Revit 2023 or Archicad 26-27?

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Hello everyone, I found an old topic (4y ago) about this discussion here in the forum, and would like to know which one has a better connection with rhino? I know that nowadays we have rhino.inside but it seems hard to send it to revit if you didn’t start modeling and naming things aiming this translation.

Is archicad able to translate better the models from rhino? I know that rhino has an older conection with archicad than revit. But it is better and simpler to do it than revit?

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Hi Leonardo,

Nice to see not everyone going on the Revit boat without questioning…
I can’t tell you much about Revit x Rhino, before deciding for Archicad I did test rhino.inside and Revit… and I could never… because of Revit, every year, trial, but no way. It is just too… ugly ;), I can’t work like that. Archicad saved my ass.
Given the way I go back and forth between 3d apps, now Archicad and Blender, with Rhino in my heart for 16 years, I needed more malleability.

I enjoy Archicad a great deal, it lets you do stuff ALSO outside the BIM box. You are not a machine or a prisoner, and when you need to BIM by the book, it also works. You can throw a lot of things at Archicad it will take it in. Just go easy on the polygon counts. Models, pdfs, screenshots, drawings… it takes all that on a super comfy canvas and you can start some cooking, I find Archicad very hands on. You can also save your Archicad model FAST as 3dm it works especially well if you have a routine to touch it up/ reorganize it with some scripts in rhino. The key is to be very methodical.

More specifically about the way it can take rhino stuff in, the cool thing is it comes with several methods to chose from, depending on the situation you are in.

  • There is certainly the Archicad-Grasshopper connection, It is not as extended with a zillion components like rhino-inside-revit that’s true. Fortunately the Rhino/GH files can have their own life outside of Archicad, before during and after :)…
    Besides that connection, you can as well:
  • Hotlink (sort of xref, file > external content > place hotlink) directly a rhino model in Archicad and you get it synchronized in your plans and sections instantly, only thing is to prepare the process well by materials etc. Useful for when you didn’t have the time to start a BIM model and want a set super quick set of layouts (though be aware if you dimension it in Archicad, change your rhino model and update the link the dimensions go insane, it s not associative at all, but really useful to have this hotlink option).
  • Import a rhino part in Archicad as a GDL object (files > libray and objects > import rhino 3dm file as object).
    You can use this object as is, but the look in plan won’t be stunning most of the time, best is to fine-tune it into a new object for 2D plans/3D with the partmaker tool (use a make 2D exported as DWG and place as reference in archicad to draw your clean 2d plan representation of the object).
    It is extremely easy.
    I do that a lot because I don’t know the GDL language to create native smart archicad objects yet.
    It won’t make it parametric, but it gives you the great possibility to make a custom static object, any size any shape any amount of geometries. You can override this object over time as well.
    I’ m not that advanced yet but I see loads of possibilities, especially with GDL…it s old fashioned but still interesting, and the python part also cool, but more for the management part. Gradually I learn how to model in Archicad directly, the workarounds etc, and I do get stuff in from rhino when I’m stuck and need an urgent fix. Its quite smooth.
    Best way is get a trial version and try those 3 techniques to get rhino stuff in.
    Be aware if you go Archicad, it could be harder to score work opportunities, based on where you are, your market segments and goals. So also weigh that into your decision. Personally I don’t care, I prefer to chose software I click with, above all other arguments, as I know I learn it better, it reflects into the output quality later, and keeps frustrations away.

Marie.

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Rhino Inside Revit is a fantastic project and its creators are very helpful.
Every year I check Rhino and Archicad connection and it seems stagnant, also it offers a fraction of the possibilities of Rhino Inside Revit.
I would encourage you to invest some time into learning RiR it truly creates a synergistic effect.

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There are lot of options now in the ‘connection’ space. A lot depends on what your ideal workflow is like and what licenses make sense for your situation. The learning curve on RiR (Grasshopper/Advanced Revit) is a factor but offers a lot of control. Less control and easier workflows with other offerings. The workflow is critical, what do you want to get out of each software, and why you need to use both and just not one.

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yeah, but the thing is: I don’t want to create in revit, my main goal is to be able to create in rhino that is way easier and transport it to the bim platform. And in this situation, I would like to know which one would serve me better.

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wow! thanks a lot for the deep explanation and tips about rhino x archicad. I particularly feel the same about revit and it behaviour, archicad seems simpler but getting the job done at the same time, Its a shame that revit its way louder in the community. I am definetly trying archicad since i couldn’t achieve much in revit.

