That Time of Year Again - Revit 2016

The media embargo has been lifted for Revit 2016 so we're beginning to see some information surface on blogs and other sites. Fwiw, people involved with activities that carry an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) aren't permitted to discuss things they are aware of until their particular agreements are lifted. Naturally Autodesk would like to manage what is being said about their products when they release new versions, or at least be the first to start the conversation. The internet increasingly makes this impossible.

Dan Stine wrote a nice article describing the rendering changes we'll find in 2016. It will seem a little like deja vu all over again if you remember the transition from Accurender to Mental Ray. Read Dan's article, he explains it all quite well.

Luke has been sharing links to download different versions of Revit 2016 (and other Autodesk products). I'm refraining from doing so until I'm free to do so. In general Revit, on its own, gets released a bit earlier than the versions that are considered part of the Building Design Suite. I'm waiting for the latter personally.

Jeffrey (aka The Revit Kid) wrote a post earlier today about this subject too.

If you visit Autodesk's Revit pages you'll find new information is trickling in. For example there are some new Feature descriptions HERE now. Here's the Revit 2016 versus Revit 2016 LT COMPARISON. No such thing as LT for MEP users still, sorry...you're not considered light-beer drinkers.

This is also the time of year when the wailing and gnashing of teeth begins with renewed vigor. I think Autodesk manages to stub their toe each year by not adequately preparing their customers for their longer term plans and goals. Seth Godin weighed in on Hope and Expectation with his timely thoughts. Maybe it isn't possible to do that with as many customers as they have, or their frequently stated restrictions on forward-looking disclosures made by publicly traded companies? Seems to me they could do better.

As such this means each year we manage to build up hope that this year will be more awesome than the last (or the skeptic thinks less awesome). For example if we think that Revit 2016 is going to be transcendent then consider (it's my understanding) that, if you've got an active subscription and installed 2015 R2 already, you've already seen a percentage of 2016 features. The 2015 R2 is/was an early release of features slated for 2016, released early for subscription customers only.

Less surprise for you...because you're already on the inside track...

Based on what is published on their site so far, the big push with 2016 is:

A360 Collaboration for Revit (aka C4R)
Performance (more fasterer Reviting)
IFC Interoperability
Dynamo Integration
Fabrication and MEP
Structural Analysis and Modeling
Site Designer (part of R2 release only, now formally released to all 2016)
Online Analysis Feature Enhancment/Improvements
View and Tools enhancments (Reveal Constraints, Perspective View editing, PDF Exporting)

I have been quite pleased with the significantly improved performance experience with the 2015 release all year. I found myself resenting any work that required 2014 (or worse...earlier releases) very quickly. If 2016 stands on 2015's shoulders the way I've been hearing it does, then I'll be really happy to use 2016 too, right away.

Also keep in mind that, if Autodesk keeps to their timeline, next year, around this time, it will cease offering what they call Perpetual Licenses. They'll honor existing contracts/subscriptions but all new purchases will either be what they are calling Desktop Subscriptions or Cloud Service Subscriptions. Check out their BUY page for details.

I'm looking forward to getting to work with 2016.

Installing Updates and 2015 R2

Revit 2015 has seen 7 updates so far. I wrote about the confusion that began when Update Release 4 became available at the same time as they released the subscription only 2015 R2. R2 is a new version of Revit with more features/tools but using the same file format so no upgrading of our projects is required.

Some people are only just finding out about R2 now, partly because it is only available through the subscription site and you have to have a valid subscription in place to access it. Some of those folks in this position, in the meantime, have installed the Update Release 5 already, or even 6 and 7. Get ready with the sad trombones...

Per Autodesk support:

Given this scenario, you will need to uninstall and reinstall Revit 2015 if you want to install the R2 version of Revit 2015 and its subsequent updates. The reason for this is that the R2 updates, including the R2 versions of UR5, UR6 and UR7, only target Revit 2015 R2 installations. Likewise, non-R2 updates only target non-R2 installations of Revit 2015.

Will these help?

This means if you've already applied release update 5, 6 or 7 to your installation of 2015 without the R2 release in place, you'll have to start over, reinstall 2015 to get things in place correctly to apply R2 at all. This could have gone better for some, wish it were simpler.

At this point I think I'd just wait for the release of Revit 2016 which, if the past years are any indication, ought to become available mid April to early May. If your project must stay in 2015 but you really want the R2 features maybe its time to talk to Gordon at Pragmatic Praxis to see how his deployment tools can help you?

While you're working this out please let me recommend this Irish Whiskey, if you happen to enjoy a dram on occasion...

Revit 2015 Release Update 5 and Terminology

Autodesk released another update for Revit 2015 yesterday, it was formally announced via The Revit Clinic and tweeted. THIS PDF is the published list of things that this update, as well as past updates, have dealt with. I hesitated to post this yesterday because I was a bit confused by what I read at the links below.

