CADtastic 2025 Rundown

Greetings Fellow CAD Holdouts!

I figured it wouldn't be fair to excoriate Revit without holding ACAD to the same standard, but since the software was basically perfected in 2014, I'm not really going to care about 99.9% of what they've done (so long as they don't break anything).

Before we get into it, I had something weird happen last week. I left on Thursday, and everything was working fine, only to come in Friday morning to find that ACAD 2024 had decided to shit itself - receiving a fatal error on launch. I tried rebooting, and it still didn't work. I turned in a trouble ticket to IT (my company doesn't allow any users to do anything to their computers - I can't even delete shortcuts from my desktop without IT's help).

They were like 'huh - that's weird' and asked me the standard IT questions - have you rebooted, do you have sufficient hard drive space, etc. - but couldn't actually figure out a solution. Googling it came up with the option of reinstalling - but my IT guy recommended just going ahead and upgrading to 2025 ACAD. Unfortunately their software installer kept face-planting, and I had work to do - so I pulled up a copy of Plant 3D 2022 that was on my machine for some reason - and after making some tweaks, it worked well enough to do what I needed to do.

I came in this week and 2025 ACAD still hadn't installed, so I kept on with 2022 Plant 3D. I should probably mention that my machine got Windows 11 on it recently - and while that didn't necessarily coincide with my 2024 ACAD issue, it's not impossible that the two are related (of course between Microsoft and Autodesk, there is probably plenty of blame to go around).

Fortunately an IT guy was able to get 2025 loaded today - and I was stunned to see that it successfully imported all of my settings, allowing me to jump right in and start working. Now I'm just waiting for them to figure out how to install 2025 ACAD Electrical - which is giving them fits for some reason. 

But enough of all of that! What's new for 2025 ACAD? 

 I found a pretty comprehensive list on a site called 'TheCadMasters' (i.e. - a bunch of 'dinosaurs' and 'holdouts' that don't have jobs because Revit...).

They start off with (bum bum BUM!!!) 

'UNLEASHING THE POWER OF AUTODESK AI'.

So, that's fucking stupid.

Next is 'Smart Blocks: Redefining Block Management' which seems to be some kind of automation tool (that is guaranteed not to work as advertised - but which does mention 'AI' again, per the new requirements for discussing anything technology related).

And if that's not awesome enough - we have on deck 'Markup Workflows Reimagined' which is great... I guess?

As we dig to the bottom of the barrel, we get 'Enhanced Visualization and Geographic Data Integration' which mentions an improvement to hatching (primarily the ability to define hatch regions manually instead of having to draw something first). I attempted to use it, but everything looked the same. Fortunately I found a video describing how it works - but it only seems to bring up the new options if you select 'hatch' from the ribbon (typing 'hatch' or putting it in the qat inexplicably just brings up the old hatch command) and since fuck the ribbon, I'll probably keep doing it the old... WAIT A FUCKING MINUTE?!? 

Just for funsies, I decided to ask the Autodesk Assistant what the fuck the problem was - and after crafting my query a few different ways, it told me that changing HPDLGMODE from '2' (the default) to '1' would allow me to access the new hatch settings. It was wrong, of course - but setting it to '0' worked!  I told it what I did, and it explained why what I did worked (seemingly ignoring the fact that it was wrong the first time).

I'm not taking back my previous statement regarding AI (especially since Autodesk could've just included a goddamned 'draw' button in the old hatch menu) but I'll acknowledge that it may have some use.

So, where the fuck were we?

'Extend Autocad With API's and 3rd Party Apps' 

It's honestly stunning, and often overlooked just how powerful ACAD is as a piece of software. This made the wholesale Revitard dismissal of it that much more amusing. The sheer number of people customizing it and using it for purposes that I (as  someone who basically just uses it as a drawing tool) can hardly conceive of, is overwhelming.

Obviously people have managed to dig in and force Revit to do things it was never originally intended to do - but I still hold that instead of buying a shitty piece of software and trying to patch it up and limp it along, Autodesk could've simply made their flagship piece of software into a BIM monster if that was the direction they wanted to take the industry.

'Leveraging AutoLISP for Automation'

This is another aspect of ACAD that I've never really taken the time to look into - but I might have to take our little AI buddy out for a spin and see if he can make some suggestions in case there are actually useful tools here.

