Design Master approaches building design from the MEP engineer's perspectives. Our software emphasizes calculations, code requirements, and design speed. Revit® MEP was designed to help Autodesk sell their architectural program. Their software approaches engineering from how an architect views it. Design Master works the way an engineer works. Revit MEP works the way an architect thinks engineers work.
Over 35 years of real world engineering experience make Design Master the tool written for real engineers, by real engineers. Our founding engineer, Mark Robison, P.E.,continues to use the software in his MEP firm, Robison Engineering. He keeps our software focused on the issues and challenges that matter to the engineering process. Revit MEP may have engineers on their development staff, but it is the architects who call the shots.
Over 95% of the MEP engineering industry uses AutoCAD®, which is why Design Master works in AutoCAD.
Revit MEP is not AutoCAD. When you take the three day training they tell you to forget everything you know about AutoCAD. But you just spent 10-15 years learning AutoCAD! And you spent thousands of dollars to outfit your entire staff with AutoCAD! And now Revit MEP wants you to throw away all that investment of time, money, and brain power in order to use a new program? When you use Design Master, you can stay with AutoCAD.
If a piece of software is going to market itself as an “engineering” tool, shouldn’t it have all the necessary engineering calculations included in the package? And shouldn’t these calculations be developed enough to handle the finer points and nuances of design that come up once in a while? Design Master thinks so. Revit MEP doesn’t seem to be so sure and often can’t handle the complex situations real life design presents on a daily basis.
Operating an engineering design tool shouldn’t be overly complicated. Design Master makes both the AutoCAD drafting and the engineering calculations easier. Revit MEP requires a CAD genius to operate. Instead of one designer doing the drafting and engineering, Revit MEP needs a fully trained drafter and also an engineer. That means two people doing the work that could be done by one with the right software.
“There really is not a recommended workflow where you use Revit MEP where you don’t have a Revit Architecture mode.”
--M. Schmid [Autodesk], Autodesk Discussion Forums, March 13, 2008
https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/AutoCAD-MEP/MOVE-TO-REVIT-MEP-FROM-ACAD-MEP/m-p/2204378
If you work with architects who are not using Revit, and there are a lot of them out there, then using Revit MEP doesn’t do you a lot of good. Autodesk themselves admits that they really don’t have a method for you to do this. Design Master, on the other hand, can support architects using any of the standard applications, including AutoCAD, Microstation, ArchiCAD, and also Revit.
Since 2001 Design Master has been committed to developing an AutoCAD based MEP engineering tool. In the same time frame Autodesk has offered three separate solutions: Softdesk, AutoCAD MEP (formely Autodesk Building Systems), and Revit MEP. Every new attempt at MEP design software has them starting over from scratch. This pattern of development has left their software underdeveloped, difficult to use, and barely capable of completing a full project. Design Master HVAC, Electrical, and Plumbing have been proven to work on the front lines of MEP design by firms around the country for nearly a decade.
Design Master supports multiple users on a single project without you ever having to think about how they are working together. The database is robust and very difficult to break. Revit MEP requires users to ‘check out’ data while they work, which is then no longer available for use by a second designer. The constant checking in and out of data severely disrupts the workflow when more than one person is working on a project.
Design Master realizes the importance of 3D coordination in certain applications, and provides the tools necessary to participate in 3D coordination exercises. Revit MEP, on the other hand, requires everything to be designed in 3D, even when that level of detail is unnecessary. This makes it very difficult to quickly produce a simple project using the Revit MEP software.
Design Master gets 3D out of your way when you don’t need it, but keeps it handy for when you do.
Sometimes it doesn’t matter how sophisticated your design software is if you can’t get a hold of someone to help you with a question. At Design Master we pride ourselves on offering the very best in technical support. Your support request will be answered right away by one of our well trained staff who understand both our software and the MEP industry. Call us at 1-866-516-9497 and see for yourself how responsive we are.
If you computer can run AutoCAD, it can run Design Master. Revit MEP requires a brand new top-of-the-line computer to run smoothly. Read what current Revit MEP users have to say about the system requirements: https://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=102289
Your drawings represent you and your design intent when you can’t be there in person. You have worked hard to develop a clean, understandable, and professional appearance that your clients know and recognize. Design Master makes it easy to recreate this look in our software and can match your current standards in a matter of days, not months.
Request a free demonstration and 30-day trial and see for yourself how much better Design Master is than Revit MEP.
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