Revit 2017 is a... thing?

Every year Autodesk shits out another version of Revit - and Revitards everywhere lap it up.  As I've said, with the compilation of all disciplines into one 'Uber Revit', specific disciplines like Electrical get pushed further and further into the background.  Reading the list of 'enhanced features' for 2017 is one of the saddest fucking things ever.

From some cocksucking dildo posting on: https://revit.news/2016/04/whats-new-in-revit-2017/
an almost cut & paste of the advertisement from Autodesks website, with a few pathetic attempts at shoring up another fucktastic release (that everyone now has to switch to, or they won't be able to open anyone else's files.

Plenty of buzzwords with little to no substance:

'enhancements will help drive more efficient processes within an extended, multi-discipline building information modeling workflow'

Jesus Fucking Christ dude - just go balls deep on the Autodesk cock why don't you?

'Fasten your seatbelt - Revit 2017 is the fastest and best performing release yet'.

More like fasten your face to the Revit cock.


"More operations running with multi-threaded capabilities improve overall software performance by as much as 20%."

Holy fuck - 20%?!?!?! That's a... number.

"With multiple improvements and user-requested updates that simply help make features easier to use, Revit 2017 further contributes to user productivity."

I'm not even sure if the person who wrote those words has ever used Revit.

"Revit expert, author and trainer Paul Aubin experienced this running Revit 2017 for more than six days straight commented. “At the end of the week I realized, wow I never had to restart, and I fully suspect it would have kept running”

Mr. Aubin is impressed with the fact that he never had to restart... that's... just fucking hilarious at this point.

"Get more into-and out of-a Revit model"

Just... wow.

"Revit 2017 gives users tools to create models that even more accurately and completely represent what will ultimately be built, connecting design and fabrication workflows"

Okay - they are really getting on my nerves by basically repeating the same goddamned thing over and over with slightly different wording.  And nobody is using your fucking model to fabricate shit, so get your head out of your ass.

"Embed design intent in a model by using Global Parameters to drive dimension and element instance parameters."

'Global Parameters' is one of the only actual 'new features' I've seen touted - but damned if I can tell what the fuck it's actually supposed to DO.  

Mr. Aubin elaborates "The potential for global parameters is huge,” adds Aubin. “You can start creating design relationships between objects that aren’t even next to one another. They could be in totally different areas of the building, but you’ve got a global point of control.”

Well, that cleared that up...

 "With Revit 2017 designers can include the higher level of detail needed for downstream fabrication and building, modelling projects of any size and complexity."

Again with the 'downstream fabrication'.  Nobody that has actually worked in this industry for more than five minutes harbors any delusions that someone is going to hang their hat on a model that a first year intern shat out in Revit.  Every single fabricator in existence develops their own drawings (typically in ACAD).

 "Mechanical detailers can automate the fabrication model layout and convert design level of detail model elements to fabrication level of detail elements."

Did you get that?  It's almost like word soup.

"Structural engineers can improve the definition of design intent, or the level of detail for reinforcement modelling and documentation, to better connect steel design to detailing workflows."

Fascinating.

From another Revit Dick-Socket's site: http://redstack.com.au/support/blog_posts/whats-new-in-autodesk-revit-2017

A feature called 'depth cueing' (because god knows there weren't enough settings for depth/visibility in Revit already).  One buzzword (or buzzphrase) they keep using is "making your visuals 'pop'", which is what I'd like to do to the head of the person who first came up with that.

"'Text improvements'  - a top ten wishlist item since version 1.0"

That's no shit - although I'm willing to bet that the 'improvements' still don't address most of the major issues with the shitty text editor.

"Improved railing hosts"

(Facepalm)

"Global parameters bring the power of parametric families into the project environment to better capture design intent."

 Oh, we're back to this kind of shit again are we?

"Use global parameters to drive the value of a dimension or a constraint, associate to an element instance property to drive its value, or report the value of a dimension, so the value can be used in the equations of other global parameters. For example, a standard corridor width requirement can be associated with any dimension we use between corridor walls."

Not just back to it, doubling down on it...