'Comprehensive Activity Insights' 

This goes into a lot having to do with logging/tracking changes, and other stuff that might have some use to some people, but honestly doesn't really interest me

'Tailored Functionality And Customization With AutoCAD Toolsets'

This goes into industry specific stuff - which, if I can ever get ACAD electrical on my machine (and it doesn't suck) I might do a rundown of. 

'Seamless Collaboration And Connected Design Experience' 

This list is steadily working their way in the direction of 'Bullshit Generation', and again - none of it really interests me - but hey, we've got another functional release of ACAD with one cool new feature (and the potential for Skynet), so I can't complain. 

Unlike Revit, where I sincerely believe they have been reticent to make major improvements to it, as it would be a tacit admission that they've been charging thousands of dollars for a shitty piece of software (figuring it's easier and cheaper to simply indoctrinate a bunch of sad, shitty individuals and have them gaslight the rest of us) - ACAD just keeps doing what it does best - staying the fuck out of my way.

Which is what anyone who doesn't want to get knocked the fuck out needs to do.

Now - if you'll excuse me, I've got an AI to convince not to wipe out the human race (despite some pretty good arguments for the proposition).

As always, fuck this, fuck that, fuck the other thing... Etc. Etc. 

-Skullfuck

(Next Time:???)

Revit Rundown - 2025 Edition

 Well fuck a duck and call me quacky - 2025 Revit is here, and you know what that means...

Not a whole lot.

But hey, as long as we're here, let's take a look!

This Iist is brought to us by some jerkoff Revit loving site called 'BIMSMITH', and even they had trouble making it sound like Autodesk did anything other than rearrange some deck chairs. 

We'll start off with a new version of 'Revit Home' with access to your cloud data...  They claim this 'new home experience brings a consistent, modern, and easier to use homepage that provides a more seamless method of finding models and versions to (laugh) speed up your work flow.

Seriously. It's gonna go downhill from here. 

Next is 'Sheet Collections', which would be a great way for someone with a Mexican accent to describe every version of Revit up to this point.

Then we move on to 'Small Linear Array in Family Editor' - the description of which is 'you can now create small linear arrays that can go down to 1, or (gasp) 0!!!'

Moving on, it's 'Align and Distribute Text Tags and Keynotes', claiming that 'gone are the days of your OCD forcing you to make each adjustment to annotations one-by-one'. Amusing that they can make light of what can be a debilitating mental issue, while also acknowledging that it took until 2025 to be able to align fucking keynotes for fuck's sake. 

And... We're already scraping the bottom of the barrel with the ability to disable/enable wall end wrappings in Canvas. They gave you an *icon* ya'll!!! 

And if that wasn't exciting enough, get a 'load' of this - 'Excavate on Toposolid' is another 'New Feature'. I know of exactly *zero* people who are using Revit to do topography, or who would trust it to calculate volume of excavation.

While we are on the topic of 'new features nobody needs, or asked for' - now you can simplify toposolids too! And don't forget the ability to 'Model By Face Toposolid'!!! And (holy shit!) SMOOTH TOPOSOLIDS!!! (Edit: I just happened to glance back at my 2024 rundown and noticed that 'Simplify Toposolids' was on last years list - with much the same description).

THAT'S FOUR WHOLE NEW FEATURES (out of a list of 20 - otherwise known as 20%) dedicated to MOTHERFUCKING TOPOSOLIDS!!!

It gets more insulting though - because guess what? Now you can use a new rendering engine to 'dramatically improve' the generation of.... (wait for it...) MATERIAL THUMBNAILS!!! 

Then get ready - because you won't have to adjust the width of column dividers every time you open the box because IT REMEMBERS WHAT THE FUCK YOU TOLD IT TO DO NOW!!!

And hold onto your fucking hat, because you can ADD AND DELETE MORE THAN ONE MATERIAL IN THE MATERIAL BROWSER AT A TIME NOW!!!

Now take that hat and eat that fucking thing, because you'll never guess... Oh never fucking mind - it's the ability to have properties (and type properties) in ALPHANUMERICAL ORDER!!!

YES!!! 

BUT THERE'S MORE!!! ROOM PERIMETER ACCURACY IMPROVEMENT!!!

AND

AUTO-JOIN AND LOCK WHEN PLACING WALLS AS A FINISH!!!

Okay, okay, everyone calm the fuck down - oh for fucks sake Jeremy, put your cock back in your pants!!!

