworks architecture.

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