"Rendering"

This at least goes back to what the real reasoning behind modeling everything out is - giving your customer something they can look at.  Just like back when we used to... do renderings.  Walkthroughs are great too - you can 'ooh and ahh' your customer with a fully 3d representation of the building that they can't afford, won't have designed on time, and will end up having to radically alter to fit budgets/schedules.

"Reference Planes"

One of the most useful features in Revit - making it possible to put shit where you need to put it (the other guy that I used to work with used to damn near just coat any building he was designing with reference planes to prevent having to have anything be hosted on the building itself.

They acknowledge that anyone using Revit (not me thank god) might start to run into problems with the feature that allows reference planes to come into the model from families due to the inconsistent nature of various content developers (product manufacturers, etc.).

The list goes on and on - but fucked if any of it has any real meaning to the average Revit user who is just trying to get their project done.  I can't find it now, but one of the 2-3 electrical 'enhancements' (they aren't even bothering to claim they are adding new features anymore) had to do with being able to group electrical circuits the way they actually get grouped (i.e. 1,3,5 or 2,4,6) which should have been that way from day one.

It's just another sad release, crumbs tossed to the morons who love Revit, and more lies and empty promises to the ones who continue to struggle to do their fucking jobs while the Autodesk bootheel grinds down harder and harder on their necks.

Fuck Revit 2017.

Fuck Autodesk, Fuck Revitards, and if you don't like it - FUCK YOU.

Skullfuck Out.

(Next time - Branching Out)

Reviting Is The Soul Of Shit

Oh glorious day - not a Revit in sight.

Then I get this file for a government project - which, of course, requires everyone else to get their Revit on (but not me, because fuck Revit, that's why).  My firm had already designed and installed a fairly elaborate system on the second floor, and they wanted to do the same thing on the first floor.

Oh wait, I'm sorry - did I say the 'same thing'?  As usual, 'the same thing' was radically different, and the guy heading up the project has since sent me four different iterations (let's put all the equipment on this wall in one place, no wait, let's put all the equipment on the far wall, and distribute it, let's divide it up like this, let's divide it up like that).

No problem of course, because I can flip it, smack it, and send it on it's way - plus we are trying to get in on the front end so that our equipment takes precedence and everyone else has to work around it - and instead of plopping it into a Revit file where someone will promptly ignore it, the client actually has a (highly qualified) guy responsible for coordinating the different disciplines.

I was able to infer quite a bit of how the structure of the building worked from the old second floor project, but I went ahead and requested a structural plan - and found one column line was different (which was a mistake on the part of whoever did it the first time, as they had mistaken a grid line on the sheet for a column line).

That was a minor issue that nobody caught the first time, and nobody likely would have caught this time - I might've not caught it either, but then I received someone's sketch of proposed air handling unit locations - and while inserting them into my drawing noticed the discrepancy (along with noticing that some of the second floor columns in their model were offset - derp).

The beams going across were my biggest concern - as some are deeper than others.  Fortunately (for now) I will only have to go underneath one of them (instead of all of them - which is what would have happened if the HVAC reviteer had been allowed to lay out their equipment first).  Between sprinkler/water/air piping, ductwork, lights, and structure - even a high ceiling starts to fill up quickly.

Looking at .pdfs of their model (which is, thank god, the only way I have to be exposed to their model) they already have some return duct that is starting to threaten to impinge on my space, but I'm already forcing them to move some air handlers, so I may be willing to work around it.  It appears to be up against the deeper beams, but it also gets bigger and bigger as it makes its way back.

There was also a sad smattering of lights - some of which appeared to have attached themselves to one of the (doubtlessly massively bloated family) data racks and rotated to the angle of whatever the hell it attached to.  Whoever put it in was probably cussing as they attempted to insert it repeatedly, only to have nothing appear to happen (since the racks were most likely below their view range).

I can picture the conversation when someone finally notices it:

Revit Junkie: 'Why do you have lights attached to the data racks?  Did you mean to do that?' 

