[Article] Architects Versus Autodesk

edited August 2020 in General

Interesting article written by Daniel Davis. Look on how Revit got a leader position with a strategy based on collaboration. And the mention of Modumate (software based on Unreal game engine) as new technological approach for arch software design.
https://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/architects-versus-autodesk_o

bruno_perdigaozager

Comments

  • Modumate looks pretty interesting. However, their strident request for your payment card information to be logged into the system before you can try out their software and the fact that your project has to be chewed on by their cloud servers before you get 2d drawings out is all a bit off putting. Maybe all that will settle down over time. I find it a good case study though for where the Archipack and BlenderBIM workflow can lead us, with more support for the development teams.

    zager
  • Basically Autodesk is the new Microsoft with their monopoly and a cemetery with a lot of deprecated software, exactly like Microsoft.

    ... but I think they will not take the crown as the best MEP, no matter as much they effort, to achieve that they will need reinvent Revit or buy another software.

  • I saw these other articles related to this discussion, focusing on the cost of revit:
    https://panfilo.co/2020/08/27/the-cost-of-revit/
    and alternative softwares:
    https://allcaps.world/2020/09/03/revisiting-software-costs/

    zager
  • @bruno_perdigao
    ... and this just apply when the license is paid, generally, this is just done for the biggest firms, students, and teachers probably just use software pirated, as the ArBIM group mentioned, if we fight the piracy pressing our authorities to request counts for each public project, 100% they will need change to use Open Source Software, but probably this is taboo.

    JQL
  • JQLJQL
    edited September 2020

    One of the ways Autodesk started having success with AutoCAD was by how easy it was to have a pirate copy. Archicad used a dongle that made it very difficult for it to be used. I remember a friend of mine using Archicad and being able to deliver a full building in school in one weekend while I used weeks for a worse result in AutoCAD. Even so AutoCAD was available for me to learn and Archicad was not. Eventually every student and office in my country had a pirate copy of it. Piracy became standard and still is.

    jtm2020hyo
  • @jtm2020hyo For sure. Piracy is very common here in Brazil too. Many small office and freelance architects rely their business in pirated software. It amazes my how people don't look for alternatives. It feels like that is just a problem that everyone tries to hide.
    @JQL I wonder how much this is resposibility of architecture schools. Most students are trained in a specific software (usually autodesk's) instead of learning a broader vision about softwares for architecture.

    jtm2020hyopaulleeJanFJesusbillcarlopavJQL
  • edited September 2020

    IMHO exist a missing link between the open-source software and user, this the automation; if we might create automated processes maybe open source finally could beat to the privative software, for example, creating scripts, plug-in, add-ons, macros, etc, everything than privative software is ignoring and underrating...

    ... imagine this scenario:
    A very big project, with 6 months maximum term to finish and the firm needs 20 employees where each one needs a US$ 3000/month Privative Software VS free and open-source software than might finish the same project in some hours...
    ... the choice is evident, and the dream is not impossible.

    I wish than our FOSS creates an alternative or similar to PlayStore and AppStore, our FOSS could take a minimal tax for everyone or free with ads, I mean users and manufacturers all using FOSS.

    JQL
  • @bruno_perdigao I'm not amazed at why people don't look for alternatives. That is not the easier path. Even if you don't have the resources needed to buy software (or you want to invest your resources elsewhere) you will need efficiency. Efficiency is usually achieved by knowing what you're doing. If you learnt a specific software and are proficient with it you will be more efficient, therefore you'll want to use it. For instance, for a starting architectural practice it's almost impossible to pay for proprietary software for Architecture but in order to start and then grow you need efficiency. If you cannot find it in FOSS, piracy is easy. Eventually they grow and will pay for software, so these growing practices are ignored by software companies. The system is well set. Getting free of this cycle is not viable unless you are willing to take a lot of investment into investigating FOSS but you'll have no warranty of success, whilst with proven software, the risk is minimal.

    That is the case with OSArch and BlenderBIM - At this point, there is no warranty of success for anyone envolved, until proven otherwise.

    And I guess this is the purpose of this community: to create tools and help promote tools that prove otherwise. I only understood it yesterday at the meeting.

    I think it must go further, OSArch must not only prove a workflow that is an alternative, it must be better than current software, and that's what attracted me to BlenderBIM. It has Blender behind it, which as a modeller and renderer is huge, and it has the potential to complement what it lacks BIM wise and for documentation. For me, OSArch purpose will be solved if BlenderBIM addresses both of these.

    JanFbruno_perdigao
  • @jtm2020hyo That is one solid way of seeing it. Allowing for efficiency reduces software sales. But, right now FOSS for architecture isn't more efficient. If it can strive at it, then it's a great path.

  • As users, probably we do not should care more about what are doing our developers, maybe we just should trust them blindly...

    as users, the only site where we can do a change is using APIs, Plug-in, Add-on, Scripts, Macros, etc and share our work, the main Achilles heel in the open-source community is the facility of use, IMHO.

    IMHO, the best example of what we should be are AutoLISP and VBA Autodesk community, they are too old and become too strong with each year than can be a real alternative to Revit since AutoCAD.

    I would very much like to hear your views in your comments and video call about if they agree or disagree or what other proposals exist because we still do not have a way.

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