Can anyone compare Chief Architect with REVIT LT

[Fun2Learn]

Hi. I am trying to decide between buying either Chief Architect full version or Revit LT. I am consdiering starting a small design/drafitng business out of my home.(I am a former architect--see below for more info.) I was all set on Chief, but noticed that Revit LT is now only $1195 including the autocad subscription that lets you do high powered rendering in the "cloud" (Not sure if I would even need this, however.) I am not sure which one to choose.

I like Chief, and am familiar with it and comfortable with it after playing around with the free trial (and for years I've owned a very early version of a CA non-professional home design software.) Any chance that CA might lower their prices to compete with REVIT, have a sale, or offer a rebate??? Are there any advantages to CA that would make the much higher price of CA worth the cost? I don't like some of the restrictions on CA Lite (like not being able to import manuf. catalogs for one. That would be very hard if I did kitchen remodeling.)I think I wouldn't be happy without the full version if I got CA. However, Revit LT sounds comparable to CA's Premier from looking at the features as shown on the company websites, but it is hard to tell as they dont' use the same terminology.(I'm not sure if REvit LT can import from manuf. catalogs, for instance.)

From what I can tell, Revit LT sounds like it is comparable to CA as far as the market they are designed for (small business, sole proprietor). Has anyone here compared the two feature-wise? Any thoughts? I haven't downloaded the free trial of REvit yet, because my present computer isn't powerful enough for it--it is the full version of the actual REVIT LT. I need to buy a new computer, even if I get CA, but CA's free trial is working on my "old" computer just fine. (BTW-REVIT's free trial lets you save files, unlike chief, which would make it easier to test drive, though it is only for 30 days. Though Chief's trial is not limited as to how long you can keep it on your computer, it is really hard to test a product like this when you have to start from scratch (redrawing basic walls, etc.) each time you sit down to it. It is hard to get past the basics in one sitting.)

I am thinking that if my home business doesn't take off, I may need to go back to work in an architecture firm or something similar. Do many architects, (other than sole proprietors who obviously wouldn't be hiring anyone), use CA? Also, if I want to market my design/ drafting services to contractors in my area, would CA offer benfits to them that REVIT wouldn't have? It sounds like (from reading forums like this) that many contractors already work with CA. That might be a plus. I am located in Maryland, if their are regional differences that might matter.

I'd love any feedback or advice (either on the two cad programs or even about opening a small design/drafting business), I would greatly appreciate it.

Here is more info on my background, fyi: I got my architecture license in CA back in 1990 and a few years later quit working (after about 13 years in the architecture field) when we moved to MD and became a stay-at-home mom. Over the years, however, I designed some remodeling projects for myself and friends, and played around alot with my old 3-D Home Architect CAD (an older CA non-pro product) and several versions of CA's free trial. (BTW--that old, (1997!) version of 3-D Home aAchtiect still works just fine on my windows vista computer and is really pretty amazing when you consider how old it is, and the general state of technology when it was created!)

Thanks for any help!

[perryh]

SEE THIS THREAD http://www.chieftalk.com/showthread....ighlight=REVIT

[function9]

what pery said...IMO sounds to me like you already can use CA and are only doing smaller residential work, in that case I'd stick with CA. I work full time as a commercial designer and we do small and large projects in Revit and its great esp. for BIM and coordination, that said I also run a part time business doing smaller mostly residential stuff and CA is better than Revit. I'm relatively new to CA and already confident I can deliver better documentation in CA than Revit. I'm working on my first project now and already it is shaping up better than I could do in Revit.
Sure, it has some limitations (graphically, linking of views, some tools) but generally speaking it also has a lot of efficiencies that Revit cannot provide due to its complexity such as scheduling, tagging, framing, families/ library item etc...anyway have a read of that thread perry mentioned above as this is just my 2c

[lbuttery]

Any chance that CA might lower their prices to compete with REVIT, have a sale, or offer a rebate???

Lower their price ? - I doubt it

Chief already has Chief Lite and Chief Interiors in that price range

Sales or Rebate ? - maybe - they do offer these at times

Lew

[Mark]

I went to find rivet lt but had no luck can give me a link

[Dave Pitman]

I went to find rivet lt but had no luck can give me a link

Absolutely, no problem.

Rivet

Maybe you weren't being funny, and were looking for Revit LT

[Alaskan Son]

Be careful with any decision to purchase Revit LT. It's really missing A LOT of the functions and capabilities that you would normally associate with Revit... or even Chief Architect for that matter.