Electrical Designer: 'FUCK YOUR GODDAMNED FUCKING BULLSHIT MOTHERFUCKER'

Revit Junkie: 'Hehe - yeah, Revit can be a pain sometimes - you just have to learn how to do things its way!'

Electrical Designer: 'FUCK DOING THINGS REVIT'S WAY - AND FUCK YOU FOR WILLINGLY BENDING THE FUCK OVER AND ACCEPTING IT!!!'

And the same goes for everyone out there still willingly bending over and accepting it - Fuck you, fuck Autodesk, and FUCK REVIT.

-S.F.

Next time: a (necessarily) brief review of the electrical 'improvements' in Revit 2017.

The Ninth Circle Of Revit

I was pondering just how PTSD several years of being exposed to Revit had made me (and based on posts and comments of other people banging their heads into their desks, questioning how the fuck they had gotten stuck with this idiotic bullshit - other people are in the same boat), when I picked up a hotel project that someone shat out in Revit while apparently high on crack.

After eliminating a handful of 12,000 line segment gooseneck lights from the front of it (linework so dense it was almost generating a 3d surface - for no discernible reason), I started cleaning up the drawings for my use.  That's when I ran across their third floor that was either cut at the wrong height, had the wrong view depth setting, or one of a bajillion other settings that are necessary to tweak in order to get an actual plan view out of Revit - making it to where the doors into the bathrooms weren't showing up (and these were the drawings they submitted - which means they were reviewed and signed off on - without anyone in their firm noticing).

I'm sure they are there - but I'm just looking at the wall above them (since they are shorter than the doors coming into the room from the hall - which are showing up fine).  A Revit apologist would probably just toss out an 'oh yeah - just tweak this' but I can guarantee that if I were still in Revit 'just tweaking this' would result in something else breaking (that's the way it tends to work).  Then it would be four hours later, two calls to the Architect Lackey/Reviteer, three to 'Revit Guru', and I would finally be able to start work (and then crash headlong into the next problem).

Fortunately, since I was in ACAD, all I had to do was spend a minute or two deleting the remnants that were still visible (they are sliding doors - that apparently block the closet adjacent to the bathroom when the door is open), copying the necessary linework into place, and then trimming the wall segment out.  That's when I start to notice other mistakes they made because of their fucked up view settings - bathroom countertops extending into walls, walls that stop short of other walls or overlap, doors that overlap desks, etc.

Then it's on to plumbing fixture locations that got screwed up when they moved walls around (and of course - no standardization, with nearly every single room layout with custom dimensions), and finally - fixing the exterior doors so you can tell that they are entrances/exits - and not a stack of lines showing the curb, wall above the door, and other stuff that inexplicably extends part of the way into the openings (oh - and these issues are all evident on the .pdf construction document set I received from them - so it's not a problem with exporting to ACAD).

My next task was to decipher their typical floor plan layouts - they actually did a good job of distilling down a building full of rooms into one sheet with four layouts that were representative enough to use throughout, but I noticed that all four showed exactly the same equipment - and their notes (that were attempting to clarify this) had several conflicts in them.  Their legend seemed to be the most logical and accurate, so I based how I proceeded off of that and ignored the notes for the most part (for some reason the concept of handicapped vs hearing impaired rooms turns people's brains from 'low' to 'off'' - I've seen dozens of projects where they couldn't keep them straight - or remember to include them in the first place).

I take a great sense of pride in the appearance of my drawings (not to mention things like missing doors is a good way to have an AHJ immediately reject a set of drawings - which I'm sure the Architect is going to have to deal with at some time in the very near future), and it amuses me greatly to have my drawings be superior in quality to the ones that the Architect submits.  It's worth it to me to spend a few extra minutes tweaking them to perfection (especially compared to spending hours fighting Revit to get something half-assed).

To those still suffering under the Revit boot heel - there is hope.  Go somewhere that you are appreciated for the skills and abilities you possess and are capable of learning - rather than your compliance to an arbitrary standard set by uncaring, unfeeling, and incompetent fucking assholes that have been responsible for this nonsensical garbage.

Fuck'em.

S.F.

