No matter what discipline you work in, there's a Revit for everyone...

Meet Revit Architecture, Revit Structural and Revit MEP. All three of which have incredibly powerful modelling tools, use the same file format .RVT which means that each design professional can be assured of full interoperability without any of the old 'file export' issues, and are leading the way with sustainable design.

Time for an acronym or three

MAD - Manual Aided Design (good old paper and pencil and ruler and gigantic electric eraser)
I guess you could also have said PAD, paper aided design, or let's be obvious, a pad of paper.

CAD - Ah, our 25 year old favorite (you've been using the same technology for 25 years? ugh. Computer Aided Drafting (some of you will say "& Design", but with AutoCAD, designing is in your head, lines, circle and arcs represent them on the screen). Did I really need to spell that out? 

RAD - Revit Aided Design . Ah Nirvana. The Holy Grail of design tools. Design, Visualize, Simulate, Analyze - the new Autodesk buzzwords. The ability to analyze heating and cooling, sun/shade, LEED and lighting is going to be a big part of your future. 

Thanks to whoever came up with this - made me laugh.

Revit Architecture

Revit^® Architecture building design software is purpose-built for building information modeling (BIM), key for sustainable design. Make a change and it's automatically coordinated throughout your project, so your designs and documentation stay consistent and complete. 

Bidirectional Associativity
A change anywhere is a change everywhere. In Revit® Architecture software, all model information is stored in one place. As a result, any information that gets changed is effectively changed throughout the model.

Schedules
Schedules are just another view of the Revit Architecture model. Work in any appropriate view of the building, including schedules. A change to a schedule view is automatically reflected in every other view and vice versa. Functionality includes associative split-schedule sections and selectable design elements via schedule views, formulas, and filtering.

Parametric Components
Parametric Components, also known as families, are the basis for all building components designed in Revit Architecture. They offer an open, graphical system for design thinking and form making as well as an opportunity to express design intent at increasingly detailed levels. Use Parametric Components for the most elaborate assemblies, such as cabinetry and equipment, as well as for the most elementary building parts, such as walls and columns. Best of all, no programming language or coding is required.

Design Options
Develop and study multiple simultaneous design alternatives to make key design decisions. Present multiple schemes to your clients easily. Substitute each option into the model for visualization, quantification, and other data analysis to inform decision making.

Detailing
Take advantage of the extensive detail library and detailing tools provided with Revit Architecture. Pre sorted to align with the CSI format, detail libraries can be tailored to accommodate your office standards. Create, manage, and share your own detail library.

Material Takeoff
Calculate detailed material quantities with the new Material Takeoff tool. Appropriate for applications such as sustainable design, and checking material quantities in cost estimates, Material Takeoff simplifies the tracking of material quantities. As your project evolves, the Revit Building parametric change engine helps to ensure that your material takeoffs are always up-to-date and accurate.

Revit Building Maker
Access a better workflow for common conceptual and schematic tasks. Easily create expressive forms to produce an overall massing study. Import conceptual massing from applications such as Form-Z, Rhino, Sketchup?, and AutoCAD^® 2009, or other ACIS^® or NURBS (non uniform rational B-spline) based applications. Turn them into mass objects in Revit Architecture. Then select faces to design walls, roofs, floors, and curtain systems. You can even use tools to extract important information such as gross area per floor.

Interference Check
Use interference checking to scan your model for collisions between elements.

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Revit Structural

AutoCAD^® Revit^® Structure Suite software combines industry-leading AutoCAD^® software with AutoCAD^® Structural Detailing, and Revit^® Structure building information modeling (BIM) software for a complete structural workflow from modeling to documentation and fabrication shop drawings.

AutoCAD Revit Structure Suite includes AutoCAD, AutoCAD Structural Detailing and Revit Structure software products.

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Revit MEP

AutoCAD^® Revit^® MEP Suite provides building information modeling (BIM) and design documentation tools for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) system design, analysis, and documentation for MEP businesses.

The AutoCAD Revit MEP Suite includes the following key features and functionalities:

• Intuitive MEP system design
• Complete collaboration among disciplines
• BIM for MEP engineers
• Building performance analysis tools
• Support for sustainable design

Mechanical Duct and Pipe System Modeling
Mechanical functionality offers 3D modeling for ductwork and piping to create HVAC systems. Intuitive layout tools make 3D modeling fast and easy for even the first-time user to master. Built-in calculators are available for sizing mains, branches, and even whole systems at a time. Easily modify the model by dragging design elements to move or change them on the screen, in almost any view. All model views and sheets are automatically coordinated whenever a change is made in any view for accurate and coordinated designs and documents at all times.

Electrical Lighting and Power Circuitry
Minimize errors in your electrical design by using circuits to track loads, number of attached devices, and circuit lengths. Define wire types, voltage ranges, distribution systems, and demand factors to help ensure the compatibility of electrical connections in your design, and prevent overloads and mismatched voltages. Identify voltage drops, apply derating factors, and even calculate the estimated demand loads on feeders and panels to size equipment as you design. Plus, take advantage of circuit analysis tools to quickly total loads and generate reports for accurate documentation.

Revit MEP uses the zonal cavity method to automatically estimate lighting levels in rooms based on the lights placed in the space. Set the reflectivity values of the room surfaces, attach industry-standard IES (Illuminating Engineering Society) data files to lighting, and define the calculation workplane height. Then let Revit MEP automatically calculate the estimated average illumination value for the room.

Plumbing System Modeling
Gain full 3D parametric modeling of plumbing system layouts with Revit MEP. Intuitive layout tools make 3D modeling fast and easy. Just drag design elements to move or change them on the screen, in almost any view. Model sloped piping according to industry code. Simply define the rise over run and lay out your plumbing design, while the software automatically places all risers and drops and calculates inverts elevations as you design. All model views and sheets are automatically coordinated whenever a change is made in any view for accurate and up-to-date designs and documents at all times.

Building Performance Analysis
Take full advantage of building information modeling to provide better decision-making support through the use of building performance analysis tools. Provide significant benefits to the sustainable design process, supporting the goal of a better-performing building. Perform heating and cooling load, LEED daylighting, thermal energy, and other analyses using Revit MEP and the IES Virtual Environment.

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