Autocad Pros And Cons
August 30, 2017
Autocad Pros And Cons
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with AutoCAD
Autocad has been a primary tool for the office. With it, we are able to coordinate the various engineering specialties with an architectural project via the implementation of the Xref feature. We send architectural drawings to engineers and contractors and they send back the mechanical, electrical and structural drawings. And then we can compile all that info to start the bidding and construction process.
It is being used by the project department only because we have the knowledge to manage the software but the entire company bases the process on the drawings created in autocad. We print drawings for contractors and all the billing and accounting have direct relation with what comes out of autocad.
It is being used by the project department only because we have the knowledge to manage the software but the entire company bases the process on the drawings created in autocad. We print drawings for contractors and all the billing and accounting have direct relation with what comes out of autocad.
- Manage extremely exact details and measures.
- Also have the possibility to work in 3D space.
- You can coordinate entire construction drawing documentation.
- It has features to work on the cloud.
- It has features to manage very large projects.
- It requires good training to get used to the tools.
- As it is very exact software, to draw a line is a process which involves around 3 actions and can be long to finish a building project.
- To improve the rendering quality
- It is very positive the have the precision to avoid any bad measures.
- It has a very high return because it is the tool that can manage all the info for a construction. Without it may be impossible to complete any project in these highly technological times.
- The only negative I can see is that training is required to make it productive.
Revit is great but not all offices use it, so we pick autocad because it is a standard for every office and for the construction industry. eTakeoff is great to do measures of a project but it doesn´t manage any drawings so again that is way autocad the standout of all these. It is a standard and it is precise.
Using AutoCAD
8 - the main functions are for architectural project visualization, viewing, and printing. We are a construction company and we receive many Dwg files from many architectural and engineering companies. So with that, we are able to coodinate all the construction process, from takeoff to buyouts. If it is required we use the drawing capabilities to coordinate all the change requests and do a follow up on that information.
9 - To work with Autocad, personally, I think that is always a good idea be organized in the way of work. If working in coordination with other companies it is required to have skills on the usage of Xref. For creating an architectural drawing it is required to have skills in the architectural space (planning, details, line weight and that kind of stuff). Finally, the most important are to get used to autocad commands and its core functionability.
- Drawings reviews and printing
- Architectural and engineer companies project coordination
- We create the buyout from autocad drawings
- For creating a base 3D and afterward we refine it in Revit.
- We scale the PDF drawing from other companies to be able to take measures from PDFs
- We would like to start working with AutoCAD on the cloud
Evaluating AutoCAD and Competitors
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
The most important factors are the features, usability, and reputation. With this I want to say that the majority of the construction companies use it, which gives a highly rated reputation and its features for milimetric details handling and accurate drawing documentaton is a standard for all construction companies.
To be honest I think my evaluation and selection process won't change because with an objective analysis of the fact you will get to the same answer; it does what it does and that will also stay the same. So with that being said it is not logical to be changing the evaluation and selection process.
AutoCAD Implementation
- Implemented in-house
- licesing
AutoCAD Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | None |
Yes - I have been reporting several bugs or software crashes, but with that I'm not highly satisfied. Those are related to the programing section of the software and they used to take care of bugs on updates and patches. So those are not created so quickly. So to me it is more than understandable not having a solution very quickly.
Autodesk provided exceptional support for this product for the licensing issues and for any reinstall or issues regarding the software function. I can say that you can be very sure that when using an Autodesk product and AutoCAD you will not have any problems running the program and licenses. This will be 100% satisfying.
Using AutoCAD
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Feel confident using | Slow to learn |
- Drawing exact lines
- Measuring areas
- Coordinating specialties
- complex booleans
- renderings high quality
- the xref is a complex workflow
Yes - is a really good an , i have test it on an iphone ios system , and it works very well for reviewing plans and projects , it also depends wich media are you using , in my case on an iphone 5s is not that much what i can do , but is always good and productive to be able to visualize on the go.