The latest project I have attempted to undertake in Revit is a restaurant.
It should have been a breeze compared to the medical project that I completed - which is currently going through various revisions - and now 'value engineering' because the architects WAY overshot the owner's budget (which, of course, means that they need to use cheaper light fixtures - go figure...)
I was able to get the file set up fairly easily, primarily because it is a brand new building, doesn't have a bunch of files linked to it, and is only one floor - but as soon as I started attempting to work on it, I was back to square -135138956 when it came to getting anything accomplished.
I started with lights in the kitchen - simple, 2x4 grid, 2x4 fixtures, something I've done hundreds and hundreds of times before. Oh wait - since I'm in my Electrical file with the Architectural linked in, I can't adjust the ceiling grid, so I have to basically ignore it and try to lay out the fixtures to avoid the hoods, partition walls, etc.
I got something resembling a layout done in the kitchen (more accurately - something resembling total fucking shit, especially considering the amount of time I spent fucking with it), so I decided to take a look at the dining room. The owner is selecting a bunch of custom fixtures (that I can guarantee they can't fucking afford - and will probably end up 'value engineering' out later - and that ran me up against my next problem.
None of the manufacturers of the fixtures they are selecting have 3d models of them (in any format, much less Revit). Now - I could spend hours in the family editor making some passable models of them - but not only is that not my fucking job, it adds exactly ZERO to the electrical schematics, and only serves to flesh out the architects 'rendering'.
I will be blown away if those fixtures end up being the same ones they end up installing (whether they get taken out because of budget, or changed because restaurant owners are notoriously flaky as hell), so I'm given two choices - the one above, or trying to put some kind of place holder in the model so that I can actually get my drawings done sometime this decade.
The problem being - if I put place holders in the model, people immediately start treating them like gospel, and doing their design around them. In ACAD I wouldn't give a fuck - I would show a circle, square, rectangle, what-the-fuck-ever, and give it a letter so they can refer to the fixture schedule (which will have important information like mounting height, wall vs. ceiling, etc.) since the 3d aspect means fuck all when you print out a 2d lighting plan. If I try to just slap something in this dining room so I can actually get work done, it will be a clusterfuck faster than you can say 'clusterfuck'.
So, as usual, I'm sitting here pissed off, being unproductive, and pondering the 'unthinkable', which is reverting this fucking thing to ACAD, and letting the goddamned architects worry about fleshing out their pretty little dollhouse. Now - I can understand some designers not having a problem with (and even enjoying) working hand-in-hand with the architects and other disciplines in order to develop an amazing 3d working model, complete with 'intelligence', and whatnot.
I can understand this primarily because that I know statistically, a certain percentage of designers are going to have some kind of mental defect that prevents them from realizing that what they are doing is a waste of fucking time and money. This mental defect also prevents them from being able to understand my point of view - which is productivity above all. Even most seasoned Reviteers will admit (under pressure) that they spend a lot of time flailing, chasing 'workarounds', and basically fucking off.
The ones making the specious claims of 'omg - Revit is so much more productive' (as I have said before) are a bunch of fucking liars. I have no doubt of this, because I have seen 'plans' from several firms that were developed in Revit, and besides their presentation graphics looking like total ass, taking up several sheets to show something that could have been done in one sheet (and still have more clarity than their bullshit), AND be totally fucking wrong - over and over, because the 'designer' was dicking with Revit instead of actually coordinating with people, and spending their time doing electrical design (or whatever their discipline is).
Maybe some of these people work at firms where their work is spoon fed to them, to where they never have to do any actual 'design' work, and are strictly glorified drafters. I could see that being the case, because it would explain the dismissive attitude, and the blank stares when I start trying to explain the tools I need to do my job (which is a hell of lot more difficult than simply drafting/modeling something where someone else has already done all of the thinking).
To them, Revit might also be 'teh awesome' because (as I've probably said previously), it allows them to fuck off for hours and hours at a time, and not really have anyone be able to know whether they were busy putting the finishing touches on a family, or playing 'farmville' or some equally stupid shit on Facebook. If anyone calls them out as being unproductive, then they have the 'well, Revit takes more time' excuse (which I have heard used at my firm, and at other firms as well).
They've (both users and Autodesk) basically taken it upon themselves to redefine the job that electrical designers are responsible for - claiming that in the future there will be rainbows and sparkle-ponies shooting out of your ass, when in reality, in a shitty economy, we need to be cranking out as many projects as possible - with as little overhead as possible. The reasoning has been that while we are 'slow' (read: unprofitable) we should retool for the (equally unprofitable) future.
All we are really doing is wasting fucking time, money, mental effort, and pissing me the fuck off.
I've mentioned before that I only ended up in this line of work by a fluke - and while I still enjoy doing what I do, this Revit bullshit has been seriously testing my patience. It might be time for me to move on - and let the Reviteers keep on wasting obscene amounts of time and money until they either finally demand that Revit stop sucking balls (and hold Autodesk to it), or admit that will never happen because too many sell-out fucks and corporate shills have managed to smokescreen everyone into thinking it is the 'shiznit'.
I could understand someone arguing for Revit, even defending it's myriad shortcomings to a point, but when they start to get the blank stare, and refuse to admit anything is wrong, they become apologists.
And I fucking hate apologists.
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