[lbuttery]

Be careful with any decision to purchase Revit LT. It's really missing A LOT of the functions and capabilities that you would normally associate with Revit... or even Chief Architect for that matter

Yep, same as Chief Lite and Chief Interiors and the HD product line
they offer less features than Chief Premiere

you get what you pay for

If Revit "Full" costs $6000 and Revit LT cost $1200
they will NOT be the same animal

same as the various Chief Products

I seriously doubt if Revit LT at $1200 can compare to Chief Premiere at $2200

If it truly can, then CA would start to lose customers
some how I don't think CA is worried about that

Lew

[IRISH]

Fun2Learn,

I can tell you beyond any doubt that for what you are wanting to do Revit LT is NOT the program you want. Yes, it can do what you want but it was not designed for it as a program. No, you cannot "import" manuf. catalogs either. You have to either import a "family" or create your own. You are limited to doing renders "in the cloud" and even then you only get 5 times with your subscription. After that you pay extra. There are many good things about the program but for the type of work you are considering, well, Revit LT is not the best use of your time and money.

CA is not really that much more money and the differences between the two programs is huge. You have so many symbols, manuf. catalogs, colors, etc., etc., that come with the program. And you can also import sketchup symbols as well for anything else you might want. Drawing in both programs is easy. Making changes in both is easy. Finer control of the output is greater in CA. Content is greater in CA. I could go on further but I'm getting tired of typing. Another important item to note though is that neither program is backwards compatible. The difference though is that CA does talk with the homeowners editions, with caveats, so your clients "could" buy an inexpensive HD program to play with their design and then pass it off to you. With Revit you are limited to the version the drawing was created in or newer.

Hope all of this helps at least some.

[Francois]

Absolutely, no problem.

Rivet

Maybe you weren't being funny, and were looking for Revit LT

Funny!!! I also hope Mark has your sense of humor.

[Fun2Learn]

Thanks so much everyone. THe link someone gave to a similar thread (though from last year) was insightful; though I couldn't exactly follow all the technical computer talk completely, it was a very sharing it. Reading through all these cad related posts (here and on a revit forum) have left me feeling like architecture has really become quite a different profession. Now, not only do you need to understand construction and how to design a building, (as if that wasn't difficult enough), you now also need to be a bit of a computer engineer! Just reading the technical info on autocad and revit is a bit overwhelming. (I just wish the price was reversed and Chief was the cheapest!)

Irish--thanks for the specific info. That is very helpful and exactly what I was looking for. I am not sure what they mean by "families"--I assumed it meant objects. It sounds like they have lots of outside sources to import from. Autodesk has a free "homestyler" home design program that lets you design online and then import the "families" into Revit. I guess that RevitLT is so new there is confusion about what it can and can't do. I saw several different features charts online that were a bit different from each other--I think they may have made a few changes from the initial or just made corrections to the chart, maybe?

I posted a similar question on a revit users forum (asking for comparisons of the two programs) and one user said this :

"..Chief (10) worked like sketchup layout, you model the building in a file and put linked images on sheets in the layout file. Updating on the layout sheets is a simple manual process.
In an alteration I'd have two models, existing and proposed which had various views linked to the layout file.
Unfortunately there is no demo function. Clearly showing the extent of work meant hatching demolished area and items in plan, elevation etc and keeping track of that throughout the project. Extremely irritating."

Has this improved on version x5? I imagine I would be doing lots of remodeling projects involving some demo (assuming I'm lucky enough to get some work, LOL).

Thanks again.

[Fun2Learn]

OOPs. I meant to say "Thanks for sharing it!" (the link to the earlier discussion, that is.

[lbuttery]

(I just wish the price was reversed and Chief was the cheapest!)

I think you are comparing apples to oranges

at $1200 I really suspect that Revit LT is closer to Chief Lite or Chief Interiors

Chief Premiere at $2200 probably has many, many more features

In an alteration I'd have two models, existing and proposed which had various views linked to the layout file.

It is the same in X5

I have been suggesting for many versions that Chief be "ehanced" to allow for the as-built and the remod and various alternatives to reside in the same plan
giving us total control via layers which one we wish to view or edit

I guess I don't see it happening any time soon....

Lew

[BREEZE WOOD]

In an alteration I'd have two models, existing and proposed which had various views linked to the layout file.

It is the same in X5

I have been suggesting for many versions that Chief be "ehanced" to allow for the as-built and the remod and various alternatives to reside in the same plan
giving us total control via layers which one we wish to view or edit


Lew

In an alteration I'd have two models, existing and proposed which had various views linked to the layout file.


Lew, isn't that the same as two plans in the same folder ? - I keep several (remodel) plans in the same, folder - to layout and works very well. The title for each plan is descriptive enough to prevent confusion ...

[lbuttery]

isn't that the same as two plans in the same folder ?

Mike:

not the same at all...

create a base model then clone it three times for the various alternatives
such as garage or bonus room or solarium in that same space

now find that you need to make a change to the base model
due to a mistake or a client request

now you have to make that same change to the three alternatives

that in itself can be a PITA
but forget one or make a mistake and not notice ....

if everything was in one plan - no issues at all

Lew