Revit Breeds Incompetence

Another beautiful day outside the Revitsphere - the sun is shining, the birds are singing, productivity is high, and holy shit this apartment building I just got looks like somebody had a fucking stroke while they were trying to model it (which wouldn't be surprising, considering the amount of stress and frustration involved in modeling even a simple building).

Like other apartments, it is a lot of repetition - so they detailed out a pair of units (one normal 1-bedroom, one handicapped 2-bedroom).  There are a lot more variations than that - but I actually appreciate the acknowledgement that other disciplines (including those tasked with actually constructing the building) can infer the rest of the units from those two layouts.

They then proceeded to detail out every single unit on the overall plan.  Again, this is appreciated since in my current discipline I do have to show my systems throughout the building - but (of course) the devices laid out on the 'typical' plans only fit one set of apartments, and required rotating, mirroring, and then endless adjustment to get them to show up correctly.

Nearly every single unit they detailed out through the building has some minor difference in it - this as a result of someone sitting and modeling each one, rather than being able to copy/mirror throughout and retain some semblance of consistency (or detail out a handful of units - instead of every single unit).

Actual Architects (as I've mentioned in the past) appreciate consistency throughout a project because while they like to include subtle variations to break up monotony - they know it costs money, and in the case of an apartment building/hotel/etc. - very few people are going to notice that the unit across the hall from them has a slight variation.

Except the guy building it.  He will absolutely notice when he has to basically custom build every single fucking unit, modifying countertops, etc. - then the other disciplines will notice as they attempt to pack a water heater, HVAC unit, electrical panel, comm panel, etc. into a closet that got smaller because some dipshit Reviteer got bored and rotated the washer/dryer around in one unit.

At any rate - then I start noticing they have random pieces of wall and countertops (and devices) missing, more handicap units shown on their plans than their cover sheet calls for, and the third floor is missing room names/#'s altogether (meaning they might have even more) and that's when I notice even more units that have layouts identical to the handicap units, but not labelled as such.

After reviewing the room and device layouts, it occurs to me that there has most likely been mis-communcation (or more likely - a total lack of communication) between the Architect and Engineer as to what units are 'handicap accessible' and which ones are hearing impaired - exacerbated by the fact that, while every unit is detailed out, there are only two 'typical' plans.

Now, I can ignore these oversights and proceed based on their drawings, but it will require a number of assumptions to be made - all of which are likely to come back and bite me (as well as turn into a cascading series of problems as devices get added, equipment gets overloaded, etc.), but attempting to communicate these concerns can open a whole other can of worms, so I have to tread lightly.

How I proceed will have a lot to do with the attitude I encounter - which (due to Revit) has increasingly been one of indifference.  People simply don't have the time or ability to give a shit about important details anymore (for example - the address on the construction documents I received lists the building at 'the corner of x avenue and x street' rather than an actual street address).

Fortunately, I have already determined the actual address, zip code, and a few other key pieces of information missing (or shown incorrectly) on their documents, and while it probably won't get noticed by anyone that isn't seriously OCD, my project submission will be on a superior set of floor plans after I fixed all their screw-ups.

I had to leave the 'custom' aspect to make it match theirs, but damned if I'm going to turn out some chicken-scratch looking piece of shit.  My reputation (and the reputation of my firm) stands on the quality of the product that I put out - even if I could blame them for any mistakes from their drawings that make their way onto mine, it still makes mine look incomplete/incorrect.

Obviously not all of this can be blamed on Revit - if a firm hires stupid and careless people, then they are going to get bad results, regardless of the software they use, but it seems to have been a downward spiraling trend though, as firms are forced to hire people with Revit ability (but no industry experience) in order to meet the demand for Revitization.

I hear from people on a regular basis who tout the advantages of Revit, I'm just not seeing it make it's way into the quality of the product that they produce.  If I hadn't worked in this industry for several years prior to the Revitlution, I might not know that standards used to be much higher, and (like some of the Reviteers who try to sell me on it) would think this was the norm.

