AECOsim, ARCHICAD, Revit, SketchUp, or Vectorworks?

[caption id="attachment_269" align="alignright" width="300"] poster for the talk "AECOsim, ARCHICAD, Revit, SketchUp, or Vectorworks?" held at the Instituto de Engenharia, in São Paulo, June 2015.[/caption]

AECOsim, ARCHICAD, Revit, SketchUp, or Vectorworks?

Which software should you use? This is a question we get asked here at TI Lab very frequently (well, not exactly phrased the way I wrote it above — sometimes it's just about two or three programs among those... well, anyway, you get the idea).

The short answer is below: In these times of crisis, which software best fits my way of working? Are these really the software tools I need to use? And what about other BIM programs, like Solibri, Navisworks, Tekla BIMsight, Synchro, etc, etc, etc? To what extent will my way of working change with the implementation of new software? Can I just switch programs and already say I'm working in BIM? If not, how does it actually work? The discussion on this topic tends to be very extensive, and there is no ready-made answer. You'll notice that, to find the best answer for your particular activity, you need to study the various platforms and/or look for a specialist in design software for architecture and design. Preferably, architects/designers/engineers/professionals who know more than one platform and who don't want to impose one solution or another on you based purely on personal preference. Just as we, as architecture professionals, strongly recommend that our clients not hire a foreman to build a house without a project, it is also not advisable for the architect/designer/engineer to make a choice as important as this one (which involves money, processes, and, above all, people) hastily and without the help of a specialist. The chance of choosing wrong is very high.

- Wow, but a specialist in this subject? Isn't it just a matter of swapping CAD for "BIM"?

- No. The new work processes that fall under this big umbrella that is the acronym BIM require professionals (architects, engineers, designers) who operate in the traditional way to undergo a deep overhaul of their knowledge of design processes and working methods. We, at TI Lab, would even venture to say that, a few years from now (many years, it's true), a new specialization of our professional category will exist, grounded in computer technology for Architecture, Engineering, and Design (call it BIM Specialist, if you like), which should have its own curriculum, exams, rites, and processes for validating the content learned, followed by certification. This specialist should be registered with their current Professional Council (CAU or CREA, for example) and also with a probable (in our futuristic opinion) council of BIM professionals. How about that? Well, in an effort to shed some light on the subject, architect João Gaspar, director of TI Lab, developed a talk (which was presented at the Instituto de Engenharia, in São Paulo, in June 2015) about how to choose software for projects, and made available a small Excel system that can help with the selection process. Click here to see the Excel system! Click here to see the Prezi! Right below you can see the same presentation, done in 2016, straight from TI Lab, with architect João Gaspar. In this case, it was renamed "How to Choose Software for Designing in BIM," but it is essentially the same talk. https://youtu.be/zmokeS7FMDs   By the way: over the years, ProBooks Editora has published books on SketchUp, Vectorworks, ARCHICAD, and Revit. The books are for sale at http://www.probooks.com.br. As for AECOsim, from Bentley...? Well, you never know, right?