AutoCAD

1.0 stars

"Time to start over!"

June 28, 2010  |   By nofearfighter

Version: AutoCAD 2010

Pros

Product has colorful graphics.

Cons

Way to costly. Difficult to use (I have used autocad since 1985) Backwards integration problems. Automation of things that make no diffrence in speed or profitability.

Summary

Stongly urge any potential user to try out a sample program before spending large amounts of money on convoluted software. In the most fundamental terms, Autocad does not understand how Architects or Engineers design a building. The software designers look at a final set of working drawings and then try to backwards engineer the process, eg. Constrain lines and dimensions, create 3-d volumes out of lines etc. Sadly the software does not work for the purposes it was intended for. Architects work in relative geometry, not absolute geometry. We pin our numbers about halfway thru design not before. Our plans, sections and elevations may go thru many iterations before we finally determine a scheme. I don't need my hands tied while designing a building .I need them freed! I don't need to be tied up for hours with tendious and unnecessary data entry. Autodesk needs to understand the architect engineers billing cycle. Think of a bell curve. The preliminary design is on one end and construction observation is at the other with working drawings in the center. Contract drawings is where most of the money is made and fee is expended. Autocad has shifted the cost of doing work from the middle to the preliminary phase. This is crazy, because as anyone who has been a consultant knows...clients change their minds a lot, and a zoning board may impose obstacles that take months to overcome or may force radical change. My clients will not tolerate putting working drawing fees in the preliminary design phase. They cannot afford to lose that kind of cash. Autocad needs to understand that what sells design to a client is art. I do not want my buildings to look like everyone elses. Standard stairs, windows, columns etc. defeat my marketing efforts. We need the ability to exagerate...to create novel and unusual forms and experiment. Autocad 2010 cripples the architect. All buildings start looking the same. So why use it? Autocad needs to understand that as an architect, I get no extra money for making a contractor's job easier to do. Automatic takeoffs , perfect dimensions, limited field coordination, or linked door schedules do not put money in my pocket. On the contrary it costs money which the A/E won't recover. It would be nice if the A/Es got paid for making a contractors life easier, but given the nature of competative bidding this will never happen. 3d drawing needs revisions to AIA and AGC standard contracts or it will never take off. This may be profitable for design build,but not CM plus fee or standard bidding. Lastly Autocad fails to understand the employment cycle in Architect and Engineering Offices. A job at an A/E office is not like working for a bank where you have Federal Guarantees which make it impossible for your firm to go out of business. The construction industry is cyclical. So drafters come and go. Autocad has made it harder and harder to get working drawings done, with greater and greater amounts of training needed, with less and less gains in efficency. It is sad the A/Es cannot keep people on their staffs...but a one or two year stint at most firms is how long a job lasts. An A/E cannot invest huge amounts in training and lose employee investment when a commission doesn't come in as expected, or interest rates go up and there is a massive shut down in the construction industry. PLEASE let's have AUTOCAD start doing focus groups with actual architects and engineers to figure out what is really needed, and not what some programmer thinks is needed. Autocad 2010 is an idea which needs to be fundamentally rethought. Better luck in 2012!

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