As always, I am just glad I don't have to work directly with these fucking people anymore, and ecstatic that I don't have to even look at Revit, even if I do have to look at the crap people using it manage to churn out.  Now I can apply my skills and abilities where they are appreciated, instead of having people blow Revit crack smoke up my ass.

Fuck Revit.

-SKuLLFuCK

Holy Goddamned Fuck, Architects Are Some Of The Stupidest Fucking People On The Face Of The Planet

Greetings Fuckheads!

It's been a while, but I'm back with style. Now that I no longer have to work with Architects on a daily basis, it's easy to forget exactly how mind-numbingly fucked in the head the vast majority of them are.  I guess it should be unsurprising that Autodesk was able to foist bullshit software like Revit on them (and therefore the rest of the design community) considering that they can be distracted by shiny things - even while those shiny things are fucking them (and by extension - everyone else) directly in the ass.

So I had a guy ask me last Friday if I could talk to a G.C. and find out about getting a background for a project.  The G.C. gave me the architect's name and number - I called him, and requested the background.  I still hadn't heard anything yesterday, so I called and left a message (trying to keep from laughing, because despite being located in Huntsville, AL - their voicemail system picks up and has this very British sounding woman (possibly a robot?).  I reiterate my need for the files, and make sure to clearly spell out my e-mail address - just in case he had not received it.

This morning, I still hadn't received files, so I call again and reach him - he says 'I've sent out those files like 4-5 times this week'.  I asked him if he had sent them to my e-mail, and he said 'oh - no, I didn't have that one' (eye roll).  He sends the e-mail and bang - a fucking .pdf.  I ask him if he can provide a CAD file (or whatever - I can convert from Revit, Microstation, etc. - and even .pdf, although results vary).  He finally sends the thing over, and I get to work cleaning it up.  The first thing I notice is a drinking fountain lovingly crafted in 3d (4878 lines - which I replaced with a fucking square).

I fix a handful of other minor fuckups (including a handful of their columns not lining up with the column lines), and then I'm off to the races.  My only concern is that based on the lack of fucks given by the architect up to this point, that changes will most likely come down the pike that I will only find out about if an AHJ notices deviations between my plans and theirs.  Fortunately at this job, if this results in more work, it will almost certainly result in more money for us - as opposed to my previous job, where architects (and their clients) could run us through the wringer, and nobody would ever dare ask for more money.

I remember a meeting where a project manager/architect lackey was showing us a floor plan - she said 'this is what it looks like now', and a mechanical designer replied 'I don't care what it looks like now - I want to know what it's going to look like in three weeks when the project is due' (cue laughter).  Sure enough - by the time that project went out, it had gone through several iterations as the client waffled, budgetary realities kicked in, and (of course) the Reviteer Club took each of these iterations through to completion before tossing them on the trash heap and starting basically from scratch (or worse - trying to tweak their models to take into account the clients latest whims).

There were a few exceptions - I've probably mentioned one job before (a large church - in Florida) where the mechanical engineer had designed what was basically a giant ice maker that would run all night (off peak hours) and then use the ice it stored during the day rather than run a chiller (or a bunch of condensing units) during peak hours.  It was a fairly pricey system up front, but would have saved them a fortune on their electric bill (I don't know what the payback time was, but it didn't matter - because people tend to only look at up-front costs).

The mechanical contractor told the owner that they could install split systems (i.e. - a bunch of condensing units) and some RTU's much cheaper than the stored ice system - so then we have the owner wondering why we would 'gold plate' this project.  The contractor ended up looking like the hero, except for one minor detail - they couldn't just slap whatever in there without a complete redesign of both the mechanical and electrical drawings (which we weren't about to do for free - although there were a few tense moments between when they informed us of their 'cost-savings' measures, and when we let them know that they had signed off on the HVAC system we had designed.

This underlines a common issue with projects that I ran across over the years (and am thankfully no longer in the middle of).  You can sit there and explain shit to a client - and they will sit there and nod their heads, but they will still come back at the end of the project and pretend like they weren't involved on the front end.  In some cases it's because their eyes glaze over the second you start talking about something that isn't whatever they do for a living - but in most, it's simply because they don't want to get stuck having to pay for changes resulting from details that everyone thought were (and for all means and purposes should have been) hammered out from the very get-go.