Something I would like to know is that if archicad gets behind revit on documentation or it is kind of the same? My goal is to be able to score those technical drawings without the effort spent in rhino.

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If you invest in Archicad, sure you will model in it. It would be a pity to miss it. It has robust tools, in its own logic.

For only Archicad is a brand new big book that seems adapted ‘A BIM Professional’s Guide to Learning Archicad’

Next to that is a 2 h you-tube video, not tutorial but just Archicad US gourou interviewing the belgian authors of the book, useful in a sense that it clarifies some points for an international audience (ARCHICAD USER (June 2023): NEW Archicad Training Manual - Author Interview - Boeykens & Van de Walle - YouTube)

The manual is more for when you know your way in the software already. A lot of is on the graphisoft website as well.
Each country has an official dealer for the software, the one here in the Netherlands is great. They provide well made guidelines on their website, local reg. compliant templates and libraries, example files, free webinars inviting Dutch architecture office using archicad to explain their workflow, they also give small groups courses but it’s all mostly in Dutch except the basic interactive course (Pretty good, 4 days, did it, but not cheap, i d say first check the book now that it s there).
Where you are there might be such service.
Finally maybe you know already what Enzyme APD is doing with Archicad, Rhino and more.

Before I also did everything in Rhino, wit automation, I had zero money to get a dedicated tool . It was fine, but tedious, I would model with all the different screws and connectors and vapour/weatherproof membranes, yeah what can’t you model in Rhino as perfect as you want? then I d go for coffee (not just 1) and when back the geometry was cut in very clean detailed drawings each on a respective layout, hatched automatically even the insulation following the edges directions. Only had to lock that and annotate on top, plus some small decoration. With some patience, rigor and scripting knowledge one can achieve wonders with Rhino, including addition of metadata, spreadsheets generation etc. When if you can afford specialized software, especially one like Archicad that is so mature, it eases the process, to scale up. But I find also still valid to script tailor made processes for some projects, or parts, in a “genuine” way, without referring to Revit in the story.

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one of the things that use in rhino is VisualArq but not quite sure how it will go the transfer information between VA and Archicad. VA has a ifc export feature, maybe that will make it possible to walls getting transfered as walls, stairs as stairs, and so on.

I wonder about the weatherproof membrane :laughing:

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It depends… few things.

  • First is in both program it is a big job to setup import and export translators for the IFC files to get a good match. I suppose. I m also not sure how it works with composite (walls…) for instance, Probably not perfect.
  • You can try 100 things, and also you can experiment how the Visualarq IFC ends up in Blender (with Blender BIM plugin installed), make some round trips. It can give you some good informations on how is your IFC from visualarq is coming out, it’s like an open book.
  • Then, in Archicad, one thing that can be misleading is that the toolbox has wall/slab/roof/shell and more, but those are forming concepts related to the way the geometry is generated, not litterally wall/slab/roof/ shell from the “real world” ready for IFC compliance. By default they are IFC tagged accordingly, but it’s only to speed up, it’s not fundamental in Archicad. You can build internal furniture with wall/slab/roof… from the toolbox, and tag it properly in the IFC properties of the objects afterwards. Stairs are specific though, rather advanced. You could build a teapot with morph or from a mesh import, and make up the IFC tags like it was a roof, sort of. I don’t know if your visualarq wall will be a understood as being a wall like a wall from the Archicad toolbox, might come in as a morph. It will be a wall in the IFC classification (unless the composite complicates it blablabla…).
  • There is big chance the IFC model in Archicad will be fine qua geometry, IFC properties and materials, but I wouldn’t count on it making such nice drawings as the ones made over native Archicad elements, it won’t be that smart, the same way an IFC from Archicad won’t mimic a native Visualarq object in Visualarq perfectly, when it comes to drawings. It is not built originally with the same program and associativities. The translation doesn’t take all this in the trip, it leaves the GDL code essential to Archicad at home. It will likely be correct, but without the finesse, the hatches won’t follow the walls directions, the stairs won’t look so awesome, the plan representation of the windows doors and other objects will be minimal, (but in 3d and sections OK). I m saying this from roundtripping between Archicad and Blender Bim.
10

As a 16 years Daily - User of Revit, my answer is “Use ArchiCAD”

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11

Completely agree. 14 years of revit experience as well.

Archicad is more elegant piece of software overall and in a nutshell has every tool needed

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