Autodesk has accepted some of the criticism made about its Revit BIM software in an open letter written by a group of leading architectural firms, saying that more investment is being put into the product’s architectural functions.
The group’s letter, signed by 35 companies (17 initially, with the rest adding their names), said that costs had risen 70% in five years but that this increase had not been reflected in the software’s productivity improvements.
The platform was not meeting industry requirements, they wrote in a six-page letter, and Autodesk had not communicated Revit’s software development roadmap to users. “Cost increases on existing software portfolios continue but little value is added to create improved productivity in the core product for design practices in the industry,” the letter said.
In its written response by senior vice president of design and creation products Amy Bunszel, the company accepted the group were raising important concerns. Bunszel said that whilst the company did not agree with all criticisms in the letter, it accepted that issues had been raised where the company had “fallen short”.
“We have underinvested in architectural modeling functionality in recent years and are working to make that right,” she wrote, adding: “Our goal with Revit has always been to maximize the value it brings to the AEC market, and to do that we must enable all major stakeholders to participate in the BIM process.”
In focusing on requirements for engineering and construction customers, Autodesk had worked on improving scalability and performance to support their needs. “The result of this was a slowdown in development on core architectural modeling capabilities,” she explained.
Bunszel said the company has increased its investment in Revit’s architectural capabilities but that it would take some time for customers to see the full impact of the work.
Answering criticisms about performance, she said Autodesk spends a “substantial percentage or our development resources” annually on the quality and performance of Revit. She said that users would see significant changes in future releases.
Bunszel closed by stating that the company would seek additional feedback through an online survey as well as contact signatories directly to better understand their needs.
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