They would do their very best to make it sound like we had taken off in some random direction by ourselves.  Obviously there are times when you have to fill in the blanks with your best guess - and while I would always try to inform people of when this would happen, they wouldn't always grasp what I was telling them (or think to send it on those who might need to know about it).  There is a certain logic to not wanting to needle the client with a million little questions - after all, we were professionals who were hired to make some decisions for them, but when it came to items that might require their input (and where assumptions could result in major rework) someone at some level would have to take the initiative to get them involved.

My opinion is that if the focus had been on the project - rather than attempting to wrangle Revit into producing a usable set of construction documents, there would have been resources and time to devote to making sure we were doing things (as much as possible) right the first time.  Instead, because of 1/2 day burning 'workarounds' to get something in Revit to work (which may very well get tossed on the trash heap once the decision making process is actually implemented) a panic would set in that they didn't have anything to show the client - and therefore would do as much as possible to avoid any contact with them until they had very well gotten going in the wrong direction.

As many of my posts mention, a lack of communication between the architects, project managers, and Revit Monkeys (much less MEP) could result in some very elaborate bullshit getting cranked out - which would then have to be carefully combed through to figure out where it had gone wrong, and then backtracked to a point where progress was even possible.  That whole fucking process could (and can still) suck my entire dick.  Removing myself from that environment was one of the best decisions I've ever made - and I'm never going back.

Fuck Autodesk, Fuck Revit, Fuck Revit Apologists, and if you don't like it - well....

FUCK YOU.

-S.F. 2016

Memories... Of The Way Revit Used To Fuck Me...

Another glorious day without Revit!

It's inconceivable now, after the last few months of stress-free productivity and profitability, that I put up with Revit (and it's army of dickless retards) for as long as I did.  Looking back, my only regret is that I didn't simply tell them to go fuck themselves from day one, and refuse to relent.

It took inconceivable amounts of effort to not go the immature route and simply sabotage Revit at every given opportunity in order to make even the most ardent supporters start to realize that it was unsustainable - fortunately Revit was good at sabotaging itself (unfortunately it's supporters were capable of seemingly infinite amounts of Revit apologetics).


Every second I spent in Revit could have been better used on literally any other task imaginable - but even then I would have still had to have been perpetually opening up models to export whatever screwed up nonsense some Architect wanna-be had come up with.

At my current job, I see projects that were done by a variety of architectual and engineering firms - including my previous employer.  One of the first projects that came across my desk here was one that I had done the electrical design for - and unknowingly sent to myself 2 months in the future (it was a bizarre feeling, and will probably happen again and again over the next year or so).

It's amusing to see how badly other firms (and even some people from within my old firm) screw up their designs.  It was an apartment complex that finally broke the camels back at my old job - with Reviteers fucking up the design so bad that I had to take it upon myself to force communication between the Architect, Project 'Manager' (using that term in the loosest possible sense), the 'modeler' (who wasn't involved in the initial kickoff), and the Revit 'Guru' (read: guy who had helped set up the clusterfuck process).

I mentioned that Revit never addressed (at least not out of box - and I didn't have the time nor the desire to figure out a process) to do projects with 'typical units'.  The architects/reviteers had decided to find 'typical units' within their overall buildings and detail them out.  This resulted in a mess of 'typical - but not really' units - none of which were actually designed correctly.

The first Apartment Complex I ran across here was probably done in Revit (I can usually tell when every circle in their drawing is made up of two half-circles because apparently Revit can't comprehend circles), and (at least this portion) had been detailed throughout the entire building, rather than typical units - but even then, there were major issues.

Now, at this job, I do have to detail out the entire building (but I'm not doing all of the power/lighting/etc. and the systems I am working on now make more sense to do building wide instead of trying to do typical units).

