Hola Muchachos y Muchachas!
This mierda just keeps getting better.
So it took me a few days to get all of the software I needed on my machine - each package had to be requested and approved, then (theoretically) it would get installed. Some (like ACAD) worked flawlessly, while others required contacting my companies helpdesk, and having it pushed to my computer (after multiple requests failed).
Since ACAD was the only one I needed (and/or wanted) I wasn't worried that much, and I knew that eventually it would get worked out, I didn't let it bother me, and my patience (combined with a bit of coaxing on my part) was rewarded.
Now I have ACAD, ACAD Plant 3D, Microstation, Revit (both 2018 and 2022 since the piece of shit isn't backwards compatible), Acuity Visual, Adobe Acrobat, and Office 365. I also got an IP phone that runs on my desktop that is pretty cute (I can request a hardware phone, but honestly I don't really need one).
My new office makes extensive use of Teams (starting with my interview). I had never used it before, but it has already proven to be highly effective for communicating with co-workers (both in and out of the office), allows me to share my desktop with the engineer (or vice versa), meetings, and organizing projects.
They provided me with a high quality USB noise canceling headset (which makes a hardware phone redundant), and I was impressed how it automatically worked with the applications it was suited for (Teams/Phone), while my earbuds work for all other audio.
The companies Intranet seems to want to run on Edge (which I'm not a big fan of - but I can make it dedicated to that one task), and I installed Firefox (my favorite) and Chrome (just for good measure). I like having multiple browsers in case one decides to take a shit, or someone who didn't know how to test their website on the most common browsers results in HAVING to open their page in a specific one.
Anyway, I was confused when I went to find the Microstation software that I thought I would be using. Years ago one of my old firms had brought in a Bentley representative to show us their BIM electrical design solution - which I've talked about before. When I couldn't find it, I went looking in the Internet, and finally located it again.
They call it 'Promis.e', and in between when I was exposed to it and now, it doesn't appear to have taken off in any kind of noticeable way. A license for it was almost $4300, so I wasn't really inclined to request it (although there is a way for me to request software).
I was puzzling over what it was that projects with a Microstation deliverable would actually consist of - and after speaking to some of my co-workers, was pleased to find out that it didn't involve any kind of BIM, or 3D drawings of any kind, and would literally be the exact same as if the project were being done in ACAD.
One project that a younger designer had been working on, they were simply doing in ACAD with the eventual plan to dump them into Microstation when we were required to turn over our native files. The sheer number of fucks not given put a huge smile on my face.
When I look back on my experience with Revit, it makes me wonder why I didn't just let the retards suck their own dicks while I did whatever I wanted to (well, I did do that, but in retrospect I could've done it while pretending to be on board).
I had no (well, a few) problems populating shitty Revit models with 3D elements like lights, panels, etc. - but (as I've mentioned countless times) the next step was to dump everything into ACAD and doing it my way (cue Sinatra).
On one occasion, I had a pain in the ass architect come crying because he found out that I was giving Revit the middle finger, and they gave me an ultimatum that I had one week to get to Reviting (the fear was that the client, who I can guarantee couldn't give two shits, would 'find out' that my drawings weren't Revit enough.
Instead, I came in for a few hours on a Saturday and dumped all my linework into Revit, made a few tweaks, and first thing Monday morning - handed him a fully 'Revitized' (as far as he was concerned) set of drawings (in glorious 2D .pdf).
I could've basically done this for every project, and nobody would've been the wiser, but I think it had a lot to do with an unwillingness to cave in the face of idiots telling me to waste my time jumping in the Revit nutsack grinder than anything else.
Fast forward to now. I realize 'holy shit - they just want to use Microstation as drafting software' and I decide to jump in with both feet and... Holy fuck, is Microstation an unintuitive p.o.s.
Combine this with a glaring lack of online resources for it (at least when compared to ACAD), and buddy - you are pretty much on your own...
***BUT***
This company is willing to pay me a small fuckload of money to do this job, and Microstation is going to be a reality going forward, so I put my game face on.
Now, most software packages out of the box (ACAD included) are really not ready to go until you go through and configure them, so I figured I would start there.
Apparently Microstation's default units is millimeters, but to be fair, ACAD's is 'absolute units' (but by simply typing 'units' and changing it to architectural, bang - you are in feet/inches for data entry, measurements, and dimensioning).
In Microstation, you have to go to several different (and disparate) places, and change several things that I don't think anyone would ever intuitively think to change. I managed to get it into standard units, but dimensions were displaying decimal instead of fractions.
Some more scouring the Internet and trying various combinations of settings finally convinced it to display feet and inches, show ' for feet and " for inches (instead of ft and in) display fractions of an inch, stack those fractions, and set the tolerance (to prevent getting 365/2864ths etc.)
The one advantage of this clusterfuck operation was that it actually started familiarizing me with all of the different places where settings could be changed. With a few more adjustments I was ready to dive in and try to draw something.
I decided to try duplicating a schematic I was updating in ACAD - and despite a lot of stumbling around (mostly related to muscle memory), I was able to spit out an exact copy of a fairly complex detail.
I had to pat myself on the back for that, because (at least based on what I had read online) it generally takes months (with tutelage) for someone to get to where they can use Microstation - and, in fact, most mentioned that it would actually be better if you hadn't used ACAD.
Obviously those are generalizations, and I'm sure I have a lot more to learn before I would consider myself 'proficient', but I'd say within a month or two of using it, I could be cranking out drawings as (or nearly as) fast as I can in ACAD.
My first order of business, however, will be seeing if I can't bridge the gap between the two software packages. First - because of the project that I mentioned earlier that's going to require importing into Microstation, and second - because it might be good for future projects with a Microstation deliverable to simply be done in it to begin with.
A few keyboard shortcut updates would probably bring Microstation a lot closer to ACAD's user-friendliness, but there may be things that it will dictate (I regularly got the feeling while using it, that the developers would look at how ACAD does something, and purposefully make it different, just for the sake of it not being how ACAD does it).
I'm actually willing to be open to the idea that some of these differences may have actually represent improvements over how ACAD has traditionally done it (a common claim among Microstation afficionados - who, while some across a tad smug, don't even come close to the egotistical jackasses dubbing themselves 'Revit Gurus').
I read several testimonials to the effect of "omg, ya'll - I used to have to write lisp routines in ACAD to do things that are built into Microstation, it's so much faster that I'm actually done before I start!" (sarcasm my own), but even those weren't accompanied by the type of disdain I had heard expressed towards 'ACAD holdouts'.
Speaking of which, bitch - guess what's still around? That's right - ACAD.
It was supposed to go the way of the Dodo, but over a decade later, I wander into a random engineering office, and it's still the gold standard for people who have massive projects to get out on time and on (or under) budget.
In less than the two weeks I've been here, we've already won several more huge projects - on top of several that were already in the pipe and more just starting up. Only *one* of the existing projects has a Revit component (probably some idiot who got convinced by a Revit Dick Socket that it was the way to go).
Hopefully that's the last one. The death rattle of a useless clusterfuck of epic proportions.
As always, fuck Revit, fuck 'Revit Gurus' - you self-important, narcissistic, dick rags, and if you don't like it... FUCK YOU.
Sincesquarely,
-Skullfuck
Next Time: Another Year, Another List of Useless Bullshit.
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