 |
|
The Path That Led Autodesk to Revit
Autodesk gets a jump start on its goal to build smarter
architectural software with the acquisition of Revit
Geoffrey
Moore Langdon, AIA, Architectural
CADD Consultants
This is potentially a major move in the architectural CAD
market that will affect many CAD software developers in positive
and negative ways. Even more importantly, this could be the
final catalyst in the paradigm shift to 3D model-centric
CAD—something the architectural profession has been teetering
on the brink of for some time.
Even if the deal ultimately falls through (remember the US
Justice Department saying no to Microsoft buying QuickBooks
publisher Intuit), Revit would still reap an enormous benefit
from Autodesk’s offer since now an established market leader
has increased the valuation of the company and endorsed the
credibility of the technology. Even if other design software
companies don’t step out of the woodwork to try to outbid
Autodesk, Revit can get a fresh start looking for additional
funds from the investment community.
But let’s assume the deal does succeed. Now, Autodesk is
faced with the current incompatibilities in company
philosophies, software design approaches and data structures and
file formats. Could this deal have been cooked up with one eye
on Wall Street without regard to the burden placed upon the
programmers who may get too bogged down sifting out the
consequences? Remember, Autodesk also bought Softdesk,
LightScape and GenericCADD. Can you remember what it did with
those products? That’s the point.
In April of 2001 Autodesk showed that they were totally
redesigning their Architectural Desktop (ADT) - adding
multi-story ability, greater parametric intelligence, hugely
simplified interface, and abandoning their "legacy"
underpinnings. They stated definitively "no more Object
Enablers for older versions of AutoCAD." They showed off
the tandem project of Architectural Studio née StudioDesk as an
example of where they were heading. Carol Bartz, Autodesk’s
CEO, said that the 3D parametric model-based approach would be
the new heart of Autodesk's efforts and help gain access to
those who needed automatic structural engineering, framing,
hardware stores wood cut lists and so on.
What was being described was the path that had already been
taken by ArchiCAD, Revit, and DataCAD Plus. To follow their
competitors, Autodesk would need to take Architectural Desktop
WAY beyond where it was. This was something which would take
several years. Ultimately, say five years from now, the idea of
DRAFTING something in 2D in AutoCAD, DataCAD, etc., would be
obsolete as engineers, interior designers, and builders would be
requesting "usable" files in the form of smart 3D
objects and intelligent parametric walls.
The old guard among us may remember CADKEY’s unsuccessful
attempt to create a core CAD engine that combined the best of
DataCAD (for architecture) and CADKEY (for mechanical design).
The result had a different interface for each discipline. The
effort failed because there was no agreement on the most basic
level on how to how to define the simplest of objects. For
example, take the line object. The engineers needed it to be
bent into 3D freeform NURBS curves and the architects needed it
to recognize a "ground plane" and be capable of being
a wall. In a similar vein, the vastly different strategies going
on at the core Autodesk Architectural Desktop development and
Revit seem equally unable to coexist.
However, such coexistence may not be necessary. Remember the
ADT software designers were already looking for a new data
structure to enable them to go the next level.
Also, the incompatibilities that many (including myself) have
mentioned between ADT objects, conventional AutoCAD DWG and
Revit, is created artificially. The ARX definitions of ADT
objects have been a proprietary secret mainly for competitive
reasons. Autodesk does not want non-Autodesk companies to import
them. Autodesk has not attacked the reverse engineering of their
DWG file format because it helps to establish them as a standard
but that does not mean they have to give away their new stuff.
AutoCAD 2002, for instance, can read in ADT objects just fine.
Thus, once Revit is a wholly owned subsidiary, Revit too would
probably gain the ability to read (and possibly do even much
more with) ADT objects.
Thus, the implications of Autodesk’s acquisition of Revit
are huge. An easy-to-use software (think of all the facilities
managers, contractors, spec writers, and many others who would
find AutoCAD too difficult) with access to smart parametric 3D
"AutoCAD" drawings, could indeed finally make the idea
of Web drag-and-drop symbols (with attached specs) commonplace.
This will all take a good deal of time to settle. I would
guess about 2 years. Other software developers (Bentley,
Graphisoft, DataCAD, Nemetschek, etc.) could do well to seize
the day, and really push the benefits of their particular
systems during this period of confusion in the AutoCAD /
Architectural Desktop / Revit world. After all, Autodesk has
just validated the model-centric approach of architectural CADD
software.
CAD Digest Related Articles
|