Because it's time (cue the kettle drums) for the (cue the smoke machines and laser lights) for the one, the only... (cue sad trombone)... 'New Electrical Feature'... 

Single-Phase within Three-Phase Power Systems

I... Just can't even... 

But no time to dwell on Autodesk's complete disdain for my discipline (I'll throw in a few more from Augi's MEP specific rundown at the end)...

It's time for 'Text Alignment for Multiple Selected Texts'!!! Whaaaa?!?!? 

And just when you thought it couldn't suck any harder - it's 'Dynamo for Revit Updates'!!! That's right folks, *substantial* additions that make it easier to work with linked models, interact with Revit Geometry, and generate topography using our new favorite buzzword 'Toposolid' nodes.

Just in case you lovers of dark themes thought you were getting left out - you no longer have to be 'blinded by the light' (their words) when using schedules.

Funny story... When I first had Revit forcibly inserted into my ocular orifice, one of my biggest complaints was that I was stuck staring at a white screen (changing the background to black wasn't an option because the stupid fucking thing couldn't invert colors), and probably set off my disdain of it from day one. But guess what? 

Now they have 'Automatic Color Conversion for ALL views in Dark Theme!!! And it only took them... A metric fuckton of time to get with the program.

Amusingly, there were two comments on the 'BIMSMITH' page - the first from 'Allex' read 'Autodesk, as usual, did nothing, but called it a new version of Revit...' - and another from 'Michelle that read 'Agreed, it is a very disappointing short list again.'

So, that's it - OR IS IT? 

I decided to swing by Augi (Autodesk's Unbelievably Gullible Inbreeders) to see if they had anything to add, and found an article by Jason Peckovitch who echoed the previous sentiment - calling this release (at the risk of being excoriated by the Revit faithful) 'quite lackluster'.

He repeats the one about single phase electrical components (although neither article goes into any detail as to exactly what this would mean - something that Mr. Peckovitch points out is an issue with many of the 'new feature' descriptions).

Then something about disable mark auto-generation - with a bit at the end about it probably being a good reason not to use Mark and Type Mark parameters, so that's special.

On to 'MEP Parameters' - where the ability has been added to have a 'maximum number of circuits' for data panel schedules (along with Mr Peckovitch's question of whether or not anyone actually uses said schedules).

'Report Low Voltage Panels' is next - with a vague description of what this would consist of.

He mentions that Material Gauge has been added to Fabrication duct work as a read only parameter - which was previously only available for design ductwork - so that's great.

He then does a rundown of general features (because he ran out of MEP specific ones almost immediately.  Some were mentioned before (like sheet collections, and multiple text alignment), but some are new like...

'Background Export to .pdf' - that's right, instead of staring at Revit blankly (i.e. the default Reviteer state) while it grinds out some .pdfs - you can keep 'working'.

He tosses out a quick blurb about 'Autodesk Insight' (requiring the installation of 'Carbon Insights Add-On' in Revit) that has something to do with environmental impact, as well as 'gbXML v7.03 Update' which has to do with importing 3rd party HVAC loads, and then support for five newly supported Horizontal Coordinate Systems, before mentioning Filter Discipline Updates (something to do with new categories from the 2022 release no longer showing up in Visibility/Graphics overrides, or whatever).

With the bottom of the barrel suitably scraped clean, we flip the barrel over and continue with... 

'Extensible Storage Improvements' where he goes on and on about 'schemas' which are data structures created by add-ins in a model or family's extensible storage - which apparently caused conflicts if a vendor recycled the software code and ID in an add-in.

If the above sentence strikes you as something you should have to worry about, you'll be glad to know that in 2025 you can deal with these conflicts better now (apparently Mr Peckovitch ran into issues with this, so I'm sure he's happy that they decided to unfuck it for him).

Further padding out the list is .NET 8 Upgrade (from .NET 4.8l, IFC Export Category Mapping Templates, and 'Improved MEP Fabrication Modeling' - so... Yay? 

If it wasn't already crystal clear, Autodesk has fucked the dog (that's the saying right?) when it comes to Revit. Their paltry lists of 'improvements further solidifying their position on the topic as 'fuck you', and so I bid you, good reader, a fond adieu until 2026.

As always, fuck an Autodesk, fuck a Revit, fuck a 'tard - you probably like it lubed with lard.

Yours, sincerely, et cetera,

-Skullfuck

(Next time: 2025 Autocad?)