Why I use Revit

Mar 3, 2018
3 min read

To give you a little bit of background, I matriculated in 2013 and was fortunate enough to work for a full year at an Architecture firm in my hometown, Ikamva Architects. Thereafter I began my studies in Architectural Technology at Nelson Mandela University in 2015.

Starting fresh out of school at a full professional Architecture firm was probably the largest challenge I had to complete in my life. My work description required me to work on a computer software called Revit, that I knew nothing about. A couple of weeks later with endless night’s drawing and learning on this software I was totally fluent on Revit, for an amateur draftsperson straight out of school. Only a few weeks later the firm trusted me with drawing up as-built plans and presenting 3D’s and renders. Today I can guarantee you that with Revit I’m probably working about 40 – 60% faster than anyone on AutoCAD. Drawing in Revit opened a whole new world for me, from 3D printing models to doing a quick detailed design in only a day or two. Today when doing tasks in my B-Tech Applied design degree I am forever great full for taking the time to learn Revit.

Both AutoCAD and Revit are widely used CAD software to create 2D drawings such as floor plans, elevations, details, etc.; 3D models and objects; construction documents, and rendered images. While there are many differences between Revit and AutoCAD, both programs are often used within the same organization. The main difference is that AutoCAD is primarily a drafting tool to create basic geometry that represents real life, while Revit is used to create geometry that’s equipped with real-life information, hence the term building information modeling, or BIM. (Inc, 2018)

With Revit, I’ve completed a full set of construction drawing in a fracture of the time I had to spend on drawing on AutoCAD. This will bring me to my next topic:

Tips and how I use Revit for quick professional drawing:

First of all, as with any other drawing tool, you will have to create a drawing template, how you do this is up to you, but when you’re done you can forget about your template and just enjoy your time on Revit.
Revit offers a streamlined approach to setting line weights. You can adjust the cut or projection line weights of any object via the Manage tab and Object Styles dialog to set projection. For example, by selecting the Walls, door, window and even structure category (after setting up all your line weight for all the different categories on the drawing template) it will automatically adjust your line weights even when you rescale a drawing.
When wanting to add structural details in AutoCAD, unless you have the time or a team to focus on creating the detail elements, it can be very time-consuming. Revit, however, comes with plenty of components for your detail drawings in a Detail family folder available for you in 3D view as well as a side view. There’s no need to spend any time drawing and saving these elements manually.
Revit creates automatic elevations and sections. Depending on how detailed your drawing is, your sections and elevations can turn out really awesome when using Revit. This can probably save you about hours and days of drawing work.
For my design presentations, I can just grab perspective views and 3D’s form Revit instead of going through the effort of redrawing a 3D model in an alternative drawing software. No need for alternative rendering software as Revit is packed with the latest rendering functions to give you supper realistic presentations.
After adjusting my north orientation to match the real site on Revit, I can do a perfect sun study. I can turn on shadows on the floorplan, elevations, sections and 3D’s to create a depth in my drawings (you are able to do this without north orientating your building).

I’m not going to go through all the functions of Revit but these basic things I explained above is why I save myself from hours of drawing.

Below is some of my Revit work for presentations: (I wont add a lot of information due to the Confidentiality of my drawings)