Revit 2015 UR5
Revit Arch 2015 UR5
Revit MEP 2015 UR5
Revit Struct 2015 UR5
Revit LT 2015 UR5

For many years an update meant a fresh installation, replacing the previous installed version. This eventually changed in favor of updates that could be applied to an existing installation of Revit. That meant a smaller file to download (usually) and it could be installed (or deployed) more easily. For many of those earlier years we just referred to these updates by their build number, as in, "What build do you have?" We still have a build number to reference.

More recently they began including the phrase Update Release and a number. For Revit 2015 it was easy, through Update Releases 1-3, until Revit 2015 R2 became available, introducing new terminology. The R2 release, which delivers brand new features, is only available to customers who have active subscription accounts. As it happens R2 also includes things that an Update Release would include, as such installing R2 meant we were technically installing Update Release 4 at the same time. For customers that don't have an active subscription it is necessary to make Update Release 4 available to them too.

Distinctly different from R2, an Update Release fixes things within the existing product. It does not provide new features. These shouldn't be confused with a Hotfix, though having a similar intention, which tends to repair a relatively tiny part of the software. They are both delivered via a download from the Autodesk site too. We should be alerted to them becoming available via the Communication Center and/or the Autodesk Application Manager (if deployed/enabled).

In contrast, the R2 release does provide new features that we might normally expect to be delivered as part of a brand new yearly release. In this case it was delivered as part of our subscription benefits, only to those with valid subscriptions in place. It also does not incur a file format change as we see with the yearly releases. As we've seen in the past it could have been delivered as Revit 2015.1 instead. Language and terminology is fun!

Such was the confusion initially that The Revit Clinic offered up a post called What is the Difference between Revit 2015 R2 and Revit 2015 UR2? As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I found myself confused when I visited the download pages for Update Release 5. This section seems to suggest there is a separate update to download via the Subscription site?

Note: If you are an Autodesk Subscription Customer and have installed Autodesk Revit 2015 R2, please install Autodesk Revit 2015 Update Release 5 for R2. Refer to the Autodesk Revit 2015 R2 subscription download page.

If you follow the link they provide it brings you (if you log in) to the original Revit 2015 R2 subscription download page. There is no mention of a special Release 5 update for R2. I wouldn't have been as confused if it said what I now believe it really meant: "If you haven't installed Revit 2015 R2 yet you can download it via this link".

I gambled and downloaded the update for Revit 2015 (first link above). My Revit is delivered as part of the Building Design Suite and I was able to apply this update successfully. In the past it was necessary to download a unique BDS delivered version of Revit 2015 updates. In this case they appear to have dispensed with that subtlety.

To summarize I believe this is accurate - see if you can stay with me:

• Original release of Revit 2015 for which they have provided Update Releases 1-5.
• New Release of Revit 2015 R2 which is available to subscription customers only, to which Update Release 5 also applies.
• Update Release 4 became available at the same time as R2 was introduced but it was necessary to provide a separate update for customers that were not eligible for Revit 2015 R2.
• If you installed R2 you also received Update Release 4.
• If you install Update Release 5 today you also incorporate all previous Update Releases.

It is not clear to me at the moment if there is a different build number when Revit 2015 R2 and Update Release 5 are installed as compared with Revit 2015 installed and Update Release 5 applied. I'd expect a different build number since Revit 2015 R2 has features that are not part of Revit 2015. Shall we compare build numbers? Mine is in the image above, R2 installed with Update Release 5.

As always, be sure to carefully read through the Readme documentation provided at each download page. Clear as mud? I sure hope so!

Upgrade to Revit 2015

Should you upgrade? Yes!

Not enthusiastic about the new features in 2015? I'm not happy with the scope of what's new in 2015 either but when it becomes available I'll still install it and use it for the very next project and/or upgrade ongoing work too. I'll be happy to do so. I've never regretted installing and using a new release no matter how ambivalent I've been about how well specific changes met my needs or client's needs. Besides, my subscription fee entitles me to it and other new versions (Building Design Suites) so I owe to myself to take advantage of using them and getting as much mileage as I can out of them. It seems like cutting my nose off to spite my face to fail to use it.

Fwiw, I've noticed that I get quite grumpy if I have to use last year's version quite soon after installing and using the latest version. Even more so when I have to use an even older version, like 2012 for example. I'm using a five year old laptop with just 8 GB RAM and so far with Revit 2015 it looks like I can elect to continue to use it for another year. Revit's performance keeps improving with each release in contrast to and in spite of the aging tech of my laptop, at least as long as it (my laptop) continues to want to work...here's hoping it's still happy to hang out with me!

My two cents, I'd upgrade, I'd use it...

Autodesk Revit 2013 Does Get an Update

Last Friday I asked if Revit 2013 was going to get an update. It may have just been aggressive timing on my part but when I was looking there wasn't. A little bit later a reader provided a link, via a comment, to the Design Suite location for the web release update. Over the weekend I received an email letting me know that it is also listed under the Revit "pile" of versions too.

So the short answer is YES, Revit 2013 does get an update too!