Transitioning from AutoCAD MEP to Revit MEP

[tzframpton]

Hello all, I work for a mechanical subcontractor that also does in-house engineering. We finally have some downtime for me to fully dive into using Revit MEP. My office is next to our engineer and we will be collaborating together to adopt the program for future jobs.

My question is this: Just to get us started, is it acceptable for us to utilize a simple 2D DWG file as our arch, and place equipment/route duct/insert diffusers as more of a learning curve?

I understand to fully adopt Revit MEP, utilizing an arch file from Revit Architecture is ideal from an engineering standpoint, to pull R values, volumetric information from spaces, etc. I think I need to utilize it for shop drawing purposes first so I can get familiar with the program. I've monkeyed with it enough to get me by but I am a nazi when it comes to clean and crisp HVAC Mechanical construction documents and as-builts. AutoCAD MEP is far superior than Revit MEP for this ideal construction document creation in my humble and inexperienced opinion when the two programs are compared. In the last statement of mine, however, I still have lots of faith in Revit MEP and I want to drive forward enthusiastically to put myself and my company towards the top in the BIM field with options for general contractors or pairing engineering firms.

Any thoughts in any of this? Thanks in advance.

[Jrobker]

First off you can't get R values from an Architectural model (great wish list).
We have never been able to fully trust the loads derived from a Revit model when compared to our traditional way.
Usually the Arch model in the stages of doing loads is in such dis-array, that it takes alot of time to prepare it to even even make an attempt.

I would suggest you model the building (If anything it will help you learn the program), than link in that file. However you can just link in a cad file. You could even convert that file to a 3D file by picking the lines while in the right command...anyway, Create rooms, so you can generate spaces in your file and play around with generating loads and see how spaces interact with heating and cooling computations. Play around in the family editor (a must). Play around with shared parameters and formulas in schedules.

It's not as easy as you may think. I would defiantly suggest (while in your down time) exploring and learning the program AS MUCH AS YOU CAN.

Good luck.

[tzframpton]

Thanks J, especially for clarifying the R value lack of support. For some reason I thought that was one of the benefits of Revit... guess maybe I read that somewhere else, regarding gbXML export/import or something w/ AMEP. *shrugs*

And I never thought about remodeling the building, even if it's simple, so that's a good idea - I will take this tip and execute it next chance I get. I wonder how many people have used (or currently use) AutoCAD MEP in here? I have a few future questions I've got primed that will basically say "Here is how I do this in AMEP, how would I do the same thing in RMEP?"

And yes, the Family Editor. Families are something that will be the hardest transition for me I'm guessing. Sometime this week I will be creating some simple fan power boxes or something, to see how I do. I figure that would be the easiest type of equipment to model up to get me started.

Thanks for the first reply. More to come in future threads.