Within a few minutes of working on it, I start to notice that they have left off a considerable amount of necessary equipment from the units.  This job is kind of bizarre, because I'm used to fixing any mistakes I find (whether they are mine, or someone elses), but now I leave it exactly the way it is, make note of it, and after the design gets rejected, we get paid additional money to fix the mistakes.

In this case, simply leaving off the copious amount of shit missing from the drawings would have resulted in a massive amount of work on the tail end (the project was almost immediately rejected by the AHJ after submission), so I not only took note of how much equipment was missing, I also sized everything in my systems based on a correct design, so when I come back, I simply plug in the missing equipment, and nothing gets overloaded.

My attention to detail, and relentless approach to completing projects on-time (typically early), accurately, and communicating with all necessary parties has already gotten me noticed at my new firm.  It's those kinds of things that were being overlooked before, because everyone was so hung up on Reviting their dicks off - someone could be a complete incompetent dipshit, but as long as they were toeing the Revit line, they were rewarded.

They could drag a project out far beyond the deadline, duplicate effort, decimate the client's budget, burn all profit, design an un-buildable and/or un-permittable building, necessitate countless revisions, waste other discipline's time - and then all sit around sucking each other's dicks because 'Lookit - We Revited Something'.

As dickless fuckstick 'Wayne' said (before I deleted his comment) - 'Good riddance to bad rubbish'.  I actually agree wholeheartedly - good riddance to Revit, and the idiots that make Revit a reality.  Fuck them, fuck their mothers, fuck their mother's mothers - and (as always) fuck Autodesk for shitting on the design community.

Sincerely,

The Ex-SkullFuck.

(P.S. - I'll check in from time to time, if anyone sees any new/existing Revit bullshit they would like me to rant about - feel free to post a comment).

Skullfucked No More

At long last - I have bid a fond farewell to all things Revit.

Despite what so many foolishly deluded Revitards had claimed - there is a whole world existing outside of the Revit hellscape of missed deadlines, budget overruns, and lost profits.  I can still see their hollow eyes, hear the echoes of their false promises of productivity and coordination.  What I enjoyed most after I left were several interviews with other firms that were struggling to come to grips with the 'reality' that the Revit Elite were driving the whole fucking train off the tracks and into a ravine.

I had always wondered how in the fuck independent engineering firms were faring - considering Revit's lack of backwards compatibility, the sizes of the files they were having to get from architectural firms, and how much of a fuck-around linked files were - even within the same firm, much less when people are basically operating totally disconnected from each other until files get transferred back and forth.

The answer is - they are totally fucked.

One firm did primarily government facilities - which, as I've mentioned before, were the target of an end-run on the part of Autodesk around the design community to get Revit (or BIM at least) required for all projects.  I listened as they related all of the problems they had trying to change over from tried and true methods and standards to the unholy shitfest that Revit brings to the table.  They were basically seeking a 'Revit Guru' to save them - and probably still are, because I said 'fuck that shit'.

Another was a smaller-scale firm that was hemorrhaging money attempting to keep up with the Revit Joneses - I interviewed with them literally just for my own amusement.  Even with my complete lack of fucks given towards it, I probably could have landed a job simply by having Revit on my resume, because despite all of the self-proclaimed Revit wizards out there, trying to staff entire offices with people who can actually produce anything reliably with it is proving to be more than a little challenging.

Fortunately, I was in a position where I could relax for a few months - and then pick and choose what I wanted to do next.  The firm I landed at has nothing to do with Revit (and will continue to be Revit free) as they are outside of the shithole world that commercial/industrial building design has degraded into thanks to Autodesk's army of asshats.  The topic of Revit came up briefly at my interview (I had it on my resume - mostly as a joke), and we all shared laughter at the idea that the industry was force-feeding a set of jury-rigged non-backwards compatible set of software onto designers and engineers.

Now I am back to actually applying my skills and experience to engineering, rather than listening to the Revit choir sing off-key - and I couldn't be happier.  I'm sure I'll still post from time to time to wrap up a few loose ends, excoriate the deluded, and to put smiles on the faces of those still in the trenches fighting the good fight.

Fuck Revit To Pieces!

-The Ex-Skullfuck